AG Holder Dusts Off Bush-Era Scaremongering

Holder 'Up at Night' Over Vague Threats of Ill-Defined Terror

Despite articles touting a significant decrease in crime rates across the United States, Attorney General Eric Holder insists he is being kept up at night by the “growing threat” of Americans killing one another.

Of course evidence to the contrary is never a good reason to avoid a good scare story, and Holder’s is the familiar sort, the same claim that anyone, anywhere, at any time might be a terrorist who launches a major attack.

There’s an “alarming rise,” according to Holder, but really, when has there ever not been an official claim that there is an alarming rise in threats? They are the same old combination of loopy theories and invented plots ending with spectacular arrests.

Holder’s fears will almost certainly be somewhat salved by the news that the FBI is building a massive database which one day will include data on every American citizen who ever looked funny at a police officer. But until that day, we can expect more restless nights and more scaremongering days.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.