Given the media coverage, one can be forgiven the impression that the wannabe terrorists who tried to blow up Times Square on Saturday actually killed scores, if not hundreds, of people. Whereas, in fact, not a soul was lost: thank God! (Or should that be Allah…?)
After all, it had to have been divine intervention that the detonation of this car bomb failed. This, after they built and parked it in the heart of New York City on a balmy, crowded night when maximum carnage and damage would have been assured.
Yet these nincompoops, along with the wannabe terrorist who failed to detonate his underwear on board a Northwest flight over Detroit last December and those who failed to detonate their car bombs in the heart of London three years ago, all demonstrate that terrorists do not have to mount successful attacks to terrorize us to death (as anyone who has traveled since 9/11 can readily attest). And western media (and far too many government officials) have become willing accomplices in this respect by continually exaggerating their power and unwittingly propagating their terror.
Of course, nothing boosts TV ratings quite like coverage of terrorist attacks, even those that fail. Indeed, just imagine the coverage (i.e., the propagation of terror) if that car bomb had exploded in Times Square as planned on Saturday….
Meanwhile, what purpose does it serve to turn the scenes of these close calls into staging areas for police parades – under the fatuous and patently ass-backwards guise of keeping people safe?
More importantly, though, what I wrote after terrorist bombs killed 50 and injured over 700 people in the 7/7 London attacks in 2005 remains every bit as poignant and instructive today:
It must be understood that no matter their collective resolve, there’s absolutely nothing law enforcement officials can do to prevent such attacks.
(London 7/7 terrorist attacks, The iPINIONS Journal, July 8, 2005)
More to the point, it’s only a matter of time before these idiots figure out how to detonate their bombs – after going through all the trouble, and assuming all the risk, of building and delivering them. (And it seems we’re really begging for it by featuring so many bomb experts on TV now taunting these wannabes, while telling them exactly how to get it right next time…. Unbelievable!) Alas, our only defense is dumb luck.
That said, I feel obliged to conclude by asserting that we should still do everything possible to foil, and protect ourselves against, these attacks – even if that means installing Orwellian cameras and interrogating wannabe terrorists … aggressively. Especially since, but for the security cameras surveilling almost every nook and cranny of New York City, anti-terror investigators would have no clue who parked that SUV rigged with explosives in Times Square.
In fact, the man caught on camera leaving the scene of this crime turns out to be a Pakistan-born U.S. citizen. (His name is irrelevant. I don’t know why the western media insist on making celebrities of these terrorists. That is, after all, the perverse recognition they seek….)
This, of course, lends credence to the immediate claim by the Taliban of Pakistan that it organized this botched mission (which just goes to show how desperate al-Qaeda poseurs are for attention)….
In any event, thanks to other surveillance cameras and really impressive police work, a joint task force of FBI agents and New York City detectives caught him late last night at JFK Airport already on board an Emirates flight bound for Pakistan via Dubai. He is scheduled to be arraigned later today.
Therefore, the next time you’re inclined to wax indignant about the security cameras that have become ubiquitous in so many western cities … just remember that they may be the most effective tool we have to properly investigate and avenge terrorist attacks.
Finally, with all of the consternation, if not derision, being expressed about these botched attempts, let us be mindful that it does not take a genius to actually pull off a truly horrific terrorist attack (as redneck Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, proved all too well).
Related commentary
London 7/7 terrorist attacks
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.