The Omega Letter Intelligence Digest
 

Vol: 35 Issue: 6 - Friday, August 06, 2004

Playing Politics with Terror: Revisting the 'Useful Idiot' Theory
by Jack Kinsella

New charges have been leveled against the administration to the effect
that the recent terror alert was politically motivated and based on four
year-old information.

On its editorial page, the ever-faithful New York Times on Tuesday said
that it was 'right' to step up security at the terror-prone sites, "But
it's unfortunate that it is necessary to fight suspicions of political
timing, suspicions the administration has sown by misleading the public on
security."

Then, on Thursday, a Times editorial raising questions about the terror
alerts noted that the White House had "expressed outrage at the suggestion
that there could be any politics behind any of its warnings, but the
president has some history to overcome on this issue...Some of the past
terror alerts have seemed aimless and happened when the Bush
administration would have benefited from a change in the political
conversation."

It also hit Tom Ridge, in his latest terror announcement, for doing "a
real disservice to himself, his president and the public by giving what
amounted to a campaign pitch for 'the president's leadership in the war
against terror.""

And the man who the Democrats initially hoped to put in the White House,
Howard Dean said on Sunday, "I am concerned that every time something
happens that's not good for President Bush he plays this trump card, which
is terrorism. ... It's just impossible to know how much of this is real
and how much of this is politics."

Two Muslims were arrested in Albany yesterday following a sting operation
that they apparently believed was a plot to import Stinger missiles into
the US.  One of those arrested is linked to Ansar al-Islam and Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi.

An arrest in Pakistan led to a massive sweep that rounded up a terrorist
cell in London that included a senior al-Qaeda operative named Abu Musa
al-Hindi.

"How much of this is real and how much is politics?", asks Howard Dean.

Well, the arrests are real. The foiled plots are real.  The only part that
was 'politics' was Dean's question.

Assessment:

I was amused to read the (dare I say it?) IDIOTIC conclusion drawn by
British Lefty Brendan O'Neill, said conclusion being widely shared by the
looney left in our own country.

"Cynical responses to terror alerts are - at least in part - a product of
the American and British government's wolf-crying antics in the three
years since the attacks of 11 September 2001. The public have become so
used to talk of an 'imminent' or 'inevitable' terror attack - which, thus
far, has not occurred anywhere in Britain or America post-9/11 - that they
greet each new alert with an amused sense of doubt."

The conclusion offered is, since there've been no successful terror
attacks post-9/11, that means the threat is being exaggerated, (rather
than the obvious fact that al-Qaeda's many efforts so far have been
foiled.)

The thing is, those who make the charges KNOW that is idiotic. But they
don't care.  They want to defeat George Bush.  (So does al-Qaeda)

Lots of people email me to tell me that calling somebody an 'idiot' is
unChristian.  Most include some comment that Jesus would NEVER say such
things.  (Sigh.  If you say so.)

"O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for
out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." (Matthew 3:7)

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto
whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within
full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness." (Matthew 23:27)

Lessee -- 'generation of vipers' 'hypocrites' 'unclean' 'evil' -- vs.
'idiot'.

Maybe this is a good place to review the origin and meaning of the term,
"useful idiots".

Columnist Mona Charen recently published a book entitled "Useful Idiots"
taking her title from Lenin's prediction that liberals and other
weak-minded souls in the West could be relied upon to be "useful idiots"
as far as the Soviet Union was concerned.

Saddam Hussein was able to rely on the 'ABB' movement to rally global
support for his regime.  Idiots like Rep. Jim McDermott [D-Wa]  and former
Rep. David Bonior [D-Mi] were extremely useful to Saddam Hussein when they
traveled to Baghdad and denounced their own government.

The fact they were also idiots is also borne out by their actions, which
prompted George Will to comment at the time:

"Not since Jane Fonda posed for photographers at a Hanoi antiaircraft gun
has there been anything like Rep. Jim McDermott, speaking to ABC's ``This
Week'' from Baghdad, saying Americans should take Saddam Hussein at his
word, but should not take President Bush at his. McDermott, in his seventh
term representing Seattle, said Iraqi officials promised him and his
traveling companion, Rep. David Bonior, a 13-term Michigan Democrat, that
weapons inspectors would be ``allowed to look anywhere.''

Will continues, "McDermott and Bonior are two specimens of what Lenin,
referring to Westerners who denied the existence of Lenin's police-state
terror, called ``useful idiots.''

The very accusation that the White House is playing politics with the war
on terror is an indictment of the accuser, but the accusers and their
supporters are so consumed with idiocy that they think nobody will notice
that THEY are the ones 'playing politics'.

Not to mention how useful those charges are for al-Qaeda, who share the
Kerry administration's goal of 'regime change' (a very 'useful' term)  in
Washington.

Only an idiot would adopt, either tacitly or openly, the adage that 'the
enemy of my enemy is my friend' as a guiding principle when that alliance
of convenience is with al-Qaeda.

Who leads America over the next four years transcends politics as usual.
It may well be an issue of national survival, which is why this election
is so important when viewed through the prism of Bible prophecy.

The Bible says that the global leader who settles the Arab-Israeli
conflict arises out of the revived Roman Empire, not the United States.

When the Russian-led invasion of Israel takes place during the Tribulation
Period, there is no mention of an over-arching military power that rises
to Israel's defense, as the US would most certainly do -- if the US were
here to do so.

But the Arab-Israeli conflict must CERTAINLY be solved -- and soon -- if
Israel is to survive.  Pandora's Box has been opened, and the nuclear
demons are out.  There is no putting them back.

And the stage is pretty much set for the Gog-Magog invasion -- an Israeli
strike against Iran could well be that first domino.  It is inevitable
that something must happen to prevent Iran from putting a nuclear warhead
on a long-range missile -- or Israel is doomed.

Set against the backdrop of Election 2004's theme, "Anybody But Bush", the
Big Picture grows more ominous -- particularly for the United States --
which is why this election is worthy of such intense scrutiny.

The character of the campaign, the selection of John Kerry as the best of
a bad lot, the almost unimaginable lack of concern for the long-term
well-being of the country provided it gets them elected -- these are signs
of what the Apostle Paul called 'perilous times'.

"For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud,
blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural
affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers
of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures
more than lovers of God." (2nd Timothy 3:2-4)

It is also a pretty fair description of the Kerry campaign platform for
Election 2004.

"And when these things BEGIN to come to pass, then look up, and lift up
your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. (Luke  21:28)