IP: Fwd: misunderstanding the threat

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2001 15:06:19 -0700 (PDT)
> From: frank millheim jr <millheif () yahoo com>
> Subject: misunderstanding the threat
> To: farber () cis upenn edu
>
> Dave,
> Interesting reading pointed out by a rant at The Spike Report at 
> <http://ojr.usc.edu/content/spike.cfm>http://ojr.usc.edu/content/spike.cfm
>
> Sure, it's more 20/20 hindsight to point out that Johnson was dead wrong, 
> but to see *how* dead wrong is a bit disturbing. Both of the frontline 
> interviews (linked to in the rant)are interesting as well.
>
>
> ==============
> <http://ojr.usc.edu/content/spike.cfm>http://ojr.usc.edu/content/spike.cfm
>
> OPEN MOUTH. INSERT FOOT. KEEP TALKING.
>
> Anyone wondering how America's intelligence community could have been so 
> spectacularly blindsided by last week's terrorist attacks should look at 
> an essay written two months ago by former CIA officer and State Department 
> counterterrorism specialist Larry C. Johnson.
>
> In a July 10 New York Times Op-Ed entitled (ouch!) 
> <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/10/opinion/10JOHN.html>"The Declining 
> Terrorist Threat," Johnson snickers at the idea of terrorist attacks on 
> U.S. soil. "Americans...seem to believe that terrorism is the greatest 
> threat to the United States and that it is becoming more widespread and 
> lethal," Johnson writes. "They are likely to think that the United States 
> is the most popular target of terrorists. And they almost certainly have 
> the impression that extremist Islamic groups cause the most terrorism. 
> None of these beliefs are based in fact."
>
> "[E]arly signs suggest that the decade beginning in 2000 will continue the 
> downward trend" in deaths from terrorism, the confident expert continues. 
> America's irrational fears can be blamed on irresponsible politicians and 
> military and intelligence experts desperate to justify their agency 
> budgets. Also to blame (of course): sensation-seeking journalists.
>
> Interviewed for PBS program "Frontline" last Wednesday, Johnson admits no 
> error and continues his 
> <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/interviews/newjohnson.html>incisive 
> analysis: "What's clear is...[bin Laden] is willing to use violence to 
> destroy what he believes, what he genuinely believes, is evil." Now, 
> that's what I call expertise.
>
> Johnson downplayed the bin Laden threat in an 
> <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/interviews/johnson.html>earlier 
> "Frontline" interview.
>
>
>
>
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