THE NEW AL QAEDA THREAT

Jim Hightower

Apparently, America no longer needs an extensive homeland security network to detect whether our people are under heightened risk of another al Qaeda terrorist attack. Rather than spending those billions of dollars, officials can henceforth merely listen to the tummy gurgles of Bush's homeland security chief,
Michael Chertoff.

Mike recently declared that he has a "gut feeling" that our country is facing an "increased risk" of terrorist strikes this summer. Hmmm... I wonder what the terrorist-alert color code is for "gut feeling?" Sort of a puke green, perhaps. As the top security official for one Republican governor put it: "A gut feeling is not the way to convey information to hundreds of thousands of first responders across this country."

While Chertoff's gastro-intestinal system rumbles, George W keeps insisting that all is well because he is focused on defeating al Qaeda. In Iraq, that is. " The same folks that are bombing innocent people in Iraq," Bush recently declared, "were the ones who attacked us in America on September the 11th."
Now that claim gives me a tummy ache, because, of course, it's not true. The real al Qaeda, the one that did attack America, is nowhere near Iraq. Osama bin Laden and group are safely ensconced in the remote vastness of Western Pakistan, where they have prospered and steadily gained strength ever since Bush chose to divert our nation's soldiers, money, reputation, and focus to his disastrous misadventure in Iraq.

Meanwhile, Bush's own top intelligence analysts have issued a new report saying that it is al Qaeda in Pakistan – not Iraq – that poses the real threat to America. Indeed, they conclude that bin Laden's group has been able to rebuild and enhance its ability to endanger us because of Bush's occupation of Iraq.
With George believing in imperial fantasies and Chertoff focused on his gut, no one is safe!

"Bush Distorts Al Qaeda Links, Critics Assert," The New York Times,
July 13, 2007
"If U.S. drops the ball, terrorists drop the bomb," The Austin American Statesman, July 16, 2007
"Al Qaeda stepping up efforts to enter the United States," The Austin American Statesman, July 13, 2007
"Chertoff's Gastronomy," Center for American Progress Action Fund, Progress Report, July 13, 2007