A former CIA officer documents a dramatically inflated terrorist threat

Evidence

Bin Ladin’s ‘jihad’ is not distinguished in the text from ‘jihad’ in general as described earlier in the statement as a duty of all Muslims. Importantly, ‘Membership in the Bin Ladin network is defined by an adherence to a shared ideology.’ It is ‘an association of individuals linked by a common past,’ a past of anti-Soviet ‘jihad.’ — Sherene Razack, Casting Out, 99 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

But once the operation was blown, I think, the CIA quickly mounted a bigger campaign that was biological only in the sense that living creatures were involved. … The 1952 effort quickly became a psychological-warfare campaign, or a nerve-war campaign—a campaign to cause fear and confusion and revulsion. — Nicholson Baker, Baseless- My Search for Secrets in the…, 1203 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Security documents conflate general Islamic jihad with Bin Laden’s specific campaign — Sherene Razack, Casting Out: The Eviction of Muslims…, 99; The CIA aimed to create fear through deception operations. — Nicholson Baker, Baseless- My Search for Secrets in the…, 1203

Broader Connections

• Security documents conflate general Islamic jihad with Bin Laden’s specific campaign #corroborates (0.85) — Sherene Razack, Casting Out, 99
• The CIA aimed to create fear through deception operations. #corroborates (0.78) — Nicholson Baker, Baseless- My Search for Secrets in the…, 1203