Homeland Security

My first position on the controversy over the planned mosque and Muslim community center planned to be constructed within two blocks of Ground Zero was to applaud Mayor Bloomberg’s courage in not blaming all Muslims for the murderous actions of extremist, inhuman, suicidal thugs who happen to be of the Muslim faith. 

In 2004, in the wake of anthrax attacks in New York and in Washington, the Congress passed and the president signed into law legislation that was purported to protect the American people from a biological attack. The law created a special reserve fund dedicated to developing medical “countermeasures” to treat symptoms that came from any biological, chemical, radiological or nuclear weapons that might be used by our enemies.

Now, many libertarians might harrumph that the government shouldn’t take such an active role in the biological marketplace, but the fact of the matter is that the risk of a biological attack is fairly low, so the marketplace can’t really support such medical countermeasures without government support. Also, one of the purposes of government as defined in our Constitution is to provide for the common defense, and well, this fits the bill.

The American Psychological Association argued to the Texas licensing board that one of its members, James Mitchell, should be stripped of his license for “patently unethical behavior” in violation of the organization’s ethical guidelines, The Washington Post reports. In 2002, Mitchell, then retired from the Air Force, reportedly assisted the CIA’s interrogation of a terrorist detainee, Abu Zubaydah, in Thailand. Zubaydah was alleged to be a top al Qaeda official. A Senate report stated that interrogators including Mitchell used extreme measures to question Zubaydah, including waterboarding. Mitchell called the complaint libelous, distorted and inaccurate, though he added he was not permitted “to discuss any work that I may have done for the CIA.”

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Born and raised in New Jersey, I’m hardened to the slights about my native state — what exit do you live at? and put-downs like that. But the home of two terrorists — alleged — in North Bergen, my own hometown, is too much. As if “The Sopranos” and “Jersey Shore” and “Real Housewives” weren’t enough to seal the distorted reputation, to eclipse the high-class Princeton image — now we have terrorists in North Bergen? As they’d say at the Institute For Advanced Learning, gimme a break.

Here's a badly needed Miranda Advisory for all the political and pundit blowhards: "You have the right to remain silent. Use it.”

It would be particularly worthwhile right now if it was taken to heart by all the opportunists who are trying to exploit fear by wildly criticizing officials who Mirandize suspected terrorists in their custody, even U.S. citizens.

They know such simple-mindedness gets voters riled up, which is the way they play the game. Never mind that constitutional rights are not games.

The story of Faisal Shahzad's path from naturalized U.S. citizen living the American dream to terrorist attempting to kill an untold number of people in New York's Times Square is terrifying, a chilling reminder that not only does the enemy live among us, but we can't do much to stop attacks on the homeland no matter how hard we try.

I've been having this dream. It's so far-fetched that I am reluctant to talk about it. Not even to a therapist. It's too wacky.

In my dream, they arrested this extremist who had tried to blow up Times Square in New York. That's not the craziest part. Scary that only bonehead luck prevented a tragic disaster, but not the most ridiculous.

Nor is the fact that since the guy was a naturalized U.S. citizen, officials read him his Miranda rights shortly after they took him into custody. That made obvious sense, and never mind that he was originally from Pakistan, from which he had just returned. He is suspected of being part of a foreign terrorist plot.

Mike Bloomberg, mayor of New York, assured the public that there would be no racial profiling of Muslims or Arabs in New York City after the bombing attempt at Times Square. But unfortunately, the night before, when egged on by that panting puppy, Katie Couric, who suggested "a home-grown," suspicion, the mayor replied: "Home-grown, maybe a mentally deranged person or somebody with a political agenda that doesn't like the healthcare bill or something.” Tea Partier. Got it.

Will somebody tell me why, in this era of forced multitasking, it took 11 people to kill just one Hamas leader? The Mossad rank and file must have a really strong labor organization, the Union of Assassination Experts — the UAE. Obviously, they are killer negotiators.

There they were in a Dubai hotel (the UAE in the UAE). Since they were captured on video, did they get talent fees? Did they get lunch? If not, was there a meal penalty? Do they have a shop steward to file grievances?

Both the Obama administration and its Republican critics are to blame in the latest effort to politicize national security.

We all learned last weekend on NBC's “Meet the Press” that White House counter-terror adviser John Brennan consulted Republicans in Congress on Christmas Day when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was Mirandized just 50 minutes after being taken into custody. Brennan claims no one asked him whether or not Abdulmutallab was given the right to remain silent and the members he named — Sen. Kit Bond (R) of Missouri and Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R) of Michigan — exploded. Hoekstra claims he will never speak to Brennan again unless the phone conversation is recorded, and both he and Bond are demanding that President Barack Obama fire Brennan.