Announcing vague terror alerts and altering plans in reaction to them is not only unwarranted but also self-defeating. After all, these responses only embolden terrorists to make more threats – hoping to incite more terror and disrupt our lives in perpetuity.
The silver lining in this instance though is that, perhaps, this hoax will cause the government to spare us any more terror alerts and just allow anti-terror analysts and the military to do their best to engage terrorists where they live, plan and train for their diabolical deeds
(New York terror alert was a hoax, but this whole war on terrorism is a big joke, The iPINIONS Journal, October 13, 2005)
Well, so much for that – because just as I was beginning to think that we had finally been spared all of those utterly meaningless terror alerts, the governments of the United States, Europe and even in Japan have issued alerts today warning us that:
Al-Qaeda is planning commando-style attacks on five European airports!
(ABC World News, October 4, 2010)
No shit Sherlock! Remember Glasgow? But do we really need terror alerts to remind us of what has been a fact of life since 9/11?
Anyway, I’m pleased that President Obama is doing far more to take the fight to al-Qaeda terrorists where they live than President Bush ever did. This includes the latest drone strikes inside Pakistan only yesterday that reportedly killed eleven of them, including five German recruits. So here’s to more drone strikes.
But please spare us these terror alerts that terrorize us even more than the terrorists do. In fact, terrorists incite more terror in us these days by merely threatening to carry out attacks than by actually executing them.
Not to mention that these alerts strike me as little more than a pretext for ordinary policemen to play combat soldiers. For there seems to be no correlation whatsoever between their “show of force” and preventing terrorist attacks. Remember the underwear bomber or the Time Square bomber (who, coincidentally, will be sentenced to life in prison today)? Only their incompetence and our dumb luck spared us on those occasions.
It must be understood that no matter their collective resolve, there’s absolutely nothing our governments can do to prevent such attacks. Meanwhile, that Americans reacted yesterday as if those explosions [in London] went off in Washington or New York should compel westerners to focus on calming our collective nerves instead of fretting about (or worse, trying to figure out) the motivation for and timing of terrorist attacks by Islamic fanatics.
(From New York to London, terrorists are terrorizing us to death, The iPINIONS Journal, July 2, 2007)
Related commentaries:
New York terror alert was a hoax
From New York to London
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.