Jewish World Review Sept. 16, 2003 / 19 Elul, 5763

Stanley Crouch

Crouch
JWR's Pundits
World Editorial
Cartoon Showcase

Mallard Fillmore

Michael Barone
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Don Feder
Suzanne Fields
James Glassman
Paul Greenberg
Bob Greene
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Marianne Jennings
Michael Kelly
Mort Kondracke
Ch. Krauthammer
Lawrence Kudlow
Dr. Laura
David Limbaugh
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Chris Matthews
Michael Medved
MUGGER
Kathleen Parker
Wes Pruden
Sam Schulman
Roger Simon
Tony Snow
Thomas Sowell
Cal Thomas
Jonathan S. Tobin
Ben Wattenberg
George Will
Bruce Williams
Walter Williams
Mort Zuckerman

Consumer Reports


Wising up about our enemies


http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | The seemingly comical story of James McKinley, who mailed himself home to Texas from the Bronx in an airborne crate, ceases to be amusing when we really think about it. Imagine if he were a terrorist: McKinley would have successfully gotten to the belly of the plane. Strapped down with explosives, he could have flown into the arms of Allah in a gory, murderous blaze.

Those terrorists comfortably hiding in America because law enforcement has gotten virtually no help at all from that small sea of Arabs in which they swim, must have bitten their knuckles and slapped their foreheads in anger at having missed an opportunity that may never present itself again.

This brings us to a very uncomfortable reality. One of the reasons we are not safe is that those in charge are not making sure that we are. Not enough money has been allocated for homeland security, for the beefing up of the personnel necessary to do the job that looms before this nation. We talk of war, but we don't act as though we are in the middle of one.

Those who do the jobs on the ground are either not as attentive as they should be or are not imaginative enough to second-guess an enemy whose greatest weapons include being underestimated and being willing to die.

Donate to JWR

Please note that after Islamic terrorists tried to bring down the World Trade Center in 1993, authorities decoded the computer of one of the culprits who was captured in the Philippines and got the specifics of what eventually became 9/11. The project was called "Operation Jumbo" and entailed hijacking passenger planes in the Far East and flying them into the World Trade Center buildings.

Is it possible that a bunch of CIA and FBI guys laughed off the very idea that some Muslim fanatics would try such a thing, much less bring it off? If so, it amounts to one of the greatest examples of underestimating the enemy since Custer attacked 10,000 Indians on June 25, 1876, with 300 men.

Such underestimation should never again float in this post-Sept. 11 world.

These men are not dummies. They set off the world's alarm clocks here two years ago and have been successful at vetoing the Mideast peace process by reaching for another big weapon: slaughter.

Their problem now is topping the destruction of the World Trade Center, which means they have to successfully bring off the use of an atomic device. We have to imagine that they think this way.

We are in a serious fight, and our opposition is obviously ruthless. Babies, children, adolescents, adults and the elderly are targets. Just as they were on 9/11.

That is how it is, and that is what we must address with an a cunning intensity equal to that of those coming after us.

Like this writer's work? Why not sign-up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.


JWR contributor and cultural icon Stanley Crouch is a columnist for The New York Daily News. He is the author of, among others, The All-American Skin Game, Or, the Decoy of Race: The Long and the Short of It, 1990-1994,       Always in Pursuit: Fresh American Perspectives, and Don't the Moon Look Lonesome: A Novel in Blues and Swing. Send your comments by clicking here.

Up


08/28/03: Will we allow those who were burned alive, jumped from windows or crushed to death on Sept. 11, 2001, to have left this world in vain?
08/28/03: Refinement drowns out pop chaos
08/14/03: Hip hop's thugs hit new low
07/15/03: Target gangs — terrorists of the cities
07/08/03: Prez is making inroads with blacks
06/24/03: It's not profiling, it's good policing — and it works
04/22/03: America is just built to succeed
04/15/03: Being top dog requires bark, bite & brains
03/25/03: New Yorkers know why we are fighting this war --- sadly
11/26/02: Miss World riot: The new lynching
08/23/02: Little Leaguers, not thugs, are the mainstream
08/05/02: Bigger boom means, alas, a bigger bust
07/26/02: Sharpton just can't get off the high wire
07/08/02: U.S. is better than founders ever dreamed
07/01/02: Aid to Africa helps fight terrorism
06/26/02: Glimpses of threats fortify U.S.
06/14/02: U.S.'s Own Powder Keg --- Convicts & Converts
06/04/02: Only the evil escape lives of pain & sorrow
05/31/02: A Better FBI? I'll Believe It When I See It
05/24/02: This Is War, & Rudy's Still Giving Good Counsel
05/22/02: Our culture is becoming cartoonish
05/14/02: A chance to sew up new allies
04/30/02: Time to get serious on immigration
04/18/02: When it comes to race, we're all mixed
03/27/02: Civil rights groups are neglecting a profound crisis in their midst
03/12/02: Race-baiters can forget this Tex. case
02/26/02: The unmasking of a phony black hero
02/06/02: I will not call shots based on skin color
02/04/02: Saying No to Tyson: Integrity Beats Out Greed
01/28/02: If Mike Tyson's a monster, he had lots of help
01/18/02: The 'Roots' of huckster Haley's Great Fraud
01/09/02: U.S. can't let its guard down now
12/31/01: If the price is right --- just do it!
12/21/01: 'American Patriots': Book hat's a Gift for All Seasons
12/04/01: Tightening our immigration policies is cruel?
11/29/01: Modern-day abolitionists need help
11/27/01: bin Laden has exposed hard truths
11/20/01: Facing the hard truth about Africa & slavery
11/13/01: Let military run security for air travel
10/23/01: The media, where threats to flesh and blood have little meaning
10/17/01: Red, White Blue, black and white
10/11/01: We stand armed with compassion
10/05/01: Drawing the line on racial profiling
09/14/01: Let's rise above worst instincts
09/07/01: HBO's now big shaper of culture
08/21/01: Is Sharpton a changed man?
08/03/01: A writer misuses the great Louis Armstrong
07/20/01: When murder is justified
07/06/01: America's democracy has a music to it
06/29/01: The soul and pluck of women are to this nation's development
06/22/01: This history is music to my ears
06/08/01: A School Succeeds, A Union Fails
06/05/01: Sharpton's rise and fall
05/25/01: Third World Unity? Sorry, It's Just a Dream
04/13/01: Two murderers, two twisted fantasies
04/06/01: The problem with art is artists
03/16/01: Bush still has some pretty serious image problems he better address ASAP
03/09/01: Of gangsters, gangstas --- and spin

© 2003, NY Daily News