July 8, 2006

We’re in an amazing period of our government dreaming up possibilities and announcing them as plausible. Not only plausible, but caught in the nick of (something that resembles, but is not exactly, yet possibly could be) time.

Lacking any demonstrable progress on the terrorist-front, other than not having had a second attack, the administration's dream-sequences have begun in preparation for the November mid-term elections. No second attack is like elephant-repellent. Either it works or, possibly, there are no elephants.

Let’s be specific about what is at stake. The Republicans absolutely must retain control of the House and Senate. To fail to do so would provide the trembling touch necessary to bring down their entirely extralegal house of cards. It’s probably unlikely that President Bush would be brought up on impeachment charges, should he lose his outright control of the legislative machinery. But it's not out of the realm of possibility.

The Vice President and Secretary of Defense are entirely another matter. For his part, Cheney has orchestrated so many constitutional offenses, and done it with such an arrogant lack of regard for the laws of this country as well as international norms and treaties, that he’s headed for indictment. Rumsfeld's crimes are arguably more those of omission than commission, but he’ll be brought to account for a great deal of what went wrong and why in Iraq.

Thus, in the event Democrats regain control, the final two years of George Bush’s presidency are likely to be a combination of undoing what has been done and uncovering the means to those ends. One can hardly overestimate the importance for Republicans of not letting that happen.

Two weeks ago the FBI made a big splash out of arresting six men in Florida who (it charged) planned to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago.

A more unlikely crew of airheads could hardly be found and the unraveling of evidence since is far more Laurel and Hardy than al-Qaeda. The FBI had mounted a sting, putting a supposed al-Qaeda member in touch with the group.

"Do you have any evidence that Mr. Batiste (leader of the inept) has met with any terrorist organizations from the Middle East?" Wylie (lawyer for Batiste) asked.

"No, I do not," FBI Special Agent Tony Velasquez responded.

"Other than the person posing as al-Qaida, is there any evidence of contact with anyone from al-Qaida?" Wylie asked.

"No," Velasquez responded.

Well, we’ll see where that goes, but these yo-yos wanted money, explosives, an SUV and uniforms before they were prepared to mount their attack, an all-out ground war against the U.S. government. A ground-war of six.

When this FBI intervention of terrorist plotting brought more late-night giggles than serious evidence, it was quickly followed by the New York Subway Bombing Plot. This time Mayor Michael Bloomberg showed up to stuck his personal neck out to announce the ‘thwarting’ of another FBI dreamscape.

Thwarting is the latest buzz-word. We are no longer uncovering or intervening, we are thwarting on a number of continents.

Purportedly, this particular thwarting involved an international roundup of men who sort of might have wanted to maybe think about the next stage of a possible but not entirely thought-out concept that could have perhaps resulted in a next stage of activity or, if not activity, then the possibility of activity in the even they still wanted to do it at a later date.

Eight "principal players" were identified in an alleged scheme to suicide-bomb subway trains under the Hudson River.

FBI agents believe the plan was to load a truck with explosives. That's what they said they believed. No one explained how one drives a truck into the subway and under the river. Maybe jump the turnstile?

"This is a plot that would have involved martyrdom, explosives and certain of the tubes that connect New Jersey with Lower Manhattan," said Mark Mershon, the FBI's assistant director in New York. Officials said the FBI monitored internet chat rooms and cited the arrest of a key suspect by Lebanese authorities as a significant breakthrough.

Well, if I was planning a terrorist attack, an internet chat-room would certainly be my venue of choice to keep things secret. None of which matters much, because the issue is the headlines, not what actually happened or who may or may not be indicted or if there even was a verifiable conspiracy.

FBI: Thwarted plot involved 'martyrdom'

Guys picked up off the streets of Afghanistan have disappeared into Guantanamo for years without trial or even charges. They have undergone the most horrific torture. We are unable to find out anything about them.

Why now, within a two week period, are we treated to the terrorist plot du jour? Expect what will no doubt be a steady stream of ‘thwartings.’

Could the reason be that the Democrats are meant to look ‘soft’ on terror? Could it be the November mid-term elections? Could it possibly be Karl Rove winding up his fastball, slightly outside and high?

Could be.

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