[joeclarke]

I'm not an adherent to the grassyknoll philosophy of life, nor am I generally cynical, but...

I have to admit that the Berg tape did not seem to make much good sense or made sense for bad reasons.

You would think that even an amateur terrorist understands how easy it is to push the buttons of the American population in the wrong way (from the terrorist's perspective) with such a video. Also, el Queda generally goes for the big bang with intent to threaten our society rather than focusing on threatening individual safety. If they wanted to use the this style of terror (ie nabbing US citizens anywhere in the world and executing them on tape) they could have done so at any time.

The release of the tape did seem a tad convenient as a way to shift the focus off those absurd prison photos and to steel the American electorate toward the war effort in Iraq.