A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL

Even the Christian Science Monitor, which tends to cover the news with relatively less administration bias than other mainstream papers, couldn’t help falling for the bait, yet again.

"Another blow to Al Qaeda in Iraq: Iraqi officials captured the No. 2 leader of the terrorist group," reads the Monitor headline [1]. One blogger noted that this was the 39th "top or near the top" al-Qaeda official [2] captured or killed in Iraq – and the violence only gets worse.

In fact, over the weekend, when the mainstream media once again fell for the PR hype that the Busheviks were making progress in the war in Iraq by capturing a "key" al-Qaeda figure, Iraq descended further into the heart of darkness. More than 30 mutilated male bodies were found in and around Baghdad and at least 7 "coalition soldiers" were killed.

The media has been through this cycle of PR stunts by the Bush Administration so many times before – you know, the "We finally got one of the the top guys and the violence will diminish now" PR announcements – that you would think that the press would at least put the word "alleged" in front of "Number 2 al-Qaeda Leader in Iraq."

Not that it would matter, if you were even to believe that all these killed or captured men are "top" al-Qaeda members, it’s of little importance to the carnage in Iraq. What is going on in that nation now is a civil war, in which al-Qaeda plays only a secondary role, by all accounts except for the Bushevik Ministry of Propaganda.

Meanwhile the threshold has been crossed: more American men and women have now been killed in Bush’s ill-conceived wars than the number of those who died on September 11.

And right now our Gis are dying because the Bush Administration can’t admit a dreadful and horrific mistake. They are dying because they are cannon fodder for a fall election that is going to culminate in some grand finale of fear (the exact nature of which, only Karl Rove and Cheney know). They are dying because they are occupiers in a nation where two Islamic sects are slaughtering each other – and sometimes our soldiers just happen to be in the way.

The lack of skepticism on the part of the mainstream media as another "top" terror leader was arrested leads one to believe that Rove is still in charge of the media train called "Fear Express."

The 24-hour blitz coverage of yet another "blow to the terrorists" was nonsensical. It makes no sense, because it will have no impact on the civil war in Iraq, the deaths of our soldiers or Iraqis. It’s a political announcement blown totally out of proportion to its impact on the bloody chaos. After all, weren’t we supposed to see violence reduced hundreds of times before, most notably with the capture of Saddam Hussein, the killing of his sons, and the killing of Zaqarwi?

Karl Rove is going for broke, playing the fear card to the extreme for the third time around in a national election.

Everyone knows that the "news events" such as the weekend’s arrest are unfolding according to a timetable of sorts. Everybody knows that there is going to be some fear mongering event shortly before the November election that will put the Democrats on the defensive.

It won’t have to be true; it won’t have to be verifiable; it will only have to be terrifying enough in its packaging to attract the usual media frenzy that loves fright fests.

And it will only have to go unchallenged through the end of voting.

The media is supposed to be the mediator between an event and our emotions. It is supposed to give us news tempered by reason and a reasoned perspective on the news. But many years ago, it abandoned that role – and now it is just a hotwire into the mosh pit of our emotions. And Karl Rove is the guy that puts the two wires together and starts the electrical jolt – again and again.

Will the Democrats have run enough focus groups and come up with enough contingency plans to be ready for the big jolt of fear coming our way?

Will they be able to ensure that this time fear will strike out?

If not, we should be prepared for full darkness to set over America.

If Rove succeeds, it won’t be morning in America; it will be mourning for America.

A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL

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