I was listening to the Chris Core show on WMAL radio on Thursday when
the terrorist plot to blow up at least 10 airliners en route from Great
Britain to the United States was the hot topic of the day. A pilot
called in on his way to fly out of Reagan National Airport. The pilot
said if the terrorists had been on this side of the Atlantic, and thus
the aircraft to blow up were to have originated in Washington or New
York or Chicago, he wasn't at all sure we would have stopped the plot.
That call sent shivers up and down my spine. He may well be right.
We have become victims of political correctness to the point that we
have tied our own hands in handling cases such as this. The British use
profiling, for example. We do not. We do not because various
Arab-American groups complained to high heaven that profiling was
discrimination against them. I am sorry. 100% of the people who flew
planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and would have
destroyed the Capitol if some brave passengers had not revolted in
Pennsylvania were Muslims. Likewise the 25 men arrested in Great Britain
and Pakistan who were involved in the plot to blow up thousands of
people were Muslims. I attend a church whose roots are in the Middle
East. I know and love my Arab brethren. But to be inconvenienced a bit
if they happen to fit the profile of a terrorist then so be it if they
are questioned until it is determined that they are not a terrorist.
Mistakes will be made. Feelings will be hurt. But it is far better that
we hurt someone's feelings than if an airplane blows up with 300
innocent victims aboard.
The British pulled off this rather spectacular bit of police work by
infiltrating the organization. The infiltrator was doing his work for
the past seven months. He kept Scotland Yard and M I 5 appraised as to
what was going on. Exactly how this infiltrator gained the trust of the
conspirators is not known. It should not be known. Had the plot been in
the United States the NEW YORK TIMES would send 30 reporters to find out
how we obtained the intelligence so they could expose it and thus assure
that it never would be used again. Hopefully the British press will have
more loyalty to their country that our media has here.