Frightening Things

I saw United 93 last night. It was a pretty flawlessly executed production, truly respectful to those individuals involved in the tragic events and fairly devoid of political statements. My wife cried through much of it. I left feeling solemn and a tad angry, not at the film, but at how quickly we have forgotten.

Shortly after 9-11-2001, we were a nation united behind the proposition that we had been attacked and that we were willing to do what was necessary to win the war on terror. Then things slowly changed, partly due to election year politics and an double-talking anti-war candidate in the Democratic ticket. Evidence of weapons of mass destruction, attested to by intelligence agencies in multiple countries and multiple US agencies and administrations somehow became an issue that only President Bush lied about, and many in the masses bought the conspiracy theory. Evidence of ties between Al Qaeda and Saddam have been routinely downplayed, as if no “operational” connection in the 9-11 report means no connection at all and no threat. There is evidence now that Bin Laden and Zarqawi have some degree of alliance in Zarqawi’s current efforts to destabilize Iraq.

Now, while Islamic protesters in New York speak of mushroom clouds over Israel and
Cindy Sheehan, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton lead anti war marches where folks carry signs claiming Bush is more evil that Bin Laden. I seriously doubt we have the collective stomach to sacrifice much of anything to prevent a greater evil. Which leads to the frightening possibilities...

One has to be careful to read things with a skeptical eye, but I’ve been seeing speculation about Al Quaida acquiring nukes over and over again for the past few years and I don't know what to make of them. WorldNetDaily reports that Al Queda has not only sought, but obtained suitcase size nuclear weapons and that those weapons are already in the United States. Furthermore, the same online paper claims that there is real proof of this to be presented at a national Press Club terror symposium in Washington. They add that Iran has received a shipment of missiles from North Korea that would make striking Europe by Iran a real possibility.

Skeptics suggest that any suitcase nukes Bin Laden may have obtained would likely not be effective any longer, due to decay of components and the need for replacement by highly skilled technicians. Others doubt how far Iran's nuclear program has really progressed, but given the anti-war climate, nuclear blackmail seems likely to be successful if Iran goes much further.

But others counter that Bin Laden is not so dumb as to not plan for maintenance of suitcase nukes if obtained. Considering the patience and sophistication of previous attacks, I tend to think this guy could figure out ways to pull it off.

Whether any of this really is verifiable, I don’t know. What I do know is that it makes sense. Radical Muslims have been increasingly vocal and bold of late. Iran has made no secret of its plans for Israel and has shown no hesitation to provoke the West. One wonders if the reason for the boldness is that these jihadists have something up their sleeve. One wonders if there is a quiet confidence that we will be weak, we will continue to back down, continue to capitulate, and at the right moment, mushroom clouds over Washington, New York, L.A., Chicago, and Dallas will remove the main obstacle to global Islamization.

What I do not understand is why so many in this country do not take the threats seriously after three decades of Islamic terrorism and the death of 3000 civilians five years ago. Clearly radical Islamic terrorists have stated intentions of wiping out both Isreal and the United States, they have a history of carrying out attacks and have no qualms about killing civilians. To me that is all we should need in the way of evidence and motivation to keep the resolve we had on 9-12 or 9-13 of 2001, and to make silly criticisms of “pre-emptive war” irrelevant. War began on 9-11 and was not started by us. To back out of Iran now and pretend we live in a pre 9-11 world is a plan for suicide. If we are unwilling to battle Zarqawi in Iraq, where then would we battle him?

One can always hope that films like United 93 will help us to remember what this is about, but I am not optimistic.