Olbermann Timeline: How The Bush Administration Exploited Terror Threats For Political Gain, 2002-2008

In case you missed it, on Thursday night's "Countdown" Keith Olbermann presented an impressively detailed timeline he called "The Nexus of Politics and Terror," in which he chronicled the Bush administration's exploitation of terror threats for political gain. Olbermann's exhaustive account weaves from each revelation of an intelligence failure or a Democratic political victory to an almost immediate orange alert or "new threat" from al Qaeda.

The clip is 17 minutes long and entirely worth it, and its conclusion — "what we were told about terror, and not told, for security reasons, has overlapped considerably with what we were told about terror, and not told, for political reasons" — is a dutiful summary of the past six years.

Watch:

Comments

[kellygrrrl]

I find Keith O to be the most relevant and honest voice on TV these days. We the People really owe him a huge grateful round of applause.

[bikerdude]

When we feel this way, we should let MSNBC know. I know that there are a number of neocon followers trying to get him ousted. I love the way he can step on Matthews when Matthews starts slobbering innuendos...

[charlietuna11]

ARE THERE ANY PEOPLE ON OUR PLANET EASIER TO FRIGHTEN THAN AMERICANS? THE BUSH/CHENEY TEAM HAVE US CONSTANTLY ON ALERT.IF THERE CORRECT, THE ISLAMIC RADICALS ARE FAR MORE DANGEROUS THAN THE 2ND WORLD WAR GERMANS, JAPANESE, ITALIAN FASCISTS COMBINED.THE COMMUNISTS WHO HELD HALF OF EUROPE IN THIER RUTHLESS EMPIRE AND THREATENED THE WORLD WITH THEIR NUCLEAR CAPABILITIES FOR HALF A CENTURY WERE PANSIES COMPARED TO TODAYS THREAT. JUST LOOKED AT THE STAGERING WW2 FATALITIES, 25 MILLION MILITARY DEATHS, 37 MILLION CIVILIAN DEATHS.IVE NEVER BEEN TO GOOD IN THE FIELD OF WEIGHS AND MEASURES, BUT IT SEEMS TO ME THAT THE CASUALTIES IN WW 2 WERE CONSIDERABLY HIGHER. I DO HAVE TO ADMIT THOUGH THAT WW2 WAS A WAR WE HAD LITTLE CHOICE IN FIGHTING. I NEVER HEARD FDR OR HST STRUT AND CALL THEM SELVES WAR PRESIDENTS LIKE GWB DID FOR HIS FIRST THREE YEARS IN OFFICE. WE HAVE TWO COWARDS IN THE WHITE HOUSE WHO HAVE NEVER BEEN ANY WHERE NEAR A BATTLE FIELD, NEVER BEEN TO A MILITARY FUNERAL, RARELY VISITED A V A HOSPITAL UNLESS IT WAS A PHOTO OPT FOR THE EVENING NEWS RUNNING TO CONSERVATIVE TALK SHOWS TELLING AMERICA THOSE THAT DONT SUPPORT THE CONTINUED DYING OF AMERICANS IN COMBAT ARE UNPATRIOTIC. HOW UTTERLY PATHETIC WE AMERICANS ARE TO FALL FOR THIS B.S.

[PopeRatzo]

Geez, guy. I agree with what you say, but could you please lay off the Caps Lock button?

An internet post that's all in caps is the equivalent of a psychotic screaming at you on the street that the world is going to end. I mean, the world may actually be ending, but it's just hard to take seriously someone who's screaming and spitting in your face.

[Annette]

I don't know if I agree, I make it a point of honor not to listen to screamers, either on the street corner or on a blog. The only exception is if it is prefaced with "My cap lock button is stuck"
I just make the assumption that they are irrational.

[PioneerKing]

The fear tactics will gear up again this summer and become more frequent the closer the Nov. election day gets.

[Alexande]

using fear propaganda ought to be a felony. Thank god were getting rid of these people soon.

[bikerdude]

To me, its like yelling "fire" in a crowded theater. It would be interesting to test that theory in court. Especially when the war president lies to get is point across.

[brooklyncitizen]

Here is a link to an article in this weeks New Yorker on the "Water Cure".

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/02/25/080225fa_fact_kramer

An excerpt:
The United States, throughout its emergence as a world power, had spoken the language of liberation, rescue, and freedom. This was the language that, when coupled with expanding military and commercial ambitions, had helped launch two very different wars.. ...The brief campaign was pitched to the American public in terms of freedom and national honor (the U.S.S. Maine had blown up mysteriously in Havana Harbor), rather than of sugar and naval bases, and resulted in a formally independent Cuba.

The Americans were not done liberating. Rising trade in East Asia suggested to imperialists that the Philippines, Spain’s largest colony, might serve as an effective “stepping stone” to China’s markets.

U.S. naval plans ... led to a decisive victory against the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay in May, 1898. ... Commodore George Dewey returned the exiled Filipino revolutionary Emilio Aguinaldo to the islands. Aguinaldo defeated Spanish forces on land, declared the Philippines independent in June, and organized a government led by the Philippine élite.

During the next half year, it became clear that American and Filipino visions for the islands’ future were at odds. U.S. forces seized Manila from Spain—keeping the army of their ostensible ally Aguinaldo from entering the city—and President William McKinley refused to recognize Filipino claims to independence, pushing his negotiators to demand that Spain cede sovereignty over the islands to the United States, while talking about Filipinos’ need for “benevolent assimilation.” Aguinaldo and some of his advisers, who had been inspired by the United States as a model republic and had greeted its soldiers as liberators, became increasingly suspicious of American motivations.

In the next three years, U.S. troops waged a war to “free” the islands’ population from the regime that Aguinaldo had established. The conflict cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of Filipinos and about four thousand U.S. soldiers.


THis is about 100 years ago...I guess this is what the US' McCain means about being in Iraq for 100 years...they've done it before.

This Iraq invasion is not about Bush or the Republicans; it is about US' rampant capitalist interests that perpetually grant license to invade sovereign nations and brutalize their people...and Americans remian indifferent.

The particularly strking similarity is the use of torture the "water cure" and the Congress'/Gov't refusal to address it within the legislative process

[Annette]

History is a great teacher. I find that America has done many things to be ashamed of and some to be proud of.
It sure doesn't seem like we are becoming any more moral or any more unselfish.

[ConcernedAboutRFuture]

I'm not surprised.... actually, I remember all the lunacy.

I lived waaaay up north then and whenever I'd visit friends in the NYC area, I would hear stories of people buying gas masks, air tight tents, etc. Having had NO tv, I wasn't privy to the propaganda.... and laughed every time I heard a more extreme story of yellow alert, orange alert, red alter, green alert, purple alert... I couldn't believe how gullible people were and how fortunate I was to NOT have a TV.

[Annette]

Remeber when we were going to protect ourselves from radiation with plastic sheets and duct tape. What utterly amazed me was the confirmation of the stupidity of Americans, thousdands ruched right out and bought them.
If anyone had ever attended a science class they would have known that neither of these items would do squat against radiation. Might as well try to fight it with a tennis raquet. Of course in America where science is sneered at so that children can be fed the newest religious myth I really shouldn't have been suprised.

[desmirl]

Olberman is just leading the parade that will result in even more Republicans being chased out of Washington DC than were chased out in 2006. His insight is terrific--he tells the truth--and the Reichwing of America simply can't stand it.

[citizenofmars]

There are literally hundreds of video cameras posted all about the Pentagon. Someone, somewhere has a film of the missle hitting the building on 911. Please send it to Olberman...

[eyecon]

"Someone, somewhere has a film of the missle [sic] hitting the building on 911"
__________

I have seen film of an airplane hitting the Pentagon on 9/11/01. That was part of the attack that Bush was warned of in August, right? And this is germane to the fear/political nexus because . . . ?

[winoohno]

BRAVO KEITH! Many of us who are enlightened, educated and aware know of this government's long history of lying and deceiving the public for its own sinister reasons.

Why do people lash out at Keith for bringing this story to light? It appeared he had his facts in order, so why the hostility?

Why isn't there hostility towards the Government? Why don't we ask them about some of the facts uncovered in this report? Isn't the mainstream media (with a few exceptions) averse to challenging the Bush Administration? Averse is probably charitable -- they are either scared or apathetic -- either way, it doesn't bode well for the American people.

[johnnyjust]

In light of his previous opinions his current opinions cannot be taken seriously. He has discredited himself.

[kroses98]

Keith Olbermann is a genious, and the Right-Wing is scared to death of him! No more proof is necessary, than the myriad of idiot "Paid TROLL Propagandists" assigned to this site to do their dirty deeds, especially on "Keith Stories!" Know what? IT DOESN'T WORK! WE STILL LOVE KEITH, & HIS RATINGS PROVE IT!!!

[indyny]

Who said this:

"What are you going to believe, me (propaganda), or your own eyes (truth)?"

[TomSutpen]

I believe Redd Foxx said it first, about 50 years ago.

[roncraw]

I was a nightly watcher of Keith,no more.His anti Hillary rants every night are unbecoming and uncalled for.

[TomSutpen]

Well, he has to be consistent. If he's going to blast one cheerleader of a neocon agenda for endless bloodshed (Pres. Bush), he can't give another one (Sen. Clinton) a free pass, can he?

[RonNYC]

Frankly, considering Hillary's campaign, I think Keith has been restrained.

[kroses98]

AMEN, RonNYC, AMEN!!!

[Annette]

Hw hasn't ranted as much as Hillary should have. She is pretty silent on the vote on the bakruptcy bill, her vote on Iran. She has lost ground because of running a campaign based on the belief that she was owed the nomination. No American citizen is owed the nomination. She has been dismissive of the public, she has refused to explain her votes, she has only when she absolutely has her back to the wall been willing to talk to the lowly citizens. When I went to one of her speeches that was exactly what it was, no questions, no discussion. She spoke and got polite applause some of it was enthusiastic. The campaign has been handled ineptly, I don't know if it was her or her advisers. But her diferentiation of Americans worthy to hear her (big states) and the people that don't matter (little states) was a whopping mistake. We are all Americans and if Clinton doesn't want to talk to us because our state isn't very large I don't plan to reward her for it. I drove 900 miles to hear her speak. Obama I drove 34 miles to hear. She is paying big salaries to thetop people in her campaign, has whiffed through millions. What does that say about her ability to handle a big budget. She is running for president, criticism goes with the territory.

[MichaelO]

O for President!!! Keith O, that is!

[neoprimordial]

NO! We need him in the fourth estate. A press without Olbermanns is no press at all, and we're all the lesser for it.

[PerryWhite]

I didn't see it and I didn't miss it.

[hollyo]

yeah, keep that head buried in the sand...

[RightBrain]

Nexus? Is that what he is calling this 16 acre hole in Manhattan? A nexus?

Keith Olbermann personifies the Left wing of America: pernicious, fatuity-belching, inane, and inimical.

They don't have a prayer in November.

[TomSutpen]

By what spectrum of opinion can you call Keith Olbermann a Leftist? He's no more than a mainstream liberal.

[foghornleghorny]

Wanna bet? It'll be 2006 all over again. Get used to it, Mr. 29%er - you're time is over.

[Shaddup]

No, 1/2 brain, he's pointing out the hole in bush's story.

[RedWhiteandBrooklyn]

"They don't have a prayer in November."

And WHOSE pres'nit has the 17% approval rating? Typical troll: unable to adapt facts to reality.

[MACS]

.
Perhsps you can explain why the primary elections have witnessed twice as many Democrats than repub-LIE-CON voters.
.

[PoliticalPolyanna]

Wow. It's like a Tom Clancy plot.