The Omega Letter Intelligence Digest
 

Vol: 33 Issue: 5 - Saturday, June 05, 2004

al-Qaeda Relying on 'Tunnel Vision'
by Jack Kinsella

According to recent US intelligence reports, al-Qaeda is planning
'something big' -- on the scale of September 11 -- inside the United
States sometime in the next few months. It was fascinating to watch the
media pick apart the warning issued by Attorney General Ashcroft last week
when he issued the terror warning.

Most questioned the timing, complaining that the warning was in some way,
'politically motivated' -- although nobody said how -- or that is was a
'scare tactic' -- after all, the terror color code bar wasn't changed,
etc., etc.

After carping about the messenger, his motives, questioning the
intelligence behind the warning, and so on, the media lost interest
altogether and the story faded away.

Recent intelligence reports indicate al-Qaeda operatives are still trying
to get commercial pilot training.  Intelligence 'chatter' led to the
announcement of a BOLO (Be On The Lookout) alert for seven al-Qaeda
operatives inside the United States.

The Seven are still out there -- you'd think that they'd be all over the
news.  They aren't. What reporting there has been has all been centered on
John Ashcroft's 'political motives' for issuing the warning in the first
place.

Documents obtained during the arrest of an al-Qaeda-linked terrorist in
the Philippines contained information on how to make chemical weapons.

Philippines National Security Advisor Norberto Gonzales made the
disclosure to reporters in Manila May 22.  He said the documents provided
"a look into the mental framework of terrorists. What they really want is
as many casualties as possible."

The International Institute for Strategic Studies recently issued a report
that said al-Qaeda has pretty much reconstituted its network and finances
and has at least 18,000 operatives hidden away in more than sixty
countries.  Many of al-Qaeda's new operatives speak perfect English and
look European, rather than Arab.

"The Madrid bombings in March 2004 reinforced the perception that al Qaeda
had fully reconstituted, set its sights firmly on the U.S. and its closest
Western allies in Europe and established a new and effective modus
operandi that increasingly exploited local affiliates," said IISS Director
John Chipman.  "al Qaeda must be expected to keep trying to develop more
promising plans for terrorist operations in North America and Europe,
potentially involving weapons of mass destruction."

In addition, the IIS says that al-Qaeda has about 1,000 operatives
deployed throughout Iraq.

Assessment:

All week, the networks have been running non-stop tributes to the heroes
of D-Day.  On D-Day, 2,500 Americans lost their lives in what was called,
"The Longest Day," assaulting the beaches that began the invasion of
Europe and ended with the destruction of the Nazis.

The invasion of Normandy took place sixty years ago tomorrow.  It is
fitting that we remember the Greatest Generation, and I've made no secret
of my heartfelt admiration and gratitude for my father and his
comrades-in-arms who ensured my freedom.

BUT . . . it hasn't yet been THREE YEARS since al-Qaeda killed THREE
THOUSAND Americans in a single morning, on September 11, 2001. And while
we remember D-Day as if it were yesterday (as we should) we seem to
remember September 11 as if it were sixty years ago.

In the coming months, al-Qaeda will find itself in a target-rich
environment.

There is a G-7 Summit upcoming in Turkey.  The Democratic National
Convention is in Boston this summer; the Republican National Convention is
in New York this fall.  (Interestingly, this is the first time in 150
years that the GOP has chosen New York to host its convention.)

The IIS report also said that al-Qaeda plans to continue to target
Westerners and aid the insurgency in Iraq until the Islamic network is
capable of massive attacks. The think tank said al-Qaeda is also
designating so-called 'soft' targets that encompass Americans, Europeans
and Israelis.

To the media, the enemy isn't al-Qaeda, it's the Bush administration.  The
all-out effort to drive the Bush administration from office in November
has created a kind of tunnel-vision.  Instead of being center focus,
al-Qaeda is somewhere on the periphery.

Did YOU know any of this?  Probably.  But you wouldn't if you got your
news from the mainstream media and missed Ashcroft's live news conference.

What we have here is an object lesson in how to create a strong delusion.
We've been lulled into complacency by three years of conditioning aimed at
more at ending George Bush's career than Osama bin-Laden's.

Most Americans have pretty much put September 11 out of their mind as an
aberration, something that may have happened once, but somehow, it is
inconceivable to them that it really might happen again.

The result of this conditioning is the 'tunnel vision' effect that has pit
more Americans against their government than it has against the enemy. The
propaganda machine is in place and functioning, just in time for the
Master Deceiver.

"Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things
cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience." (Ephesians
5:6)