Fighting Terrorists with Cops?
By Larry Johnson on September 25, 2009 at 12:16 PM in Current Affairs
One of the unfortunate myths generated during the Bush Administration is this bullshit notion of a “pre-911″ mentality. The first part of the argument by the pre-911ers is that the U.S. Government treated terrorism only as a criminal matter and not as a military threat. The second part is that George Bush “took off the gloves” and went after the terrorists as a military threat. If you are heavy into fantasy then go with that mythology. It will make you feel good but it is just not true.
The supposed split between going after terrorists with law enforcement vice military force is on vivid display this week with three different dramatic arrests of Al Qaeda sympathizers in the United States who wanted to carry out attacks.
A muslim convert in Illinois was arrested after parking what he thought was a car bomb outside a Federal courthouse:
An Illinois man was ordered held on Thursday on charges he tried to blow up a federal building in the state capital, a case unrelated to the New York terrorism plot.
Michael Finton, also known as Talib Islam, was arrested in Springfield, Illinois, and charged with attempted murder of federal officers or employees and trying to use a weapon of mass destruction, charges that carry a life sentence.
A similar scenario unfolded yesterday in Dallas, Texas:
Hosam Maher Husein Smadi was arrested Thursday after he parked a vehicle laden with government-supplied fake explosives in the underground parking garage of Fountain Place, a 60-story tower in the 1400 block of Ross Avenue at North Field Street, authorities said.
The arrest was part of an FBI sting operation that began after an agent monitoring an online extremist Web site discovered Smadi espousing jihad against the U.S. more than six months ago.
As more undercover Arabic-speaking agents engaged him, Smadi, living illegally in the U.S. in the small town of Italy, about 45 miles south of Dallas, pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden and expressed a desire to kill Americans, authorities said.
And then there is the New York/Denver case with the Afghan national, Najibullah Zazi:
Counter-terrorism agents raided several city apartments on Tuesday, searching for evidence that could link a half-dozen suspected terrorists to a recently uncovered plot to bomb New York.
A U.S. counterterrorism official confirmed “multiple” raids on the homes of friends and associates of Najibullah Zazi, an Afghan immigrant believed to be the brains behind the foiled scheme.
Investigators swooped in on targets that had been under police surveillance since Zazi, his father, and a Queens-based imam were arrested over the weekend.
“We’ve got new bodies – eight more people we’re looking at,” a source close to the investigation told the Daily News.
These incidents are not trumped out. They are the fruits of a law enforcement approach. Seriously, what would we expect the military to do in these cases? Who do you bomb? Where do you send Delta Force and who should they shoot?
We should not forget that those keen on engaging in terrorism rarely operate in large groups. They rarely have bases and infrastructure that make juicy targets for U.S. military forces. Instead they operate in small groups, are dressed normally and live in neighborhoods. And, fortunately, they are not the brightest lights in the tanning bed.
It also is important to remind ourselves that law enforcement, especially in the United States, has advantages in detecting and preventing terrorist attacks that the military cannot hope to achieve. In my experience state and local police collect important intelligence that is critical to preventing terrorist attacks. Unfortunately there is still the tendency for Federal Law Enforcement, especially the FBI, to not share with the locals. That is a remaining challenge to surmount.
While I think Barack Obama’s policies on the economy, health care and Afghanistan are awful, let’s give him credit for maintaining the pressure to identify and disrupt impending terrorist attacks. He is not giving terrorists a pass.
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