Times Square

Yesterday Investors.com posted an aritlce about the failed Times Square bombing and the things we need to learn from it.  They listed a number of myths we seem to believe about terrorism in the United States.  These are the myths:

• The only violence we have to worry about is that from the Tea Partiers or the right-wing extremists.  We saw this myth in the initial response from Mayor Bloomberg to the attack, stated in a interview with Katie Couric.  You have to overlook a lot of history to believe this.
• American Muslims don't participate in jihad.  They come to this country because they love it.  Faisal Shahzad, the would-be bomber, is from Pakistan and became an American citizen last year.
• The Taliban can only carry out successful terrorist operations in South Asia.  It is no secret that the Taliban has been trying for years to recruit Americans to conduct terrorism in America.  An American passport is a prized possession to the Taliban.  Their goal is to begin to recruit blond, blue-eyed terrorists that will not be given a second glance by immigration officials.
• We can use drones to deal with training camps, safe houses, and terrorist leaders in Pakistan.  Unfortunately, there is never any substitute for boots on the ground.
• Shahzad is another al-Qaida wannabe--these people are incompetent and represent no threat.  The problem with this idea is that Al Qaeda keeps trying.  The first attempt at the World Trade Center in 1993 failed, the second attempt in 2001 was successful.  The Middle East mindset is long-term; America thinks in terms of days, weeks, and sometimes months--we don't have the attention span for anything longer.  We need to remember this.

We have avoided two serious terrorist attacks in the past five months due to dumb luck.  We can't depend solely on dumb luck to keep us safe in the future--at some point we have to get our act together in the area of anti-terrorism.