It’s been a long time since 9/11, by American standards anyway. A lot of folks have forgotten how it felt, or no longer care to think about it.
But some of us even remember back to a time before, when defense and national security apparatuses were forced into the role of counter-punchers, cringing back and waiting for the next blow. I was blessed – or cursed – with the knowledge in the summer of 2001 that something big was coming, but we just didn’t know where. The wires were ablaze with chatter, but nothing could be put together and in the end we were all caught flat-footed. That was they way the world was, and no use to grumble.
Then the big day came along, and we shifted to the offensive. After a series of unparalleled successes the War on Terror became a kind of an inside joke, an irony: Dick Cheney’s concept of pre-emption to protect the homeland subtly became a fervid neo-con fantasy of world domination and something or other to do with Haliburton, which in turn became a subject of derision.
That went on for eight years, but now things have changed, changed utterly – a terrible beauty is born:
Understandbly, the White House is trying very hard to get out in front of the would-be Christmas bomber story. The head of the Department of Homeland Security isn’t helping. I watched her on three shows and each time she was more annoying, maddening and absurd than the pevious appearance. It is her basic position that the “system worked” because the bureaucrats responded properly after the attack. That the attack was “foiled” by a bad detonator and some civilian passengers is proof, she claims, that her agency is doing everything right. That is just about the dumbest thing she could say, on the merits and politically. I would wager that not one percent of Americans think the system is “working” when terrorists successfully get bombs onto planes (and succeed in activating them). Probably even fewer think it’s fair that they have to take off their shoes, endure delays and madness while a known Islamic radical — turned in by his own father — can waltz onto a plane (and into the country). DHS had no role whatsoever in assuring that this bomb didn’t go off. By her logic if the bomb had gone off, the system would have “worked” since it has done everything right.
Napolitano has a habit of arguing that DHS is a first responder outfit. Its mission is to deal with “man-caused-disasters” afer they occur. It appears she really believes it.
There’s a huge difference between first response and first strike. I’m not entirely sure we’ve reckoned the cost between the two, and who bears it.
Time to get the feds off the backs of the honest citizens, recognize their full civil and constitutional rights and allow, at the very least, law enforcement and holders of CCWs to carry on flights. THAT would be true ‘homeland security.’
The first responder is rarely a cop, firefighter, military of some sort. It is almost always the concerned and civic minded honest citizen who sees something odd and reacts.
The capons we elect need to remember that we are not all undisciplined, violent droids (like, say, Charlie Sheen), but sober, thoughtful, disciplined concerned citizens for the most part.
If the thugs know that they may be facing one to a dozen armed honest citizens, at the very least they will be having to respond to us rather than we to them.
Add to CCW the recurring training needed to become/stay proficient in CQB in the big metal tube. I’d just as soon we all had billy clubs or saps while on board, over allowing untrained gun handlers to start poking holes in things.
Mongo, on one level I can agree with you. On another, more basic level, I have a lot of trouble requiring training and a govt. test to exercise a civil right. All the people I know with CCWs practice to the tune of several hundred rounds a week, and shoot better than most LEOs I have watched shoot (quite a few, I used to work off the books at a gunshop/range where most of the local depts trained and qualified – most LE seemed to shoot patterns rather than groups).
And, in a big flying tube, there isn’t a whole lot of room to use a club or sap. One thug could easily hold off a fair number of people. Realistically, what are the chances of a 10mm or 11.4mm slug doing serious damage to an airliner?
Joe, I think before we let them carry live aboard the people tube, we should get TSA to issue the passengers frangible ammo
They make frangible .362 lead round ball? Cool!
This reminds me of what I thought of Janet Napolitano the first time I saw her speak on TV, nearly a year ago. To modify a line from Anthony Quinn’s Auda in Lawrence of Arabia: She should consider herself lucky that when God made her a Butt-head He actually gave her a butt for a head.
We knew what she was here in AZ as our Gov. When she was appointed to head of HS, we were both relieved and filled with dread…glad she’s gone but afraid of what she might do in DC. Suspicions confirmed.
If nothing else, let us carry edged weapons.
I trust my own shooting…but I put 80-100 rounds downrange per week, and the competitive record to prove it. I’m not so sure about those other people.
Yeah, best not trust “citizens and free men.” Not as if CCW holders tend to be a self selecting bunch and on balance behave themselves better than LEO’s. Yeah, ignore the facts. Besides we’ve all seen what a Hollywood explosive decompression looks like. Nevermind that fantasy either. /snark
The “system” will be further modified to insure it keeps working.
Dutch filmmakers will now be allowed to fly for half-fare…
“Dutch film-makers will be allowed to fly for half fare…..”
Heh. Good for starters. But that’s only if they don’t get their throats cut first while out riding bicycles in their native Holland. Perhaps TSA funds would be better spent providing them all with personal bodyguards.
I would wager that not one percent of Americans think the system is “working”…
You’d lose. A poll I saw surfing the net asked 500 air travelers “Are we as safe under Obama as we were under Bush?”
Yes — 4
No — 475
More safe — 5
No response — 16
Which means that on your next flight, there’s a good chance at least one of your fellow passengers is a clueless loon…
Ms. Napalitano was paid off. She came out of the blocks fast leading the charge waving Obama’s flag. It stunned Hillary and her supporters who were hoping for estrogen solidarity. The top corner office over at Homeland Security was no different than the king’s ransoms laid at the feet of Landrieu in LA, or Nelson in NB. Her fitness for the job have been in question from the beginning. http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2009/04/25/20090425napolitano0425.html# The political payoff was just another “system” that worked. It’s also scary to consider the fact that her name was actually on the short list that Sotomayor eventually topped. Her name still comes up every time the pundits look into their judicial crystal ball. Amazing. Corruption is rampant on both sides of the aisle, and stones cast by the self defined morally pure tend to boomerang unexpectedly during election cycles. I say clean them all out. Redo. The trick is going to be holding the fort until the fall 2010 elections. Man the ramparts boys! steve
She flip flopped today.
“Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano flip-flopped today on the government’s performance in the Christmas Day Northwest Airlines alleged terror attack, saying changes need to be made to the passenger screening system.
Just a day earlier, she told ABC News that the “system has worked really very, very smoothly over the course of the past several days.”
Today, on “Good Morning America,” she said, “Clearly, there’s some work that needs to be done to link up what we call the tie, the generic base in which his name had been entered, to those who already have visas.”
“We want to go backward now and review our list processes,”"
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Politics/napolitano-security-flight-253-terror-suspect-umar-abdulmutallab/story?id=9432139
You know, if this is there wake up call then so be it. Compared to 9/11 its not as much. One can only hope because Umar says there is more to come; http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/abdulmutallab-yemen-northwest-flight-253-terror-suspect/story?id=9430536
Best line that I’ve heard on Napolitano’s “Leadership skills”. “Her leadeship skills are so low that she couldn’t lead Tiger Woods to a free weekend at the Mustang Ranch.” Durn near fell outa my chair when I heard a selfstyled security expert offer that judgment.