Fear factory: Threats, real and…expedited

There is a standard story retold many times in the history of horror comics - pulp magazines with titles like Tales from the Mausoleum or House of Shadowy Mysteries or Rent-Controlled Apartment of Terror. The story involves a protagonist determined to frighten a rival or enemy to death…occasionally into simply going away, but usually to death. To this end, the protagonist takes the guise of some monster (ghost, vampire, werewolf, demon) reputed to exist nearby. The ruse always succeeds; the rival dies of fright or, more rarely, runs away. The protagonist chuckles and removes his disguise….and suddenly finds himself confronted by the real monster (ghost, vampire, werewolf, demon). Blood-curdling screams ensue. Horror comics are big on comeuppance and poetic justice.

That properly frames this incredible (literally) week in which a terror message of questionable origin briefly commanded our attention, only to be dramatically upstaged by a threat whose provenance, at least, is undisputed. In the wake of the televised return of Osama bin Laden, the ABC broadcast of a terror video by the man calling himself Azzam the American has been all but forgotten. I remain as skeptical as anyone about the authenticity of the Azzam video, but it’s the route that this message took to American television screens that should not be forgotten. The shadowy nature of the video’s ABC source - “a source known to have Taliban and al Qaeda contacts in the tribal regions of Pakistan” - the role of gossip monger Matt Drudge in leaking the existence of the tape, and possible government involvement in Drudge’s getting this information in the first place: all of this smacks mightily of gaslighting, of political manipulation if not outright fraud, and should be questioned.

As for the official reaction to the bin Laden tape, Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo tells us all we need to know about the political spin:

The president’s communications director even told reporters that the only acceptable thing would be for John Kerry to observe a twelve or more hour moratorium on attacks on the president, even though the president should be allowed to continue attacking John Kerry.

That is what they’re playing for. (That’s also the reason the Bush campaign didn’t allow the Kerry campaign to be briefed on the soon-to-be-released tape until late in the day. The president knew about it early in the morning.)

I’m honestly not sure which is worse: the Bush administration’s cynical attempt to link Kerry to bin Laden, or the blatant play to general fear in calling for Kerry to cease campaigning for a half-day of…what, exactly? Mourning? Paralysis? Are we in a national emergency? Is the fact of a new bin Laden message supposed to bring the country to a halt?

Literally incredible. Nevertheless, it’s tailor-made for a president and administration whose main selling point has been fear, fear, and more fear.

There’s one last thing about bin Laden’s message that requires attention that it will probably not get in the days before the election: the statement that al Qaeda has targeted America not “because they hate our freedom” - Bush’s simplistic and remarkably little-challenged explanation for terrorism - but because they oppose our policies abroad. To accept the statement uncritically is to validate bin Laden’s murderous work, but the lesson is there for the wise observer.

But after the injustice was so much and we saw transgressions and the coalition between Americans and the Israelis against our people in Palestine and Lebanon, it occurred to my mind that we deal with the towers. And these special events that directly and personally affected me go back to 1982 and what happened when America gave permission for Israel to invade Lebanon. And assistance was given by the American sixth fleet.

[...]

We found no difficulties in dealing with the Bush administration, because of the similarities of that administration and the regimes in our countries, half of which are run by the military and half of which are run by monarchs. And our experience is vast with them.

And those two kinds are full of arrogance and taking money illegally.

The resemblance started when [former President George H.W.] Bush, the father, visited the area, when some of our own were impressed by America and were hoping that the visits would affect and influence our countries.

Then, what happened was that he was impressed by the monarchies and the military regimes, and he was jealous of them staying in power for tens of years, embezzling the public money without any accountability. And he moved the tyranny and suppression of freedom to his own country, and they called it the Patriot Act, under the disguise of fighting terrorism. And Bush, the father, found it good to install his children as governors and leaders.

American support for Israel’s hard-line policies toward the Palestinians, the historical support for oppressive and corrupt governments ranging from Pahlavi’s Iran to the present-day Saudis, and the occupation and political manipulation of Iraq: these types of actions, these policies, provide the kinds of motivation that radicals can easily exploit. Islamist jealousy of Western affluence and contempt for Western values are powerful influences, yes, but vague and formless without the motivation caused by temporal actions whose effects on disaffected millions are simply ignored.

We provide that motivation, in our deeds, every day.

And that, friends, is how real monsters are made.