When in Danger...

Or in doubt
run in circles
scream and shout

This has become the norm for dealing with the public about terror threats...

Ridge Warns of Election Terror Plot

Now please people, does anyone seriously think there WON'T be some attempt at a terrorist strike as the election gets close? After Spain? I am of 2 minds about these type of press releases.

First of all, there is the huge problem the government faces - if you don't SAY anything, you can't possibly be DOING anything. It's one of the more irritating aspects of dealing with the current media. They insist on irrelevant chit chat. I assume this is to fill up newsprint columns and empty air time. After all with news 24/7 they really need LOTS of fodder to fill in the holes. This leads us to press conferences giving us absolutely useless information, which brings me to...

My second point - what exactly are we supposed to DO with this type of information? Are we supposed to look for suspicious Middle Eastern men? (Do most Americans know a Mid-East Male if they see one? I'm of the opinion about the worst thing a dark skinned man can do is to wear a turban - for some reason, people equate this with being an Arab.) Do Americans know what a "suspicious looking" package might look like? Can they tell the difference between someone hanging around waiting for a friend to show up and someone "casing" a building looking for a good way to do damage?

Short of someone driving up to me and pointing out a trunk full of explosives to my direct notice, I'll leave the finding of terrorists to the proper authorities. In the article linked above it seems Tom Ridge is adhering to my first point.

Asked why he had made a public announcement on Thursday, Ridge said that after the attacks in Madrid, Spain, he considered it "very important, on a periodic basis, to frankly just give Americans an update as to where we are and what we are doing"

Well fair enough and short of him disclosing actual security precautions, which is rather like broadcasting troop movements to the enemy, I must assume they are hard at work doing their jobs. Naturally a Democrat has to give his take, for that balanced storyline...

But Texas Rep. Jim Turner, the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, said what is needed is action. "A press conference will not deter a terrorist," he said.

Um - gee ya think? I do hope that Tom Ridge takes Jim Turner's suggestion under consideration. Perhaps if Tom calls the next press conference and carts an M16 in with him...

Comments

[Tammi]

Honestly, I just left that article to see what you had to say today!!

As soon as I saw the headline I knew it was one of those "well, we better remind everyone we're still here and still focused" kinda things. It's a shame they have to do that, but if we learned anything from the 9/11 commission, it's that we had better continue to let the public know that there is a danger, yes, they are working at containing that danger, but it still exists.

[Mark]

It's interesting to note that quite a few people were asking "Why didn't you warn us?" shortly after 9-11. And some of those were making political hay over the responses. My opinion is, the government will now issue warnings no matter who is in office for the "duration" of the war on terror simply to avoid being thought of as "not paying attention."

And of course to demonstrate to any potential attorney's looking for a class action suit that "due diligence" was being performed.

[Teresa]

Actually Mark, the press is in heaven with this. They can have it both ways. If any announcements are made by Ridge or Ashcroft about heightened security concerns, the press falls all over itself to tell us how stupid these warnings are, how they don't help the average citizen, yada, yada, yada. But as you said, just let another attack happen and without batting so much as an eyelash, they'll be all over Ridge, Ashcroft, Bush and everyone else screaming, WHY DIDN'T YOU WARN US!!!!

I wonder if the press believes no one notices these things...