[lbo-talk] Terrorist logic

[Marvin Gandall]

My sense is that the Bush administration is haunted by the Spanish example
and has begun a campaign to persuade the American public, in the event of a
election-eve  attack, not to "capitulate" to the terrorists by throwing out
the incumbents and voting in the opposition. In this sense, it may be seen
as a form of cynical preemptive electioneering. Certainly, the announcements
about the alerts I have seen have invariably been accompanied by solemn
administration declarations that the American people would never allow
themselves to be cowed by an attack (as presumably those "cowardly"
Spaniards were), and would remain resolute, ie. would reject Kerry and
reelect Bush. (Actually, as we know, the Spanish weren't so much retreating
from a terrorist attack as they were punishing the Aznar government for its
transparently deceitful efforts to shift the blame to the Basques and away
from its failed Iraq policy.) I know I'm skirting the border of conspiracy
land here, but it also wouldn't be beyond the administration to put out
these alerts to counter the damaging assertion in MM's widely popular  F9/11
that terrorism is being used as a bogey by the Bushites to further a deeper
imperial and domestic agenda. The alerts are designed to remind the public
that the threat is everpresent and real. They are so vague that it is
difficult to attach any other meaning to them..

Marv Gandall

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joseph Wanzala" <jwanzala at hotmail.com>
To: <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org>
Sent: Monday, July 12, 2004 12:07 PM
Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Terrorist logic


> Will the 2004 Election Be Called Off?
> Why Three Out of Four Experts Predict a Terrorist Attack by November
> by Maureen Farrell