What a great deterrant. Wouldn't you agree?
Well no, actually I wouldn't. I think there needs to be a real solid alert system for our law enforcement and emergency responders in this country, I agree to that. For our FBI, CIA, and Secret Service...for the pros in other words. Yeah, I believe that and I certainly understand what you are saying and how in theory at least it makes some sense. I think these alerts should be passed along rapidly and for each a specific plan of action detailed...for the pros...the men and women that actually handle this for us. In truth though I see our current system as more dangerous and taxing than functional and good. Let's face it there are two things to consider about this system:
1. The pros are already overworked, understaffed, and undertrained.
2. The general public functions in two ways in these situations in 99.9% of these cases, either completely useless or a total menace.
That being said consider the fallout. The too few professionals that already have way too much to handle and need more training now have to cope with every little old lady or nosey neighbor or paranoid secretary that sees something they feel could possibly be a terrorist activity. Sending these poor folks who already can't cope with what's on the table on loads of wild goose chases. You know now there is a priority to follow up on everything because nobody wants to be the one who dropped the ball that leads to another 9/11. So now our anti-terror resources which were already stretched too thin are now even thinner. If we can't trust our professional intelligence people to search out and track down solid leads for our law enforcement and emergency responders to be aware of we have a serious issue. Counting on a mother and father boarding a plane with their 4 kids to go to Disneyland for intelligence to prevent a terrorist attack is a frightening thought...it means that that pros failed and now we have to hope mom's not to busy trying to wipe the chocolate ice cream off little Johnny's face to notice the Arab guy take stuff out of his bag and start fiddling with his shoe laces. Umm...not to brag but I do consider us a couple of wicked smaht guys, but I damn sure hope our government never needs to rely on one of us to provide them with what they need to prevent a terrorist attack. I don't know about you but I sort of feel like if it comes down to me being the one who notices what's going on before the pros do...well then something is very, very wrong with what we're doing to address terrorism. I mostly see the public being put on yellow alert as a hazard more than a help. In theory it's nice to think we could be of some help but let's face it most people are just going to make matters worse...I'd like to think you or I wouldn't but really we could.
If a terrorist was planning on attacking financial institutions in NYC or DC and the fed's got wind of it's possibility and raised an alert, do you really think they'd go ahead with the attack knowing that everyone and their grandmother (security officials, police and civilians) were on the lookout for anything suspicious?
Yes, I do think they would go ahead with it. Really it seems the way that works is you've got the guys at the top of the ladder that are making the plans and then you've got the poor dumb bastards that actually have agreed to go out and blow themselves up for their cause. So really they are walking dead men anyway and there's nothing to lose for them. So I don't think the terroists pay any attention to our "alert level"...fact is the only color they care about is getting the green to go ahead from the guys at the top of the ladder. It seems that they make that choice well in advance and there is no turning back once it's made. For 9/11 I believe they got the green light months before the actual event and contact is then brought to an abrupt halt to minimize them getting caught. So, our terror alert level may be yellow when they get the word to go and it may be orange when they actually do. It's too late to stop at that point...the guys that will carry out the attack are just expendable worker bees...if the attack works it works...if it fails it fails...doesn't matter really because someone will show up later to try again if they really want to get it done. 9/11 was not the first attack on the WTC. They missed but they came back later and finished the job even with all of us knowing they had attacked it before.
It sounds to me like you disagree with the system because you're a conspiracy theorist and you're convinced there's an alternative agenda behind these alerts.
Well yes, I do believe there is an agenda behind the alerts. Not really a big conspiracy because to me it seems right out in the open. See I think the main purpose the alert system serves, as it stands right now, is to give the appearance of something being done. Nobody wants to look like they got caught with their pants down a second time. After all the people trying to blame the Bush administration for dropping the ball on 9/11 they are a bit sensitive about the issue. So this way if something happened, and they keep warning us it will, it looks like they at least saw it coming. Which in truth is bullshit, because if it happens it means someone did drop the ball...and it won't have been you or me or the parents with their kids at the airport. So yeah, I see the warning system for the general public as dangerous, dumb, and a political tool. It's their way to try to advertise they are "staying the course", "taking action", "hunting them down dead or alive", but really they are just making noise. Noise the terrorists could care less about and only serves to make otherwise level headed people nervous about getting on a plane or being in a building that might be considered a "good target."
But, you're wicked smaht and I could be wrong.
Well, I think all of us here are wicked smaht but even us wicked smaht folks are wrong sometimes.
