L.A. Terrorist Plot Thwarted?

Today's news is everywhere, but one of the better articles I found is from the International Herald Tribune.

You can find articles anywhere, but you can read the transcript of the President's speech here, courtesy of the President's website.

Today President Bush decided to disclose to the world the intricate recently declassified details of an alleged terrorist plot against the tallest building in Los Angeles. This plot, like the 9/11 attack, involved Islamic extremists hijacking a plane to fly it into a building. Surprisingly, he didn't just chose one of the excellent terrorist plots from the TV show 24.

Whether or not this attack was actually plotted or the real chances of it coming into fruition could be arguable but debate would be futile as you and I don't have any of the relevant details. However, we can discuss the timing of the announcement.

The White House explanation of the timing is that the details were recently declassified and are no longer relevant to current spying missions. But can we really believe this? We don't know the details of the government investigation of the Kennedy Assasination over 40 years ago but the President is going to disclose a thwarted terrorist attack only a couple years after the fact?

The liberal media is quick to assume that the timing of the announcement is political and intended to rally support for the Republican party as scandals of secret wiretapping and the increasingly unpopular occupation of Iraq threaten the Republican chances in the 2006 elections. However, the liberal explanation has a notable weakness. Bush loves to grandstand so why not bring up these details during the state of the union address a week ago. I am perplexed.

Presidents have used reports of imminent threats at times throughout American history when their popularity is low and public support for long term causes wanes for a lack of short term results. The Soviets had their finger on the big red button for forty years. Communists were disguised as Americans and poised for takeover. Japan was going to destroy the American economy if one more American bought one more foreign car. And now, Muslims will fly planes into your buildings if your support for the Republican foreign agenda lags behind their dreams of global influence.

So, you can't criticize the current adminstration too much for using fear for his political agenda, but you should take it with a grain of salt.