In regards to the UK terrorist plot I have the following opinion.
First off, let me say that if this thing was real and happened the way it appears to have happened (i.e. there were real people, really about to hop on planes and really ready to blow them out of the sky) I have 100% thanks and approval of the British authorities.
Now. It’s pretty sad that I’ve become so skeptical of our current government. I mean I can’t believe that the first thing that came into my mind was that this was a non-event that was trumped up to a) raise our terror alert level and b) scare the American voters who in 3 months are going to vote on congress. The first thing I thought was that this was not unlike the goofballs in Florida a few months ago that we arrested.
It’s also a sad fact that we as citizens can’t be sure of the threat level of a terrorist plot until it actually happens. Because of that (and I understand why that is) we have to trust our government when they tell us we just dodged a bullet.
But I find it strange that one of the first things out of Chertoffs mouth today was al Qaeda, even though he was saying that it is too soon to tell if it was them or not. I find it odd that the plot was going to be carried out on planes again. It seems to me that the terrorists have so many easier ways to attack us and achieve the results that they would have achieved with this attack. It seems odd that this happened so close to an election. And most of all, it seemed odd to me that the story even came out at all. I mean, how does it help us as citizens to even know about this plot? Why is this such a huge story? I know it’s sensational and I know its somewhat important, but until anything is proven, isn’t this all conjecture?
I can’t really get my mind around what is bothering me about all this today. And I know if I had more time I’d be able to articulate this all better, but I wanted to post something before the day was out so there you go. We’ll see if I’m inspired to write more at a later time…
3 comments:
Al-Qaeda certainly haven't been mentioned here in London.
I'm too much of a peon to even have a useful guess as to what could have happened here. But I'll try.
The UK is doing a great job investigating these guys.. They call up the US and say, we've got this group under survaliance, etc. We ask how close they are to striking, the UK says.. maybe December or January.. we say.. hey, hold off as long as you can to get these guys (hoping that we can get a few months away from our elections).. the UK (as the wonderful ally they are) agrees to hold off..
The UK today strikes, the US then raises the terrorist threat level, mentions Al-Qaeda a few times and hopes that the voters are too scared to elect new congress members in November..
Your comment is too telling.. thanks!
All I have to say is that the government must have succeeded in terrifying airline passengers...I suspected this and checked british airways website yesterday..got a flight from JFK to Heathrow for an undheard of price on Labor Day weekend no less. Not sure if the deals are still there or not, but if anyone wants cheap airfare to the UK, check it out.
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