"Fighting terrorism is like being a goalkeeper. You can make a hundred brilliant saves but the only shot that people remember is the one that gets past you."
- Paul Wilkinson, Scottish educator and terrorism expert
Do the spine-chilling confessions of the terrorists who were recently arrested in Jordan upset anyone but me? As I read the Associated Press coverage of what these men were planning, I got a terrible sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. This band of assassins had prepared enough explosives to kill 80,000 people. Had the Jordanians not caught them, no doubt they would have succeeded in their deadly plot.
Despite what happened to us on September 11, 2001, I fear that some of us here in the United States are not taking very seriously the possibility of another assault on our homeland. Events such as the train bombings in Spain and plots like this one in Jordan should be signals to all of us that we are still very vulnerable. These murderous enemies have shown they have not only the will, but the capability to do us serious harm. Is there anyone who thinks they won't strike us, and strike us savagely, at a time and place of their own choosing? I, like many of my friends, would like to believe they won't, but to me, the evidence is overwhelming that they will.
I fear if we don't wake up to this possibility and begin pulling together as a country, focusing whatever resources are required to eliminate this threat, we will wake up one morning to another 9/11, but this time it won't be 3,000 souls who are lost. It will be 300,000.
Am I the only one who believes this? Am I like Chicken Little telling everyone the sky is falling? Or are there others out there who, like me, feel that the danger is imminent, and needs to be addressed in the most immediate and forceful way possible?
Update 1: Well, there's at least one gent who's with me. Arnold Ahlert, over at the New York Post, shares similar thoughts in his column, "The Enemy's True Face."
Update 2: The Opinion Journal weighs in on the Jordanian terrorist story, wondering why most news organizations haven't probed it more. Brief registration is required. Give them your name and e-mail address, check the "On the Editorial Page" block and you're good to go.
2 comments:
Yes, I am and have been concerned from the beginning of the war in Iraq that we have beaten the hornet's nest and now have to deal with the consequenses. We excoriate our allies when we need them the most in this world to fight this plague of terror. We found out that sitting over here away from the "old world" isn't necessarily a safe place. If our leadership showed that they had a clue about what makes these terrorists click, I might be encouraged, but as it stands we say "bring it on" and wonder why they do bring it on. Please deliver us from idiots!
It is my fear that we have only seen the beginning. Having lived abroad - as opposed to traveling abroad - I am all too familiar with the attitudes of our traditional French, German and even Israeli "allies" when commenting for non-American press. As opposed to general warfare goals - land, commerce or slavery - this war is an idealogical fight in which reason will not prevail.
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