Barack Obama accused of exaggerating terror threat for political gain

[Ghost Dog]

Source: The Guardian

A US terror alert issued this week about al-Qaida plots to attack targets in western Europe was politically motivated and not based on credible new information, senior Pakistani diplomats and European intelligence officials have told the Guardian.

The non-specific US warning, which despite its vagueness led Britain, France and other countries to raise their overseas terror alert levels, was an attempt to justify a recent escalation in US drone and helicopter attacks inside Pakistan that have "set the country on fire", said Wajid Shamsul Hasan, the high commissioner to Britain.

...

Dismissing claims of a developed, co-ordinated plot aimed at Britain, France and Germany, European intelligence officials also pointed the finger at the US, and specifically at the White House. "To stitch together in a seamless narrative is nonsensical," said one well-placed official.

...

By making it clear that the US drone strikes were pre-emptive, and were not in any way combating an imminent threat, European officials raised fresh questions – this time directly involving a British national – about the legality of the attacks, which could be viewed as assassinations.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/07/barack-obama-terror-threat-claims

---

No surprise.

[dennis4868]

1. It's funny....

I never read a Guardian article like this one during the Bush years when they would issue terror alerts all the time when Bush's approval ratings would fall or it would be close to an election.

[Bluebear]

2. Maybe it wasn't news because Bush did it all the time!

[saigon68]

8. NO NO its more Change you can believe in

[Cal Carpenter]

3. An anecdote that supports this

Someone I know well is in Germany right now at a trade show with people from all over the world. He goes to this event every year and there are people he knows pretty well so there are lots of meetings, dinners, drinks, etc...

He traveled there on Monday, the first day of this recent 'Alert'. I talked to him yesterday and asked him if people were concerned about it and he said *no one* has even mentioned it. Not even one person.

I realize this is just one anecdote but I found it quite striking that no one seems to be talking about it except US media.

[joeybee12]

6. NPR did a story and a quick blurb from a French woman at Hartsfield saying

she hadn't heard of the alert until she got to this country.

[Radical Activist]

22. This is the first I've heard of it.

If the threat is being hyped up then they aren't doing a very good job of it.

[pampango]

4. He needs to learn from Bush. Terror threats aimed at Europe don't have near the "fear factor" that

possible threats of attacks in the US have. Bush is probably chuckling at Obama's ham-handed attempts to play the "scare 'em for votes" tactic. ;)

[sandnsea]

5. Attacks on British & French in Yemen, yesterday

Maybe they just got the intelligence wrong.

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Assailants-in-Yemen-Attack-British-Diplomats-Frenchman-104409444.html

[greiner3]

7. Hell;

This country was bombarded monthly with damn terrorist alerts or something along those lines (the damn TSA color codes for example). How many Boris plots were uncovered because some red neck called the FBI on someone speaking a foreign language or acting 'funny?' How many terrorist plots came to fruition during 43's tenure; except for the one he could have prevented? How many red herrings did 43's admin come up with, just to have the details come out that supported innocence for the poor slobs or if somewhat guilty then some other poor slobs get huge sentences under shady circumstances?

Wasn't this brought about in that book, 'Wag the Dog?' I think that was the name of the book. Old hat but it will depend who will use this as an excuse to vote rep next month.

[indepat]

9. Paraphrasing: "Junior, you magnificent bastard, I read your book?"

;)

[Politicalboi]

10. Yes I can see where the Democrats would gain seats

From terror alerts. We all know where the chickens go when the word terror is thrown out there. :hide:

[Dawgs]

11. Why would it be political gain for Obama?

This doesn't make any sense.

:shrug:

[mcollins]

12. Some people think that the President is

playing to the center in order to gain votes during the mid-term elections.

So, either the President is lying about the war and the threat for political gain, which we all know * did, or he's telling the truth and the small group of liberals and progressives don't want to hear it.

Either way, we are in trouble.

[Ghost Dog]

17. Personally, I doubt the Pres. is fully in control of all factions of 'spooks'

nor gung-ho military.

How do we know the WH authorised this latest media (psyops) exercise at this time?

[pampango]

13. Maybe the attacks were in Pakistan. "8 killed in bombings at Muslim shrine in Pakistan"

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-pakistan-shrine-blast-20101008,0,6030483.story

No one claims responsibility for the attacks in Karachi that injure 65; however, shrines and mosques belonging to adherents of doctrines opposed by militants have been frequent targets of the Pakistani Taliban.

Two suicide bombers attacked crowds of Pakistanis visiting a Sufi Muslim shrine in the country's largest city, Karachi, Thursday night, killing at least eight people and wounding 65 others in an attack that reminded the nation of extremists' ability to strike virtually at will.

No one had claimed responsibility for the attack as of Thursday evening. However, shrines and mosques belonging to adherents of Muslim doctrines opposed by militants have been frequent targets of the Pakistani Taliban, the country's homegrown insurgency, and Sunni Muslim extremist groups like Sipah-e-Sahaba. During the summer, twin suicide blasts killed 42 people visiting Pakistan's most popular Sufi shrine, Data Darbar, in the eastern city of Lahore. And earlier in the year, a team of gunmen and suicide bombers killed 93 people in attacks on two mosques belonging to the minority Ahmadi sect.

Islamic militant groups regard the Sufi discipline of Islam to be tantamount to heresy. Several terrorist attacks this year have also targeted the country's Shiite Muslim minority.

On second thought, I doubt that anyone, even Bush, would think that Americans would be more fearful at the prospect of attacks in Pakistan.

[Arkana]

14. The irony meter just fucking exploded.

[Grassy Knoll]

15. Yea Right......

I'm so tired of the " Someone said " media.
Rush limbaugh started this shit last week, so we know where the guardian
gets there crappy news.

[Lil Missy]

16. Oh my dying ass.

[jaxx]

18. No surprise?

No surprise that this is Pakistani propaganda.

[ladywnch]

19. for 8 years every mid-term and general election we had a 'threat level' raised

for purely political gain......isn't it standard operating procedure?.....kinda like polling?

[seafan]

20. Pakistan at the brink; Europeans decry anti-austerity measures; our media focus on trivia.

Barack Obama accused of exaggerating terror threat for political gain

UK Guardian
By Simon Tisdall and Richard Norton-Taylor

October 7 2010

.....

The non-specific US warning, which despite its vagueness led Britain, France and other countries to raise their overseas terror alert levels, was an attempt to justify a recent escalation in US drone and helicopter attacks inside Pakistan that have "set the country on fire", said Wajid Shamsul Hasan, the high commissioner to Britain.

.....

By making it clear that the US drone strikes were pre-emptive, and were not in any way combating an imminent threat, European officials raised fresh questions – this time directly involving a British national – about the legality of the attacks, which could be viewed as assassinations.

They said Washington was the "driver" behind claims about a series of "commando-style" plots and that the CIA – perhaps because it was worried about provoking unwelcome attention to its drone strikes – was also extremely annoyed by the publicity given to them.

The plot claims, which western intelligence agencies were aware of for months, were leaked last week to the American media.
.....

Are these heightened, but vague terror warnings to cover for retaliation for our actions in Pakistan? It's these actions, Mr. President, that are putting us a extreme risk here in America.


More from the article:

.....

The sharp rise in US unmanned drone attacks in Pakistan's tribal areas, coupled with several cross-border raids by American helicopter gunships that culminated in the killing of two Frontier Corps soldiers last week, was destabilising Pakistan, Hasan said.

.....

He said fears were growing in Pakistan that the US was planning a bombing campaign using fixed-wing aircraft as well as drones in North Waziristan.

Hasan said Washington politicians failed to understand how much the US needed Pakistan in the "war on terror". Nor did they realise that public anger over repeated US infringements of Pakistani sovereignty could boil over into attacks on American personnel and interests that the government might not be able to control.

"The government does not want to go down this road," he said. "But people feel abused. If they kill someone again, they will react. There is a figure that there are 3,000 American personnel in Pakistan. They would be very easy targets."

Here's yet another reason our politicians might want to discourage Americans from traveling to Europe:

We just might *get the impression* there are things we can do about our plight back home...



Here is what's going on in Europe right now, specifically Greece, Spain, Belgium, Portugal, Ireland, Slovenia and Lithuania:



Anti-austerity protests sweep across Europe

By RAF CASERT (AP) – Sep 29, 2010

BRUSSELS — European unions orchestrated a crescendo of anti-austerity protests across the continent Wednesday, sending workers ranging from Greek doctors to Spanish bus drivers to Lithuanian engineers out to vent over job cuts, higher taxes, soaring unemployment and smaller pensions.

One man even blocked the entrance to the Irish parliament with a cement truck, decrying the country's enormous bank bailouts with blood red slogans like "Toxic Bank" and "All politicians should be sacked."

Waves of demonstrators clad in bright red, green and blue union jackets marched through Brussels toward European Union buildings, aiming to reinforce the impact of Spain's first nationwide strike in eight years.

Unions estimated the turnout in Brussels at 100,000 people. Some protesters there confronted riot squads with a sit-down protest in the middle of the street. About 150 people were detained, some in scuffles with police.

Does any of this sound familiar? Oh, my, there is Goldman Sachs right in the middle of it.

Whistle-blowing picketers blocked trucks from delivering produce to wholesale markets in Madrid and Barcelona. Strikers hurled eggs and screamed "scabs" at drivers trying to leave a city bus garage in Madrid. Airlines canceled hundreds of flights at Spanish airports.

Greece, which had to be rescued this spring by the 15 other nations that share the euro currency just to stave off bankruptcy, also has been forced to cut deep into workers' allowances, with weeks of bitter strikes and actions as a result.

Greek bus and trolley drivers walked off the job for several hours and Athens' metro and tram systems also shut down. National railway workers walked out, disrupting rail connections across the country, while doctors at state hospitals went on a 24-hour strike.

.....

Greece already has been suffering from two weeks of protests by truck drivers who have made it difficult for businesses to get supplies. Many supermarkets are seeing shortages.

The Socialist government of Greece has imposed stringent austerity measures, including cutting civil servants' salaries, trimming pensions and hiking consumer and income taxes.

In Dublin, police arrested a 41-year-old man who blocked the Irish parliament with a cement truck but gave few other details.

His slogan on the truck — "Toxic Bank" Anglo — referred to the Anglo Irish Bank, which was nationalized last year to save it from collapse. The bank owes some euro72 billion ($97 billion) to depositors worldwide, leaving Irish taxpayers with a mammoth bill at a time when people are suffering through high unemployment, tax increases and heavy budget cuts.

Also Wednesday, some 400 protesters rallied in an illegal demonstration in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, to demand authorities cease harsh austerity measures such as salary cuts.

"All of working Europe is on the streets today to express dismay over nearsighted income-cutting politics," said Vytautas Jusys, a 40-year-old engineer who lost his job this year.

.....

EU officials seek U.S. explanation on travel alert

October 7th, 2010

LUXEMBOURG (BNO NEWS) -- A European Union (EU) official on Thursday called on U.S. authorities to further explain the reasoning behind the travel alert that was issued for the continent, warning of a possible terror attack in Europe.

On Thursday, EU interior ministers and U.S. Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Jane Holl Lute will be holding a meeting in Luxembourg to discuss the issue.

"I think it is very important to obtain more information because it is the first time that the United States issues a statement for all of Europe," said Belgian interior minister Annemie Turtelboom. "When we must fight against terrorism we must work together, because we are the two continents who are the target," Turtelboom added.

On Sunday, the U.S. State Department alerted U.S. citizens to be vigilant when traveling in Europe amid fears of terrorist attacks in several countries.

"Current information suggests that al-Qaeda and affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks. European governments have taken action to guard against a terrorist attack and some have spoken publicly about the heightened threat conditions," said the U.S. State Department.

.....

What is the real story, Mr. President?








EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

[otohara]

21. Didn't Japan Issue Similar Warning

is Japan in on this conspires ?