The GOP Politics Of Fear

With John McCain trailing in every recent political poll, sometimes by as many as 12 to 15 points, and McCain gaining little traction on any important issue dealing with the economic mess or other important issues about all the GOP can do is to ramp up an artificial terrorism fear campaign to distract voters from $4 gas or other issues that favor change in Washington. It is only on the issue of national security in which John McCain and the Republican Party seem to hold some sway with voters. It is also very unfortunate that even the FBI, which should be an independent police agency, seems to be sometimes almost loaning some partisan support to this new GOP fear campaign, even if it comes inadvertently.

The FBI has issued a new bulletin to 18,000 law enforcement agencies claiming that Al Qaeda may be planning to use weapons of mass destruction against U.S. targets. And for some reason, federal officials leaked information to ABC News ahead of time claiming that Al Qaeda will release a new video on Friday encouraging radical Jihadists to use weapons of mass destruction such as chemical, biological or nuclear weapons to attack the West.

All of the absurdity of this should be quite apparent here. Al Qaeda is only a small organization worldwide, and it's main followers such as Osama Bin Laden are in hiding in caves or small villages, most likely in remote mountainous regions of Pakistan. Bin Laden lives under constant threat of death from remote controlled American drone Predator aircraft or other threats of death, and is hardly a free man by any means. At some point, this international criminal will be captured or most likely killed. It's only a matter of time. Other than some small conventional explosives attacks in Iraq with car bombs, etc., Al Qaeda has never proven that it has the technology for a widescale WMD biological, chemical or nuclear attack. Never. It's merely bluster for Al Qaeda to even claim such weapons technology nonsense.

Even states such as North Korea have proven just how difficult it is for an awful country to develop nuclear weapons, and that's even with having a number of active nuclear reactors. In fact, it is highly likely that the single claimed North Korean nuclear underground test was faked by the awful government of dictator Kim Jong Il by using a large conventional explosion of TNT because of very small seismic readings and a lack of nuclear tell-tale signs by western spy satellites. For Al Qaeda with no known nuclear reactors, etc. to even claim to threaten the West with some sort of nuclear menace is just pure and complete nonsense.

Biological weapons also involve a high level of technology, and it is mainly only states such as the U.S. and Russia that have the technology to experiment in such evil devices. The small bands of extremists who support Al Qaeda have never proven any technological means to be able to develop such weapons. Yet federal officials will chime in and seek to heighten American public fears about such a hollow nonsense threat because John McCain is way down in the polls.

And perhaps the most absurd of the three threats is that of chemical weapons. Chemical weapons can actually be no more technologically advanced than simple pesticides. That's right, ant or roach sprays. In fact, many of the WMDs that Bush claimed that Saddam Hussein might have once had were just large 55 gallon metal drums of pesticides. Chemical weapons are so low tech and such a poor weapons that they are usually only fatal to a handful of persons standing within just a few feet of the ground zero where the pesticide is released into the area. That's hardly a fearful weapon. Even the more advanced mustard gas that Saddam had used to kill Kurdish villagers is simply a low budget WWI type weapon that is bulky and very difficult to deliver in lethal doses. It is simply silly to fear that Al Qaeda would be able to launch some sort of a chemical attack in the U.S. because of the size and bulk of such an attack and the fact that it would only kill a handful of persons at it's very worst.

Certainly Al Qaeda has suffered huge losses and setbacks at the hands of American forces in both Iraq and Afghanistan. It is probably a sure sign that Al Qaeda has been substantially weakened that they make such nonsensical threats involving weapons technology that they have no means whatsoever to develop or possess. With the American July 4, coming up in a few days, you can almost expect Al Qaeda to spend a $1.59 to buy a VHS videotape to record some silly threats that they have no means whatsoever to carry out to hope to inspire some fear and wreck the picnics and fireworks celebrations of some Americans who actually might believe that Al Qaeda is going to target them eating hot dogs or drinking a beer with their relatives in some backyard fireworks celebration somewhere.

With the McCain campaign headed on near certain trainwreck path to defeat in November, the best hope of some in the GOP is to inspire some absurd Al Qaeda fear campaign, no matter how silly the claims of a WMD threat to Americans actually are. In fact, Al Qaeda never warns before it actually really attacks. It's always been a surprise attack such as 9/11 or in Iraqi towns and villages with a car bomb or suicide bomber. Whenever Al Qaeda makes a threat, then you know it isn't going to happen. It's just nonsense meant to scare a few folks and for Al Qaeda to act like they're still some deadly force to be feared. It's a sure sign of their weakness when they make threats and have no means whatsoever to make good on those threats.

Certainly every American needs to recognize that tighter security measures at airports and other areas is not only good enough to prevent most actions by any possible terrorists, but also most likely by most criminals as well who deal in drugs or illegal firearms, etc. Whatever serves to prevent crimes at airports or other public places is probably good enough to stop most likely terrorists as well. That part of national security is good and rational. But the fear of nonsensical WMD threats is not.