The politics of terror?

"The more I learn, the less I know, and all I know is it's all too much" - George Harrison, "It's All Too Much"

I really don't have a clue what to make of the current terror threats. Clearly Al Qaeda would love to hit us anytime, but especially around now. We're close to an election, close an anniversary of 9/11, and still quite vulnerable. However, I still can't help a heavy level of skepticism towards this administration's warnings. Maybe I'm hopelessly cynical towards this administration. Maybe I'm like the Republicans in 1998 refusing to believe that there was any possible motive for striking against Al Qaeda then aside from trying to draw attention away from Monica Lewinsky. As we now know, Clinton had very very good reason to try to attack back then, even if the attempt failed. It's possible that the current threats are entirely real, and the administration is properly warning the public... but too much of this seems too political to me.

Note:

• The fact that the latest terror alert occurred immediately after the Democratic convention, which could easily have been timed to mute any and all focus on Kerry's acceptance speech (in fact, it did mute the focus)
  
• Tom Ridge's famous words at the press conference a little over a week ago praising Bush's leadership while announcing that terror alert
  
• Rumors of a National Preparedness month that will be announced on September 9. (right after the Republican convention, and on a Thursday which just happens to maximize media focus)
  
• The fact that the RNC and the Bush campaign have used 9/11 imagery countless times in Bush's 2004 campaign
• Placing the Republican convention in New York and timing it as close to the anniversary of 9/11 as possible.
  
• Much of the information that supposedly triggered the latest terror alert came from a Pakistani operation to round up high-value targets, which many claim came from pressure from the White House to deliver a high value target specifically in late July (when the Democratic convention was being held). In fact, the Pakistanis delivered... on the day of Edwards' acceptance speech
• News that the White House, to bolster the claims of the legitimacy of the latest terror alert has possibly outed a double-spy embedded deep within Al Qaeda!?!?! (what is it with this administration and outing covert ops???)
  

I can post probably 15 more points without breaking a sweat, but these are all quite current. I haven't mentioned a thing about Iraq, about Chalabi, or... or... man, I this could go on for megabytes. I could also go Michael Moore on my readers (of which there are none) and point out that somehow usually when Bush's numbers are in danger of dipping below a certain point (usually 50% approval) there is something big which distracts the public (9/11, Saddam Hussein's capture, etc). Note, I don't neccesarily believe that is for the most part anything but coincidental. I don't happen to think that we're holding onto Bin Laden to announce it in late October.

Does this mean I think that nothing can be trusted from this administration... I honestly don't know what I think anymore. I do think the Michael Moore theory of creating a culture of terror is probably not one I subscribe to. I don't totally discount it, but I'm far from convinced. However, after all these years, of "Clear Skies" meaning clear-cutting the forests, of "Compassionate Conservatism" meaning nothing, of "No Child Left Behind" passing but being utterly underfunded to make the situation even worse for schools, of a "uniter, not a divider" only uniting world opposition against us, recent junk such as outing CIA agents for petty political attacks, having homeland security funds being distributed in such a way that rural environments which are FAR less likely targets for attacks getting far more funding per capita than urban centers which are legitimate targets such as New York and Los Angeles, lying about Jeb Bush having cats when he actually has dogs because it polls better, I find it pretty much impossible to take anything from this administration at face value.

I said it before, and I'll say it again: I hate this. I'm really afraid that people will die because of the cynicism, because eventually people will outright ignore a real terror warning. But there's no way around the fact that I think cynicism has been justified. True, I didn't have a lot of faith in this administration since it fought in the Supreme Court of the US arguing that accurate vote counts aren't as important as quick and smooth transitions of power, but I have tried my best to believe since September, 11. No matter how hard I've tried I keep being let down by this administration.

Al Gore has said this administration betrayed our trust. He's been heavily criticized for saying it. Unfortunately, I think Al Gore might be correct for many Americans. I certainly feel betrayal. I just hope we make it through this election and I hope we have a real transition of power and make it through in one piece. We so desperately need change now.