There was a story of a boy called Ramu who herded sheep deep into the forest. Now Ramu was a lazy boy and didn’t like long walks into the forest. He would rather sit by the edge of the forest and play with his friends. One day he chanced upon someone screaming “wolf attack” and villagers chargingto rescue. Ramu was sent home to and didn’t have to herd sheep. So a couple of days later Ramu shouted “wolf” – villagers turned up – there was no wolf. They chided Ramu and went away. This happened a couple of other times – with the same result. The following day the wolf really turned up. Although Ramu screamed and shrieked – no one came.

This was a story told to me by my mother when I was a kid, really tiny, to tell me about the ills of lying. Even today – when I am about to utter a lie (white one, I hasten to add) the story flashes by as a warning.

It is a pity that Barbara Bush didn’t instill GWB with this while she was bringing him up. To cry wolf about terrorist attacks for political mileage is a fairly stupid idea. Because, when the attack does happen – as it is bound to (terrorists are that type) – then people and law agencies are going to be caught napping.
GWB’s warning on possible future attacks based on ” recent” intelligence on Al Qaeda’s activities turns out to be 4 years old, apparently a response to a boost in the ratings of John Kerry, in the aftermath of the Democratic Party convention. Nothing wrong of the leader of a country to warn the population to be alert. Because, lets face facts the US is the prime target for the Al Qaeda. But, to lie about “new” threats as a scare tactic to get votes is kind of stupid. But then, the man did tie for the Stupidest Person in the world award.