I guess we should have predicted this. After all, in the minds of many in the mainstream media, history began on March 20, 2003, when America invaded Iraq; unless absolutely necessary, all prior events relating to terrorism are to be ignored.
As such, we shouldn’t be at all surprised that a New York Times front-page story about the recent thwarted terrorist plot in Great Britain tied the event to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, the reference to Lebanon was extraordinarily specious, as this plan clearly has been in the making for many months, and hatched well before the recent escalation between Hezbollah and Israel.
Alas, consistency and logic aren’t important to America’s press anymore, especially three months prior to a crucial election. With that in mind, the following sentence won’t shock even the least cynical of NewsBusters readers: “This is the latest in a series of conspiracies apparently rooted in the disaffection of young, British-born Muslims, many of Pakistani descent, who cast themselves as part of a jihadist struggle against Britain, which they see as an outrider of the United States in Iraq, Afghanistan and now Lebanon.”
Par for the course, right? After all, prior to March 2003, every Muslim in the world was incredibly happy, and held absolutely no malice or ill-well for Western democracies.
However, the following casual reference to British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s vacation might raise a few eyebrows:
"Prime Minister Blair had left for a Caribbean vacation last weekend after delaying his plans because of the Lebanon crisis. His office said that he had briefed President Bush on the situation. British politicians in general refused to be drawn into what has become a familiar public debate about whether Britain is a target for terrorists because of its alliance with the United States."
Hearken back twelve months to August 2005 when publications like the New York Times were filled with utter disdain for America’s chief executive having the audacity to be on vacation when a hurricane hit the mainland even though he was probably only a few hundred miles away from the eye.
Conversely, since America’s press love Mr. Blair, I guess he gets a pass for being on holiday during a national crisis.
