I wasn't being flippant...

I've made fun of the terror alert a few times now. Most recently after the foiled London Airliner plot. And some people might think I'm being flippant, or worse, unpatriotic and un-American. Most news broadcasts, articles, and op-ed pieces have been talking about how the threat was broken up in the nick of time (but there may be others out there) and tend to sow more fear. Indeed, initial reports when the story broke (just after midnight or so) seemed to indicate that there could actually be planes over the Atlantic that could blow up at any minute. And as the day wore on, various politicans and department heads spoke about the need to be vigilant, the ties to al Queda, and how we are still a nation at war.

But if you spend a little time reading the less publicized stories, for example, the additional links at the end of stories on Yahoo news, or spend some time on reputable alternate, and even some main stream news organizations, a different picture emerges. The war and fear mongers got their quotes in the press about how this episode just shows how we are not safe, we need to be vigilant, and we need to give up more of our freedoms. Did you happen to notice how the spin-meisters used the incident to portray the Democrats as weak on defense? How our Vice President implied that Ned Lamont's win emboldens the al Queda types?

There is a pattern to these terror threats -something bad or embarassing to the current Administration hits the news cycle and -BAM!- something like this happens. It almost seems intentional. Perhaps it is:

Source: U.S., U.K. at odds over timing of arrests

British wanted to continue surveillance on terror suspects, official says

By Aram Roston, Lisa Myers, and the NBC News Investigative Unit

NBC News

Updated: 7:43 a.m. PT Aug 14, 2006

LONDON - NBC News has learned that U.S. and British authorities had a significant disagreement over when to move in on the suspects in the alleged plot to bring down trans-Atlantic airliners bound for the United States.

British officials knowledgeable about the case said British police were planning to continue to run surveillance for at least another week to try to obtain more evidence, while American officials pressured them to arrest the suspects sooner. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the case.

In contrast to previous reports, one senior British official suggested an attack was not imminent, saying the suspects had not yet purchased any airline tickets. In fact, some did not even have passports.

And then there's this (from Josh Nelson)

So the question then, is, what possible motivation would the U.S. government have for making sure this plot went public as soon as possible? Perhaps it has something to do with a primary in which a pro-war incumbent was unseated and a CNN poll indicating that support for the Iraq war is at an all time low. The UN Observer explains the pattern of thwarted terrorist attacks at opportune times.

The day after Senate Democrats brought a vote to pull out of Iraq, we catch a few idiots in Miami who were supposedly trying to blow up the Sears Tower, despite the fact that they lacked the means and ability to do so. Then there were the guys busted for supposedly plotting to blow up a New York subway exactly a year after the London bus bombings. And don't forget the release of new Osama bin Laden tapes just before the 2004 election as well as the very day after the Supreme Court decision striking down the Guantanamo Bay military tribunals. And now today, a few men in England were arrested for a plan to blow up planes flying to America, just a day after Connecticut voters flatly rejected Joe Lieberman and the war in Iraq.

This is not a definite thing here but it sure does look like the Bush administration is politicizing terror, again.

Politicizing terror?

Again?

Yes, again. And again and again.

I, for one, can't imagine flying across the country, let alone the Atlantic, without my iPod, some books, bottled water, and my toiletries kit (the latter a lesson in travelling I learned when my luggage was lost once). And there really aren't very good reasons for giving these things up. Up until relatively recently, you could carry butane lighters on a plane. If that shoe-bomber, Richard Reid, had just brought a Zippo instead of a flimsy book of matches, that plane would have gone down. These new policies and procedures serve only to create more fear and provide the illusion of safety brought to you by the increasingly intrusive Federal Government. An intelligent, motivated person will always be able to find a way to beat "security." I think our efforts would be better spent changing the policies that motivate people to commit these acts.

Thinking this way used to be un-American and un-patriotic - but now the polls are showing it's a very mainstream idea (click here).