FBI: Be Very Afraid

Today the FBI declassified super secret intelligence about an alleged al Qaeda plot...allegedly in order to share it with state and local authorities. Just by chance, it immediately found its way into the hands of journalists. The latter duly performed their appointed role: Spread the message of terror far and wide.

Another coincidence is worth mentioning. The alleged plot happens to be the worst nightmare scenario for that small segment of the American public that still backs the Bush administration’s GWOT excesses.

The “plot” involves (a) kiddies, and (b) shopping malls. Oh, the horror.

The unclassified shopping mall threat information was circulated by the FBI on November 7th, based on intelligence received by the FBI in late September. The full text of one version of that report is as follows:

December 2007 Al-Qa’ida Plan to Target US Shopping Malls in Chicago, Illinois and Los Angeles, California.

As of August 2007, al-Qa’ida planned to strike US shopping malls in Chicago, Illinois and Los Angeles, California during the 2007 Christmas season. Al-Qa’ida hoped to disrupt the US economy and had been planning the attack for the past two years.

FBI Comment: This information was obtained through a lengthy chain of acquisition, and was provided to the source by a sub-source who spoke in confidence. The veracity of the information is uncertain but the threat is being reported due to the nature of the information.

In other words, somebody mentioned seeing a vague threat on line, which the FBI is now pretending to take seriously enough to leak the “information” to reporters. Because, hey, the dupes who still swallow these kinds of warnings from the Bush administration are dumb enough to believe that an attack on a shopping mall would be an existential threat to the American economy.

They might even be persuaded that it’s part of the annual “War on Christmas”.

ABC’s Blotter plays along in a curious, syncopated style. Every second paragraph winks toward those readers who are in on this game.

The alert, like similar FBI and Department of Homeland Security terror alerts issued over the past five years at holiday times, raised questions about the credibility of the information…

The source reportedly had only "indirect access" to al Qaeda and word of the actual threat came to U.S. intelligence officers "through a lengthy chain" of contacts…

For the past few years, jihadist chat rooms have regularly posted comments from anonymous individuals who have suggested or boasted about similar plans to attack such soft targets as shopping malls…

"We have no credible, specific information suggesting an imminent attack," a DHS official said.

But the alternate paragraphs promote the government’s grim message as if it were really to be taken seriously. These parts are for the suckers in the audience:

Law enforcement officials at three different agencies told ABCNews.com the FBI alert was based on a source who has proved reliable in the past…

With the shopping season approaching, however, the FBI officials decided it was necessary to share the information…

"Out of abundance of caution, and for any number of other reasons, raw intelligence is regularly shared within the intelligence and law enforcement communities -- even when the value of the information is unknown," said Special Agent Richard Kolko.

Actually, no: The FBI doesn't normally release raw intelligence any more than the local dairy sells raw milk to the public.

But, really, fibbing aside, it’s such a virtuoso performance that you can almost feel the pulsating rhythm of the piece: agit – prop, agit – prop, agit – prop. You could dance the foxtrot to this article, if you care to roll back the rug and wind up the Victrola.

Who are the rubes this is supposed to appeal to? The ones whose only concern with the GWOT is that their children need to be protected at any cost from those horrible men the Bush administration is beating up on.

That is to say, this kind of dope, from Yardley PA, whose only response to the Frontline expose on the Bush administration's Extraordinary Rendition program the other day was…

I'm all for anything that stops these fanatics from blowing up my kids at the mall. How else are we to defend ourselves against intolerant people who want nothing more than eliminate us? We should be committed to doing everything possible to eliminate the threat.

crossposted from unbossed.com