Homegrown Terrorists

First, let me say that if there is any realistic threat to our citizens or soldiers at home or abroad I hope that threat is taken seriously and resolved promptly. I do not regard terrorism as a joking matter, and particularly not when it is directed at military people and installations.

But I have to wonder what, precisely, our federal agencies are actually doing when I review the caliber of the plots that they are apprehending. It rather makes me wonder what may be going on that they are blissfully unaware of, when they are trumpeting their prowess in breaking up such nefarious schemes as:

A group that was planning to blow up a tunnel that is below sea level (in bedrock) in order to flood Wall Street, which is above sea level. This group possessed no explosives at the time the plot was broken up. It was never clear what they hoped would be accomplished by flooding Wall Street.

Two guys that were supposedly going to blow up the Mackinac Bridge using cell phones. They also had no explosives, and it turned out they were merely reselling the cell phones.

A group that was holding public close order drills in Miami and was planning to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago but had neither weapons or explosives. When the undercover agent tried to get them to buy weapons they asked for combat boots instead.

And now a Muslim drinking club that made home movies of themselves at a rifle range and had plans of attacking Fort Dix. It turns out that there was nothing more than talk, however, until after more than a year of undercover work an agent suggested selling them fully automatic weapons – an idea that it appears had not occurred to them.

So this group has had an undercover agent in their midst for more than a year and had not yet obtained their desired weaponry, and U.S. Attorney Christie is standing before the microphones talking about how we have “dodged a bullet, maybe a lot of bullets.”

With all the Congressional investigations going on in the Department of Justice right now, I think if I were a U.S. Attorney I would be maintaining a rather low profile, not standing on the steps of the courthouse braying about my department’s prowess at slapping down inept terrorists.