9-11 Again

Like many Americans the details of that day remain fresh in my mind.

When I was first told a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center, I was under the impression it was a private plane and it was an accident.

I was told in my office and had to walk to another building for an event.  We could see the smoke from the World Trade Center in the distance which seemed odd for a small plane.

We soon found out it was a commercial jet and was no accident.  Like millions of others the day unfolded with a lot of uncertainty about the extent of the attacks.

It is something that we should celebrate but clearly we should remember the victims and the heroes from that day.

It changed America in many ways which still impact us now.

It also led to our wars in the Middle East which we are still fighting.

While we clearly need to make sure such an event never happens again, we also need to remember that America is a land of freedom and promise.

Some people are willing to limit that in exchange for promised safety.  The promise is most likely false and if we destroy American values, well then the terrorists have won.

We can't let them.

Domestic Security

Negotiations are under way to avoid another Government shutdown and right now things aren't looking too good, at least according to some of the participants.

The only real issue comes down to funding for the wall that was a campaign promise of sorts.

Of course that promise included a promise that we wouldn't have to pay for it, which has apparently been forgotten.

Is a wall a good thing?

In certain areas we already have barriers and in other areas we rely more or less on the terrain to deter border crossings.

We are talking about thousands of mile of border, much of it quite inhospitable.

Certainly, people can be transported to the border in those areas and can cross, usually with the hope of being apprehended and applying for asylum.

The vase majority of these immigrants simply want an opportunity to plead their cases.

The other ones, the drug dealers and possibly terrorists, have better ways to cross, they can afford it.

You are really talking about two different worlds, that of the desperate immigrant looking for a better life and that of a criminal looking to make more money.

There have been many ways that drugs have gotten into this country and I can guarantee that long treks across inhospitable stretches of desert is not very popular, there are many easier ways.

Similarly, most terrorists simply fly into this country using various visas.  That's for terrorists that come from outside the country, we have always had our home grown ones.

Domestic security is important, but generally it is not tied into events on our southern border specifically.

Those people aren't the threat.

Puppet?

Sometimes you look at the news and have a "WTF" moment.

The dontard has decided to pull all our troops out of Syria because ISIS is defeated.

Now no one else agrees it is defeated and it should be noted that ISIS was simply the latest easy target for battling terrorism.

It also seems inconsistent to say they have been planting terrorists in the Central American caravan if they have in fact been defeated.

It does give the Russians unrestricted access to a critical location in the Middle East where they can further pursue policies which most agree are detrimental to this country and Israel.

It also gives Iran a boost and possibly a way to undercut any sanctions the dontard imposes on them.

Our presence in Syria has never been huge but it was at least symbolic.  Its goals were never really achieved although we did participate to some extent in dislodging ISIS from certain territory.

It would be nice if we actually had a coherent strategy for the middle east that made sense instead of whatever it is we are doing.

It hasn't worked, unless its aim was to enhance Russian and Iranian influence.

Maybe it was, we know the dictator of Russia may be pulling the strings.

Terrorism and Media

Whenever there is a terrorist attack you wonder what can we do to prevent future ones.

Unfortunately it doesn't seem like we can do much against things conducted by a single individual with no obvious ties to a terrorist organization.

Even those who have passing ties are not likely to be stopped, I believe the number of suspects far outweighs our ability to monitor them.

The only thing we can do is not to overreact to them, taking away the publicity the attacks are designed to create.

Of course that isn't likely to happen since our media is pretty sure to provide exactly what the terrorists organizations crave, publicity to make them look powerful and help them recruit.

In a country with a free press there is no way to prevent this and it makes more attacks more likely.

The victims were innocent and certainly didn't deserve this.  Their families deserve our sympathy and prayers and to be left to grieve.

I doubt the media circus will allow that.

Terrorism

On the anniversary of 9-11, it might be worthwhile to look at the state of terrorism and where we are in combatting it.

Now the problem with terrorism is simply that it doesn't have to be complicated elaborate plans or groups it can be as few as one individual driving a vehicle into a group of people.

Of course the damage cause by that is generally relatively minor unless of course you are one of the victims.

Preventing all terrorist attacks is not really feasible but we can prevent a lot of them, or at least make our targets hard to hit.

Now the terrorists are not limited to recent arrivers or refugees, but in many cases people who have been in this country and may even be citizens who get radicalized over some incident.

I guess the good news is that people are much more likely to dies in an automobile accident than be the victim of a terrorist.

I think the fact that terrorists actually want to hurt us is the scariest thing, it seems like there is nothing we can do.

However, of course there is.

See something, say something.

Take it seriously and in all honesty it would be better to report some one's forgotten briefcase or dropped purse hundreds of times than to ignore a planted bomb even once.

Now but you do need to see something, not just be suspicious of a person who looks a little different or dresses differently.

We can do what we can but we can't see or report every possible thing, considering that the next car coming down the street could simply veer into a crowd.

However, be alert and don't be afraid.  Fear is what they want and it is giving them a victory they don't deserve.