July 20, 2005

Two days before the London subway bombings, Fed-Master Alan Greenspan flushed nearly $40 billion in liquidity into financial markets. The sudden activity was an astonishing departure from the current policy of tightening interest rates to stifle inflation. The Chairman has not explained his erratic behavior, but there’s growing speculation that Greenspan may have had information about the likelihood of terrorist attacks and decided to "preemptively" head-off a run on the markets. As it turns out, his actions may have been a positive factor in stabilizing the market following the incident, (check: The Cunning Realist; "following the money" for more on the Fed’s unusual action:
http://cunningrealist.blogspot.com/2005/07/following-money.h
tml ) but that doesn’t address the larger issue of whether Greenspan had inside information that an attack was imminent.

Many people are unaware that the Federal Reserve gets information directly from the CIA. Perhaps, the level of "chatter" was sufficiently high to warrant the extraordinary measures. ("The Fed almost doubled its temporary pool in just a few days!") That doesn’t explain, however, why alarms were not raised in England. In fact, as Democracy Now reported on July 19, "London lowered the security threat just before the July 7 bombings".

Why?

The details now surfacing about the London bombings are familiar to those who have researched the anomalies surrounding September 11. In both cases the government version of events is shot with holes.

"Israel Insider" cites Mossad Chief Meir Dagan, in an interview with the German Newspaper Bild am Sonntag:
"The Mossad office in London received advance notice about the attacks, but only six minutes before the first blast, the paper reports, confirming an earlier AP report. As a result, it was impossible to take any action to prevent the blasts."
(from http://www.antiwar.com/blog/index.php?id=P2229 )

So, at the very least we have confirmation that Israeli Intelligence had some advance warning of the attacks. But, the Mossad’s announcement doesn’t square with other reports on the same day.

Just hours after the July 7 attacks, the Stratfor Intelligence Agency published an article "Israel warned United Kingdom of Possible Attacks" on antiwar.com that stated, "Israel warned London of the attacks a 'couple of days ago,’ but British authorities failed to respond accordingly to deter the attacks" and "While Israel is keeping quiet for the time-being, British Prime Minister Tony Blair soon will be facing the heat for his failure to take action."

The article concludes on a somber note, "The British government sat on this information for days and failed to respond. Though the Israeli government is playing along publicly, it may not stay quiet for long. This is sure to apply pressure on Blair very soon for his failure to deter this major terrorist attack."

The Stratfor report has gotten little attention from anyone except conspiracy theorists, but it is likely to resurface in connection to Greenspan’s inexplicable behavior and as the official story upheld by Blair and co. continues to melt-down under greater scrutiny.

The Blair narrative has taken full advantage of the "evil ideology" theory of terror and completely eschews the facts as they dribble in from the police investigation. At FOX News the government approach was clear from the very onset; they believed that the attacks were the work of suicide bombers, a theory that promotes the racial-stereotypes that appeal to FOX viewers. From the FOX perspective, this justifies pushing through Blair’s new regressive legislation, savaging civil liberties, and pursuing an endless war against Islamic extremism. Blair’s posturing has followed the speculative analysis of FOX in nearly every respect. Armed with nothing more than over-heated rhetoric and unsubstantiated claims, Blair has framed the bombings as an attack on "our way of life"; a spurious charge intended to fuel the public rage and incite violence against immigrants.

The fact that the "alleged" terrorists bought round-trip subway tickets, placed a "Park-n-Ride" ticket in the window of their car at the station, and didn’t strap the bombs to their bodies, has increased suspicion that the government’s story may veer substantially from the truth.

One of the suspects actually stayed out partying late the night before. Is that what one would expect on the last day of one’s life?
Another has an 18 month old baby, and still another had a baby on the way.
Men don’t commit suicide when they have kids on the way, despite Mr. Blair’s impassioned rhetoric. So far, the government version is laced with inaccuracies; a hopeless tangle of loose-ends, spurious allegations and blatant propaganda.

The myriad unanswered questions about the bombings suggest that we should reserve judgment about the real culprits before further investigation. Like 9-11, a disturbing pattern seems to be emerging of government officials manipulating public fear to advance their domestic policies and press-ahead with the war agenda. It’s easy to wonder about the real source of these terror-incidents when they always seem to benefit the same class of characters.
As the details leak out and drips and drabs, no one will be too surprised if the unanswered questions, misleading information and barefaced lies contradict the feeble demagoguery issuing from 10 Downing Street.

The Blair-Bush-Greenspan cabal may not have known it was "bombs-away" for poor London, but it is apparent that they knew a lot more than they are letting on. The primary tools of empire, fear and deception, are being invoked with ever-increasing precision and their manipulation is having a devastating effect on democratic institutions and global security. The only ones who continue to gain are the privileged few at the top of the political and economic pyramid.

Courtesy and copyright © Mike Whitney