Wednesday, December 30, 2009

They Just Don't get It

December 22, 1984, scant days before Christmas, in a city ravaged by crime, an event was about to take place that would steal the headlines and sensationalize the plight of a citizenry who could no longer look to their government to protect them.

Four young hoodlums, all with criminal records and fourteen bench warrants among them, were about to accost an innocent victim on New York City’s Seventh Avenue Number 2 subway train. The victim had previously suffered an assault and attempted robbery and had lost all hope of police protection in the pre-Giuliani outlaw haven that was New York City. What the toughs hadn’t bargained for was an armed victim intent on taking matters into his own hands. They weren’t ready when Bernie Goetz pulled out a Smith and Wesson and shot all four, wounding three and crippling the fourth.

The “Subway Vigilante” became the talk of the town. To many he became an instant hero, turning the tables on his would-be attackers. To Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau, he became a criminal, and while the Grand Jury refused to indict Goetz on charges of attempted murder and assault, he was convicted of gun possession and in a later civil suit was bankrupted by a multi-million dollar suit against him by one of his attackers.

Almost 25 years later to the day, an Islamist Extremist, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, attempted to murder almost 300 innocent civilians over US territory on the Christian Holy day of Christmas. We find out that Abdulmutallab boarded the flight from Amsterdam, the Netherlands (a country which has for all practical purposes surrendered its sovereignty to an influx of Muslim immigrants) to Detroit, without luggage, using a one way ticket, purchased with cash. We later learn that his own father had alerted US State Department officials that his son had become radicalized and posed a threat, and while this put him on a potential terrorist sympathizer list, it did not place him on a “no-fly” list.

Having boarded the plane with powdered explosives stuffed into his underwear, Abdulmutallab, under instructions from his handlers in Yemen, later believed to be former Gitmo detainees who were released for “rehabilitation,” waited until the flight was over US territory before attempting to detonate the explosives. Only through blind luck or incompetence, the explosives failed to detonate, and the actions of a few brave passengers who subdued the would-be terrorist, saved the lives of all those aboard the plane.

The reactions of President Obama and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano only serve to reinforce the notion that our government is failing miserably in its prime directive to provide for the safety and security of its citizens. Napolitano’s initial remarks were pure spin as she stated that everything worked “like clockwork” – after the passengers saved the day. The bomb did not explode and the terrorist was apprehended. “The traveling public is very, very safe.”

So you’re telling me Madame Secretary, that the system that harasses old women, forces us to remove our shoes, endure long lines, turn over our nail clippers, hair gel and babies' milk is designed to allow a reported terror threat, buying a one-way ticket with cash, arriving sans luggage but with explosives up his ass, to just prance on a plane and attempt to detonate a bomb because why???? You knew the detonator wouldn't work? You knew the passengers would do what you failed to do? How exactly is this working like clockwork?

Needless to say, the outcry over her ridiculous remarks resulted in a retraction and an admission that the system failed miserably. Still Napolitano will not consider profiling - we cannot offend the sensibilities of those who have vowed to murder us. This is the same Napolitano who earlier this year had absolutely no qualms about profiling Pro-Life supporters, anti-tax groups, Second Amendment advocates, military veterans and those who would speak against Obama-dictated agendas as being terrorist watch candidates.

President Obama, likewise, displayed no leadership characteristics in his initial response. Taking time out from his Hawaii golf vacation on Monday, he assured the public that they were safe, the “suspect is in custody and being charged.” As in the past, to the president’s delicate senses, this is a criminal act, not a jihadist war of terror being perpetrated on the American public. Now, as is his MO, two days later, realizing that his initial response was so much warm spit, he has taken a more aggressive approach, demanding answers, looking for scapegoats, and seeking to assign blame.

But wait, Mr. Obama, why have all the components in your system broken down? Homeland Security reacted poorly, the State Department downplayed direct warnings, and you seek to prosecute a criminal. Suppose, just for a minute, that things went differently? Suppose profiling was being used? Suppose Abdulmutalab was detained? Suppose he was singled out by security? Is it that hard to imagine, given your past failure to recognize this as a war, and your Attorney General’s preoccupation with the rights of terrorists over the safety of American citizens, that someone would have been called on the carpet, reprimanded, or arrested by your minions for such a serious breach of political correctness? I think not. You set the tone. You establish the parameters. You define the rules of engagement. As they say, sir, “A fish rots from the head down.” Unfortunately, the people are paying the price for your lack of effective leadership and your dyslexic understanding of history.

The sad part is, this near tragedy comes on the heels of the Fort Hood terrorist attack (yes, that’s what it was.) Tragically, the viper fangs of diversity and political correctness did not result in a near tragedy at Fort Hood, but in the absolutely unnecessary and totally preventable deaths of 13 brave men and women going about their lives in the one environment in which they should have felt completely secure.

Again, the evidence that Major Nidal Hasan was a radical jihadist, intent on killing Americans, was there for anyone to see. The FBI was aware of his past, the military brass noted and ignored it, and in the end lives were lost. I suggest that those in the chain of command who let Hasan advance, and who turned a blind eye to the clear and present danger that he represented to those under their command, were not just negligent in their duties, but were in fact criminally complicit in the murders. As I noted above, you set the tone, you establish the parameters, and you shoulder the blame.

As Ralph Peters states in his column today, the refusal of Obama, his cadre of lackeys, and the politically correct Left, to admit that we are in a global war against Islamist terrorists, will doom us to continue to suffer loss and devastation from an enemy with the clear goal of killing the infidels and destroying Western civilization. As Peters writes, “With our lies, self-deception and self-flagellation, we’re terror’s little helpers.”

Our government has a duty to proactively protect its citizens. Proactively – not reactively. Long lines at airports and screenings - watching the infirm and elderly being frisked and delayed to avoid the appearance of profiling - removing our shoes - surrendering pocket knives and liquids – being told when we can and can’t use the bathroom – being forced to sit with our hands on our laps – all reactive nonsense. What next, removing our underwear and submitting to routine cavity searches? Much of this could be avoided with a common sense approach devoid of the crippling effect of political correctness.

The American people are a patient people, slow to anger and forgiving. There comes a time, though, when the breaking point is breached, and when it is, the wrath of the people will be overwhelming and unquenchable. Given the abuse the citizens of this country are receiving from their own representatives in every aspect of their lives, their tolerance for a lack of security is that much thinner.

There will come a time, and it may be very soon, when the people react viscerally out of instinct. Like the animal backed into a corner, like the mother bear sensing danger to her cub, like Bernie Goetz fearing for his life, the people will react. If someone looks like a terrorist on a plane and acts oddly, someone will react. Call it vigilantism, or call it a basic instinct for survival, people will react. Will there be mistakes, innocents accused, threatened and dealt with? Surely. Then the dreaded specter of profiling will have seemed like a reasonable alternative – but it will be too late. And the same government that failed to protect its population will be faced with the prospect of arresting and prosecuting those whom it has failed.

They just don’t get it, do they?

Nico