|
Fake Terror: Jose Padilla, not so dirty after allthe Truth will set you FreeJan. 30, 2007 |
Popular 
ADL Urged Congress to Pass FISA Law Spying on Americans to 'Protect Israel'
Rep. Thomas Massie Warns Congress is Trying to Pass Hate Speech Laws to Outlaw Criticism of Israel
'Sniper Seen on Roof Overlooking Pro-Palestine Protest' at Indiana University
Mike Johnson Pushes Debunked Lie That Israeli Babies Were 'Cooked in Ovens' On October 7
Claim Jewish Student Was 'Stabbed In The Eye' by Pro-Palestine Protester Draws Mockery After Video Released
|
 It is interesting how every now and then, the unwitting masses are blasted by a media wave of fearmongering, with announcements of impending doom and terror being made to remind us of our mortality, just to have that same media quietly admit that there was nothing to justify the hysteria. It happened this summer with the liquid explosions scare that resulted in ridiculous anti-juice security measures in airports. And more recently with the warnings of a holiday terror surprise based on pure speculation. So it is not surprising that one of the older apparitions of the terror threat to civilisation, the dirty bomber, is turning out to be squeaky clean compared to the monster he was initially presented as. As always, at the time of the scare, the media hypes the threat and stokes fear and hysteria, in order to leave a lasting impression in the group mind. The impression is that there is a real enemy, 'Islamic terror', and thus the need to support the 'War on Terror' abroad and to give up freedom for security at home. What the media then does is downplay the revelations that the hysteria was based on official lies, biased reporting, and fearmongering speculation, but by then the damage is done, the propaganda goals achieved, and most will be none the wiser. So what do we now know about Jose Padilla, the man who allegedly wanted to blow up a radiation dispersing bomb on American soil? Blogger Umar Lee puts it down concisely in his piece 'Our Brother Jose Padilla': The New York Times ran a piece on this brother [Padilla] yesterday and it basically outlined how the government lied on this man, scared the public into thinking he was a dirty bomber, held him for 3 years in an unknown location doing Allah [God] knows what to him without any legal represenation, and in general treated him like any right-wing junta treats its political prisoners.The New York Times reported: His criminal trial, scheduled to begin late this month, will feature none of the initial claims about violent plotting with Al Qaeda that the government cited as justification for detaining Mr. Padilla without formal charges for three and a half years...The question is: a conspiracy to do what? Who is the conspiracy theorist here? The government that jails people for the crime of intending to do something there's no evidence they intended to do? Or those who point out that maybe there's another reason for the arrest, solitary confinement, sensory deprivation, and abuse of Jose Padilla as an 'enemy combatant' who happens to not have engaged in any combat? But wait! The government HAS evidence. Conversations recorded show chatter about holidays to Busch Gardens. Surely Padilla and his co-conspirators were plotting something when they said: "We take the whole family and have a blast," Mr. Hassoun said. "We go to, uh, our Busch Gardens, you know ... You won't regret it. Money-back guarantee."Two guys talking about having a blast (oh, the wicked connotations!) with their families on a family trip to Busch Gardens. Surely this is all code for plotting terror! Frankly, Padilla's prosecutors have nothing against the man, and the recorded conversations prove nothing against him other than that he, like most Muslims, supports Muslim causes in other countries. This is twisted into support of 'global jihad', while at the same time, the Times reports that "Mr. Padilla does not discuss violent plots" in any of the recordings. So once again, why is the man in prison? I already answered my rhetorical question at the introduction to this blog. The only reason I can see for the hype of the 'dirty bomber' is to instill fear in the masses, demonise the designated enemy, and to pull a victory in the war on terror out of a magician's hat. Umar Lee also points out other reasons for parading Padilla as the boogey-man-enemy-combatant: It is quite clear from this case that the goverment wanted to set an example; to show that they could take someone off the street and put them in jail and deny them of all of their rights and the legal process. Who better to do this than a Puerto Rican ex Latin King from a poor family. How much sypmathy was a spic raghead gonna get from mainstream America, they figured, and they were right as most of America remained silent.An example indeed! An American, on American soil, and this can happen to him!? Watch out, citizen, the US is potentially one large Camp X-ray, and any dissidents are potentially 'enemy combatants'. Before I conclude, I want to ask some questions noone seems to be asking. Jose Padilla was arrested in May 2002 as a suspected 'dirty bomber', and after 3 years without being charged, all allegations against him have been dropped, except for the charge that he intended to 'provide material support to terrorists' in the 1990s. And the only evidence against him is some recorded phone conversations. From the 1990s. Yet he was arrested in 2002, after the 1990s passed, after his 'suspicious' conversations from 1997 about going on holiday, after he did nothing that can be linked to those conversations. And why were the conversations of Jose Padilla and Adham Hassoun being recorded as early as 1997? Way before 9/11 and the subsequent 'War on Terror'? Could it be because Mr Hassoun was 'an outspoken Palestinian', and thus was already being monitored by the intelligence services? The official claim is that Hassoun and others were being spied on because they had phone calls to or from Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman's phone line, itself tapped as the blind Sheikh was being convicted/framed for involvement in the 1993 WTC bombings and a 1995 plot to blow up buildings in New York. But that frame-up, which spawned other 'terrorists' such as Hassoun (for conversing with framed 'terrorist' Abdel Rahman) and Padilla (for conversing with someone who conversed with framed 'terrorist' Abdel Rahman), is a case in the exposure of fake terror for another day. ----------------------- UPDATE: (7/Jan/2007) ----------------------- In today's New York Times, in an opinion piece titled The Imperial Presidency 2.0, we find the following on juggling accusations to keep the 'dirty bomb' alive: Deborah Sontag wrote in The Times last week about the sorry excuse for a criminal case that the administration whipped up against Jose Padilla, who was once -- but no longer is -- accused of plotting to explode a radioactive “dirty bomb” in the United States. Mr. Padilla was held for two years without charges or access to a lawyer. Then, to avoid having the Supreme Court review Mr. Bush's power grab, the administration dropped those accusations and charged Mr. Padilla in a criminal court on hazy counts of lending financial support to terrorists. |
