I was listening to talk radio today and the right wing shock jock was going on and on about the terrorist on Northwest Flight 253. He blamed the Obama administration and Janet Napolitano in particular for this latest threat. He said Homeland Security needed to start racially profiling terrorists and stop picking on grandma at the airport. He said we needed to stop being so "PC" and have airport security zero in on those that look like terrorists. I had read a little about the terrorist the day before, mostly because I wanted to read more about the hero who bravely stopped the terrorist and burned himself severely while he took the terrorist down.
Today, as I read about Flight 253, my mind was boggled! How on earth are we going to stop the terrorists?
We have troops in Iraq. We have troops in Afghanistan. Bin Laden is supposedly hidden in the hills and caves along the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. We hear most of the actual terrorists are in Afghanistan and Pakistan and we should have never taken that left turn to Iraq because we are wasting our resources and making more enemies. Now, we are hearing that the latest terrorists are being trained in Yemen. Two of the Al-Qaeda leaders in Yemen were prisoners Bush released in 2007 from Guantanamo. According to ABC news: "American officials agreed to send the two terrorists from Guantanamo to Saudi Arabia where they entered into an "art therapy rehabilitation program" and were set free, according to U.S. and Saudi officials."
This latest terrorist,
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, is not your typical terrorist. He looks like a young Eddie Murphy. He is Nigerian and comes from a very wealthy family. He was educated abroad, including studying mechanical engineering in London graduating in 2008. He was to continue his education but instead abandoned his plans and moved to Yemen. His family became worried about him. They said he was changed.. brainwashed. About 2 months ago, they reported him to the Nigerian security agency and other agencies to gain their assistance in returning him home.The terrorist boarded his flight in Kenya, carrying only a small bag; then stopped in The Netherlands, then on to Detroit. (this was NOT in the U.S.--- the security was in Nigeria and The Netherlands) One of the passengers of Flight 253 relates his experience with airport security in The Netherlands, "At Amsterdam we went through security, and what seemed like the time was good security. At the gate everyone was interviewed by a team of around 10 personal screeners, who asked us a battery of questions in quick succession. This was something I had only experienced at Tel Aviv airports and it came as quite a surprise, but one that I welcomed. After personal screening we passed through metal detectors and a baggage X-ray. Even though I had all the change out of my pockets, cell phones, and belt removed I still set off the detector (perhaps the rivets in my jeans). As soon as that happened I was frisked so thoroughly by the young Dutch security guard that I began to wonder if he was enjoying himself. Later on when I read the news reports I realized that if Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab had the explosives stashed in his underwear, even if he had been thoroughly frisked the only way the guard would have noticed anything is if he literally put his hands down the guy's pants, and searched his groin."
I have to agree with the Flight 253 passenger. ABCNews provided this picture of the bomb that the terrorist was carrying. It was small, not much larger than a tampon. The lower picture shows the PETN explosive. It's just a powder. The tragedy was averted because the detonator, acid in a syringe, didn't work. There was no metal. Merely powder and plastic, again, the size of a plastic tampon. Officials indicated this tiny bit of powder was more than sufficient to blow a hole in the plane. There was no way for anyone to find this small amount of powder in his underwear unless they made him do a complete strip search, and once his underwear was off, tear apart the underwear. Women wear much larger pads just in the course of their monthly cycles.What boggles my mind is, this young man came from a very wealthy family. He had the world at his fingertips. He was educated in one of the best schools in the world, in London. He never suffered anything. His family was utterly shocked by the immediate change in him. He was willing to die for this new cause he was "brainwashed" into believing.
What is becoming abundantly clear is, we are NOT going to stop any terrorists if we are not UNITED in our fight against them. I go back and think of that right wing shock jock promoting racial profiling of all Muslims or anyone he thinks "fits the profile." He blames Obama. He blames Napolitano. He keeps pointing his fingers back at our own people. We cannot blame ourselves. We need to unite with each other and try to understand what each of us should do to help each other and stop the insanity of terrorism.
Here are the questions we should be asking ourselves:
1. How do we stop the Brainwashing?
2. How do we stop people who are willing to kill themselves for their cause?
3. How do we UNITE and help Homeland Security/our Country?
"We need to unite with each other and try to understand what each of us should do to help each other and stop the insanity of terrorism."
ReplyDeleteUnite with each other and try to understand? How in the world would this be a solution to terrorism?
"Here are the questions we should be asking ourselves:
1. How do we stop the Brainwashing?
2. How do we stop people who are willing to kill themselves for their cause?
3. How do we UNITE and help Homeland Security/our Country"?
1. We can't stop people from believing what they want to believe.
2. We can't stop peoople who are willing to die for their cause.
2. All we can do is pull out all the stops in securing our country at our borders, ports and airports. That would have to include thoroughly checking out people who fit the profile of a terrorist. Americans screaming racially profiling are the ones who are not cooperating with HS and stopping us from uniting as a nation. Sorry, but desperate times require desperate measures. We cannot afford to be PC in these dangerous times.
Did you read this blog Pete?
ReplyDeleteHow could Homeland Security have stopped this terrorist if they "pulled out all the stops at our terminals and racially profile the Muslims"? He wasn't even in the U.S. He was in the Kenyan terminal and in The Netherlands terminal. He hadn't arrived in the U.S. yet.
He wasn't on a watch list because his parents went to their Nigerian Embassy.
Even if we followed your idiotic plan of racial profiling all Muslim looking (brown) people, they would not have caught this Eddie Murphy looking young guy with an English accent.
Sheesh!!! Re-Read the Blog!
I think what we need to do is stick together as a Nation and quit criticizing each other. We should join together, unite in fighting terrorism, with other like minded countries and the U.N.
ReplyDeleteWe need to figure out how they can brainwash young people so quickly and brainwash them enough to want to commit suicide for their cause. What is it they are doing? How do we dispell the brainwashing? How do we stop it before it starts? Can we all ridicule the concepts and let people, especially those they target, understand the ridiculousness of the concept. And who is it they target? And where do they target them? Can we find out and nip it in the bud? There has to be a way!
We can't give up on this and throw up our hands and say "they are going to believe what they believe" and we can't stop them "If they are willing to die for their cause."
ReplyDeleteI think we CAN stop them and rationalize and stop it early. We have to try. We cannot start racially profiling everyone we THINK might be "one of them". If we do, then soon we will put all of these "suspects" in internment camps, just like WW2. Then, you know what? The terrorists win because then we become just like them, full of hate, murder and insanity...all because we THINK we are right! (that is how the terrorists think!)
I expect a level of respect in here as an invited guest. I don't think calling my plans idiotic or treating me as though I am stupid is being respectful.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, you were generalizing about how we can stop terrorism and I offered my advice on how to secure our OWN country. Of course we won't be able to make it completely foolproof but we must pull out all the stops to secure our country from terrorism.
No need to bring skin color into the mix. Even white people can have brown skin. There are however other criteria that can seek them out. Are they from a terrorist country? A religion that teaches terrorism? There are certain physical characteristics that can denote nation of origin also. None of which has anything to do with skin color.
All we can do is protect our own country in any way possible. We cannot and never will be able to control other's minds anymore than murder, rape or any other criminal acts will ever end. You are not being realistic if you think so.
Religeous fanatic terrorists will always exist also. You can't change human nature or other's beliefs all we can do is protect ourselves from such types. We can't be armchair psychologists for the world.
I think terrorists are really ignorant. They easily could come across the US/Mexican border. Just fly into Mexico and cross the border. Every day people cross that border illegally. I wonder if they have already entered across that border and we just don't know it yet. We will just have to wait and see.
ReplyDeletePete,
ReplyDeleteI like your commenting here.
I just thought your plan was "i..". I didn't think you thoroughly read my post which included the details of the terrorists actions. I don't think he could have been caught by screeners and he would not have been included in racial nor criminal profiling.
I didn't want you to be offended and if you were, I'm sorry. However, I do think this caused you pause to go back and re-read the post and at least understand my perspective based on the facts of the case.
PD,
ReplyDeleteBin Laden was not brain-washed in a few months and did not board a plane to commit suicide. That was my point.
I think we had a miscommunication as you not only mentioned this particular case but terrorism in general. I was merely commenting on terrorism in general rather than this particular case in which I acknowledged that nothing is foolproof.
ReplyDelete"We" cannot do anything other than be aware of our surroundings and report suspicious activity. The government has to do everything else. The more that comes out about this the more apparent it is that the government is not working. Either it is the system that is broken or it is the people in the system. Something has to change.
ReplyDeleteLook at the Ft. Hood terrorist. People who knew him knew that he was dangerous. People reported him as dangerous. Still, nothing was done about him until he killed all those people. And we all know that is because those who were ultimately responsible for removing him from his duties and investigating him were too afraid of being charged with discrimination. The Muslim extremists know that is our vulnerability and they take advantage of it. Has anybody been fired for this or faced charges for failure of duty? Not that I've heard. Congress has asked for information on this case and so far still has not received it. Why? Who's blocking it from them?
And, now this Nigerian Muslim terrorist. At least this time I guess we're going to get congressional hearings. We the people better demand that our legislators get to the bottom of the problems which caused this near tragedy and if heads need to roll, then do it instead of protecting people for political reasons. We can have systems all day long but if people don't or won't do their jobs within the system, then the best system won't work.
Oh, and as for the Muslim extremists, until the Muslim community in the U.S. and in the rest of the world stands up against them, nothing will change. And, it doesn't appear they will.
ReplyDeletePerhaps some of the blame lies in our departure from the beliefs and inspirations of the Founding Fathers. See this story about a now famous painting by an American artist.
ReplyDeleteSome have suggested that profiling is more important than all the fancy equipment, some of which does not appear to work. I have been an advocate of profiling for some time. It is a very effective technique in a variety of settings. We are either serious about stopping this and other threats or we are not. We need to stop worrying about what is PC and get down to brass tacks on protecting our country. Has anyone really thought about what the casualties would have been if this airplane exploded over Detroit. It wouldn't have been just the passengers and the crew. People on the ground would have died or been maimed.
ReplyDeleteHumberto is right. The terrorists are stupid if they don't realize the large numbers of illegals that penetrate our borders every day and take advantage of the lack of security and internal enforcement.
ReplyDeleteI expect the other shoe to drop soon. Then maybe Obama will have to think twice about amnesty and open borders to satisfy his Hispanic supporters who seem to have very little concern about terrorist acts. They contribute to our vulnerability by favoring CIR and amnesty. A little loyalty to America would go a long way.
Try it again <a href="http://notes-ultima.blogspot.com/>beliefs<a/>
ReplyDeleteOne more time!!!
ReplyDeletebeliefs