You Would Have Thought the Canadian Border Would Have Been Easier
From Reuters, news that isn't quite as comforting as one might think at first blush:
Here's the problem: we've got a Mexican neighbor printing comic books telling their undesirables how to infiltrate our borders. We've got a Canadian neighbor willing to let every imam with a sob story into their country, the border of which is barely patrolled. Moreover, we've got a bunch of Blame America Firsters who both believe that no one is out to hurt us and that even if they were we probably deserved it, so no domestic counterterrorism operations should be allowed, especially if somebody might find my hydroponic pot stash in the process.
Let's say this dirty bomb thing is legit.
Most people probably believe a dirty bomb is something requiring lots of technical knowhow and sophisticated planning to deploy. It's not. It's a bunch of radioactive or other toxic materiel put into some sort of container in proximity to some explosives. When the explosives go boom, the nasty, poisonous stuff is scattered far and wide. Some radium extracted from discarded medical equipment and a fertilizer bomb would do nicely.
The point of a dirty bomb is not to kill, although some folks will be killed by it. The point is to sow terror. We are uniquely vulnerable to this type of terror in that the EPA has spent decades convincing people that an increase of one part per billionth of arsenic in their drinking water will ruin their health. Erin Brockovich is considered a hero for confusing correlation with causation in the environment. Americans will panic if a dirty bomb goes off somewhere in this country, and that panic will kill more people than even the lingering effects of such a bomb would. 9/11 frightened many Americans off planes---a dirty bomb in one of our cities would have far worse consequences, despite relatively minor and short-term damage.
This is why it is so important to crush al Qaeda and other terrorist movements abroad. It is nearly impossible to stop a determined enemy from launching such an attack domestically, and what could be done the Left will not let us do. Instead, we need to keep the enemy occupied by destroying their command and control networks and drying up their money, either of which will keep the terrorists from pulling off a successful operation.
The notion that Chinese terrorists might have driven most of the way across our country with a dirty bomb should give us some pause. A color-coded scale isn't going to do anything to prevent such a nightmare scenario from occurring, but an educated populace committed to the War on Terror will.
[Edited for missing link---Teflon]
BOSTON (Reuters) - Police carrying radiation detectors patrolled
Boston's subway system on Friday after the FBI added another 10 names to a list
of people it wants to question over a reported "dirty bomb" plot in the
city.
Authorities reassured area residents that there was no cause for panic
two days after an uncorroborated tip triggered a Federal Bureau of Investigation
manhunt. Media reports spoke of threats to explode a so-called "dirty bomb"
which disperses low-level radioactive material.
The top federal prosecutor in
Massachusetts would not rule out the possibility of a hoax, while Boston
newspapers reported on Friday that officials were eyeing revenge as a possible
motive for the anonymous tip received by California police.
"It could be a
drug deal gone bad and (the tipster is) using this threat of a terrorist attack
to bring a ton of heat down on someone," the Boston Herald quoted one unnamed
law enforcement official as saying.
While there was no change in the terror
alert status either nationally or in Massachusetts, authorities appeared to be
treating the potential threat seriously.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation
Authority, the region's mass transit system, deployed more officers than normal
around downtown Boston and some were using radiation sensors, according to
Deputy Chief John Martino.
"As is the case with any alert we deploy teams of
officers with radiological detectors throughout the system," Martino told
Reuters, adding that such deployments were also standard for big events such as
the Boston Marathon and July 4.
The FBI, which on Wednesday night released
the names and photographs of two Chinese men and two Chinese women it sought for
questioning in connection with the potential threat, released the names of
another 10 people on Thursday night.
The FBI called the 10 people -- nine men
and one woman -- "persons of interest in the unspecified potential threat to the
City of Boston." But as with the four names released on Wednesday night, the FBI
said none of the names had ever shown up on any "watch list."
Eight of the
nine men had Chinese names, while the ninth was named Jose Ernesto Beltran
Quinones.
The FBI released passport numbers and possible dates of birth for
six of the 10 people. The lone woman, Yu Xian Weng, was listed with two passport
numbers and two possible dates of birth.
Officials at the Chinese Embassy in
Washington were not immediately available for comment.
Here's the problem: we've got a Mexican neighbor printing comic books telling their undesirables how to infiltrate our borders. We've got a Canadian neighbor willing to let every imam with a sob story into their country, the border of which is barely patrolled. Moreover, we've got a bunch of Blame America Firsters who both believe that no one is out to hurt us and that even if they were we probably deserved it, so no domestic counterterrorism operations should be allowed, especially if somebody might find my hydroponic pot stash in the process.
Let's say this dirty bomb thing is legit.
Most people probably believe a dirty bomb is something requiring lots of technical knowhow and sophisticated planning to deploy. It's not. It's a bunch of radioactive or other toxic materiel put into some sort of container in proximity to some explosives. When the explosives go boom, the nasty, poisonous stuff is scattered far and wide. Some radium extracted from discarded medical equipment and a fertilizer bomb would do nicely.
The point of a dirty bomb is not to kill, although some folks will be killed by it. The point is to sow terror. We are uniquely vulnerable to this type of terror in that the EPA has spent decades convincing people that an increase of one part per billionth of arsenic in their drinking water will ruin their health. Erin Brockovich is considered a hero for confusing correlation with causation in the environment. Americans will panic if a dirty bomb goes off somewhere in this country, and that panic will kill more people than even the lingering effects of such a bomb would. 9/11 frightened many Americans off planes---a dirty bomb in one of our cities would have far worse consequences, despite relatively minor and short-term damage.
This is why it is so important to crush al Qaeda and other terrorist movements abroad. It is nearly impossible to stop a determined enemy from launching such an attack domestically, and what could be done the Left will not let us do. Instead, we need to keep the enemy occupied by destroying their command and control networks and drying up their money, either of which will keep the terrorists from pulling off a successful operation.
The notion that Chinese terrorists might have driven most of the way across our country with a dirty bomb should give us some pause. A color-coded scale isn't going to do anything to prevent such a nightmare scenario from occurring, but an educated populace committed to the War on Terror will.
[Edited for missing link---Teflon]
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