Posted on 05/27/2004 6:51:15 AM PDT by areafiftyone
For all the cautious nonspecificity, the announcement still hits like a hammer: There is "credible evidence" from "multiple sources" that Al Qaeda intends to unleash mayhem in the U.S. in the "next few months." Not that this is a bolt out of the blue: It has been an article of faith that Al Qaeda means further harm. All the same, Attorney General John Ashcroft's warning was as sobering as things get. There's a big hit brewing. Here it comes. Soon. Where? When? Who knows? Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly fast reported that they have no information that New York is on any immediate hit list. But Ashcroft spoke in general of "especially attractive targets," which include this summer's Republican National Convention at Madison Square Garden, as well as the Democratic soiree in Boston, next month's G-8 summit in Georgia and this weekend's World War II memorial ceremony in Washington. Those events will come and go, but New York will remain the globe's "especially attractive" target. To radical Islamic fundamentalists, New York is America itself. Indeed, here is where World War III began: Historians may someday regard Feb. 26, 1993, the date of the first World Trade Center attack, as the official beginning of this war. Unless it was the night 2-1/2 years earlier when radical Rabbi Meir Kahane was shot dead in midtown. The enemy succeeded in bringing down the towers after all. And then he went after the Brooklyn Bridge, his plot to cut the suspension cables disrupted by too much police presence. And only blind luck prevented the murderous bombing of a busy Brooklyn subway station. We would be fools to think Al Qaeda has no further plans for New York. Consider the dire contents of an NYPD document prepared five months ago:
Which, once again, raises the matter of all those federal homeland-security dollars we are losing to various states. Now that the feds have "credible evidence" from "multiple sources" that an attack is imminent, they should start reflecting that "especially attractive targets" do not include Cheyenne. Meanwhile, Ashcroft launches the War on Terror's version of "America's Most Wanted," impressing Americans into dutiful public service, asking all to be on vigilant lookout for seven identified plotters who might well be living right next door this very minute. Admittedly, the government's track record when it comes to naming names has been imperfect. Army Capt. James Yee of Guantanamo fast went from being an accused spy to being an accused adulterer. Oregon lawyer Brandon Mayfield was linked to the Madrid train bombings until it turned out that, whoops, he wasn't involved at all. Depending where you are on civil liberties, Ashcroft is summoning either snitches who'll turn in their neighbors or dedicated Americans like those who sat on rooftops night after night through World War II, scanning the skies. We'll go with the latter. These seven names, they're the intel of the moment. And if Joe Citizen is so alerted to spot someone resembling Aafia Siddiqui down at the deli and report her, we're good with that.
For myself, I'd like move to New Hampshire if I could get my wife on board with the idea. Houston seems nice (never been there though) but the property taxes look outrageous.
-ct
Thank you! I'm sick and tired of all this NY bashing. Maybe these people would like it if we were to get attacked again -- might put us in our place, right?
I do worry about an attack taking place, what with Nurse Picknose in charge here. He'd probably make some snotty remarks about the terrorists and think he's done his job...
I would argue your earlier premise, that the current war is an outgrowth of the previous war. The Cold War (or WW III, as some of us like to call it) produced Vietnam, which gave a rise to radical liberalism, which fostered energy policies that prevented domestic exploitation of our own resources. This liberalism also was responsible for a "hands off" approach when Islamunists appropriated our resources by nationalizing American oil companies properties overseas.
In short, if we'd have kicked butt quickly in Nam, we would have been able to have the national will to kick Arab butt, and we wouldn't have ragheads with riches to contend with. Also, we funded some pretty unsavory characters in that part of the world in order to beat the Soviets, and that's coming back to bite us in the arse today. Clearly, the Islamofacists see our handling of Vietnam to be their blueprint for victory today.
If NYC goes, the whole economy goes, so start planting your gardens and digging your root cellars out there in the heartland.
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