Posted by
John Caile on Sunday, November 30, 2008 7:48:20 PM
The Mumbai, India terrorist attacks should serve as a reminder that
terrorism is real, tangible, and a threat everywhere...waiting only for
the right opportunity to explode. And, try as we all do to engage in denial, the reality is that
it is only a matter of time before a Mumbai-style event occurs on
American soil.
Back in 1993, right after the first World Trade Center bombing, I was
talking with a friend of mine who was raised in Israel. I opined that
it would be a relatively simple matter for terrorists to stage
simultaneous attacks on, say, a dozen shopping centers around the
country. And not just in New York, Washington D.C. or L.A. For maximum
"terror" they would include a mall in Omaha, a high-end store in
suburban Atlanta, a Wal-Mart in Oklahoma, a shopping center in Memphis.
In other words, the heart of Middle-America.
Why? Simple - to destroy
our sense of security, our misguided belief that we are safe in Des Moines and Fargo because "terrorists only attack places like New York." The message of these attacks on the country's hitherto untouched hinterlands would be this:
"We can get to you...anywhere."
The body count from the attacks themselves could range from bad to truly horrific, but the economic devastation created would be even more far
reaching. If only 5% of the people who normally go to the malls to shop
decided to stay home, the impact would be enormous.
Sure, there might actually be an increase in Internet shopping, but the
fallout from all those "brick and mortar" stores suddenly faced with
decreasing revenues would reach far beyond the stores themselves. The
affects would roar through our already weakened economy like a
financial tsunami.
It's so diabolically simple that I'm amazed they haven't done it so
far. After all, I'm no rocket scientist, and if I can come up with the
idea, the terrorists most certainly could as well. And the odds are, they
already have. Does anyone seriously believe that Minnesota's monstrously huge "Mall of America" does not appear scribbled on some terrorist's notepad under the heading "potential targets."
Beyond the bloodshed and the economic damage, the threat to our civil
liberties would also be drastically increased. With a Congress under
Democratic control, and a President Obama, with his documented anti-gun
and anti-self defense views, odds are that one of their first responses
to a Mumbai type of assault would be, you guessed it, gun control. And lots of it.
The anti-gun establishment news media would jump on board in a New York
minute. And no amount of reasoning would likely prevail against the
onslaught of the media blitz that would surely follow.They will be salivating.
Talking heads will ask the idiotic "Where did they get their guns"
question. And endlessly repeated video of a sobbing mother, holding her
dead child in a blood soaked blanket, will roll over cooler-headed
arguments with ease.
And they won't care that you're a Democrat (even if you have an Obama
sticker on your car) - if you're a gun owner, you'll be on "the list."
So for the sake of our people, and our liberties, this is one time I pray to God that I will not have to say "I told you so."