August 6, 2013
Antiwar.com

The Al-Qaeda Threat in Perspective

by Patrick J. Buchanan

Apparently, the threat is both serious and specific.

The United States ordered 22 diplomatic missions closed and issued a worldwide travel alert for U.S. citizens.

The threat comes from Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, AQAP, the most lethal branch of the terrorist organization. . . .

Yet, in 2010, not one death here in America resulted from terrorism.

That year, however, 780,000 Americas died of heart disease, 575,000 of cancer, 138,000 from respiratory diseases, 120,000 in accidents (35,000 in auto accidents), 69,000 from diabetes, 40,000 in drug-induced deaths, 38,000 by suicide, 32,000 by liver disease, 25,000 in alcohol-induced deaths, 16,000 by homicide and 8,000 from HIV/AIDS.

Is terrorism the killer we should fear most and invest the lion's share of our resources fighting?

Ten years ago, anti-interventionists warned that a plunge into the Islamic world would produce what it was designed to prevent. . . .

Otherwise they create a caliphate and come over here and kill us all.

After 58,000 dead we left Vietnam. How many Americans have the Vietnamese killed since we left?

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"'Al Qaeda Itself Does Not Exist'," The Wisdom Fund, June 21, 2003

Greg Miller, "U.S. officials believe al-Qaeda on brink of collapse," washingtonpost.com, July 26, 2011

Trevor Aaronson, "How the FBI's Network of Informants Actually Created Most of the Terrorist Plots 'Foiled' in the US Since 9/11," Mother Jones, October 9, 2011

[In recent days, Snowden has been occupying the high ground. The acceptance of his application for sanctuary in Russia was a coup. His further release of the existence of more NSA intelligence programs spiced the achievement. His detractors had to pull one up on him - and now, enter the unspecified, limitless nature of a "global terror alert"--Binoy Kampmark, "The NSA and Global Terror Alerts," counterpunch.org, August 5, 2013]

Spencer Ackerman and Dan Roberts, "US embassy closures used to bolster case for NSA surveillance programs," theguardian.com, August 5, 2013

Patrick L Smith, "There is no terrorist threat: The feds want you to think there is, compliant media goes along," salon.com, August 9, 2013

[As an organization and threat, al-Qaida barely exists. But as a name, al-Qaida and "terrorism" have become the west's handy universal term for armed groups fighting western influence, corruption or repression in Asia and Africa. Al-Qaida is nowhere - but everywhere.--Eric Margolis, "Return of Al-Qaida," ericmargolis.com, January 11, 2014]