National Insecurity
December 30, 2009 11 Comments
On September 11, 2001 our nation received a wakeup call like no other. We were attacked not by a nation, but by a militant organization whose stated goal is to bring their brand of Islam to the rest of the world. In the wake of that attack America went on the offensive taking the fight to the terrorist’s homelands. Our military forces drove them from their safe havens in Afghanistan and chased them from Iraq. It was clear that America was winning the war on terror.
On Christmas Day 2009 Uma Farouk Abdul Mutallab shattered the still fragile sense of security that Americans were once again beginning to enjoy. When he attempted to detonate an explosive device aboard a Northwest Airlines flight bound for Detroit, MI he once again brought the war on terror to our shores. The fact that he was able to smuggle aboard an airplane enough explosives to rip the plane to shreds lays bare the shortcomings in our security procedures. Now once again the issue of national security is forefront in the minds of many Americans. With this attack our nation must once again address the issue of national security and make the necessary decisions to secure our nation from future terrorist attacks.
Our nation must commit to making security reforms that actually accomplish something. One such reform is to our nation’s borders. We must secure our nation’s borders, both north and south. Right now our porous borders allow more than just illegal immigrant’s access to the interior of our country. They allow a determined terrorist almost unlimited access to our nation for them to commit their heinous acts of hatred. First and foremost we must erect a border fence along the lines of those advanced by former Congressman Duncan Hunter. We must put in place checkpoints where qualified border patrol agents can operate effectively to catch those border crossers that somehow slip through the cracks.
We must reform our screening procedures at our nation’s ports. We must look at the demographics of terror to screen those that are most likely to commit terrorist acts against our nation and our allies. We must ignore the desire to avoid racial profiling when doing so could potentially harm our nation and our fellow citizens. After all, when was the last time you saw a little old lady blow up an airplane. We must face the fact that the majority of those that would harm our nation at this point in time are Muslims of Middle Eastern decent, not the grandmother in the seat next to you.
We must utilize a secure facility to incarcerate prisoners of war and terrorists. We must face the fact that utilizing the prison facility in Thomson, IL; while attractive; is not the most logical of places to imprison these soldiers of hate. By the same token, the facility at Guantanamo Bay is substandard as well. Perhaps it is time that the US reopens the prison at Alcatraz as a military facility for the incarceration of these prisoners. Basically we need to have a facility that is based on an island far away from civilized society where there is only one way in and one way out.
Unfortunately I don’t see any of these events ever taking place. Far too many of our politicians are unwilling to make the hard decisions necessary for this to happen. Instead they will continue to endanger the citizens of American all for the sake of political pandering.
Nice post. How many more of these incidences will it take to convince the administration that these people HATE US AND WANT TO KILL US. We don’t sit around giving group hugs with them.
Nice fairy tale, Al. Now for some history:
Criminals attacked us because our military was already in their holy land near Mecca. Instead of concentrating on the criminal leader we let him go and invaded a country that had been hostile to him. As a result of falling into Osama bin Laden’s trap for us, the number of our dead keeps escalating as does the number of suicide attacks on us. Now we have even been (almost) attacked by an African. Our list of enemies seems to be growing.
As a further result the new attack has caused real Christmas nightmares among the frightened and fearful. They want to bring back a version of the Berlin Wall to keep out hard working Mexican waiters and Guatemalan gardeners. Meanwhile airplanes still go everywhere and criminals still think of new ways to attack them, undeterred by scanners and sniffers and X ray machines.
What to do? How about bringing home the military before a third continent starts breeding bombers? Soon we may be outnumbered.
How about we simply reform our screening procedures. Rather than doing a thorough search of the little old lady from Pasadena why don’t we do more thorough screenings of Muslims. They are the ones that seem to be intent on bringing our nation down.
Could you please elaborate more on your assertion that terrorism is caused by our military presence in another nation.
Here’s a start. Try this article
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/osamabinladen.html
and look half way down the page for this passage: “In 1990, in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the Saudi government allowed American troops to be stationed in Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden was incensed that non-believers (American soldiers) were stationed in the birthplace of Islam. He also charged the Saudi regime with deviating from true Islam.”
and later this passage: ” . . . the 1998 bombings at the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The date, Aug. 7, was the anniversary of the deployment of U.S. troops to Saudi Arabia.”
Then there’s this on suicide bombers at Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dying_to_Win
Scroll down to Ch. 7 and read this part: “With increasing knowledge of al-Qaeda, we see that “the presence of American military forces for combat operations on the homeland territory of the suicide terrorists is stronger than Islamic fundamentalism in predicting whether individuals from that country will become al-Qaeda suicide terrorists” (103). “Al-Qaeda is less a transnational network of like-minded ideologues . . . than a cross-national military alliance of national liberation movements working together against what they see as a common imperial threat” (104). . . . . . it does corroborate a connection to U.S. military policies in the Persian Gulf (107-17). Al-Qaeda propaganda emphasizes the “Crusader” theme, which is inherently related to occupation.”
Finally I found this newspaper story on suicide bombers: ” . . . .”Well, I was actually surprised” to discover that “what over 95 percent of all suicide attacks around the world since 1980 until today have in common is not religion, but a clear, strategic objective: to compel a modern democracy to withdraw military forces from the territory that the terrorists view as their homeland.”
So we weren’t attacked on 9/11 by Islamic radicals because they hate our freedom?
Negative, says Pape: Fifteen of the 19 suicide hijackers came from Saudi Arabia, where nearly 5,000 U.S. combat troops were stationed at the time, with 7,000 more billeted elsewhere in the Arabian Peninsula.
Although the largest U.S. military presence is now in Iraq, these troops are seen as a threat by some Muslims because of the Americans’ overwhelming superiority and ability to quickly redeploy. Osama bin Laden, who has often spoken of the “American occupation of the Arabian Peninsula,” said in 1996 that American troops are “going to conquer Iraq,” says Pape. “Now fast-forward to 2005. How are you going to persuade somebody that bin Laden’s wrong?”
That article is here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/09/AR2005070901425_pf.html
Okay, so based on that logic it would be okay for me to attack members of the UN in the United States until they withdrew from our shores because I dislike them. If everyone succombed to this logic we would have total anarchy.
I don’t think that I need to point out that Saudi Arabia allowed us to base American troops in that country. Osama Bin Ladin had and still has no say in that decision. If we give in to them now, where do we stop. The only way to defeat terrorism once and for all is to make sure that you kill all the terrorists.
The UN has no troops on our soil. It is not an occupying power. Don’t be absurd. And no one ever said it was “OK.” We are just describing the dynamic, not endorsing it.
As Pete Seeger used to sing, “You can’t kill all the unbelievers.” Besides, how do you know who the terrorist are?
You seem to be putting your manhood on the line here by vowing not to give in. What point are you trying to make? That we have some right to put our military anywhere in the world? Does that work for other countries, too?
The idea that you can accomplish any political goal “once and for all” is naive.
Jerry we were not occupying any nation until after Osama Bin Laden and his cadre of nut cases decided to fly those planes into our buildings. And basing our foreign policy on his likes or dislikes naive. The only way to stop these guys is to prevent them from breathing.
So I guess you DO want to kill all the people who are “nut cases” or “terrorists.” Now you just have to figure out who they are.
Be careful not to make any mistakes. If you err, you’ll make new enemies who are neither nuts nor terrorists but are just out to get revenge.
Sorta like you are out to get revenge. They’ll be like you.
Not revenge at all Jerry. What I want is to ensure that Americans are safe. If that means that we have to selectively screen travelers, not randomly. After all, the little old lady from Pasadena is not very likely to be wearing a panty bomb like Achmed from Yemen would be. In short we need to intelligently screen incoming people.
Al : “The only way to defeat terrorism once and for all is to make sure that you kill all the terrorists.”
President Adams: “Go not abroad in search of monsters to destroy.”
I agree Al but were to politically correct and dont want to offend someone . Well Israel doesnt care if it offends anyone they do the proper screening to make the flight safe and thats the main goal but you throw in the ACLU and CAIR and its no wonder this happens. Its a shame were screening a family of 4 to strip searchs meanwhile Habib I wanna kill Americans Bin Laden goes right on through with no Passport, no luggage, one way ticket,