

US issues travel alert, will close embassies due to al Qaeda threat - boatontheocean
http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/02/politics/us-embassies-close/index.html

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aimatt
Funny how Snowden gets asylum in Russia and the next day Al Qaida becomes
pertinent again. Smells fishy.

~~~
CrazedGeek
Well, Al Qaeda was a tad pertinent last week, but the news was drowned out by
a woman having a baby and a man having pictures of his penis published online.

[http://www.businessinsider.com/recent-prison-breaks-are-
fuel...](http://www.businessinsider.com/recent-prison-breaks-are-fueling-al-
qaedas-global-comeback-2013-7)

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mrt0mat0
How did they get this information about the attack? According to the NSA, the
leaking of confidential data to the World last month allowed terrorists to
avoid their spying techniques. Apparently it wasn't as big of a hit as they
portrayed. shocking.

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ferdo
The US government is going to attack itself again and blame "terrorism".

~~~
krapp
When did the US government attack itself before and blame terrorism?

~~~
ferdo
The Gulf of Tonkin Incident is a prime example.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_incident#Distort...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_incident#Distortion_of_the_event)

~~~
dmix
Jesse Ventura and other conspiracy theorists love quoting Gulf of Tonkin.

Claiming 'False flag' is the new trendy phrase since 9/11 loose changers lost
all credibility.

~~~
ferdo
> conspiracy theorists

The Gulf of Tonkin being used as a lie to manipulate Americans into the Viet
Nam War is historical fact, not a "theory".

~~~
dmix
Yes I said mentioned by theorists. Used as justification for modern theories
such as the one you just posited.

I agree with the general sentiment of military industrial complex promoting
fear to boost their own budgets. That's a natural self-interest like all power
structures financed by public influence. But I doubt it's a direct collusion
by agencies to deceive the public. I have a feeling they believe their own
bullshit.

It's easy for humans to justify incorrect things to themselves, ala
confirmation biases. Very similar to why conspiracy theories spread.

~~~
ferdo
> I have a feeling they believe their own bullshit.

Some of them do believe their own bullshit. They're not any less of a threat
to us than the ones that don't believe the BS but are down with the program
because they're getting paid.

~~~
trevelyan
Sorry, but people who are skeptical of state justifications for militarism are
by definition less of a threat to peace than those who support imperialist
policies.

~~~
ferdo
I think one of us is misunderstanding the other's position.

~~~
trevelyan
I don't understand the equivalence. People who are opposed to violence are
less harmful than people who are not, regardless of how "crazy" you consider
their beliefs.

~~~
ferdo
If one is opposed to violence but still depending on a livelihood from an
organization that depends on violence to realize its goals - be it a gang, a
government or a military - then one might not be as opposed to violence as is
thought.

~~~
trevelyan
I see. Sorry for misunderstanding.

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chiph
This may be a legitimate threat, but the loss of trust caused by the NSA
debacle means that someone is likely to ignore it.

