I was originally going to only write about the aspect of the terror plot broken up in Riverdale (part of NYC for those outside of the area) that related to the correct way to combat terrorism – especially here in the US. I planned on referring back to a prior diary I did that outlined the efforts of local law enforcement and the FBI to break up prior terrorist plots, but recent completely asinine comments by Senator Harry Reid and a number of republicans regarding "releasing terrorists in the United States" made me think of another point here.
For starters, the most recent plot disrupted here in NYC further reinforces the correct way to deal with terrorist threats:
In their efforts to acquire weapons, the defendants dealt with an informant acting under law enforcement supervision, authorities said. The FBI and other agencies monitored the men and provided an inactive missile and inert explosives to the informant for the defendants, a federal complaint said.
The investigation had been under way for about a year.
Cooperation between intelligence agencies and local law enforcement. Time and time again this has been the winning formula for busting up terror plots – legitimate ones like this one here in NYC or ones that are a bit more questionable like the one in NJ (Fort Dix) or Florida (the boneheads who were tough talkers about blowing shit up but had no means or ability to do so).
Which brings me to the nonstop idiotic talking points that are based on nothing more than hysteria.
For starters, it shows yet again that "fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them here" is a statement that was so ludicrous that it if wasn’t exposed as a farce the first 10,000 times it was used, then it should be once and for all. However, it seems as though that dumb phrase is about to be replaced with:
So, we have terrorists already in the United States – in the Bronx, in New Jersey and all over the country (let’s call it what it is and talk about all of the anti-choice militants who think it is ok to bomb Planned Parenthood offices) and also include the Ted Kaczynski’s, Timothy McVeigh’s, Eric Rudolph’s and other radical right wing militants, many of whom are rearing their heads more and more as they are egged on by the hate speech and violent rhetoric by their right wing "leaders".
Which brings me to my last point and the second part of the diary title If we are not to learn from the many plots that were broken up (and those that succeeded) over the years through coordination and sharing of information between law enforcement and our intelligence agencies. The current approach of "ZOMG!!! A MUZLEM TERRORIST!! LET’S BOMB AND INVADE!!!" is what got the United States into the foreign policy disaster that it current is in all across the globe. Of course we are not going to send troops into the Bronx – just as we shouldn’t have sent troops to Iraq and shouldn’t send more troops to Afghanistan. But that is besides my point. But terrorists in the Bronx, terrorists bombing Planned Parenthood offices, terrorists threatening President Obama or liberals or anyone else have successfully been dealt on a consistent basis when law enforcement steps up and steps in.
It’s too bad that pretty much nobody who makes the decisions regarding this country’s policy towards terrorism and law enforcement either recognizes this obvious point or chooses to ignore this point.