Fake Terror Alert Extended

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Stephen Lendman
Activist Post

Announced embassy and consulate closures continue all week. Perhaps longer if ordered. Doing so facilitates deception.

It reflects duplicitous fearmongering. It’s to fool people. It serves America’s hidden agenda. It targets dissent. It subverts civil liberties.

It’s to silence lawless NSA spying critics. On Sunday TV talk shows, Republicans and Democrats agreed. Terror threats justify NSA surveillance, they claim.

According to Senator Saxby Chambliss (R. GA), there’s “an awful lot of chatter out there.” NSA monitors it electronically. “If we didn’t have these programs then we simply wouldn’t be able to listen in on the bad guys.”

Senator Lindsey Graham (R. SC) said, “The NSA program is proving its worth yet again.”

Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D. MD) added:

The good news is that we picked up the intelligence. And that’s what we do. That’s what NSA does.

Other congressional members made similar comments. They lack credibility. They facilitate lawless NSA spying. They aid and abet wrongdoing. They enlist public support for what demands condemnation.

On Sunday, a White House statement said the following:

Early this week, the President instructed his National Security team to take all appropriate steps to protect the American people in light of a potential threat occurring in or emanating from the Arabian Peninsula. 

Given the nature of the potential threat, throughout the week, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Lisa Monaco has held regular meetings with relevant members of the interagency to ensure the US Government is taking those appropriate steps. 

This afternoon, National Security Advisor Rice chaired a meeting with the Principals Committee to further review the situation and follow-up actions. 

The President has received frequent briefings over the last week on all aspects of the potential threat and our preparedness measures. After today’s Principals meeting, the President was again briefed by Amb. Rice and Ms. Monaco.

On August 4, the State Department issued an update on embassy and consulate closures, saying:

Given that a number of our embassies and consulates were going to be closed in accordance with local custom and practice for the bulk of the week for the Eid celebration at the end of Ramadan, and out of an abundance of caution, we’ve decided to extend the closure of several embassies and consulates including a small number of additional posts. 

This is not an indication of a new threat stream, merely an indication of our commitment to exercise caution and take appropriate steps to protect our employees including local employees and visitors to our facilities. 

Posts in Abu Dhabi, Amman, Cairo, Riyadh, Dhahran, Jeddah, Doha, Dubai, Kuwait, Manama, Muscat, Sanaa, Tripoli, Antananarivo, Bujumbura, Djibouti, Khartoum, Kigali, and Port Louis are instructed to close for normal operations Monday, August 5 through Saturday, August 10. 

The following posts that are normally open on Sunday, but were closed on Sunday, August 4, are authorized to reopen for normal operations on August 5: Dhaka, Algiers, Nouakchott, Kabul, Herat, Mazar el Sharif, Baghdad, Basrah, and Erbil.

At the State Department’s daily briefing, deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said:

(W)e are taking precautionary steps out of an abundance of caution to protect our people and our facilities and visitors to those overseas facilities. 

(W)e continue to refine our assessment of the threat. We continue, as you can imagine, to get new information and as we do so we’ll evaluate our security needs going forward. 

Clearly, AQAP is the most active terrorist organization there and has been the most operationally active affiliate of al-Qaida core, but beyond that I’m not going to get into the details of the intelligence about who might be behind this threat. 

I’m not going to comment further on why certain posts were selected and others weren’t. 

(W)e’re going to continue pursuing terrorists who want to attack the United States, where they plan, operate. And I think you’ve seen during this Administration that we’ve done exactly that. 

(W)e’re concerned about a threat to US interests and facilities and citizens, but I don’t want to go further than that.

In other words, take official comments at face value. Don’t ask for proof. Don’t expect any. None exists. So-called terror threats are fake. Post-9/11, they’ve all been fabricated.

Don’t expect administration figures to explain. Don’t expect congressional members to do so. Don’t expect media scoundrels to challenge official lies.

They repeat them ad nauseam. They do it every time. They betray their readers, viewers and listeners in the process. It’s standard scoundrel media practice.

A previous article called the so-called terror alert fake. It’s like previous ones. They’re fabricated to generate fear.

They advance America’s imperium. They facilitate its fake global war on terrorism. They’re for political advantage. They distract.

They change the subject. They’re strategically timed. They justify wrongdoing. They escalate it. At times, they precede false flags.

Bush officials used color-coded alerts. They ranged from Green (low), Blue (guarded), Yellow (elevated), Orange (high) to Red (severe).

On April 26, 2011, a National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) replaced them. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the following:

Today I announce the end of the old system of color-coded alerts. In its place, we will implement a new system that’s built on a clear and simple premise: When a threat develops that could impact you – the public – we will tell you. 

We will provide whatever information we can so you know how to protect yourselves, your families, and your communities.

Post-9/11, every alert issued was fake. So-called threats were invented. They still are. Alleged chatter intercepted doesn’t exist.

Media scoundrels claim otherwise. They’re in lockstep with deception. They repeat the Big Lie. They regurgitate official policy. They don’t question it. They do it every time.

They facilitate America’s war on humanity. They have blood on their hands. They have much to answer for.

On August 5, New York Times editors headlined “Terrorism and the Embassies,” saying:

The Obama administration’s decision to close nearly two dozen embassies and issue a worldwide travel alert was difficult to quarrel with.

US officials claim “they uncovered one of the most serious plots against United States and other Western interests since Sept. 11, 2001.”

Fact check

Big lies launch wars. False flags are a longstanding US tradition. September 11, 2001 was state-sponsored terrorism.

It prevents peace. It began America’s global war on terrorism. It facilitates war on humanity. It continues unabated.

Don’t expect Times editors to explain. They call fake information “credible.”

“The United States cannot fail to take reasonable precautions at its embassies,” they say.

“The challenge is to manage risk while staying involved in the world. Al Qaeda affiliates in Yemen and elsewhere will be a threat for the foreseeable future.”

Terrorists “R” us. The only threat Americans face is their own government. Hyped ones don’t exist.

On August 5, the Wall Street Journal headlined “US Terror Alert Prompted by High-Level al Qaeda Communications,” saying:

They’re “part of a larger collection of intelligence reports all pointing to plans for an imminent attack.”

They “set off alarm bells with the US government that continued through the weekend, indicating an attack could come as soon as Aug. 4.”

Travel warnings remain “through the end of August.”

US intelligence analysts believe an attack would likely involve some type of bomb plot. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, known as AQAP, specializes in creative bomb-making techniques.

“Al Qaeda hasn’t issued public statements addressing the warning.” Perhaps it’s because none exists. Don’t expect Journal contributors to explain.

Chicago Tribune editors repeated the Big Lie. They called the so-called terror threat the “most serious in years.”

ABC News chief global affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz called the alert a “terrible reminder for Americans that we are still major targets.”

CBS News senior national security analyst Juan Zarate said, “These guys are for real, and they want to hit the United States. They are committed global jihadis.”

CNN’s national security analyst Peter Bergen said:

Al Qaeda and aligned organizations have a long history of attacking US. embassies and consulates. 

For al Qaeda, these diplomatic compounds are attractive targets because they symbolize American power and because their locations are widely known.

NBC national affairs correspondent Tom Curry called the Al Qaeda threat “a major concern.”

“According to sources familiar with the intelligence,” he said, “two al Qaeda leaders, the number one figure of al Qaeda in Pakistan and the top al Qaeda leader in Yemen agreed that they ‘wanted to do something big’ times to ‘the day of Awesome,” which was Sunday.”

On August 5, ABC News hyped the Big Lie further, saying:

There are growing concerns that an al Qaeda affiliate could use a new generation of liquid explosive, currently undetectable, in a potential attack, according to two senior US government officials briefed on the terror threat that has prompted the closing of nearly two dozen U.S. embassies.

An unnamed US official called the so-called explosive “ingenious.” Allegedly it can make clothing a weapon. It’s a “liquid bomb.”

Details weren’t forthcoming. Security officials declined further comment. Perhaps it’s because so-called threats don’t exist. They have no credibility. They never did before. They don’t now.

According to Electronic Privacy Information Center lawyer Amie Stepanovich, issuing “these threats at this time perpetuates a culture of fear and unquestioning deference to surveillance in the United States.”

Hyping threats without corroboration show they have no basis in fact. They’re issued to deceive. They further destructive policies. They suggest potential false flags. Perhaps something big is planned.

A Final Comment

America’s a police state. It’s increasingly militarized. It’s cause for concern. Hyped terror threats escalate harshness.

The ACLU worries about the “militarization of policing in America.”

“Towns don’t need tanks,” it says. Neighborhoods “are increasingly being policed by cops armed with the weapons and tactics of war.”

Federal funding in the billions of dollars has allowed state and local police departments to gain access to weapons and tactics created for overseas combat theaters – and yet very little is known about exactly how many police departments have military weapons and training, how militarized the police have become, and how extensively federal money is incentivizing this trend.

Locking down America is official policy. Federal, state and local authorities are complicit. So-called counterterrorism targets fundamental freedoms. They’re on the chopping block for elimination. They’re practically gone already.

Another major homeland false flag may end them altogether. Perhaps it’s planned.

Last April’s Boston’s Marathon bombings left disturbing questions unanswered. State-sponsored terrorism was ignored.

Martial law followed. Other communities are threatened. Perhaps locking down America is planned. Chilling incidents suggest what’s coming. So do fake terror threats.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected]. His new book is titled How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening. http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/