The following is a selection of letters sent to the World Socialist Web Site on the London terror scare and arrests.
On “The politics of the latest terror scare”
You are to be congratulated as the author of the one article I have seen so far which questions the reality of this “terror plot.” We don’t yet know who was responsible for 9/11, but at least something happened then, whereas in this case nothing did. I am not suggesting that law enforcement officials should wait until disaster strikes to arrest people, but they should only do so on the basis of hard evidence.
No one has as yet produced a liquid explosive or the recipe for a liquid explosive that was to be used in the bombings. From the descriptions given, it appears that the arrests were based upon a wish-fulfillment fantasy of a circle of angry Muslim friends. But wishes are not crimes. The government has to show actual intent. Nonetheless the names of those arrested have been published around the world and journalists, such as Rana Foroohar, have treated them as if they are guilty. Not to mention the stringent regulations placed on airlines passengers! Notwithstanding Bush’s recent statement—a classic case of Jungian projection—it is patently obvious that the worst “fascists” and enemies of freedom are the governments of Britain and the US.
CM
15 August 2006
Excellent work, as usual; informative, honest, well-written, to the point (everything mainstream media is not). Keep up the good work, please! Thanks.
BH
15 August 2006
On “In wake of London arrests: Another attempt to terrorize the American people”
Good article all round on the White House’s use of alleged terror plots to once again fear-monger the public. However, I’ve noticed an error in a famous quote of Mr. Bush. (It’s an error commonly made by many persons). You quoted Mr. Bush as saying [in September 2001] that “...either you are with us or against us.” Actually, what Bush said was: “Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists.” As you would understand, the implicit accusations of the actual quote are way more sinister than the one you used.
VP
Trinidad and Tobago
12 August 2006
On “Britain’s airline terror plot: Questions that need to be answered”
Congratulations for bringing up the issue of many questions left unanswered. Given the state of our propaganda press in the US, it is a common occurrence that questions go unanswered. Reporters/copiers of news releases/propagandists don’t seem to bother asking the second question and the third and fourth questions to get to the bottom of what seems obvious to thinking citizens: “something wrong with this story.” A simple analysis of the timing of these crazy stories and the planned follow-ups by officials on their chosen medias again seems to support that most of this stuff is pure unadulterated propaganda. The profession of journalism has died! Thank you for resurrecting a small part of it—the questioning part! Good Night and Good Luck.
MB
12 August 2006
* * *If the suspects in detention have been so well known for so long, how would they get past customs or other controls prior to departure of planes? Surely the authorities would have closed off that route. I remain skeptical.
JW
Titahi Bay, New Zealand
11 August 2006
* * *There has already been speculation that the timing of the announcement of the “plot” was more than a coincidence. Here is my conspiracy theory in a nutshell: Polling by the right-wing propaganda machine concerning the defeat of neo-con rubber-stamper Joe Lieberman was not going their way despite their filling the airwaves and their blogs with Orwellian doublespeak. They pulled this rabbit out of their hat and, voila, the ghost of Orwell’s “Goldstein” rises again to instill fear. The implied message is that the defeat of Lieberman was an act of deluded fools, so you “Real Americans” should keep voting for us. If this scenario is true, it really begs the question, “How many more rabbits are in that hat?”
JN
Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, US
11 August 2006
* * *Interesting timing for the terror raids, the day after Ned Lamont’s antiwar win in Connecticut. All-day hysteria of the Code Red news event pushed coverage of Lamont’s win out of the headlines. I will bet you anything this was the real motivation for the raid and sudden announcements. Also worthy of note is the amount of noise coming out of the White House regarding the Lieberman loss. Since when does the Republican Party (the party in power) care if a three-term opposition senator loses in a Democrat primary to a newcomer? In normal times this would be a reason to celebrate and would not gather a single comment from the party in power.
BE
Danville, California, US
11 August 2006