2 Misconceptions And A Major Concern

Submitted by orange yonason (United States), Dec 28, 2009 at 21:55

B"H

I'm just going to address two of those that jumped out at me on first reading.

First:
"While Sudden Jihad Syndrome by isolated individuals remains beyond the abilities of American institutions to stop (viz., the Ft. Hood shooter last month), terrorists linked to Al-Qaeda are well under surveillance." -- Dr. Pipes

Unfortunately, a lot of those seemingly "sudden" attacks are only so from our perspective, as any "surprise attack" is supposed to be. But many more are likely to be linked than our "leaders" admit, or even seem to realize. "Rep. Hoekstra, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee is suggesting a possible connection. Radical Yemeni Cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki was the spiritual leader of Ft. Hood Terrorist Nidal Malik Hasan. He's also identified as the spritual leader for Flight 253 suspect Abdulmutallab."

Second:
What this latest episode proves is that the policies in place are probably sufficient to protect us, if they are only followed properly. Extra restrictions, designed to appear as if something is being done to enhance deterrence, but which ignore the fundamental lack of discipline of those charged with our safety, are more than a mere nuisance. They are obstacles to the progress we need to make.

Thank G-d that at least some terrorists are more incompetent than our "security" officials. My fear though is that, while we are unable to learn from our mistakes, they have shown themselves quite able to learn from theirs. I therefore fear that it is merely a matter of time before their learning trumps our folly.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".