From the Corner:
Key Stone Terrrorists? [Cliff May]
OK, so “there is no evidence” the accused Ft. Dix plotters “received direction from international foreign terrorist organizations.”
And, as many in the MSM are noting, they do not appear to be highly trained professionals. That’s true also of others arrested since 9/11 (e.g. Richard Reid and the cells in Buffalo, NY and Florida).
What is not being mentioned: This could be a very positive sign. It could mean that we’ve eliminated many of the most skilled and experienced terrorists, many of the most qualified terrorist trainers and international ring masters — that we’ve either killed them or imprisoned them at Guantanamo or at some secret prison somewhere.
We want our enemies to be amateurish. One way to ensure that is to keep killing or capturing those who ascend to the top of the ladder, to get them while they are still learning their tradecraft, to be so on top of them that their first mistake becomes their last mistake. How discouraging that will be to others who aspire to commit acts of spectacular terrorism.
The terrorists who bombed the WTC in 1993 were not very good at their jobs. Over the next 8 years, al Qaeda climbed a steep learning curve while U.S. intelligence analysts, covert operatives, military and law enforcement officers did little to prevent it.
If we’ve learned from that, good for our side, good for Bush and the CIA and the FBI and others all of us criticize.
05/08 05:35 PM
—The terrorists who bombed the WTC in 1993 were not very good at their jobs. Over the next 8 years, al Qaeda climbed a steep learning curve—
...while US intelligence and the FBI slid DOWN the learning curve, thanks to the RATS.