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Warning Sirens
Abdulwahab Badrakhan Al-Hayat 2004/01/9
Did you notice that the security hysteria that accompanied the holiday season started to diminish? Of course, it would leave a great impact, because tight measures are no longer seasonal, especially in large European cities and capitals, not to mention the American cities.
The atmosphere the Americans created tells us they are capable, now, to detect any plan for a terrorist action and undermine it before it is set, or abort it in its last stage. This atmosphere has been established to pass the new measures, starting from taking the fingerprints of the travelers, to taking off their clothes - not only their shoes. Tom Ridge insisted on taking every possible measure to humiliate all visitors to the U.S. Every time he puts up a new measure, the neo-Rightists applaud him.
In any case, he has the right to do so. Let him do whatever he wants for American Homeland Security. But it seems there are no limits to his assistants' imagination. Worse still, it seems that every time the measures are tightened, doubts are raised, for nothing is enough, or would be, to say that the security system in the U.S. is secure. Once again, it reminds us of the Israeli mind that found no one to blackmail about security and thus blackmailed itself. If it is difficult to feel secure in the U.S., then the world is subjected to American worries and anxiety.
This does not mean that a terrorist attack is no longer possible. For the world is now divided into two poles: on one side, the single superpower, and on the other, the super Al Qaeda network. Just like in the Cold War, the winner is the one who strikes first. When a cell is discovered, it is dismantled, when it is not, it remains a danger and might realize its objective before it is discovered. Of course, there is the surprise element, like in both Istanbul attacks, which embarrassed Turkish authorities. Americans are not interested in current events, unless it is to obtain information to upraise the possibilities of these events reflecting on the internal American situation. This is what is important. They care about information only to protect their embassies and citizens. They are yet to include the others in their security programs. Even in Iraq, they behave on the basis that killing Iraqis is acceptable, while killing Americans is not.
Shortly before the New Year's Eve, a tensed atmosphere was manufactured to a point where it was said that a terrorist attack was about to happen, as if it escaped from the security forces' hands and only God can undermine it. People in New York, Chicago, London and Paris thought that the streets were under the mercy of terrorists. Newswire services were concerned, on that specific night, to poll the American people's mood and concluded that they heard the warnings but did not change their programs. In fact, people are well aware now that security forces exaggerate the situation.
It is obvious now that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security included in its program the necessity of trying the warning siren from time to time. The objective is to wake up the relaxed security forces so that when there is a real threaten they would eradicate it. This is the golden rule for the success of any security task. However, exaggerating these warning sirens, without informing people, would drive them to believe nothing at the end. This is the real danger. Security bodies have to achieve tangible results. Any other behavior would mean failure. Hence, British Airways refused to put air marshals on its flights and requested that the security bodies fulfill their job before passengers reach airplanes.
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