NY Times Admits: Al-Qaeda Terror Threat Used to “Divert Attention” from NSA Uproar

Some analysts and Congressional officials suggested Friday that emphasizing a terrorist threat now was a good way to divert attention from the uproar over the N.S.A.’s data-collection programs, and that if it showed the intercepts had uncovered a possible plot, even better.

– NY Times article from August 2, 2013: Qaeda Messages Prompt U.S. Terror Warning

Nothing about the above quote should surprise any of my readers, we all know the sick, twisted mindset of those involved in the Military-Industrial-Wall Street complex. What’s more shocking is the fact that these folks so openly admit it to the New York Times, albeit in a typical anonymous and cowardly fashion. Let’s not forget what Robert Shapiro, former Clinton official and Obama supporter told the FT in July 2010:

The bottom line here is that Americans don’t believe in President Obama’s leadership. He has to find some way between now and November of demonstrating that he is a leader who can command confidence and, short of a 9/11 event or an Oklahoma City bombing, I can’t think of how he could do that.

I discussed the above quote and related topics in my 2010 piece: The Dangers of a Failed Presidency. Well, if Mr. Shapiro thinks President Obama didn’t have credibility in 2010, one can only imagine what he thinks today. That is precisely what makes the current moment so extraordinarily dangerous. From the New York Times:

WASHINGTON — The United States intercepted electronic communications this week among senior operatives of Al Qaeda, in which the terrorists discussed attacks against American interests in the Middle East and North Africa, American officials said Friday.

It is unusual for the United States to come across discussions among senior Qaeda operatives about operational planning — through informants, intercepted e-mails or eavesdropping on cellphone calls. So when the high-level intercepts were collected and analyzed this week, senior officials at the C.I.A., State Department and White House immediately seized on their significance. Members of Congress have been provided classified briefings on the matter, officials said Friday.

“Unusual,” but somehow also extremely convenient for this to occur just as public opinion turns against the NSA and near passage of the Amash Amendment.

But intercepting electronic communications is one of the National Security Agency’s main jobs, as the documents leaked by Edward J. Snowden, a former N.S.A. contractor, have only underscored. At the request of intelligence officials, The New York Times withheld some details about the intercepted communications.

Some analysts and Congressional officials suggested Friday that emphasizing a terrorist threat now was a good way to divert attention from the uproar over the N.S.A.’s data-collection programs, and that if it showed the intercepts had uncovered a possible plot, even better.

In light of all of this, let’s recall the wise words of Edmund Burke on fear:

No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.

Full article from the New York Times here.

In Liberty,
Mike

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17 thoughts on “NY Times Admits: Al-Qaeda Terror Threat Used to “Divert Attention” from NSA Uproar”

  1. Next they interrupt a fox nfl game to raise DHS color code.
    Then have blimp take Photo of Utah data center with rainbows nearby

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  2. Why were 1152 44% of the people the people killed were in direct completion with the CCX and they killed off Carlton Bartels and gave his CO2 invention to Franklin Raines of FM/FM, I think there is a lot to investigate..Dick Chaney had ties to the CCX as well as OBAMA,Billy the Domestic Terr%rist Ayers. Goldman Sacs/ George Soros/Hamas /Hezbolla/Chicago thugs/ Al Gore/ Maurice Strong../.It is a terrifying thought, that 0bama has ties to 9/11/2001, but it may be the key to how we got an inexperienced illegal alien in our WH in 2008.

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    • THE LORD said,americas government is ROTTEN to the core,top to bottom,inside and out,THATS EVERYONE IN GOVERNMENT,who would have guessed,they murder children,first clue,they kidnap and murder anyone who disagrees with them,second clue,they kill anyone they want and are never charged with a crime,third clue,YOUR GOVERNMENT WILL BE COMING TO YOUR DOOR SOON,and don’t think for a minute they won’t,they already decided your a terrorist grand maw,and soon you’ll be dead,by accident of course..and all the LAW ABIDING CITIZENS,will agree you had it coming……..till its their turn…….

    • Are you kidding?? The sooner you realize this isn’t a right/left issue , the sooner you will figure out it has to do with the corporatization going on in this country. When the same corporations are giving ‘campaign contributions’ to both parties during run up to elections, then who’s really in the drivers seat after the election is over?

    • Corporations, yes. But even they have to answer to a higher authority: the international banks. Is there any question all, and I mean ALL, are beholden to them? Right or Left is a complete dodge, the misdirection a magician uses to pull off the trick right before our eyes.

  3. There is no plot. No senior terrorists are plotting anything together. It’s all one big fabrication from the corporate propaganda network hoping to fill the minds of people with more nonsense to concern themselves with. No one is falling for this.

    They are getting weak with these propaganda news items now. Which means they are getting more pissed off that whatever they try is having less of an effect on the populace. This most likely means they will create some real event to give all this propaganda some reality. Before the end of the year something big will happen which they will blame on the boogeyman.

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  4. LOL!!! Jokers. This ‘news’ is not for the likes of us by for the great unwashed mass of voters who can barely think beyond filling their bellies and satisfying their urges.

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  5. Personally, I think the NYT is doing their usual job of running cover for the Administration with this “admission”. A secondary goal of this fake terror threat may be to JUSTIFY the NSA revelations that resulted in popular “uproar”, but really they don’t give a shit whether we like it or not, so there’s no need for them to respond.

    What they do give a shit about is having Obama exposed for sitting there watching Americans be murdered in Benghazzi, and having their little gun and missile running operation to Al Queda affiliated rebels exposed. That would bring him down quick.

    But this is how they work. Just like any liar, when they pretend to be telling you finally admitting to the truth about something, they’re usually just working an angle to conceal a deeper and more serious lie.

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  6. This coming from the same Administration that tried to blame the Benghazi Attack on an obscure Anti-Islamic Video.

    They have ZERO credibility and they can’t be trusted.

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    • Of the 10,000 lies told to us by just about everyone and every organization- how in the world do we start believing anything they say? Even if it were true, the “Cried Wolf” syndrome has affected us all for far too long to accept their word.
      I know my personal programming says- BS.

  7. No. they did not use it as cover for scandal. Beyond scandal. . .a crime against humanity. So where did the Syrian CI-Al Qaeda get the chemical weapons they used them on civilians as a false flag (that didn’t work) last spring? Libya had the same matching Russian made chem weapons that Assad has. The big story here is that the CIA during the Benghazi attack had been shipping Libya’s chem weapons not just the conventional stuff. Why else would the local terror thugs-for-hire (previously hired by the CIA for security) turn on the CIA to suddenly and unexpectedly to shut down the CIA Benghazi operation? Why would Clinton and Obama be so freaked out by this situation to this day? Because they transferred Weapons of Mass Destruction! That’s a game changer! No surprise that Russia and China sent troops to Syria in June, “war drilling” everywhere, and are preparing for WW III!! The Embassy’s have been shut down all over the Middle East region in preparation of war with Russia/China/Syria/Iran. Probably by the middle to end of this month! Meanwhile, mass nuclear “terror attack drills” are taking place in Indiana, Ohio and Southern Michigan from now to the 17th of August. . .prelude to a false flag or strike from China/Russia? FEMA demanding MRE’s be delivered within 24 hours — “everything you have in stock”. State Dept issues travel warnings. . “Major airline delays worldwide after Sabre reservation system crashes”. Is this an attempt to keep people and airplanes grounded in prep for global war? Watch for more attempts to slow or stop international travel. Any news or scuttle-butt regarding troop deployments, forces repositioning, build up of forces?

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  8. The New York Times Endorses Plutocracy!

    If you happened to have read The New York Times’ opinion section this weekend, you may have noticed you were told that the U.S. Senate – the body comprised primarily of millionaires – apparently needs more lawmakers who are very close to the wealthy.
    Yes, despite every member of the upper house raising huge amounts of campaign money primarily from the American aristocracy, and despite the fact that legalized bribery results in votes that consistently defend the aristocracy’s economic interests at the expense of everyone else — the grey lady’s editorial board implored voters to see Senate candidates’ all-too-close relationship with America’s uber-rich not as something suspicious or repugnant, but as something commendable and worthy of reward.

    Some of Mr. Booker’s opponents are trying to denigrate those assets — his fame, his ability to work with Republicans, his coziness with the moneyed class.

    You read that correctly: According to the Times, being “cozy with the moneyed class” should be seen by voters as an “asset” for an aspiring senator – one the Times insinuates shouldn’t dare be “denigrated” by other candidates.

    Of course, the Times is fairly accurate in declaring Booker as “cozy with the moneyed class.” If anything, in fact, it’s an understatement – Booker is one of Corporate America’s most loyal and obedient Democratic politicians.

    As the Republic Report and ThinkProgress both document, Booker’s entire political career has been bankrolled by Wall Street. According to The Record newspaper, that includes his current U.S. Senate race, in which Booker “is tapping high-tech billionaires (and) Wall Street hedge-fund managers” to finance his campaign.
    That’s what makes the Times’ house editorial so important and such a critical historical marker in this new Gilded Age: beyond its endorsement of a particular corporatist candidate, it provides a rare example of the establishment press admitting to its plutocratic worldview.

    In that worldview, voters are not supposed to see politicians’ loyalty to corporations and the wealthy as the root of so many of the nation’s problems. Instead, we are supposed to see a politician’s unity with the “moneyed class” as an altogether desirable “asset” — no matter how much that so-called “asset” harms the country.
    http://billmoyers.com/2013/08/06/the-new-york-times-endorses-plutocracy/

    Reply
  9. We’ll be lucky if BO doesn’t really start another war somewhere to divert attention from NSA, IRS, etc. (WAG the DOG? Look it up.)

    Reply

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