Is 'Al Qaeda' Just a Bush Boogeyman?

Old article, but timely question (1984's Emmanual Goldstein):

www.wanttoknow.info...

Is Al Qaeda Just a Bush Boogeyman?

Los Angeles Times
January 11, 2005

Is it conceivable that Al Qaeda, as defined by President Bush as the center of a vast and well-organized international terrorist conspiracy, does not exist?

To even raise the question amid all the officially inspired hysteria is heretical, especially in the context of the U.S. media's supine acceptance of administration claims relating to national security. Yet a brilliant new BBC film produced by one of Britain's leading documentary filmmakers systematically challenges this and many other accepted articles of faith in the so-called war on terror.

"The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear," a three-hour historical film by Adam Curtis recently aired by the British Broadcasting Corp., argues coherently that much of what we have been told about the threat of international terrorism "is a fantasy that has been exaggerated and distorted by politicians. It is a dark illusion that has spread unquestioned through governments around the world, the security services and the international media."

Stern stuff, indeed. But consider just a few of the many questions the program poses along the way:

•  If Osama bin Laden does, in fact, head a vast international terrorist organization with trained operatives in more than 40 countries, as claimed by Bush, why, despite torture of prisoners, has this administration failed to produce hard evidence of it?

•  How can it be that in Britain since 9/11, 664 people have been detained on suspicion of terrorism but only 17 have been found guilty, most of them with no connection to Islamist groups and none who were proven members of Al Qaeda?

•  Why have we heard so much frightening talk about "dirty bombs" when experts say it is panic rather than radioactivity that would kill people?

•  Why did Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claim on "Meet the Press" in 2001 that Al Qaeda controlled massive high-tech cave complexes in Afghanistan, when British and U.S. military forces later found no such thing?

The Power of Nightmares

This highly revealing BBC documentary digs deep into the roots of the war on terror, only to find that much of the widespread fear in the post-9/11 world has been fabricated by those in power for their own interests. The intrepid BBC team presents highly informative interviews with experts and top officials in combating terrorism who raise serious questions about who is behind all of the fear-mongering.

These experts and riveting footage also show how the media have been manipulated to support secret power agendas.

This eye-opening documentary shows that, especially after 9/11, fear has been used widely in the media to manipulate the public into giving up civil liberties and turning over power to elite groups with their own hidden agendas. The Power of Nightmares clearly demonstrates that the nightmare vision of a powerful, united terrorist organization waiting to strike our societies is largely an illusion. Wherever the BBC team looked for al-Qaeda, from the mountains of Afghanistan to the sleeper cells in America, they found that we are chasing a phantom enemy. For all citizens who care about the future of our world, this is a must-watch video.


View Free: All Three Parts of the BBC Documentary Power of Nightmares

Each episode is 1 hour. If you have time for only one, Part 3 is the most revealing.

Click here to watch Power of Nightmares on Google Video.



Click here to watch and read reviews of Power of Nightmares on archive.org. 



To order all three parts of Power of Nightmares on one DVD, click here.

This subject has been covered on ATS in various posts. I remember bringing the video's up myself in other threads.

And to add something more actual: even the CIA reported a couple of weeks ago that Al Qaeda is not operational anymore.

Yes, it is a state sponsored organisation that serves a geostrategic purpose. It does not have autonomy or it's own ideology. The family ties between it's leader and the Bush family have been clear since Fahrenheit 911.

Although, in defense of the US, I suspect all terrorist organisations have been infiltrated by state intelligence, because it's easier to govern people when they are focused on someone or something else. Slight of hand...

One more question.
What if the documentary is wrong?

I had a satellite dish a few years ago that picked up some channels from the Middle East. One instance I happened to catch a newscast where the anchor person distinguishbly mentioned Al Quada several times. It phonetically sounded like, Alll, soft A as in "ought" and Ka-ehh-dah, same soft A.

Lets just pretend this article is true and AQ does not exists, it still doesn't explain the "terrah" that has ben unleashed way before Bush was Prez. In fact since this an old article from the 80's, it clearly prooves that terrorism is more a bi-product of Jimmy Carter's many failures as a Prez.
You should know Carter, Obama Sr, was buddy buddy with Arafat, the God Father of terrorism, this is a true fact.

If you remember the first gulf war you will remember that nobody promoted the al jazeera news network more than CNN. At a certain level things just link up in a vast mesh of corporate and political interest. It is silly of people to be polarized when business and politics clearly is not.

Originally posted by Pjotr


And to add something more actual: even the CIA reported a couple of weeks ago that Al Qaeda is not operational anymore.

And who would know better than them? :rofl:

C'mon guys, this is the easiest one to figure out.

The whole Tim Ossam connection coupled with our deep involvement in the region starting with the Soviet conflict provided a nice neat reason for the US to get into Afghanistan and Pakistan.. CIA has had their claws in there for a long time.

It would be very easy in my opinion to start a small movement there. Enough people to make it seem like something bigger without being that big. Lay the blame onto "Al Qaeda" and everyone forgets that the US was there for a long time before anyone heard of Osama

Originally posted by Pjotr


And to add something more actual: even the CIA reported a couple of weeks ago that Al Qaeda is not operational anymore.

And who would know better than them? :rofl:

C'mon guys, this is the easiest one to figure out.

The whole Tim Ossam connection coupled with our deep involvement in the region starting with the Soviet conflict provided a nice neat reason for the US to get into Afghanistan and Pakistan.. CIA has had their claws in there for a long time.

It would be very easy in my opinion to start a small movement there. Enough people to make it seem like something bigger without being that big. Lay the blame onto "Al Qaeda" and everyone forgets that the US was there for a long time before anyone heard of Osama

Being that other countries even Russia speak of and acknowledge the existence of Al-Queda. Even Iran's kleadership has spoken of them, so i dont see how this is a Bush only boggieman?

Oh, it exists allright, no denying that. It's just not what people think it is.

Originally posted by princeofpeace
Being that other countries even Russia speak of and acknowledge the existence of Al-Queda.

What makes you think Russia and other governments don't benefit from acknowledging the existence of "al-Qaeda."

Most don't remember that Russia had their own 9/11 attacks in 1999. There was a series of deadly Moscow apartment bombings, which were blamed on Muslim Chechens and that helped hard-liner and former KGB chief Vladimir Putin get elected. Putin then invaded oil-rich Chechnya for the second time.

But just like 9/11, the bombings were false flag terrorist attacks. Citizens in the Russian city of Ryazan noticed suspicious activity at their apartment building and called local police. Police arrived and found a live bomb in the basement. The license plate of the guys who'd planted the bomb was traced to a FSB (former KGB) safe house. Arrests were called off at the last moment and the whole thing was declared a "training exercise" by the federal government. Except the FSB neglected to tell the local police or anyone else in advance of this alleged "training exercise."

A former FSB agent wrote a book called "Bombing Russia" that exposed the false flag terrorist attacks.