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Andrew Cline has been editorial page editor of the New Hampshire Union Leader since October of 2001. His writing has appeared in more than 100 newspapers and magazines, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and National Review.Pearl Harbor Day: Pay attention to today's threats
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Reader commentsToday is the 67th anniversary of the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. The anniversary may seem remote, but it comes just days after a national commission on the prevention of terrorism issued a chilling report on the likelihood of a new attack on America. It also comes as our newspaper reports on radiation detection devices being employed by New Hampshire State Police.
With Europe aflame and Japan already slicing up China and threatening more mayhem in the Far East, would a sleepy America have paid more attention and been better prepared had a U.S. commission warned of a Pearl Harbor-like attack back in the late 1930s?
We doubt it. There were in fact warnings and predictions of Japanese aggression but they fell largely on the deaf ears of an isolated America more intent on its own economic problems.
Today, is it any different? Even with the modern-day Pearl Harbor of Sept. 11, 2001, as a stark example, and with the repeated Islamic extremist warnings and attacks (see India two weeks ago), much of America seemed to yawn at the headline, carried in our own daily paper, "Biological weapons attack is likely in next 5 years.''
It was generated by the report from the Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism. It said the ability of terrorists to make weapons out of biological pathogens is actually greater, and perhaps closer, than their being able to carry out a nuclear strike. It urges much more security for civilian biological facilities and it warns that the potential nexus of terrorism, nuclear and biological weapons is in Pakistan.
We wish there had been more emphasis on WHY Pakistan is that nexus. It is vital for America to understand that extreme Muslim fundamentalists have hijacked that religion and are bent on destroying all things Western, and all things from the Judeo-Christian tradition. Americans need to know this and our government needs to demand that Muslim elements that claim to be moderate denounce and help root out these jihadist terrorists.
Meanwhile, we were heartened to see that units of our New Hampshire State Police are now equipped with mini detectors powerful enough to pick up radiation given off by a man who had just had a test at the Portsmouth hospital. That may feel like an invasion of privacy to some, but small radioactive devices are as likely to be smuggled in on our public roadways as by any other means. It seems like a good use of homeland security funds to be looking for them.
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YOUR COMMENTS
We need to get over this fear-mongering. One thing people need to understand is that it is almost impossible to steal a nuclear weapon, much less set the thing off if someone did steal it. It is also exceedingly difficult and vastly expensive to try to "weaponize" chemical or biological agents. Countries like ours do it at vast expense (your tax dollars, by the way) even though they say they never intend to use them. These splintered groups have neither the resources nor the technical capability to create a weapon that could harm more than a few dozen people at most. Even this report, in its entirety, actually comes to the same conclusion. It has been sensationalized to stir up fear so that the arms merchants can lobby Congress to increase yet again the already bloated Pentagon budget. That's where your money is REALLY being wasted.
- Dick, Gilmanton
The lesson to remember is that today's threats, just like the threat in 1941, are a direct result of U.S. foreign policy and economic meddling in other countries' affairs.
Whether a deliberate provocation (as Roosevelt did to Japan), or incompetent bumbling (as multiple presidents did to provoke 9/11), the lesson is the same: stay out of other countries' affairs.
- Kevin, Lancaster
Since I've lived here in NYC for almost 25 years, the reality of another terrorist attack here, Washington or Los Angeles is something you think about in the back of your mind. The NYC Police Depart- ment has done an exceptional job with Terrorist Attack Force and part of the problem here in NYC is loose im- migration wars. Anyone getting off a plane from another Country going through Customs, all they had to say was "Political Asylum" and they had to let them pass. That's why we had a 9-11 attack and it's not much better now. Having lost one of my Students on 9-11, the threat is still there. As I've said in the past, history has a way of repeating itself. Sad, but true
- James A. MacDonald, New York City
United States citizens can never let their guard down. It is every American's responsibility to pay attention to potential threats and report them. Terrorists will stop at nothing to commit an act of terrorism on United States soil. Americans must do away with the impression that this country has become a land of entitlement and immediate gratification; because of this, the country has become a “me” society, therefore we are forgetting Pearl Harbor and 9/11. American citizens must be the additional eyes and ears of national security to disrupt and prevent all plans for a terrorist act. Our American lives depend on it.
- Red Leeson, Manchester
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