We Must Know Why?

FTLComm - Tisdale - Thursday, January 31, 2002
The transparent bravado of United States President, George W. Bush Jr. has been a puzzle to us all, well at least to those of us who are not Americans. It is clear that this man who became president by default is a lessor man than one might expect in such an august position; yet the support for he and his administration by American television and newspaper journalists is completely unconditional. When we note that in a recent poll 65% of Americans believe that their president and his administration were somehow involved in the shady dealings of the massive Enron Corporation that funded the president's political campaign yet this same president continues to garner an astonishing 85% approval rating, then it is clear to us that we are missing something.

So its time to tell the story you need to know, so that you can understand this amazing paradox and at the same time consider how we and our present civilisation is going to come through this time of challenge.

The United States of America had been warned by its intelligence organisations, by strategic planning committees, by the artists and writers of the country, by entertainers in movies and television, that there was a clear and present danger from El Qaeda (the base) and perhaps other fanatical Islamic terrorist organisations. Twenty years ago we all saw the dramatic enactment of a terrorist attack on the Superbowl in a movie starring Bruce Dern, Tom Clancey wrote about various scenarios and the American public saw these entertainment features and understood that the artists who created them were basing their speculation on real circumstances. It is completely impossible to predict the behaviour of individuals especially those who would be willing to kill themselves in their cause and that is why no specific warning occurred about the attack on September 11 but the general warning signs were present.

Now, having seen reality, seen the inconceivable horror of a terrorist attack on New York and Washington the work of terror takes over. Terrorist campaigns are based on shocking the public and forcing government to act in a predictable manner so that the real motivation of that country can be seen clearly by all. In this case the actions of September 11 have been enormously successful.

Once you get your thoughts directed to this issue it seems almost to simple even to explain, it is so appallingly obvious, yet most of us Non-Americans have not seen the real problem. The American Public, the news gathering and news publishing industry of the United States, when faced with the shock of their country being attacked in such a unprecedented manner realise that so many other scenarios are available and no one, not one reporter or citizen wants to be called to task sometime in the future for having opposed the government when such a dire consequence looms before them.

To help understand the basic situation we need to go back to another difficult time, the Vietnam War. When the United States entered the war in 1962 they did so to assert American Cold War policy in South East Asia where China had decided to assert itself. Initially the American response was military and was intended to do what diplomacy was unable to do and that was stop China from moving its form of government South. When American politicians began to waiver and decided to attempt both diplomatic and military options at the same time it was clear that American soldiers were being used as pawns in the great scheme of things and many Americans took to the streets in protest and some prominent Americans went even further The sad lesson learned by America was that the honest and honourable intentions of people like Jane Fonda to end the bloodshed actually contributed to additional deaths. The leaders in Hanoi and in Moscow took the resistance as encouragement and strategic action and strategic diplomatic initiatives were thwarted time after time extending the conflict and adding perhaps as much as 50% to the gross casualty toll.

The news media was as responsible, if not more, than the peace protesters who wanted the war to end, as the media acted as the advertising agency for the protest movement and the war dragged on and on and on. It is clear that the same mistake is not to be repeated and in this conflict no one thirty years later will be pointing back at Tom Brochaw or Peter Jennings and blaming them for killing tens, or perhaps hundreds of thousands.

This brings us to the clear and present danger that faces America this very minute. The government of the United States is fully cognizant of the possibility that El Qaeda is far from extinguished and the threats are these: Nuclear attack and biological warfare

We are not dealing in hypothetical situations here, the creation and delivery of a thermonuclear device is well within the capability of an organisation with the ability to carry out the September 11 attack. All you need is a little resources, the motivation, an Internet connection and the willingness to give your life for your cause and we are into fallout city. (Plans and instructions for building are bomb are right at hand.)

President Bush and his Texas Enron friends may be suspicious, but he and they hold the reigns of power and everyone in that country and that includes the news services, must stand behind him, just in case.

During the endless and continous news ramblings in the hours following the attacks on September 11 the news people told us everything and then some, but most people took their ramblings just to be, words to say to fill up all that time. But they said that it was time to get together as a country, to stand together against an unknown threat and then they explained the threat. Nuclear attack and wild stories about biological attacks. The Anthrax attacks played into this scenario and enhanced the confusion. But evidence is mounting inside the government that it is not if a nuclear attack will come but when that attack will take place. Their total belief in this ultimate horror has been not to subtly passed on to the news media and they have adopted that same condition.

Last night the host of the longest running news show in the United States, Meet The Press, said clearly and without reservation that he had been to the oval office and had seen the huge pile of threat assessment documents on the president's desk and he was scared.

Fear is a powerful and overwhelming emotion and it does not matter if it is based on reality, rumor or superstition, once embedded it is going to govern behaviour. The United States President and the people of his country are not in charge, fear, the successful affects of terrorist activity is now in charge and every action, rational or otherwise is based on the possibility of "What if!"

Timothy W. Shire