JFK Terror Plot: Another Plot Blown Out of Proportion?
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When U.S. Attorney Roslynn Mauskopf described the alleged terror plot to blow up Kennedy Airport as "one of the most chilling plots imaginable," which might have caused "unthinkable" devastation, one law enforcement official said he cringed.
The plot, he knew, was never operational. The public had never been at risk. And the notion of blowing up the airport, let alone the borough of Queens, by exploding a fuel tank was in all likelihood a technical impossibility.
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationwo...-top-headlines
I've watched as word of the latest "terror plot" circulated around the web these last few days. Hell, it even made it into the debate right? Anyways, as always these days my initial reaction was one of mistrust. Call me a sceptic, but almost every catastrophic plot that has been hyped in the media has turned out to be bogus. Miami. Fort Dix. The list goes on.
That's not to say that I don't believe the Police were right in putting a stop to it, because they were. Without a doubt. No, the problem is the Justice Deparments response. And I suppose it's understandable. As Michael Greenberger, director of the Center for Health and Homeland Security at the University of Maryland put it:
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"I think they were correct to take this seriously," he said. "... But there's a pattern here of Justice Department attorneys overstating what they have. I think they feel under tremendous pressure to vindicate the elaborate counterterrorism structure they've created since 9/11, including the Patriot Act."
To me this seems not just wrong, but completely counterproductive. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the goal of terrorists is to force their political objectives THROUGH TERROR. So, everytime one of these minor plots pops up it does just that. We hear about people hating our freedom and we react. The media spreads it on thick, the public eats it up.
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And now, with a portrait emerging of alleged mastermind Russell Defreitas as hapless and episodically homeless, and of co-conspirator Abdel Nur as a drug addict, Mauskopf's initial characterizations seem more questionable -- some go so far as to say hyped.
"I think her comments were over the top," said Michael Greenberger, director of the Center for Health and Homeland Security at the University of Maryland. "It was a totally overstated characterization that doesn't comport with the facts."
Even Blumberg broke with the usual GOP line on the topic. When asked his opinion about the JFK plot, his answer proved both logical and refreshing in this fear hyped, post 9/11 world.
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"There are lots of threats to you in the world. There's the threat of a heart attack for genetic reasons. You can't sit there and worry about everything. Get a life," he said.
"In terms of what you as individual on the streets should worry about is not whether the person sitting next to you on the subway is a terrorist. The likelihood of that is so small it is not something you should worry about," Bloomberg said.
"You have a much greater danger of being hit by lightning than being struck by a terrorist," he added.
Trumpeting these plots not only aids the terrorists, it also my damage the public as well.
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Steven Simon, a terrorism expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the government's hyperbolic descriptions -- whether of this case or of the alleged plot to bomb the Sears Tower in Chicago -- could erode public confidence in law enforcement and lead to confusion about the terror threat.
"First, it creates the public impression that the adversary is just a bunch of losers who do not have to be feared," he said. "Second, the fact that these hapless people are angry enough to seek to attack the U.S. raises the issue of other more competent, well-organized groups that might be escaping police detection."
