Fox Booby Hatch: Al Qaeda Linked to the California Fires? 
With the California wildfires blazing and over a half million residents forced to flee their homes, in Wednesday coverage of the disaster the specter of al Qaeda loomed as correspondent Adam Housley told "Fox & Friends" co-host Steve Doocy that he had received "hundreds of comments" from readers of his Fox News blog speculating about a link to the current tragedies.
As the discussion became more serious additional details were unraveled. An Arizona Republic story had revealed accounts of a memo from the FBI's Denver office concerning discussion with an al Qaeda detainee about a plot to set forest fires around the western United States.
A Fox anchor reported that the Arizona Republic report was from "five days ago." This comment no doubt sent scores of the programmed minions of the network that calls itself "fair and balanced" into heightened alert and preparation for an immediate al Qaeda attack and a message from Osama bin Laden.
Edwards and Juliano noted, "On Fox, that information became, `The June 25 memo from the FBI's Denver offices was reported three days ago, excuse me five days ago, by the Arizona Republic.'"
Something was left out of that Fox report. The same AP 2003 story further noted:
"Rose Davis, a spokeswoman for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, told the Associated Press that officials there took note of the warning but didn't see a need to act further on it."
Anyone wishing to hear the actual Fox report concerning potential terrorist involvement in the California fires can do so by visiting the RawStory.com site, where the footage is available.
With the Cold Warriors of post-World War Two led by Nixon and McCarthy the operative watchword was "Communist" and it triggered a visceral response among the faithful.
In current Bush White House and neoconservative vernacular the operative words are "al Qaeda" and "bin Laden".
The names might change but the game plan remains the same. The right is now aided in a way it was not in the Nixon-McCarthy years by the government's own propaganda outlet with Fox News where the operative phrase is, "We report; you decide".
Keith Olbermann also featured the "Fox terrorist flash" on his MSNBC program last night. One of his guests was Rachel Maddow of Air America.
They discussed, appropriately enough, paranoia and the American right.
KEYWORDS: Fox Mention of al Qaeda and California Fires, Adam Hously, Steve Doocy
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