Land of Oz

Whither Terrori$t?

From the AP:

Two weeks ago, when Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge warned of possible al-Qaida attacks, the "where" was very specific: financial institutions in New York City, Washington and Newark, N.J.

The authorities jumped into the breech and massive security programs were hurriedly updated, upgraded and put into operation. Streets were blocked, guards posted and us citizens wondered how soon we'd see another cloud of smoke and dust as a building came crashing down.

However, it seems the data this was based on was pretty much 3-4 years old with some evidence of new photos taken this year. Now there are government agencies saying

"I have not seen an indication of an imminent operation," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity with reporters from nearly a dozen news organizations.

You have to love the consistency of information in this "war on terror." First it was imminent use of WMDs, then probable ownership of WMDs, then probable interest in programs of WMDs. First it was Osama as the world's bad guy who had to be captured at all cost, then it was Saddam as the world's bad guy, and now you hear very little about Saddam and next to nothing about Osama.

Now we are winning the "war on terror" and have "turned the corner" yet we seem to be under more threat this week than last year. Even though we're winning and have the "evil people" on the run, it seems like our the very foundation of our financial power is only a step away from destruction. Helicopters have just been added to the imminent threat along with buses and U-Haul trucks. We aren't even supposed to show the American flag at the Olympics.

The war in Iraq was "Mission Accomplished" over a year ago, and our allies like the Philippines and Poland are bailing out or handing off as if Iraq and Baghdad were dangerous places. The threat to world security and peace has been lessened by our actions in the Middle East, yet gas prices rise and security warnings are increasing every day.

By the way, the anthrax attack investigation in the US is still waving in the wind and there's still only one person who's been arrested for the 9/11 attack - and he's likely to be let loose because the US won't release information about the case. Meanwhile Tim McNichols has been sentenced to 161 consecutive life sentences!?! Does that make any sense. Someone must figure he's God and will be resurrected after each sentence is finished.

And while all this going on, the biggest news stories are about some dude in California accused of killing his wife and a basketball player who in some fog of multimillion dollar self-importance brought a young girl into his hotel room. And then we can put some 61 year old women in jail for lying about $44,000 dollars and the stock market while multimillion/billion dollar companies take their shareholders to the cleaners for trillions.

2fers: Terror dollars and cents and Hero or Devil?