It's clear that the use of "Al Qaeda" as a descriptive for all terrorist activities is political. It's neither wholly true nor helpful in understanding and doing something about terrorism. All the use of Al Qaeda does is to direct the attention away from major cultural and political problems in the Middle East and Africa, American and European behaviors in those regions.
Finally we're seeing growing unease as mainstream media -- in the US and to a lesser extent in Britain -- adopt the political deception. It's misleading in the extreme and doesn't in the least serve "national security." Ignorance never does.
Take a look at the Washington Post, rushing in to codify and Al Qaeda-ize the latest attacks.
Although British investigators have not claimed al-Qaeda involvement in the latest incidents, officials here said they may constitute a "hybrid" phenomenon, in which al-Qaeda inspires and guides local groups from afar but establishes no visible operational or logistical links.
The connection, several officials said, is made through a growing network of al-Qaeda intermediaries and affiliates who are far removed from the organization's leadership.
"What is a direct link?" asked one counterterrorism official. "Is it couriers? Messengers?"
The latest "terrorists" have backgrounds as complicated and real as the Bush and British administrations are shameless. If they subscribe to and share bin Laden's anger, then we'd do well to figure out why his influence is so pervasive among intellectuals and professionals, not simply write off all angry Middle Easterners as misled masses, toadies and nutcases.
Attention has been focused on a group of nationals from the Middle East, who had not previously attracted the interest of security agencies.
Until now, cases of Islamist terrorism have involved mainly Muslims who were born and brought up in Britain. The alleged arrival of teams from abroad to carry out attacks, their identities unknown to the domestic law agencies, adds another dimension to the terrorist threat being faced in the United Kingdom.
Following the link between the attacks in London and Glasgow, control of the investigation was transferred to Scotland Yard. With the security alert staying at the highest possible level and warnings that another attack may be "imminent", police carried out 19 raids across the country, arresting nationals from Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Among those arrested was Mohammed Jamil Abdelqader Asha, a 26-year-old neurologist who was born in Saudi Arabia but is of Palestinian origin and was travelling on a Jordanian passport. He and his 27-year-old wife, a medical assistant, were arrested on the M6 in Cheshire, in connection with the attempted bombings in London.
Also under arrest was Bilal Talal Abdul Samad Abdulla, an Iraqi from Baghdad who arrived in the UK in April 2006. He is said to have been one of the two men in the Cherokee Jeep in the Glasgow airport attack, and is suffering from third-degree burns.
His companion, under arrest, is also from Iraq, while two other men, aged 25 and 28, arrested in Paisley yesterday, were said to be doctors from Saudi Arabia.
Reports on the identities of the London and Glasgow car bombers from the more reasonable Independent give us that taste of reality. If you're at all acquainted with our (British and American) histories in Iraq, Iran, Palestine, Lebanon and Saudi -- if you noticed that the alleged 9/11 perps were educated, middle-class Arabs -- you'll begin to get a glimpse of what's real and what's not.
By allowing the media to ascribe terrorism to one source -- largely to justify unjustifiable actions of the Bush administration -- we're inviting them to push our heads deeper into the sand.
Update: British government is backing off from any remarks about a possible Al Qaeda connection and says the media is "grossly exaggerating" the Prime Minister's remarks about AQ's role.
