Now, if you want be a little conspiratorial, try this

I remember the scene clearly, but unfortunately, I can't really date it. I think it was in the '80s, during the Reagan administration, and the US was undertaking some military exercises in the Persian Gulf. It was considered a bad idea because the area was tense and the maneuvers provocative, but the acolytes of the certifiable Lyndon LaRouche went well beyond that: They claimed that the deployment was part of a plan to initiate a nuclear war, in fact to launch a first strike.

(N.B.: The info on the link is more than fair to him, even favorable, in that it takes him seriously, but it was the least partisan one I could find.)

When the war didn't happen, the LaRouche people declared that the reason it didn't was because they had revealed the plot before it could be executed! Since they were talking about an intent to produce a worldwide nuclear holocaust, you might think they would feel some need to explain why people knowing about it two or three days in advance would be a deterrent, but alas, that was left for the rest of us to figure out.

It's in that light that I offer the following.

You are aware, of course, that

Attorney General John Ashcroft said at a news conference that intelligence reports and public statements by people associated with Al Qaeda suggested that the terrorist group was "almost ready to attack the United States" and harbored a "specific intention to hit the United States hard."

You are likely also aware that others have cast doubts on both the timing and the necessity of the warning, noting that there was no new information, the people named had been named before, and there wasn't even a change in the "terrorist threat advisory" level. Even Asscraft was reduced to saying "We believe the public, like all of us, needs a reminder" as an excuse for the hyperventilating pronouncements.

However, what you may not have noticed is this:

Panama City, Panama (AP, May 27) - Global intelligence and police agencies are on a worldwide hunt for terrorists with ties to places as disparate as Boston, Islamabad, and Panama City, part of a U.S. scramble to head off what officials fear could be a massive attack this summer.

So if there's an attack, they can say "we told you so" and if there's no attack, they can say "it was because our massive effort protected you." A win-win for the WHS*, yes?

Footnote: It turns out that Burnedland couldn't even do melodrama right, according to MSNBC for May 28.

In warning Americans to brace for a possible attack, Ashcroft cited what he called "credible intelligence from multiple sources," saying that “just after New Year's, al-Qaida announced openly that preparations for an attack on the United States were 70 percent complete.… After the March 11 attack in Madrid, Spain, an al-Qaida spokesman announced that 90 percent of the arrangements for an attack in the United States were complete."

But terrorism experts tell NBC News there's no evidence a credible al-Qaida spokesman ever said that, and the claims actually were made by a largely discredited group, Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, known for putting propaganda on the Internet. ...

The group has claimed responsibility for the power blackout in the Northeast last year, a power outage in London and the Madrid bombing. None of the claims was found to be credible.

"The only thing they haven't claimed credit for recently is the cicada invasion of Washington," said expert Roger Cressey, former chief of staff of the critical infrastructure protection board at the White House and now an analyst for NBC News.

I'd already mentioned al-Masri in connection to the Madrid attacks, noting then the assessment that the group might be "little more than one person with a computer trying to take credit for events." I'd suspect some chickenhawk attempt at real deviousness here, but then again, these are the same crack minds that apparently really bought Ahmed Chalabi's Just So Stories ("How the Saddam Got His WMDs"), so I'm not really sure.

Thanks to David Neiwert, noble proprietor at Orcinus for the tip.

*White House Sociopaths