ABC: Al Qaeda Bullshit Company

It looks like ABC television network is reaffirming their now solid roll as broadcast organ for Pentagon/White House propaganda with a report coming straight out of the Pentagon that al Qaeda was planning an attack within the United States:

Mimicking the hijackers who executed the Sept. 11 attacks, insurgents reportedly tied to al Qaeda in Iraq considered using student visas to slip terrorists into the United States to orchestrate a new attack on American soil.

Lt. Gen. Michael D. Maples, head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, recently testified that documents captured by coalition forces during a raid of a safe house believed to house Iraqi members of al Qaeda six months ago "revealed [AQI] was planning terrorist operations in the U.S."

Colour me skeptical. This is the same bunch who claimed that the nomadic tribesmen they blew up were "Somalis with close ties to al Qaeda."

More importantly, though, is ABC's previous role as Pentagon mouthpiece when, back in March, they published an "exclusive" story in which the US military claimed they had intercepted a shipment of arms coming into Iraq, which were manufactured by the Iranian government. The very next day, the claims were revealed for what they were when Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Peter Pace, was forced to admit that there was "no proof" that these arms were being produced under Iranian government auspices. Amusingly, just as he did in the earlier non-story in which he claimed that "the evidence was strong" that Tehran was involved, Richard Clarke makes an appearance in this tale, this time saying that the evidence is "hard."

What you don't learn in the ABC story until the very end is that the plot, if it can be believed at all, was discovered six months ago and that it is not believed there is any kind of threat at all. Despite the White House having previously blown investigations of actual potential terrorist plots by announcing them when politically convenient, they also don't mind holding onto to the story of a plot for six months and releasing the tale of a threaty-sounding non-threat the night before a beleaguered Bush -- lately hammered from all sides -- delivers his State of the Union speech, one in which he will doubtless use this as evidence to further argue for his wastrel approach to foreign policy.

Naturally and with all due haste, right wingers have slurped up this latest and most blatantly timed disinformation salvo before Bush's SotU speech in which he will tell America how vital the fight in Iraq is. It will all seem so obvious to them just how right Bush is.

ABC has more than proved itself a valuable tool for both the White House and the right wing in general, not only with these "exclusive" stories, but the egregious anti-Democrat propaganda film The Path to 9/11 mere weeks before the mid-term elections. That told us all we needed to know about the agenda of Disney/ABC. They have so cemented themselves with these actions, I can't and won't believe a word without further confirmation. Neither should you.