on coulter, honey, and the truth of the matter
The government is like the drunk looking for his keys under a lamppost. Someone stops to help, and asks, “Is this where you lost them?” No, the drunk answers, but the light’s better here.
Ann Coulter in Townhall Magazine - December 30, 2009
While I’m certain our intelligence agencies do a great deal of behind-the-scenes work that we may never know about, and have foiled numerous terror plots that haven’t made the papers (not even the NY Times, in spite of their propensity for disclosing sensitive information), I don’t have much confidence in our air-travel safety procedures at the moment.
In her characteristically blunt manner, Ann Coulter gets at the root of the issues surrounding our government’s response to terrorist threats in our otherwise friendly skies: from here, it appears that we are always two steps behind the terrorists.
What business owner or football coach has ever found success by ignoring the strengths of their competition rather than devising a gameplan tailored to defeat them?! Enough with shoes, the shampoo bottles, the nail clippers, and the honey. Let’s come up with a gameplan that puts us on offense!
What technology do we have at our disposal - the so-called “puffer” scanners? Well, find out how many we need and put them in use! Do we need to train TSA staff in the art of reading body language and asking pertinent questions (i.e. if a guy travelling from a terrorist hotbed seems to be walking funny, and can’t tell you why he is traveling to the United States for two weeks without luggage…it’s probably a good idea to ask him to step aside for additional screening)? If so, let’s get it done! And, perhaps most importantly, let’s get a hold on the visa situation! Why on earth Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the (thankfully unskilled) Christmas Day bomber, still had a valid visa to the United States in spite of the dossier we had on him is a question that will leave many of us scratching our heads for the foreseeable future.
Americans are by and large an open and welcoming people, and that is something that most of us cherish. However, even the most trusting individuals have an innate sense of self-preservation that protects them from harm in dangerous situations. The Obama administration, though, has seemed woefully lacking in this regard. The post-911 world is not one in which we have the luxury of utilizing “soft power” to nudge our nation’s foes into submission. This is more than a game of chess.
The war on terror requires decisive and bold action for many reasons - not the least of which is to project a sense of strength and resilience in the face of these admittedly challenging circumstances. If we fail to to do this, and instead continue to ebb and flow in whatever direction the the would-be terrorists decide to push us, more and more of us might find ourselves agreeing with Ms. Coulter when she asks: What’s the point exactly?
- tdc
*Photo credit - life.com
