Terrorism? What Terrorism? Americans Worried? … Not-So-Much
Whistling By The Graveyard?
(IBD)
War On Terror: A new poll finds fewer Americans concerned with terrorism. While the terrorists have been quieter, it’s a mistake to think they’ve retired from the murder-and-mayhem business.
As tempting as it may be to drop our guard and return to a pre-9/11 state, doing so is fraught with risk. That’s exactly what this patient enemy wants. A dangerous complacency is nonetheless setting in among the public.
Every summer since the 9/11 attacks, CNN pollsters have measured our collective fear of another attack and found that a majority of Americans thought one was likely over the next several weeks. Last summer, however, that figure dropped to 41%. This summer, it fell another 6 percentage points to 35%, an all-time low for the post-9/11 era.
Has the threat passed? Can we all breathe easier now? Some say yes, citing declines in both the frequency and severity of terrorist attacks over the past few years. Warnings by Osama bin Laden and his deputies have come and gone. Their fatwas have become shriller, as fewer and fewer Muslims seem to want to obey their orders for jihad.
This, analysts say, signals that al-Qaida may be too weak and fractured to marshal another major operation. Democrats even claim the threat’s been overblown, exaggerated for political gain.
Some say 9/11 was a fluke or a conspiracy by the Bush administration. Now they want to redirect homeland security and defense funds into social programs.
Not so fast.
Yes, attacks are down. With the exception of the recent suicide bombing of the Danish embassy in Pakistan, there hasn’t been a major attack on a Western target since al-Qaida bombed London’s subway in 2005. But that doesn’t mean the terrorists haven’t tried.
Like the London bombers before them, al-Qaida operatives trained in Pakistan’s border areas have been linked to a range of Western terrorist plots. Luckily, authorities disrupted them.
This year they arrested suspects planning terrorism in Spain; last year they foiled major plots in both Germany and Denmark.
In 2006, British authorities foiled an al-Qaida plot against trans-Atlantic commercial aircraft flights. U.S. authorities have since confirmed the plan involved blowing up jetliners over several U.S. cities on the same day. If successful, hundreds and possibly thousands of Americans would have perished.
We got lucky. The terrorists behind that plan are now behind bars. But more are being recruited and trained right now in a band of camps al-Qaida is running in Pakistan, bin Laden’s new host. Some 2,000 have already gone through the camps. Many are Western-looking. Some are teens, even girls.
This is why, as the public watches “American Idol” reruns, so many career counterterrorism officials are running around with their hair on fire in Washington these days. They know that al-Qaida has regrouped and plotting new ways to slip security and kill us.
They know that with the exception of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, most of the members of al-Qaida’s shura, or consultative, council are still free and at large.
They know that the FBI has yet to identify and ferret out a single hardened cell of al-Qaida operatives in the U.S. since 9/11, even though Mohammed is known to have secreted other cells here for future attacks, including a possible nuclear 9/11.
Thinking that al-Qaida has given up on attacking the homeland just because seven years have passed since the last attack is wishful thinking. Al-Qaida waited eight years to come back and finish off the World Trade Center.
These terrorists are tenacious. They’re as patient as we are impatient. They love death as much as we love life.
As John McCain says, we are in the throes of a “transcendent” struggle against Islamic extremists, and we have to stay on war footing. And we are still under threat of spectacular attack by al-Qaida. Every citizen must remain vigilant if we have any chance of disrupting their wicked plans.
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Some say 9/11 was a fluke or a conspiracy by the Bush administration. Now they want to redirect homeland security and defense funds into social programs.
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this small minority needs to be fed to the wolves. sorry but my understanding of this new world just does not have room for useless dumbasses like this
July 10th, 2008 at 6:14 amOur MSM has done a great disservice to the American people, by leading the public astray because it is so focused on promoting its agenda and making the narrative fit. It is truly shocking. I used to have a theory that Americans needed to experience a disaster before they sprang into action. I now know that is probably because its media did such a disservice not reporting the actual facts on the ground. I think when the American people have all the facts, they tend to make good decisions. So, we will continue to operate, reacting to crises, instead of anticipating and dealing with them.
July 10th, 2008 at 6:25 amI’d agree, but I don’t to give the wolves food poisoning.
Liberalism could be genetic. Therefore the solution is also gene-based. Genocide.
July 10th, 2008 at 6:33 amBut we don’t have all the facts. If we did, everyone would be for the war, and against Obama. But right now it seems the opposite, Obama’s the MSM poster child, just as is a loosing war.
July 10th, 2008 at 6:38 amYou should have heard the idiots calling C-span this morning; One lady went off about how the Iranian Nuke test was a plot by Bush to stay in office for another 4 years… Almost every caller was either just plain stupid or a schizoid truther!
A good zombie plan is definitely in order!
July 10th, 2008 at 6:45 amAmericans have more important things to worry about than mass casualty terror attacks on our homeland, like who’s winning American idol and whats on Oprahs book club.
July 10th, 2008 at 7:10 amOur great military has killed nearly 99% of the active terrorist pool, but all it takes is 1 lone jihadi to set in motion a chain of events that will make the twin towers attack look like a mother’s day parade.
And all we Americans can do is continue to force our reps to keep programs like Homeland Security intact and operational, even tho it is a govt service and, as such, far less efficient than we need it to be.
Weve either been real lucky, or our vigilance is paying off. We cannot let up…….”The price of freedom is eternal vigilance”! (not sure who said that)
July 10th, 2008 at 7:25 amAmerican apathy and its collective complacency continue to astound me. I would have thought after 9/11, much of America would have grown up. Unfortunately, it appears just the opposite has happened.
And I believe part of this is due to the fact that our military is so damn good at what they do, contrary to what the MSM rants, we get a false sense of security that nobody would dare do anything like 9/11 again.
Somebody will let a nuke loose, steal a plane, poison the water, or carry a life threatening illness into the country and at least 50% of the American citizens will have the doe in the headlights look, rush to the gas stations to fill up their tanks, and get religion until something good comes across the TV to hold their limited attention span for another few years.
And someway, the MSM will find a way to blame it on our aggressive “imperialism”, foreign policy, Dick Cheney, and ultimately George Bush whether he’s serving or not.
50% of Americans will shake their fist at Republicans upon hearing the blame announced on Oprah. The other 50% will silently save us again.
July 10th, 2008 at 8:01 amYou heard what Marcus Luttrell (”Lone Survivor”) said: the thing that makes him angry is the MSM’s distortion of the news. I agree 100%. They are irresponsible fools. Natalie: a false sense of security. Exactly!
July 10th, 2008 at 8:35 amIm not surprised at all by that. although it is very sad every time you hear it. i have seen videos on youtube showing military supposedly training for martial law so President Bush can repeal the constitution and stay in power forever. too many crazies out there. and stupid people play the largest role in all of this hysteria. knowledge is power
thats a good point. i like wolves and wouldnt do that either now that i think about it
July 10th, 2008 at 9:40 amWell we as a society are our own worst enemies when it comes to vigilance. Until we get over being PC and quit worrying about hurting someones feelings because they get a little extra attention from security due to there ethnicity we are setting ourselves up for another attack.
Reminds me of the Iran-Contra Hearings when Col. North was questioned about his expensive personal security system/measures. His response was because of people like Osama bin Laden and this was years before 9/11.
Just because your Paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you.
July 10th, 2008 at 12:35 pm