"Major" Bush Speech Reset the Terror Trap!

George Bush’s “Major Speech” Resets the Terror Trap!

Will America Take the Bait?
A TvNewsLIES Analysis

The best political weapon is the weapon of terror. – Heinrich Himmler

On the morning of October 6th, George W. Bush made a not-for-prime time “major” speech before a select group of supporters. For those unfamiliar with the National Endowment for Democracy, rest assured that it is a highly controversial, tax-supported group that tries to influence elections in foreign countries.   What a perfect audience for the President!

The speech was redundant and unremarkable, despite being hyped as significant’ and highly important.  There was little new rhetoric and not an iota of comfort for a nation consumed with concern about the morass and turmoil in Iraq.  There was, however a concerted effort to capitalize on a strategy that worked so well in the President’s rush to war in 2003: make them afraid.

The speech this morning was carefully constructed to prey upon the innermost fears triggered by the attacks of 9/11.  It pulled out every available stop in an effort to use those alarms to gain support for staying the course in Iraq.  The speech this morning was designed to once again lure Americans into the insidious and sinister Bushco Terror Trap.

OILING THE SPRINGS

In case you missed it, the tactics started early in the week. George Bush and Dick Cheney both got the word out last Monday:  Without provocation, Bush’s senior aides warned that “a quick exit for US troops could sow a deadly harvest of future terror attacks on US soil.”  At almost the same time, Cheney cautioned that Iraq could become a staging area for large-scale terrorist attacks on the United States if troops are withdrawn too early.  They had tossed the public some food for future thought.

The next opportunity came at Tuesday’s press conference.  The President was asked only ONE question about the war, yet he managed to repeat “terror” or “terrorist” SEVEN times during his exchange with reporters.  “We also got [sic] to continue to make sure we meet our obligations to prevent further terrorist attacks,” Mr. Bush reminded us.  “Iraq is a part of a global war on terror,” he insisted, without challenge or explanation, as usual.

The stage was set, subtly and craftily to try to win back waning support for the war.  The main performance would be on Thursday, when the President would give his `”significant” speech to the nation. It would be “the latest shot in a volley of addresses on Iraq by top administration figures” ahead of a referendum on Iraq’s draft constitution on October 15.  With little fanfare, but with calculated measure, the Trap was being put into place.  It was oiled and refurbished and ready to go.

And then it was almost speech time, and the nation waited.  They could not have known that the Terror Trap was alive and well and about to be elevated to a new level of prominence.
 

THE EARLY SUCCESS

Before analyzing the Thursday speech, let’s take a look back at the glory days of The Terror Trap.  It was first assembled and used immediately after 9/11.  The Bush cartel took full advantage of a nation stunned by tragedy to cash in on their fears.  References to terror and more terror were inserted into every major speech.  Terror alerts and terror threats were etched into the American psyche, and the invasion of Iraq was hyped as the first major battle in the War against Terror.

The Trap worked brilliantly, at least for a time.  And then, as the lies that led to war began to lose their luster, the strategy had to change.  The Terror Trap was put aside in favor of a series of other justifications – each different, each deceptive, and each designed to defend the bloodshed and the horror and the chaos in Bush’s failing war of choice.  Twenty seven different rationales for Bush’s war were documented in a brilliant thesis by Devon Largio in 2004*, and each, in turn, was accepted as reasonable by most of the nation.

It is important to note that Largio’s study concluded that, “one…rationale …became very important to official sources and the media: the imminent threat that Iraq posed, though the words “imminent threat” did not appear in official statements of the administration [it] became the catch-phrase in the media and the public.”

Not surprisingly, fear of another strike on American soil lured millions of Americans into the Terror Trap.  Convinced that Saddam Hussein was a serious menace, they gave a trembling nod to the invasion of Iraq. Every high level spokesperson in the Bush administration had warned Americans that annihilation by mushroom cloud or biological warfare or some other WMD was only moments away.  Aided and abetted by the corporate media, the administration used fear of terrorism as an effective strategy to garner support for the illegal and immoral war it had planned long before 9/11.

In their rush to war in Iraq, the Bush/PNAC war planners learned one thing for certain: fear, however illogical, is a formidable persuader.  The Terror Trap worked like a charm the first time around. This morning it was taken out of mothballs and set again.