Earlier Days of This Era of “Terror”

Frequently, many of us in the United States may think that the “Terror” threat to us began on a clear autumn day in the year 2001. The ideological dimension of the threat has been persistent for 14 centuries. The contemporary threat has been growing in parallel with increases in global travel and the growing wealth of the Muslim world.

The current version of the threat can be described to have begun in the 1970’s. We did not really notice it much then due to our preoccupation with the raging Cold War. Nevertheless, the bad guys were already among us, plying their craft. Way back in 1973, one of these bad guys attempted acts of mass murder on US soil. We caught him in 1991 and put him in jail. Now, having “paid his debt to society,” he will soon be released and deported.

There is a very thorough account of the story over at Fox News. Read the whole thing to get an appreciation for the persistence and nature of the treat. Like many of the bad guys that have been released from Gitmo, this fellow is sure to similarly return to his life-ling sworn mission of existence.

I belive that civil law, and our strategy (more accurately our lack of strategy) are characteristically inadequate to counter the threat over the long term. In many cases, success will really depend on the front-line folks, like agent Mike Finnegan to do the right thing while the beauracacy above and behind them wallows in political self-interest and tidal motions of indecision.

Here is an interesting note that should not be missed: Al-Jawary used airline flight training as his cover purpose for being in the United States in the 1970’s.