Osama bin Laden - Seth Anderson (CC)

If one was looking for any signs of mourning in the Muslim world, we were told not to expect it – bin Laden’s death was apparently a happy moment for them, if for different reasons from the ones that caused jubilation at Ground Zero and Washington, D.C. We were even given a naïve explanation from the generation that probably can’t remember what life was like before bin Laden about why they took to the streets to celebrate his death. Why they think that they somehow “own” this part of history is questionable, but they are still young and have much to learn.

The White House gave us an iconic photograph of the Situation Room during the raid, and Secretary Clinton attempted to explain its context. As I write these words, the President is laying a wreath at Ground Zero, and (appropriately?) decided not to speak on that hallowed ground today. While Secretary Clinton states that the U.S. will continue to stand by Pakistan, the Pakistani military is stating that they want the ouster of the majority of the U.S. Military from their soil. We even saw a professional football player trip over words about bin Laden’s death on Twitter, and later try to clarify his position.

But the dust is still flying, and isn’t showing any signs of settling. It’s been said – not often enough – that the way we have lived for the past decade isn’t really a testament to our resiliency or strength. We have falsely contented ourselves with the fact that we haven’t seen repeated attacks on U.S. soil (although we have seen a few foiled), claiming that there is real value in the fact that we’ve also surrendered many freedoms to that end. We are still living in the shadow of bin Laden, and will continue to do so until we decide that our freedom is more important than creating the illusion that we are safe. We will never return to life as it was before September 11th, and rightfully so. We were foolishly arrogant in our thinking, assuming that we were impervious to terrorist attacks. However, if we continue to live as we have, perpetually in fear of another attack, bin Laden has won even though he is dead. It is up to us. There must be a middle-ground between what life in America was on September 10th, and what it is now. Is it time to reassess our way of life, or do we continue with the status quo and become bin Laden’s legacy of fear?

Beyond problems for the blind, there are issues for individuals with other handicaps, as my mother heard from a caller to KDKA Radio’s Marty Griffin show. She told me about a caller that explained his difficulties getting onto a plane, due to the hooks he had in place of hands he had lost during the Vietnam War. My mother told me that she could tell the man was probably in tears as he described his problems with air travel, and said that he stated that he never attempted to fly again.

It infuriated me to hear this, particularly since this man is a disabled veteran. But, beyond the issue of handicapped persons having problems with airlines, there is a much more important issue. We are still ruled by fear. Airlines and the government continue to push insane security procedures in the attempt to keep us safe from terrorism, when the reality of the situation is that if terrorists truly wanted to harm us, they would find a way regardless what we do. Travelers in general are inconvenienced daily to create this false sense of security.

Yes, there are certain security measures that honestly do need to be in place, but the harassment of the handicapped, and honestly insane situations like the stories of forcing women to drink their own breast milk before boarding a plane are just that – insane. The bottom line is that we can’t stop every terrorist from carrying out attacks. It is impossible. When they read stories about blind men being turned away from flights, or having their canes confiscated, war veterans being harassed over prosthetics, or women drinking breast milk in order to fly, they know they have won. While not as satisfying to their blood lust as mass murder, it is still a victory for them. All of these things are signs that they are in control of our lives. I am not suggesting that we stop screening luggage and passengers – I am saying that we need to re-examine the laundry list of rules and procedures we have adopted over the past nine years to keep us safe. We need to be sensible, not irrational. We need to stop letting them win by living in fear of what they might do. Fear paralyzes people, and it is time that we stopped letting our enemies (and our government) control us with it.

Then there are the security issues that the public really doesn’t need to know, and usually they don’t. We don’t need to know whether or not air security personnel are on the look out for particular people – or types of people. We don’t need to know about every homeland security alert, and we usually don’t. Finally, we don’t need to know about security concerns in air traffic control when there wasn’t an incident as a result of it.

What is the common thread in all those issues that we don’t need to know about? It’s fairly simple. They are all situations that we don’t want our enemies to know.

Call me paranoid if you like, but when I saw the reports about the kids in the control towers parroting their dad’s transmissions to pilots, I kept thinking “Oh great! Now every wacko with even a slight idea in their heads about messing with JFK is thinking about it more seriously!” And that thought was quickly followed with another – “And now everyone from every other country in the world can justify their contentions that we’re stupid!”

Yes, it was a mistake. Yes, action should be taken, and apparently is. That should be the end of it. There is no earthly reason why this story should still be in circulation on the news networks – and no, I don’t consider the “new” development that the idiot air traffic controller in question did it more than once with two of his kids worthy of reporting. The “story” never should have been out there in the first place, and is a classic example of the media’s failure to properly determine whether or not something “should” be reported.

So, for future reference, please don’t report stories that tempt terrorists to attack because they think there might be new gaping holes in our security, and make our country look like a bunch of mouth-breathing idiots to the entire world.  There’s plenty of stories out there that make us look like idiots, but don’t also tempt terrorists. Stick with them!

Since its creation, the Department of Homeland Security has been like a lame soldier – unable to perform its intended duties. While talking a good game in front of the cameras and microphones, the Bush Administration failed to give the fledgling department the clout necessary to do what it was created to do. Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge explained the problems in-depth, and is continuing to do so on various news channels on a regular basis. Obama admitted today that we have a problem with inter-departmental communications where our intelligence and security organizations are concerned.

And that is business as usual in the world of intelligence. Information is their currency, and they are greedy in that they want to keep as much of their own as they can without sharing – even with their allies within the government. Not a very reassuring situation for the public to consider, and we’re probably not reaching an end to it all.

Admitting fault is fine, but in an administration that can’t seem to keep the White House secure, what is needed now is action. The likelihood that Obama will manage to put an end to the spy games in the alphabet city that is supposed to be managed by Homeland Security at least on the level where threats to our safety are concerned is extremely low.

Beyond the issues plaguing the dissemination (or lack thereof) of information on terroristic threats to the relevant agencies, there are problems with the current plans and policies regarding foreign relations and the war in Afghanistan. Some have suggested that the war is a direct inheritance from the Bush administration and still others question the intelligence of using the troop surge tactics used in Iraq. First, although the war was started during the last administration, the true root of the problem as far as the U.S. is concerned dates back to the Reagan administration. We “covertly” helped remove the Soviets from Afghanistan, then walked away. The nation building that is apparently so objectionable to at least one of our Senators was neglected then, and we suffered for it. (Add the failure to deal with Bin Laden during the Clinton years, of course.)

History does repeat itself, and the current headlines simply add veracity to that adage. And beyond all the complex military and foreign policy punditry is a very simple statement that covers our current problems. “If you make a mess, clean it up.” Our country has a tendency of ignoring that simple lesson we all should have learned before we graduated from kindergarten. Our “messes” that we’re paying for now date back to the war in Korea, and instead of cleaning up the ones in our past, we’re trying to make more.

And that brings me back to Mr. Hazo, the apparently gifted poet turned novelist who managed to predict at least a little of what we’re faced with today back in the 1980’s. Or was he merely pointing out the next logical step based on history? We’d been introduced to terrorist-style warfare in the 1950’s in Korea, hadn’t we? Hazo merely connected a few dots, and guessed where the next dots would end up. It was perfectly logical for someone in the 1980’s to think that an utterly frustrated militant from Lebanon or anywhere else in that region would consider striking in the West when raising hell at home didn’t seem to bother the U.S. all that much.

Terrorism is an act of desperation. It is what those who are cornered – in reality or in their own minds – do to strike against perceived enemies that are obviously stronger. We are stronger. That has never been up for debate. The only question is whether or not we can be smart enough to learn from the past.