The Observer, February 2, 2007
Volume XXXIX, Issue 15
Terrorist threat overestimated by government, media
The specter of September 11 still remains heavily over the American psyche. The bloody flag of September 11 has been waved constantly in order to justify extraordinary actions such as the Patriot Act and extralegal extradition.
However, the fundamental questions remain of whether terrorism is actually a great threat to the United States and if extraordinary measures such as ones already taken are necessary for our security.
While the mass media portrayed through popular shows such as 24 would have us think that sleeper cells are targeting the great American suburb in their hatred of all things Americana, evidence would speak to the contrary. For a long time, daily reports in the media brought up the vulnerability of targets ranging from the Indian Point nuclear plant to Disneyworld and were very successful in making terrorism a household word.
While the media may think that we are under imminent threat, it belittles the fact that there have been no terrorist attacks in the United States since September 11.
Conservative pundits may proclaim that our actions in Iraq have tied up terrorist activities there but the events in Israel have shown that violent and punitive military action usually yields more terrorist activity in return. The frequency and intensity of terrorist attacks in Israel have shown that terrorist organizations are reactive and do respond accordingly.
Israel is one of the most heavily fortified nations in the world, yet still manages to suffer terrorist attacks. It leads one to wonder about the CIA Intelligence estimate in 2002 of 5000 al Qaeda operatives in the United States and why this "secret" army within our midst has not made its move. While the competence of our intelligence and law enforcement agencies may have succeeded in preventing attacks, one would hardly be inclined to believe that all 5000 were apprehended or disrupted to the point where none of them was able to carry out any sort of activities in the public eye.
However, another favorite argument is that our operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have tied up terrorists who would otherwise be ravaging the American homeland. This assertion is fairly ridiculous in that while our actions may certainly be taking out indigenous "terrorists" overseas, it would be foolhardy to believe that our military actions within the borders of a completely different country have prevented anyone from deciding to attack the United States if they were so inclined.
It would be a likely assumption that if say an arbitrary number of 5000 determined terrorists decided to attack the United States that airport security would be able to intercept them all. Also, none of the 9/11 attackers were Iraqi or Afghani, which further reveals the ignorance of the average American understanding of regional dynamics and ethnic differences in the Middle East.
If terrorism is largely a state–sponsored mythology that has captured the American psyche much in the way that the "yellow peril" did so during World War II, it would truly be a travesty to think that after over 50 years we are still making the same mistakes. Whatever the "true" terrorist threat may be, it is also clearly evident that the United States has taken immoral actions to combat this threat.
The case of Maher Arar has shown this fantasy; an innocent Canadian citizen was extradited by U.S. officials to Syria and tortured brutally. While Canada is seen fit to pay reparations of $10.5 million due to information given to the U.S. that may have led to his deportation, the U.S. has denied all accusations of wrongdoing.
This cavalier approach to lives in the name of defense and "homeland security" may seem necessary in fiction and television, but the widespread paranoia perpetrated by such seemingly benign portrayals helped destroy the life of an innocent man. Regardless of the actual terrorist threat, cases of men like Maher Arar further belittle our cause and reduce the moral climate of our society.
