I must admit that when I heard that the United Kingdom had arrested over 20 people involved in a terrorist plot on the day after pro-war Lieberman had gone down to defeat in the Connecticut primary election, I was particularly cynical. I can’t ever forget the multiple increases in the United States threat level as the 2004 Presidential Election approached…most of which never really amounted to anything, but served well to remind those in North Dakota how afraid of a terrorist attack they should be.
So this morning in my daily perusal of TPMmuckraker, I was not surprised to read this story pointing to a MSNBC report that the Bush Administration rushed the arrest of suspects in the British terror plot. In particular was this quote from the original MSNBC article,
the suspects had not yet purchased any airline tickets. In fact, some did not even have passports
Strangely, the MSNBC reporters attribute America’s eagerness to arrest the subjects with this rationale:
Analysts say that in recent years, American security officials have become edgier than the British in such cases because of missed opportunities leading up to 9/11.
Edgier than the British? Really? Do the reporters writing this story actually believe that some egghead analyst in the CIA actually convinced the White House to lean on Tony Blair to arrest the terror cell? The nerds in CIA live in the reality-based world and the White House lives in its ideological dream world where Iraq continues to go according to plan, the people of the Middle East see us as glorious liberators, the weapons of mass destruction were found and the American public sees Bush’s condescending smirk as a cute mannerism.
Should we believe that a very complex, passionate argument had been going on between various departments in the U.S. Government over the last few weeks, resulting in the suggestion that the British make arrests now versus later? Or should we use Ockham’s Razor cut through the crap and determine that Bush/Rove thought the timing would be better on Wednesday to blunt the effect of Lieberman’s embarrassing loss?
Don’t forget the Bush aide who said, “We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality.”