Bombs, Lies and Videotape
I alluded in my earlier post about the 7 July London bombings post to the fact that because they were suicide bombs, no one could be brought to justice.
Now it seems there is someone who can be brought to justice after all. There were suspicions one of the bombers had survived and had fled the country, and that was confirmed today when al-Jazeera broadcast a video by admitted bomber Shehzad Tanweer.
“He says on the video: “What you have witnessed now is only the beginning of a string of attacks that will continue and become stronger.”
Police said the release of the video on the eve of the bombings’ anniversary was designed to cause “maximum hurt”.
Tanweer says in a Yorkshire accent on the film that attacks will continue “until you pull your forces out of Afghanistan and Iraq”.
The video, the release of which was announced on an Islamist website, includes a statement from Ayman al-Zawahri, al-Qaeda’s second in command, and American Adam Gadahn, also known as Azzam al-Amriki.
Gadahn is believed by US authorities to be running al-Qaeda’s propaganda operation.”
Exactly.
This is nothing but propaganda, which is made of hyperbole and distortion. The nature of it is to confuse with lies and half-truths, it’s what propaganda’s for.
This tape is just the usual bollocks from a bunch of criminals trying to make themselves look like warriors, no different from the rubbish put out by Aryan Nations or the like. More murderous willy-waving by imadequate men. As such it can be discounted by any thinking person. Unfortunately in some countries, (and I’m not naming names, let’s just say they think they’re Top Nation) thinking people seem a little thin on the ground these days.
The trouble with all this is when people believe it. That’s how these inadequate men gain power (and this time I am talking about you, Top bloody Nation) by convincing the gullible ( guess who again) to believe their hype. The international news media’s portraying of this criminal conspiracy to murder as a war is a gift to Tanweer and al-Qaeda’s aims and only serves to reinforce the propaganda value of the tape.
It’s all about the framing, stupids. Do you think the west has a monopoly on spin?
What we need to remember is that these are crimes, pure and simple. They’re global crimes , to be sure, which is new, but that still doesn’t make it a war.
What is additionally sad is that the casualties are not just the dead and injured and their families, to whom the release of this video must be an additional twist to the knife of their grief :
Mr Hussain said Tanweer’s parents would be “devastated” to see their son in the video.
“They are still trying to come to terms with what has happened and to see their son on screen will be torture,” he said.
