havens. But now, attacking us doesn’t seem like such a bad strategy, especially if you have lots of time…which they do.”
“I don’t get it,” replied Lannis. “Counting Afghanistan and Iraq, we must have killed a hundred thousand Islamic extremists in response to 9/11. How could you possibly conclude that attacking us was a good strategy for them?” Lannis asked in a condescending tone.
“Lannis,” Buffalo interjected, “You can achieve almost anything if you have an inexhaustible supply of expendable foot soldiers! The death of a hundred thousand men means nothing to the al-Qaeda leadership. All they have to do is to continue to convince millions of impressionable young Muslim men they will be martyrs—that they’ll go straight to heaven where Allah has made seventy-two virgins especially for them—and they’ll line up all day long saying, “Let me die next, PLEASE!” Hey, just look at their alternative—under Islamic law, they won’t even see a woman’s arm until they’re married!”
George ignored Buffalo’s comments and continued, “Lannis, it’s good strategy for them to attack us because over time we find every way we can to help them succeed. The problem with democratic societies is that in the name of equal rights, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and privacy rights, we’ll pave the way for them to attack us. We’ll roll out the red carpet!”
“I don’t see how.”
“Look at what happened after 9/11. Our initial reaction was good. We attacked the terrorists in their strongholds. Politically, we passed the Patriot Act, which gave our law enforcement agencies the kind of powers they needed to identify and eliminate terrorist sleeper cells in our midst. The president was given broader executive powers, and he used the National Security Agency to monitor communications of suspected terrorists and to analyze international calls to detect calling patterns that could indicate particular individuals had ties to terrorist organizations. In addition, whenever there was a period of tightened security because of an increased threat of terrorist attacks, the NSA employed sophisticated techniques to monitor mosques and Muslim businesses. That’s all just good common sense. After all, it was Muslims who attacked us on 9/11.”
“Oh, but let me guess, though,” Buffalo interrupted, “we were violating their civil rights !”
“Exactly,” continued George. “So four years later, the New York Times , that bastion of freedom—”
“You mean bastards of freedom, don’t you?” interrupted Buffalo.
“The New York Times ,” George continued, ignoring Buffalo, “went public with a story detailing the Bush administration’s use of wiretaps to monitor phone calls without judicial warrants. The editors timed the release of the story so that it came out just before Congress voted on extending the Patriot Act for four more years. As a result, Congress weakened the act because they feared the loss of civil liberties. After that, our ability to find the terrorists before they acted was severely restricted. In my opinion, it was one of the direct causes of the lapse in intelligence that allowed al-Qaeda to destroy DC.”
Lannis, an intelligence officer, a liberal Democrat, and a New York Times fan bristled at George’s comments. “Yeah, well as I’ve heard it, it wasn’t just Intel that screwed up, George.”
The comment was a direct jab at George, and he knew it. In the days after the Washington attack, a search of Mahfouz al-Bedawi’s apartment in Falls Church, Virginia had provided clues indicating a submarine had smuggled both the warhead and an al-Qaeda weapons expert into the country less than a month before the attack. This fact had become well known. What was less well known was that George’s submarine, the USS Annapolis , had been on East Coast patrol at the time. They had picked up a faint and intermittent sonar contact identified as a possible Kilo class
“I don’t get it,” replied Lannis. “Counting Afghanistan and Iraq, we must have killed a hundred thousand Islamic extremists in response to 9/11. How could you possibly conclude that attacking us was a good strategy for them?” Lannis asked in a condescending tone.
“Lannis,” Buffalo interjected, “You can achieve almost anything if you have an inexhaustible supply of expendable foot soldiers! The death of a hundred thousand men means nothing to the al-Qaeda leadership. All they have to do is to continue to convince millions of impressionable young Muslim men they will be martyrs—that they’ll go straight to heaven where Allah has made seventy-two virgins especially for them—and they’ll line up all day long saying, “Let me die next, PLEASE!” Hey, just look at their alternative—under Islamic law, they won’t even see a woman’s arm until they’re married!”
George ignored Buffalo’s comments and continued, “Lannis, it’s good strategy for them to attack us because over time we find every way we can to help them succeed. The problem with democratic societies is that in the name of equal rights, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and privacy rights, we’ll pave the way for them to attack us. We’ll roll out the red carpet!”
“I don’t see how.”
“Look at what happened after 9/11. Our initial reaction was good. We attacked the terrorists in their strongholds. Politically, we passed the Patriot Act, which gave our law enforcement agencies the kind of powers they needed to identify and eliminate terrorist sleeper cells in our midst. The president was given broader executive powers, and he used the National Security Agency to monitor communications of suspected terrorists and to analyze international calls to detect calling patterns that could indicate particular individuals had ties to terrorist organizations. In addition, whenever there was a period of tightened security because of an increased threat of terrorist attacks, the NSA employed sophisticated techniques to monitor mosques and Muslim businesses. That’s all just good common sense. After all, it was Muslims who attacked us on 9/11.”
“Oh, but let me guess, though,” Buffalo interrupted, “we were violating their civil rights !”
“Exactly,” continued George. “So four years later, the New York Times , that bastion of freedom—”
“You mean bastards of freedom, don’t you?” interrupted Buffalo.
“The New York Times ,” George continued, ignoring Buffalo, “went public with a story detailing the Bush administration’s use of wiretaps to monitor phone calls without judicial warrants. The editors timed the release of the story so that it came out just before Congress voted on extending the Patriot Act for four more years. As a result, Congress weakened the act because they feared the loss of civil liberties. After that, our ability to find the terrorists before they acted was severely restricted. In my opinion, it was one of the direct causes of the lapse in intelligence that allowed al-Qaeda to destroy DC.”
Lannis, an intelligence officer, a liberal Democrat, and a New York Times fan bristled at George’s comments. “Yeah, well as I’ve heard it, it wasn’t just Intel that screwed up, George.”
The comment was a direct jab at George, and he knew it. In the days after the Washington attack, a search of Mahfouz al-Bedawi’s apartment in Falls Church, Virginia had provided clues indicating a submarine had smuggled both the warhead and an al-Qaeda weapons expert into the country less than a month before the attack. This fact had become well known. What was less well known was that George’s submarine, the USS Annapolis , had been on East Coast patrol at the time. They had picked up a faint and intermittent sonar contact identified as a possible Kilo class
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