Where have all the terrorists gone?

[Taichiliberal]

I wrote this on this day 9 years ago. With the focus on Israel/Palestine and Ukraine/Russia, I have to wonder if we're in for the SOS?

I QUESTION THE "OFFICIAL" STATUS.

Here’s the thing; after the Paris terrorist attacks last week, here in the USA our media IMMEDIATELY started the “are we next?” drum beat. In NYC, every politician and police official past & present were on TV and radio and in the papers telling us how security measures are up to standards, but there’s no “chatter” to the effect that ISIS is coming for us . “Don’t let the terrorists win!” “Go shopping, go to the holiday parades, we’ve got your back!” And then AFTER we get the “official” word that ISIS is touting America (especially New York City) in it’s sights, the adding presence of tactical para-military divisions are seen.

And I am thinking, “we’ll, you’ve had 14 years (and millions of dollars a’la Homeland Security) to get it together, so why all the near hysteria now?” It should be treated with half the intensity we’re seeing in our media. I say this in retrospect to what happened during the 3 months after the 9-11 attacks here. The Thanksgiving parade went on as scheduled, and you had the usual masses gather in Times Square to ring in the New Year. I remember wondering just how in the hell did our intelligence, security and police forces get it together in such a relative short time to INSURE that Al Qaeda terrorist were either subdued or all died in the attacks ... after all, these were the SAME people who committed the mother of all cluster fuck-ups that resulted in the successful killing of 3,000 people along with destruction of iconic real estate and government property by said terrorists. Were they that good on the rebound, or were they willing to risk more lives in the name of uninterrupted commerce?

Since 9-11, our government officials have stated that numerous terrorists plots have been foiled. However, the publicized ones (the plane shoe bomber, the Times Square car bomber, the plane underwear bomber) failed due to incompetence on the perpetrators part, NOT due to preventative measures by law enforcement or intelligence actions. So I am NOT surprised that the Paris attack came as a “surprise” to the national and international counter-intelligence apparatus.

I bring this up because with each major attack, you have the ultra-conservative factions of government being given carte blanche ... more invasive monitoring of the general population, secret lists, suspension of rights of the accused, etc. The majority of the public grants these actions out of fear....and fear is VERY useful tool to quell all scrutiny.

Am I saying do nothing and all is well? Nope. I’m just saying to stop and think it through before we just bask in the glory that the supermarkets magically fill up with food, the department stores have all the items for sale, and the gas station is open...and only mildly complain when we can barely afford them! Because if we think it through, then we can vote in or out the people who will implement (domestic & foreign) policies that DO work. And maybe, just maybe, there won’t be another 9-11 in another country... or here.

 

[T. A. Gardner]

Terrorist attacks are inversely proportional to the distance from the terrorist group's base of operations. That is, a group like ISIS will make many terrorist attacks in Syria, Lebanon, and the Middle East, fewer in Europe, and very few or none in the Americas.

Making a terrorist attack far from home is time consuming, costly, and prone to a greater chance of failure. It also will have less impact on events and outcomes where they count most for the terrorists: At home.

The attacks on the World Trade Center took years of planning and preparation to carry out. They were costly in terms of the money invested and expended to make them happen. From an accounting standpoint, many attacks could have been done with the same resources close to the terrorist's home base and likely for better political effects.