Topic: Politics
As the date for the election comes closer like many people I forsee there being a big terrorist attack on US soil.You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand that the islamic fascists responsible for terror attacks on the US and on US allies and interests would dearly love to create as big and spectacular an attack as was the World Trade Center attack. And barring the logically eventual nuclear attack on New York/New Jersey the possibilities of a large attack on soft targets with a minimum of terror volunteers is fairly high. Perhaps they cannot mount an air attack again although there are always those disquieting reports of people easily getting through airport security with fake bombs and knives and such. Understandable what with the zealous disarming of grandmoms of their cross stitch needles, crochet needles and everybody else of their inch long swiss army knives and toenail clippers. But the attack through airplanes might be stopped simply because of the sheer horrific difficulties in simply getting on a plane. Airplane travel is made safer by the very fact of it's difficulty and painfulness.
So that leaves the various soft targets to be thought of. There is one US Senator, Mark Dayton of Minnesota who has closed his office in D.C. on the fear that there will be an attack on the Capitol between now and the election. He made this decision after Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tennessee recently briefed lawmakers on a "top-secret intelligence report on our national security," which was presumably enough of a scare that Senator Dayton thought it prudent to keep him, his family, staff and constituents safe by keeping them out of the Capitol. Well, it was Trumans Presidency when some Puerto Rican Terrorists got into the Congress but that isn't likely.
What could be the soft targets in D.C.? Humm, this sounds more like someone rolling up with a bug truck bomb somewhere in the area. Perhaps a number of them at once which is a al Qaeda speciality. They can't get near the White House, Capital, Senate, House or Supreme Court with such trucks. Perhaps smaller car bombs at a number of polling places at once. This would create a good deal of confusion and nobody would know if there were more to come. If they had ten people, less than there were in the World Trade attack, one to each Polling place in New York, D.C. San Fransisco, Denver, Chicago and so on and boom- horrific and massive confusion and terror on the day that we would be out voting. Very low tech, big bang for the buck. Problems with that include getting bomb materials- I doubt that it's that easy getting fertilizer these days, perhaps it's easier getting the materials in Canada and that would still put most of the logical targets in range. Other problems being that there would be quite a number of people out there just waiting to get caught for something. Hard to judge that. Still, ten guys with machine guns in different polling places at the same time would be possible. Bad for the terrorists- easier to get intelligence from the bodies, you can bet that US Special Forces would be going up those chains in a minute. (people, places etc)
Schools? Well. Polling places are often at schools so it seems like they would pick school polling places or large elementary schools. The Chechens showed how relatively easy it is to secure a building full of children. I'd be worried about that being possible. Elementary Schools have everything terrorists could want, easily controlled people, something that we all care about and something easy for them to get to.
Military bases in the area, Andrews AFB, Fort Meade, Quantico, Naval Academy and so on. No, these cowards are better at attacking unarmed people, women and children and wouldn't come close to anybody who could defend themselves. They can't get a big enough bomb down in the Metro to cause any harm. Crystal City Mall, well it would have a lot people in it but they would have hard time sealing that Mall up with their hostages if they went that route.
It's all very sobering to think about, I hope the authorities are thinking about it and doing something about it.
Posted by gilbert davis
at 10:31 AM EDT
Lunch and dinner, a green salad with two hard boiled eggs on it but no tuna. Tasty. Did 27 miles today, a bit of in the rain this evening but what's a touch of rain when you can watch the lightning show. My feeling about the weather is the same as I had the time I was driving through Kansas (flatter than a pancake) and down the only road I could travel across, there sat the largest blackest cloud bank I had ever seen in my life. Middle of the day and in front of me lay a seething mass of black evilness you could not imagine from any picture or video, you had to be there. Well, I believe I sneered at the cloud and put my foot on the gas pedal. Bring it on was my thought and boy was that a rough ride. Passing into the cloud bank was like a switch had been thrown and it became night. I had to fight the car as it seemed to spontaniously move from lane to lane. Cars were flying off the road. Very intense. Well, the rain and lightning this evening was not quite that spectacular but nonetheless it was nice and colorful. The ride was quiet, nobody at all along the route. Just me and the wind and the rain. Peaceful.