Delivered in the Times
The US and British governments remain engaged in a long and complicated struggle against terrorism. The notion that the intelligence services in Pakistan, or elsewhere, twiddle their thumbs and await the most electorally helpful moment at which to grab a major al-Qaeda leader is absurd. The criticism initially made of the decision to raise the terror alert in America — that it was a suspiciously disproportionate response to material that was two or three years old — was itself simplistic. Recent information on fresh al-Qaeda activity also played a role in this decision. And it is ludicrous to imagine David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, ordering arrests to overshadow a parliamentary committee’s report.
It takes a broad swing at both the unrelenting and idiotic cynicism about terror alerts and the spurious assertions that advances made in the war against terrorism have somehow been politically timed (which would in a different time, have been dismissed as crackpot conspiracy theories). This article is a must read.
Intelligent, succinct and more importantly right. No doubt I shall open the paper tomorrow to find an article by Simon “We have nothing to fear but fear itself” Jenkins, entitled “Why I’m not scared of terrorism alerts”.
Later
John
Posted by John Swaine at August 5, 2004 03:31 AM | TrackBack