EXPOSING THE WINGNUT HYPE

Back in 2005, the BBC produced a program that claimed the Al Qaeda threat was vastly exaggerated by the neo-cons, in part to justify their actions and in part to keep the Rove Coalition together and stay in power. Here's the relevant excerpt:

The Power of Nightmares: The Shadows In The Cave
Last Updated: Friday, 14 January, 2005, 11:53 GMT

In the wake of the shock and panic created by the devastating attack on the World Trade Center on 11 September, 2001, the neo-conservatives reconstructed the radical Islamists in the image of their last evil enemy, the Soviet Union - a sinister web of terror run from the centre by Osama Bin Laden in his lair in Afghanistan.

There are dangerous and fanatical individuals and groups around the world who have been inspired by extreme Islamist ideas, and who will use the techniques of mass terror - the attacks on America and Madrid make this only too clear.

But the nightmare vision of a uniquely powerful hidden organisation waiting to strike our societies is an illusion.

Wherever one looks for this al-Qaeda organisation, from the mountains of Afghanistan to the "sleeper cells" in America, the British and Americans are chasing a phantom enemy.

But the reason that no-one questions the illusion is because this nightmare enemy gives so many groups new power and influence in a cynical age - and not just politicians.

ProfWombat at Atrios linked to a Foreign Affairs article that seems to have the same point of view as the BBC program:

Is There Still a Terrorist Threat?: The Myth of the Omnipresent Enemy
John Mueller

From Foreign Affairs, September/October 2006

Summary: Despite all the ominous warnings of wily terrorists and imminent attacks, there has been neither a successful strike nor a close call in the United States since 9/11. The reasonable -- but rarely heard -- explanation is that there are no terrorists within the United States, and few have the means or the inclination to strike from abroad.

McCain's recent hysterical claim that Iran will soon be a "dire threat" is exactly the same hind of hype and I'm glad Obama is pointing that out.