June 2, 2007
A few comments regarding the JFK terror plot
Analysts have told us that the Islamist terrorists who planned to blow up fuel pipelines at JFK International Airport were technical nincompoops. The plan was apparently infeasible---in the end little more than a pipe dream (no pun intended).
What the group lacked in smarts, however, they apparently made up for in determination and spitefulness. This band of foreign-born Muslim terrorists was motivated by a visceral hatred of the United States.
“A wiretap transcript given to CNN by the FBI indicates the plotters targeted the airport because of the popularity its namesake, John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963…. Anytime you hit Kennedy, it is the most hurtful thing to the United States. To hit John F. Kennedy, wow ... they love JFK -- he's like the man," former JFK airport cargo worker Russell Defreitas said in a telephone conversation monitored by the FBI….If you hit that, this whole country will be in mourning. It's like you can kill the man twice," Defreitas added.” ---CNN.com
Key points:
The folks who are rabidly angry about intrusive homeland security measures should turn at least some of their ire back on the nutjob terrorists who make homeland security necessary in the first place. No, I’m not thrilled about the idea of Michael Chertoff reading my email. Nor do I want President Bush to know how long I lingered over the online version of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. But by allowing so many hostile foreign nationals into our midst, we have turned the United States into a frontline in the war on terror. And war requires intelligence gathering--whether we like it or not.
Which brings us to a politically incorrect and ideologically inconvenient fact: this is not just “terror” we are fighting, but Islamist terror. Yes, the American Religious Right frequently gets too big for its britches. They annoy me all the time. Nevertheless, I can’t remember the last time a band of Southern Baptists blew up an airplane or beheaded a non-believer. Every religion on earth has its share of extremists and busybodies (including Christianity), but one religion stands apart as an inspiration for terror. (I don’t have to tell you which one that is, do I?)
In North America and Europe, an astounding number of terror plots are hatched by foreign nationals from Muslim countries. Maybe this means that we should pay a little closer attention to who we allow in to the United States---and where they come from. It's worth a thought.