Taking no sides here, and playing Devil's Advocate (or in this case, Satan's Advocate), I think TGS might be employing the term 'myth' in a broad fashion. I think he means to say "Al Qaeda as self-determining enemy number one is a myth." There are at least three myths which have been carefully and deliberately promulgated by the Bush White House in the service of the Iraq war strategy:
- Al-Qaeda/OBL is the prime mover behind 9-11.
- Colin Powell is a hand-wringing dove.
- The FBI thinks a right-wing DoD scientist sent the anthrax threats.
None of these ideas have been explicitly endorsed by the administration, but all have been seeded into public consciousness and allowed to flourish there. All three propositions are absolutely false, but they serve the administration's strategic needs -- thus, they are pragmatically true. Our leaders' lives would be much harder without these convenient illusions. Interestingly, all three cover stories leverage the stupidity and intellectual dishonesty of the Left – by now, a trademark Bush motif. My hat is off to them, because this is really splendid work.
Now, if you want the real story of what's been going down for the last eighteen months, just click on Colin Powell's pic for a complete briefing:
I don't agree with your final conclusion, but I respect your intellect and your candor, and will always read your words with care.