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Homeland Security? You’re Kidding, Right? I have been trying to figure out why we haven’t had a second 9-11 since 2001. One would think that al Qaeda, to whom is attributed vast intellect, funding, and an invisible international network of operatives, would have delivered a second devastating blow by now? Are we just lucky? Are we more secure?
I have no doubt that many dedicated Americans are working in our intelligence and justice agencies to protect our lives, probably having prevented attacks. Critics have said the reorganization of these agencies simply created an even larger bureaucracy. Others say it has enhanced the connectivity needed in a new era of anti-terrorism. For a long time now I have been thinking about how utterly defenseless this nation is in real terms. To put it another way, if a couple of teenage vandals can break into a Massachusetts town’s water supply, we’re doomed. For example, nine million cargo containers arrive at our major ports every year. It is probably impossible to inspect them all, but lucky for us, the Bush administration has just finalized a no-bid contract with Hutchison Whampoa Ltd to use our most sophisticated equipment to detect radioactive materials passing through the Bahamas. Never mind that this Hong Kong company is well known for its close connections with the Red Chinese army and government. (They also own facilities at both ends of the Panama Canal!) Did I mention that a Red Chinese company runs the largest port on the West Coast? Pretty soon we’ll have a similar inspection deal with some nice folks in the Philippines. Who needs Americans guarding the nation when others will gladly do it for us? At least with Dubai Ports, our own people are inspecting cargo debarking from the United Arab Emirates for here. All those other nations in which it operates ports aren’t worried and, apparently, neither was our ever-vigilant White House until the deal was widely reported. To insure that our ports are "secure", your government has embarked on producing a Transportation Worker Identification Credential. I’ll bet that makes you feel better. However, as Harold Evans, a contributing editor at U.S. News & World Report noted recently, "We are coming up to the fifth anniversary of the 9-11 attacks and the fourth year since Congress authorized the money. Some $70 million has been spent developing the card if you include the $24 million testing a prototype. So where is it?" We’re doomed. That’s why an estimated half million legal and illegal immigrants marching around downtown Los Angeles, waving MEXICAN flags, barely evoked any reaction whatever in the White House. If we can out-source our security to the Red Chinese, why would anyone think we might actually be worried about eleven million illegal aliens demanding to be U.S. citizens by the end of next week? Mexico has an even better system in place on its southern border than we do on ours. They don’t want competition from other Latin and South American immigrants. When asked, President Bush said he was against amnesty, but is he for stopping these folks from coming here? Is he for sending a lot of them back to Mexico? No way, Jose! We’re doomed. Recently, USA Today ran an article "Brain drain hits Homeland Security" reporting that "top managers and rank-and-file employees" are bailing out. Could it have something to do with the fiasco of last year’s Katrina? Could it be that all those separate governmental fiefdoms that have been joined together still don’t really get along with one another? Could it be that all the inter-agency politics that existed before is now—how shall I put this—worse? Could it be that even the folks at FEMA know how unprepared they are for the next hurricane season? Could it be we’re doomed? As this is being written, every day countless foreign visitors are arriving at our airports, deplaning, showing their visas, filling out forms, and disappearing into America never to be found again. Most will presumably go home, perhaps after attending one of our universities like that former Taliban spokesman at Yale, or after a nice vacation or a business trip. The problem is we have no system to track any of them. I have friends who have devoted their lives to emergency management. The good news is that some efforts are being made to improve communications programs and there are lots of first responders training all the time to help the rest of us. As one of them put it, "Somewhere there’s a big file cabinet filled with plans to attack us somehow, somewhere." My best guess is that it’s in a mud hut somewhere in Waziristan.
Are we more secure? I don’t think so. I don’t think any nation with the kind of 2,000 mile-long open northern and southern borders, countless flights from overseas, and an indigenous population of three million Muslims can ever expect to be secure.
Homeland security? You’re kidding, right? Would you like to have excerpts from "Warning Signs" on your website? All you have to do is contact me here at the Center. Know a news or opinion website that might welcome excerpts? Let me know about it. To email me, click here. "I used to be a conservative when that meant something. I give that up now as it is madness. Today’s ‘conservatives’ have become fascists." That’s what one friend told me recently. Pretty strong stuff, but being in the pundit business means hearing from friends and strangers alike. When it comes to hearing from conservatives, there is a now familiar theme and it is that those in high office may call themselves conservatives, but neglect conservative values.
I am just naïve enough to think they have a right to their opinion and, frankly, who is pro-war? I mean, seriously, who wants to send a son, a brother, a husband, a father (and now even a daughter and mother!) off to wage war in a faraway place? There is, of course, the concept of the "just war" when one is confronting a known, identifiable evil. Increasingly, however, conservatives are asking why we are spending a billion dollars a month in Iraq and billions elsewhere to fight "terror"? For years we were perfectly content to do business with Saddam Hussein when he was selling us oil and waging war on the Iranians to get his hands on their oil. We didn’t like the Iranians because in 1979 their new leaders had taken our diplomats hostage. After Saddam gave up on Iran, we thought he was through, but when he invaded Kuwait, we saw that he intended to invade any and all of his neighbors so we put a stop to that. We ended up going back in 2003 because (1) we should have thrown the bum out the first time, (2) he was a greedy idiot, and (3) he was threatening our safe access to Middle East oil at the same a time Iran was trying to make a nuke. Conservatives are proud of our military and support them, but a growing number are asking why, long after the fall of the Soviet Union, we have so many either engaged in combat or stationed all over the world? Who, exactly, is the enemy these days? The answer we get is "terrorism." The problem with that is there has not been another attack in the U.S., the two other bombings in Spain and England were by locals, and there have been none since. Yes, Islamic fundamentalism does pose a threat, but if it were just bottled up in the Middle East where it is bred and lives, so long as the oil keeps flowing, is it really that big a problem? Even somnambulant Europe appears to be waking from its indifference to its huge Muslim population. Soon enough their policies will be "assimilate or leave." Meanwhile, conservatives look on in uncomprehending horror at a new debt ceiling of $9 trillion dollars. Real conservatives believe in fiscal prudence, in balanced budgets, in surpluses, and are wary of Big Government welfare programs no matter what you call them. When you throw in an attack on private property by the U.S. Supreme Court and uncontrolled illegal immigration, conservatives who thought they were electing Republicans who wouldn’t stand for stuff like that, think we have awakened in the midst of a nightmare of left-wing madness.
For conservatives who thought that Ronald Reagan ushered in a new golden age of conservatism, the nostalgia is a tad foggy. No doubt he was the most impressive president since FDR, but government did not get smaller. It got bigger. Often forgotten is the fact that Reagan raised federal taxes three times in six years to avoid a massive deficit. Unimpressed with President George H.W. Bush, the voters put Bill Clinton in office. The 1994 Republican Revolution that swept them to control of Congress insured a balanced budget and, briefly, fiscal sanity and a surplus. His son, George W. Bush, has out-borrowed and out-spent every previous president in the history of the nation. The latest bunch of Republicans and others who speak for conservatism have supped too long on the elixir of "empire", thinking that America can continue to borrow and spend as if it will never end. The problem with that is history gives ample evidence that all empires end and they do so by committing financial suicide. The Internet is "free", but keeping The National Anxiety Center and its communications programs going is not. We depend on donations to keep our operation going and that’s why we appeal to you to for your support. If you prefer to send a check, please make it payable to The Caruba Organization, 28 West Third Street, Suite 1321, South Orange, NJ 07079. Thank you!
©
2006 Alan Caruba. |
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It took between 1993 when the first bombing of the Twin Towers occurred and 2001 when the really spectacular event imprinted itself on our memory. We may well just be dealing with people who have more patience than we do. Or we may have degraded their capabilities to launch another attack. Or they may be concentrating their focus on Israel as they establish a base in Gaza? Or? Or? Or!
Consider a pitch for membership I received recently from The Heritage Foundation, a citadel of conservatism. "Are you fed up with the anti-war left, the anti-war media, the anti-war members of Congress, anti-war Hollywood and all the other anti-war people, groups, and institutions?" Well, actually no.