Never let it be said that the CIA is unwilling to do its part to 'protect' an American nation of 318 million people spread out over 3.71 million square miles.
A BBC story that lacks any internal substantiation asserts today that "the Islamic State (IS) militant group may have up to 31,000 fighters in
Iraq and Syria - three times as many as previously feared. (italics added)"
The story is part of a wider set of announcements gearing up for U.S. military action in Syria and environs. On Wednesday, president Barack Obama announced, for example, a willingness to use American air power to help root out and destroy the IS -- Islamic State -- movement. By some convoluted logic, IS poses a direct threat to the United States.
As with al Qaeda before it, few if any specifics attend on IS' nefarious intentions in Cleveland or Mobile. The media provide enough information to frighten people, but not enough to inform them. It is easy to blame Osama bin Laden for the terror attacks in the United States on Sept 11, 2001, but it is less popular to recall that after the attacks, bin Laden denied any involvement despite previous attacks for which he gladly shouldered the public-relations responsibility. Only later did this leader of an organization guesstimated to number 200-2000 claim responsibility.
Let's see: If IS numbers 50,000, that means that the danger to U.S. 3.71 million citizens may exist, but also can be called small ... small enough to stop using paranoia as a means of running a government. True, diversionary tactics (tactics that cost untold millions) can divert attention from difficulties that actually afflict the nation, but still ... just because fear is a possibility does not mean it is credible or deserves to detract from serious problems.
Fear is so earnest and easy.
My copy of 1984 was borrowed and in the way of books, gone forever. But my recollection was that it presented a roadmap for governance by paranoia.
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