Cross-posted from Antiwar
They lied us into war, and now they're back on television
The "BS" in CBS is well-earned by this CBS News story speculating on the alleged near certainty of a terrorist attack launched by ISIS -- the Islamist group now rampaging across Iraq -- against the continental US. Headlined "Will ISIS Plan a 9/11-style Terror Plot Against the US?" it is filled with the opinions of various "experts" and habitual warmongers whose exhalation of hot air is no doubt contributing to global warming.
The usual suspects are cited: Sen. Lindsey Graham, the War Party's answer to Richard Simmons, shrieks "the seeds of 9/11s are being planted all over Iraq and Syria," while Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Oceania), who is giving up his seat in Congress for the right-wing radio talk show circuit, is honing his demagogy by declaring "I guarantee you: this is a problem that we will have to face, and we're either going to have to face it in New York City or we're going to face it here."
This is willful ignorance: ISIS, the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria," has been expelled from Al Qaeda by the central leadership for, among other things, defying the late Osama bin Laden's directive that the main target must be the "far enemy," i.e., the West. And while Al Qaeda's "core" leadership, under Ayman Zawahiri, has modified bin Laden's internationalist strategy since the original leader's demise, ISIS has completely reversed it. Al Qaeda envisions a global "caliphate," but ISIS has already declared itself to be a state or "caliphate" encompassing both Syria and Iraq.
This may seem like an arcane matter, but in fact the strategic split has led to armed combat between the official Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria and ISIS. It also underscores the fact that ISIS is a menace in the regions it controls, but of little consequence outside it. Yet it is necessary for the War Party to trumpet the alleged "threat" to New York City in order to build support for a renewed effort to pacify Iraq: thus the outcry from the neocon peanut gallery that the "homeland" is in dire danger.