Rest easy, America. We are safe. With Tuesday’s arrest of six more terrorists, we can breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that our government is shielding us from the world’s most diabolical minds.
God bless.
Thanks to the keen insights and vigilant guard of a Circuit City employee turned Sherlock Holmes, the United States has sniffed out another terrifically concealed sleeper cell that threatened to destroy the very foundation of everything we hold dear. On the importance of this citizen’s actions, don’t take my word for it. Just listen to U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie:
"If we didn't get that tip, I couldn't be sure what would happen."
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A nicely turned phrase if I’ve ever read one, by the way. Praise-heaping and fear-mongering all in the same breath. Not only does Mr. Christie underscore the importance of this civilian’s contribution to law enforcement, he illustrates it with the icy hand of threatened death. Death on an unimaginable scale, too. Heckuva job, Christie.
And in regards to the tip-giver, FBI agent J.P. Weis called the clerk the "unsung hero" of the case.
Unsung hero. That’s another interesting way to describe the actions of the electronics store clerk. Really, wouldn’t it be a shame to leave this hero "unsung." Shouldn’t we all sing his/her praises? Let’s examine, for a moment, what this tipster did. What did he/she see? What did he/she hear?
Nothing much. Certainly nothing that would arouse the suspicions of you or me.
Just a videotape of 10 Muslim men firing assault weapons and calling out "Allah Akhbar!"
Clearly, to sniff out something suspicious on that video, the tipster used tremendous investigative brilliance and razor-sharp psychological insights into the fanatical mind.
Glory be to God.
Seriously, I’m not writing to diminish the contribution of this tipster. It’s up to all of us citizens to report criminal or suspicious activity. In this case, the person may have saved lives. I’m also not writing to denigrate the work of the investigators. So far, it seems like a good arrest. As has been the case with other "terror" arrests, time will tell if it holds up to scrutiny.
I am writing, however, to ask this question: Why is American law enforcement only catching the low-hanging intellectual fruit of Islamic militancy? The half-wits? The stumbling, bumbling Islamo-idiots? After all, "The Fort Dix Six" are just another example in a long string of intellectually challenged suspects that have been arrested domestically.
Let us not forget The Miami Seven.
Their idea of radical Islam? Turns out, it was Christianity.
According to Time Magazine, they maintained their highly secret operation by "strutting around a poor black neighborhood in military-style uniforms, wearing turbans, standing guard around the abandoned warehouse in which they lived and conducting late-night exercise drills, while telling neighbors that they had ‘given their lives to Allah.’"
Also, their plans included waging a "full ground war" on the United States, thanks to an army that numbered approximately 7.
Or how about Richard Reid, the Shoe Bomber?
According to one British intelligence official quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle, "Reid could not have done this himself -- he would have trouble tying his own shoelaces."
Of course, the same source said that Reid must’ve had assistance from an expert bomb maker, a hardcore Al Qaeda type. But did we ever catch this other person? The smart one? Hell, no. We got the one who couldn’t mastermind anything more complicated than Velcro sneakers.
And then there was Zacarias Moussaoui.
During the Moussaoui trial, CBS News described him thusly:
"It's more likely that Moussaoui's responses will be confused to the point of meaninglessness than it is that he'll say the right things at the right time to give the judge comfort that the plea is knowing and voluntary."
So, here we are. Nearly six years after 9/11, we’ve seen, heard and read countless reports of terror arrests. And time after time, story after story, I no longer find myself scared in the least by the terror suspects that the Justice Department trots in front of the cameras. Not that fools and nutjobs are entirely harmless. On the contrary, they can pose a threat. They’re certainly capable of killing, and in the cases of actual wrongdoing, I’m grateful that our law enforcement agencies have been on the job. But the question remains: What about the smart ones?
Where can you find an evil genius when you need one?
Now, I'm just spitballing here, but when I'm looking for something, I follow this piece of age-old advice: The best way to find something you've lost is to start looking in the last place you saw it. Perhaps here?