Saturday, October 22, 2005

No Terrorist Attack on US Soil Since 9/11?

 
It is commonly asserted that there have been no terrorist attacks on American soil since 9/11. The lack of further mass terrorism is often used to bolster the case that domestic intelligence and law enforcement have been doing their jobs effectively.

The latter assertion is undoubtedly true. Presumably any number of would-be shaheeds and mujahideen have been rounded up, arrested, surveilled, interfered with, deported, denied entry, and otherwise prevented from carrying out their deadly intentions here in the USA.

There may well have been a failed attempt at a terrorist attack in Norman, Oklahoma on October 1st of this year, when Joel Hinrichs committed explosive suicide. OU, the FBI, and the major media have all declared the case closed, but I’m not so sure.

However, it has become clear that there was a successful Islamist terrorist attack in the United States during the fall of 2002. I refer, of course, to the shooting spree of the “Beltway Snipers”, John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, which killed ten people and wounded three more. For three weeks in October of 2002 they terrorized Maryland, Washington D.C., and Virginia, and mesmerized the local and national media.

My earlier report on Jamaat ul-Fuqra in Virginia cites a Defense Watch article in 2002 detailing the connections between John Muhammad and the terrorist organization Jamaat ul-Fuqra. There are some indications that he took time off during his spree to hole up in a safe house at the Red House, Virginia compound for a little R&R.

Given Muhammad’s stated sympathy with Osama bin Laden, the jihad-related documents possessed by Lee Malvo, and Muhammad’s connection with Jamaat ul-Fuqra, it becomes clear that this was a domestic terrorist operation carried out by Islamists, in association with a known terrorist organization. Not only that, the leader of this terrorist organization is associated with Al Qaeda, appears to be complicit in the murder of Daniel Pearl, and has connections with Pakistan’s intelligence service, ISI.

This is rich loam indeed, in which the seeds of paranoia can be planted to grow luxuriant vines of conspiracy theories. The customary government phrase — “no known connection with terrorist organizations” — begins to look a little shopworn at this point, doesn’t it?

Look at it from the point of view of the Great Islamic Jihad: the Beltway Sniper operation was an easy, low-budget way to strike fear into the hearts of millions ordinary Americans and cause the retail economy of the Nation’s Capital to grind to a near-halt.

Beat-up old car: $1200
Welding, etc., to convert it into a killing machine: $300
Stolen high-powered rifle and ammo: $0
Sandwiches and soda pop for 3 weeks: $350
American citizens cowering beneath their beds: PRICELESS

15 comments:

airforcewife said...

Well, there was also the guy who shot up the El Al ticket counter. And the guy who shot up Louie B. Armstrong Airport (who was shouting Allahu Akbar, and yet was later reported as a "disgruntled employee"). The anthrax attacks, the sniper...

So, I guess there have been no terrorist attacks since 9/11!

Really, though, I don't know that I'd say most Americans cower under their beds. Only when the media presents it as an insurmountable problem. When a way is shown (even if it involves quite a bit of violence), I think the American public tends to jump on board.

Always On Watch said...

Finally, I'm getting a chance to rant about the D.C. Snipers!

I live in the D.C. Metro area and have lived here all my life, as my father did before me. Let me tell you about what I lived through here just a few years ago, a year after 9/11 and the anthrax attacks. What happened during those three weeks of sniper attacks in October 2002 was indeed terrorism!

How can I describe what I lived through? No place was safe! I bobbed and weaved at gas stations and in the grocery-store pickup area. I drove around with a handgun on the seat of my vehicle and a cell phone immediately handy. I looked to my left and right at every stoplight, and scrutinized other drivers as I looked them in the eye. I received calls from friends wondering if I was okay when sniper locations were known to be places where I shopped, ate, or filled up my gas tank. At one point, Geraldo showed up, and one of my long-distance friends called and said to me, "As if things aren't bad enough, Geraldo is now in town." As attacks came one after the other, I canceled some of my work obligations (I often travel to my clients' homes), or my clients themselves holed up and didn't want to do anything besides sit glued to the TV set.

Everyone I know in this area felt the same way, and the local economy took a downturn. We became shut-ins of sorts, afraid even to go from the house to the vehicle at our own residences (Many in my neighborhood do not have attached garages). We felt something like political refugees, hiding from criminals as opposed to hiding from the authorities.

Then finally Mohammed and Malvo were captured. The relief we felt was palpable! We started coming out of our holes and going out again.

And all the while, the media soft-pedaled the connection to Islamism! I stewed over this aspect nearly as much as I worried about getting my head blown off. Had I been in the blogosphere, Lord only knows what rants I might have given vent to.

Peace for a time. And then came the trials.

During the trials, the media descended on Fairfax City like a bunch of locusts. Traffic had to rerouted; roads were gridlocked--not only in Fairfax City, but throughout the Metro area. On certain days, other cases on the dockets ahd to be postponed. I66 westbound was a nightmare in the morning, and eastbound was a nightmare once the hearings released and the media went elsewhere. The Fairfax Judiciary Center was permanently reconfigured, with new parking, special security measures, etc.

Now we the taxpayers are paying hard-earned dollars to support Mohammed and Malvo, the latter for the rest of his life.

I am so angry that I boil over when I think of all the above.

Now to the present day, more or less. Bombings at OU and Georgia Tech, UCLA--to mention two. More out there which we're not hearing about? Are the OU and GT bombings a sign of something larger? That first sniper shooting didn't alarm us much, but within a few days, we knew that we had maniacs out there.

And JF is also in our midst.

Pastorius said...

Baron and Dymphna,

Congrats on the Pajamas profile.

Baron Bodissey said...

Pastorius -- Many thanks.

And thanks to all our loyal readers.

Baron Bodissey said...

Always --

As you may remember, the Sniper made a little side-trip down 95 to Fredericksburg, Ashland, and Richmond. He killed someone in Ashland, and stopped at the corner of Parham Rd. and West Broad in Richmond (the West End, actually in Henrico County) to use the phone booth. It was a big deal for the Richmond area.

Well, I work in the West End, a few miles from Parham and Broad, and am down in that area during the week. People went nuts, avoiding the malls, crouching down by their cars to pump gas, etc.

I remember going to Regency Square Mall, which is just off Parham, during the height of the sniper scare, and crossing the floodlit parking lot. I didn't do a broken-field run like some people were doing (too much pride for that!) but my back felt itchy and my shoulderblades sure twitched as I went across that parking lot.

Just think -- two guys with a car and a gun did that to us. What kind of terror would a real attack cause?

blert said...

Gentlemen, the deep threat of JF is the America's racial fault line.

The assault went on and on because of the race predjudice of the DC cops, and others, who assumed that it had to be a white cracker.

The snipers kept being identified time and again by cops and witnesses -- but these accounts were against the profile.

The Method of Operation will be to use black muslims to attack randomn black baptists to establish a 'race based profile'.

This race baiting will trigger social havoc.

If coupled to a WMD campaign the impact would be impossible to limit.

This also illustrates the limitation of profiling. You had better get it right. With sophisticated players, profilers themselves get 'gamed'. Beware of that.

Present crime analytics are just not up to a crew that itself has access to their own team of psychologists plus is being coached by the FBI -- unwittingly.

All of the FBI assistance provided to KSA is available as blow back to the Islamists campaigning here in America. The current Crown Prince of KSA is an intense Wahhabist and must have many Islamists on his payroll. And this is the guy they count on to block AQ.

Doug said...

airforcewife:
Only yesterday, I hit my thumb with a hammer, and, as per usual let out my disgruntled
Allah Akbar Scream.
---
Must not try to make apples from Oranges.
Similar to warning about profiling below:
If rigid profiling were in place come hell or high water, some seriousness would finally be on display, and threats would be
REDUCED!

Doug said...

Sorry, profiling warning was above.
Who is this "JF"?
I'm puttin my bets on
John Fund of the WSJ!
(all eyes out for white Heteros)

Baron Bodissey said...

Doug -- JF is shorthand for Jamaat ul-Fuqra (also spelled Jamaat al-Fuqra, Jemaat al-Fuqra, etc).

Baron Bodissey said...

blert -- you and I are on the same wavelength. The PC aversion to racial issues is our big security hole.

I think that when Al Qaeda launches its next major attack on us, it will piggyback in on a race war started by JF or something similar. We will be hobbled by political correctness when that starts.

Walt said...

Saying there is no known connection to Islamic terrorism denies the Islamic terrorists credit, of a sort. I am supposing that the terrorists get gratification both from terrorising us and also gratified from being seen by their fellow travelers (never thought we would need to revive that phrase) as being effective. Let them appear to be marginal.

al fin said...

Pervasive fear about a relatively unlikely threat is a certain sign that people have nothing important to occupy their minds. Most activities in the western world are relatively frivolous. Look at all the obesity. Just another symptom of decadence and lack of seriousness in society. Superficiality is the hallmark of modern culture. Fear may be the only thing that captures the attention for more than a few seconds.

Baron Bodissey said...

al fin, you are quite right. A person is 40,000 times more likely to be killed in a car crash than by a shark. Yet look what a single shark attack does to the media.

Unfortunately, organizations like Jamaat ul-Fuqra may eventually give us something really worth being afraid about.

Always On Watch said...

Yes, PD111, my lengthy comment deal with my fear. Here I am, a rational and reasonably brave person, and I was nearly undone.

I forgot to mention this....If I heard about a rather distant-to-me attack (i.e., Fredericksburg), I'd dash out to what I thought would be a safe grocery store or gas station, then hustle back home. And I'll repeat here: And all the while, the media soft-pedaled the connection to Islamism!

JF is something to be afraid of. But not just that--JF is something for law enforcement (DHS, et al) to deal with. Is law enforcement doing what needs to be done?

Unknown said...

As we now near the end of the first decade of the year 2000...The clock keeps ticking away, in the background. The type of clock that you hear right before the giant mushroom cloud...The weapons of total world annihilation have long since been mastered and distributed...And now it's just a matter of time.


"You mean to tell me they hate us enough to pull off the most myth-defying most stupendous most outrageous dazzling feat that anyone could ever imagine on 9/11 but can't let off one single car bomb over here in ten years since? Sorry for being politically incorrect(or, Canadian) and all but, Helloooo Mcflyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!" - Me, and you can put that in the bank!