Another alert, and more insecurity

[papau]

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/08/03/another_alert_and_more_insecurity/


THOMAS OLIPHANT
Another alert, and more insecurity
By Thomas Oliphant | August 3, 2004

WASHINGTON
BASED ON what US officials have been saying since Sunday, it's at least clear what the government says it doesn't know.

It doesn't know whether there was ever a specific plot to attack five buildings here, in Newark, and in New York -- all involved with big-time finance. If there was one, it doesn't know whether it is ongoing or long since abandoned. It doesn't know whether the planning information found on the computer of a terrorist suspect in Pakistan was sent up or down a chain of command. It doesn't know how much, if any, other detailed information exists about facilities in this country that might become, or might have become, targets of a specific attack plot.

It doesn't know whether there is a connection between general intelligence information about possible attacks this election year and the specific information apparently uncovered last week. It doesn't know whether what intelligence officials are calling a "treasure trove" of information is an insight into Al Qaeda's strength (past or present) or its weakness (current).

One official compared the breakthrough to a homeowner getting a call from the cops informing him that a man they had arrested had drawings of his home, a listing of his family's comings and goings, information about his private security service, and a detailed memorandum about what kinds of explosives and delivery vehicles might best be used to blow up the house.

How would you feel? I'd feel relieved that the authorities were able to warn me in advance of something horrible so I could take precautions. But I'd also feel insecure not knowing what else was going on and realizing that I might be up against sophisticated criminals.

Somewhere in that mixture of feelings is the politics of terrorism nearly three years after the 9/11 attacks. President Bush likes to cite the phrase in the 9/11 commission report that makes him most comfortable: that the country is safer but not safe. That is gibberish, a word game that ought to make Americans wonder about a guy who has been a lot more than a day late and countless dollars short in every one of his responses to terrorism.<snip>

[Miss Authoritiva]

1. They really don't know what to do, do they.

I look at the news pictures of armed-to-the-teeth guardsmen riding subways, standing at street corners, and striding through bus and train stations and think: well, that will reduce ordinary street crime but won't deter Bush's "suiciders."

Friends of mine who commute to work in Manhattan are taking the new threat warnings in stride. In addition to the usual emergency provisions stashed in their office desks (food, bottled water, clothing, batteries), they've added dust masks, goggles, tyvek jumpsuits, and eyewash.

And so it goes.