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Al-Qaeda has nukes, says Washinton Times
Now, the WT isn't, what one would call, a reputable newspaper, still . . .
Commentary on the WT piece below.
Commentary on the WT piece below.
CIA: Did We Say Saddam Had Bio & Chem Weapons?
Sorry--we meant al-Qaeda!
Someone has leaked a supposed four-page internal CIA report to Bill Gertz at the Washington Times, the Moonie paper that regularly serves as an outlet for the hardliners in the Bush administration. Of course very few people read the Washington Times in the normal course of events, but the Drudge Report--which gets a few million visitors a day, remember--is featuring it as today's banner headline. And of course the TV news networks are yammering about it too. So it's a fairly big story in today's news cycle.
Under the thoroughly sensational and misleading headline ("CIA Says al-Qaeda Ready to Use Nukes"), there's really nothing to it--that is, nothing we haven't seen before. It's just a recapitulation of old intelligence and old speculation, most of it culled from manuals and documents obtained in Afghanistan over the past couple of years.
But the political purpose of leaking it is clear enough. The people must have the frisson of imminent, unprecedented danger, and the Bushmen must have a fresh distraction from their many continuing failures in Iraq, not least the failure to find anything resembling WMDs or serious facilities for their construction. The rest of the world won't buy it, but the folks at home will still believe anything.
Sorry--we meant al-Qaeda!
Someone has leaked a supposed four-page internal CIA report to Bill Gertz at the Washington Times, the Moonie paper that regularly serves as an outlet for the hardliners in the Bush administration. Of course very few people read the Washington Times in the normal course of events, but the Drudge Report--which gets a few million visitors a day, remember--is featuring it as today's banner headline. And of course the TV news networks are yammering about it too. So it's a fairly big story in today's news cycle.
Under the thoroughly sensational and misleading headline ("CIA Says al-Qaeda Ready to Use Nukes"), there's really nothing to it--that is, nothing we haven't seen before. It's just a recapitulation of old intelligence and old speculation, most of it culled from manuals and documents obtained in Afghanistan over the past couple of years.
But the political purpose of leaking it is clear enough. The people must have the frisson of imminent, unprecedented danger, and the Bushmen must have a fresh distraction from their many continuing failures in Iraq, not least the failure to find anything resembling WMDs or serious facilities for their construction. The rest of the world won't buy it, but the folks at home will still believe anything.
Hehe, they called it a "tornado" shelter when they sold us the house.
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