Friday, September 22, 2006

October Surprise?

Karl Rove has bragged to conservative websites that an "October Surprise" is in the works. Perhaps not coincidentally, the rightist WorldNet Daily has a follow up report on Al Qaeda's claimed plans for a nuclear attack in America. According to journalist Hamid Mir, Al Qaeda bigwig Abu Dawood has revealed that the attack will be spearheaded by one Adnan el-Shukrijumah, subject of an FBI search.

Gary Buell wonders, correctly, why Dawood would reveal that name and this plan. I've found no web references to Dawood pre-dating Mir's story. Is Dawood really an Al Qaeda leader? Is someone fooling Mir? Is Mir fooling us? Does Al Qaeda exist? Or is this whole nuke plot a fake, designed to be "foiled" in a wave of G.O.P.-friendly publicity? (I doubt that even Rove would be bold enough to brag in advance of a real nuke plot.) Alas, I can't think of a good pre-emptive move Democrats might take.

8 comments:

Larry said...

Lets hope there is enough room at the White House for all those terrorist to hide out, until Bush can claim he prevented another attack on America.

Maybe plastic faced Laura can bake steaks for all the terrorist while they are waiting on Bush to capture them.

gary said...

As for Rove's October Surprise I think a more likely candidate would be an attack on Iran. See the article in the Nation at http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061009/lindorff

Anonymous said...

How about just the element of suprise? Even if there isnt' one.

Miss P.

Anonymous said...

"A good pre-emptive move Democrats might take?"

Run a betting pool for the Republican October fiasco: The timing of the announcement the number of people arrested, and a tie breaker, the name of the ring leader. A bit like a sports or baby pool.

Just after the announcement by the department of Homeland Security have a second press conference with a big shinny prize, like a hummer, and have a really big press conference with lots of democrats in attendance to give the prize to the game show winner. Really ham it up, balloons, hand shaking, runners up, etc. Make it look like democrats won an election by picking the right date.

They cant really saprize us if we are taking bets on it. It will be old news.

The only question will be which democrat got closest to nailing the scam on the head and where they are going in their new shinny car. Come on this is a game show nation!

We have to frame it as just a republican game show with lots of lights and predictable stuff behind curtain number one.

My bet is its not an attack. Personally I think they have the big O in the bag. Holding him some where in a secret CIA jail. Did that with the last one, held him months before the announcement. If I had Mr O, I would keep him on ice until I needed the positive news. Why else did the Northen tribes strike a deal with Islamabad? It looks to me like the tribes give Mr O to Islamabad in exchange for being left alone. Islamabad then give Mr O to Mr Bush in exchange for being left alone.

My bet is not just Mr O, but a full hand of cards, lets say Mr O and 5 other MASTERMINDS, to show two weeks before the election. Just long enough to double down with that play cowboy dead or alive stuff.

Anonymous said...

Quote of the Day
"They rediscover bin Laden every two years right before the election. If you had a business strategy that worked all the time that was premised on scaring the living daylights out of people, you just keep doing it."

-- Bill Clinton, in an interview on Bloomberg Television's Political Capital with Al Hunt, about the Republican strategy for the midterm elections.

Anonymous said...

I doubt that any October surprise will alter the fact that Republican blood that will be running in the midterm elections. The capture of Osama might lift the Republican percentages here and there by a few points, but not enough to hold onto majorities in the House and Senate. Not even a nuclear attack on Iran will help; in fact, it might hurt worse.

But. A homeland attack, followed by a nuclear attack on Iran, might give Bush an excuse to postpone the elections indefinitely.

Another scenario is that their attempts to game the election either fail or are too obvious, and so the attack on Iran comes AFTER the elections. The world economy would be staggered as oil goes to $200 a barrel, hell breaks loose in the Mideast, and Bush THEN suspends the Constitution and the seating of the new Congress.

Because I have to tell you, these guys are not giving up power.

Anonymous said...

How about this for a surprise:

Saddam Confesses under extreme torture tactics...admits WMD storehouse and hands over memos indicating involvement in 9/11 planning. Verifies authenticity of Niger documents. Names Clinton key player.

Miss P.

Anonymous said...

Oh, here are some October surprises: Just in from NYT (Buzzflash link):

"The estimate concludes that the radical Islamic movement has expanded from a core of Qaeda operatives and affiliated groups to include a new class of “self-generating” cells inspired by Al Qaeda’s leadership but without any direct connection to Osama bin Laden or his top lieutenants."

Also read as, "So now it's ok to invade anyone anywhere."

"It also examines how the Internet has helped spread jihadist ideology, and how cyberspace has become a haven for terrorist operatives who no longer have geographical refuges in countries like Afghanistan."

Also read, "Goodbye net, goodbye privacy."

"In early 2005, the National Intelligence Council released a study concluding that Iraq had become the primary training ground for the next generation of terrorists, and that veterans of the Iraq war might ultimately overtake Al Qaeda’s current leadership in the constellation of the global jihad leadership."

Also read, "We knew that, that's why we're there."

Miss P.