“The convergence of globalization and technology has created a new brand of terrorism. Today, terrorist threats may come from smaller, more loosely defined cells who are not affiliated with al Qaeda, but who are inspired by a violent jihadist message. And left unchecked, these home grown terrorists may prove to be as dangerous as groups like al Qaeda.”

–Alberto Gonzales, June 23, 2006

“…the Attorney General held a press conference which I was watching as I came in on the plane to Chicago to announce the arrest of seven individuals in a cell in Miami, plotting among other things an attack on the Sears Tower here in Chicago. It is a very real threat. There are still people out there who are trying to do everything they can to kill Americans.”

–Dick Cheney, June 23, 2006

In the sense that someone out there wants to kill Americans, this could have been said about any time in all of American history. Today it is more true than before, more because of the Bush administration than despite it.

But the Sears Tower plotters? A “real threat”? “As dangerous as al Qaeda”? Please.

What we have here are seven idiots who made themselves a clubhouse. Did they want to do damage? Yes. Should they have been arrested? Of course. But were they enough of a threat to merit even one-hundredth of the media coverage they got? Not a chance.

These guys were never in contact with al Qaeda. They had set up a “karate school” where they reportedly did push-ups and “jumped over chairs.” Neighbors saw them as odd but unthreatening. Several months ago, they made contact with an “al Qaeda representative” who turned out to be an FBI plant. The informant then strung them along for some time, collecting information. The men had no funding, no weapons, no explosives–they even had to ask for boots, which is the only thing the FBI man gave to them. They made grandiose claims about their plans and plots, talking about a “full ground war” against the U.S., and carrying out attacks “just as good or greater than 9/11.” It was all talk, made by deluded morons.

In fact, there is even doubt about whether they tried to make contact with al Qaeda, or if the FBI sting operation presented them with the idea. The same is being asked about the “pledge of loyalty” they made to al Qaeda, which may have been the suggestion of the FBI plant. Reportedly they even got the pledge on film. One official described them as “bungling wannabes.”

So why was this made into a huge national news story? Why were initial reports blasting at full volume about a “terror cell” threatening to “wage war” and blow up the Sears Tower and many other targets? Why did this merit a planned, full-blown press conference with the Attorney General, an FBI Deputy Director, and the Assistant Attorney General? Why did the initial reports fail to mention the insignificant nature of the group?

Can you say “election year”?

That’s right folks. Apparently, the Bush administration knows that the public has caught on to the fact that the 2004 “terror alerts” were nothing but fake abuses of the national security system in order to stoke popularity for Bush, and if they tried that again, no one would buy it. So they do this instead: ferret out a lame bunch of bozos with delusions of grandeur, pump them full of ideas, get them to perform for the cameras like trained monkeys, then arrest them in a hailstorm of media attention. The result: people get scared again and think they should elect Republicans.

Welcome to the new version of the fake terror alert.