December 22, 2010

Season’s Greetings From Al-Qaida

“Just how real is the holiday terrorist threat?”

The question isn’t rhetorical, nor is it an arid theoretical. Since Thanksgiving, it’s been the query of the season, reflecting the uneasy spirit of our times. I’ve had it popped on me at parties, in the gym, on the phone and by my wife.

Even though I’d rather drink party punch and talk about football, each unique questioner deserves a thoughtful answer. At some sincere level, the person is asking for a thoughtful opinion regarding the likelihood of life during a season proclaiming joy to the world weighed against the possibility of death at the hands of mass murders driven by a malignant religious zealotry.

“Just how real is the holiday terrorist threat?”

The question isn’t rhetorical, nor is it an arid theoretical. Since Thanksgiving, it’s been the query of the season, reflecting the uneasy spirit of our times. I’ve had it popped on me at parties, in the gym, on the phone and by my wife.

Even though I’d rather drink party punch and talk about football, each unique questioner deserves a thoughtful answer. At some sincere level, the person is asking for a thoughtful opinion regarding the likelihood of life during a season proclaiming joy to the world weighed against the possibility of death at the hands of mass murderers driven by a malignant religious zealotry.

So I’ve tried to provide the most honest answer I can, knowing full well the question always begs background questions involving trust and competence.

Stipulating that each conversation has been unique, the trust issue boils down to, “Do you trust the U.S. government to tell you the essential truth?” Trust also figures in the second troublesome issue, which I’ll frame as, “Do you believe U.S. security agencies competently address the threat of terrorism?”

Trust in government veracity varies and is expressed as a matter of degrees. I’ve been surprised, but personal political leanings don’t seem to be the decisive factor. Everyone seems to have noticed that despite the rhetoric, President Obama’s counter-terror policies do not differ significantly from those of the Bush administration. When asked if I think Obama is telling us the truth about the threat, my answer is yes – and so was President Bush.

The competence discussion inevitably damns the Transportation Safety Administration, which is regarded as at best a nuisance and at worst an obscene example of politically correct jackboot government.

As for the intelligence agencies’ performance, people hope they do their job. When asked, I offer my opinion: They’re good, but they can’t tell you how good they are, because then the bad guys know and then our spies die. The U.S. military consistently receives the highest marks.

Now that we’ve covered suspicions and cynicism, the conversation returns to the initial question. Holiday travel spurs it, I say, but you’re asking me to judge the constant threat posed by militant Islamist terrorists. That is asking me what I know about our enemy.

I know that al-Qaida hates you because in 1492 the Spaniards completed the Reconquista and in 1924 Turkey’s Kemal Ataturk ended the caliphate. I know Osama bin Laden declared war on America in 1998, and in 2001 he proved he meant it.

What an enemy says matters – what he does matters even more. What he does matters more than the fact you didn’t ask for war or don’t like TSA examining your pants.

What does this enemy do? He tries to kill you. Have we damaged al-Qaida? Yes. Predator strikes have ripped al-Qaida and Taliban leadership in Afghanistan. It’ll take the American left 30 years to admit it, but Iraq has been a huge defeat for al-Qaida.

Is it over? No. We’re engaged in a struggle for the terms of modernity, which means there is a cultural war beyond the shooting war. If it sounds daunting, it is – and it’s going to be too real for many New Years to come.

In the last 10 days, I’ve added this coda. We had a child fly home for Christmas, and she flew in from overseas. As I followed her flight’s progress on the Internet – up to the minute digital comfort – I tried not to think about last year’s Christmas terror attack on a Detroit-bound airliner. The thought, however, wouldn’t leave my mind.

Where I saw the computer icon of a civilian jumbo jet safely passing over Nova Scotia, an Al-Qaida emir, on his laptop in Yemen or Pakistan, saw a ballistic missile heading for Dallas.

Both views of that icon have a basis in physical fact. In the physical world, they clash in an either-or struggle of life or death. During her flight, my daughter was on a battlefield, not one of her choosing or mine. I prayed that intelligence agencies and security officers had cleared it of the enemy.

COPYRIGHT 2010 CREATORS.COM

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.