Are You Safer Now Than You Were Before Bush?

by Joe Pulcinella

This article in Aviation Week made me sick. Can anyone truly say that the US would be crawling with terrorists if we didn't have such a Napoleonic foreign policy in the Middle East? Anyway, LAX is preparing for missile attacks. As if our airports weren't already the most obvious indication that we live in a police state.

Perimeter and air patrols are being beefed up at Los Angeles International as defense against possible shoulder-fired missile attacks on commercial aircraft, a top security official said.

Will anyone ever speak up against the militarization of the US homeland? I never thought I'd see a day when our elected officials would look to Israel as a model of security. Or Canada for a model of socialized healthcare, for that matter.

Comments

we have a force for that, its called the national guard. but, um, there all over in iraq.

If weren't projecting military might around the globe on an ongoing basis, "national defense" would play as prominently in the minds of Americans as LGMM (Little Green Men from Mars).

I only disagree slightly. If we didn't have a trillion-dollar military tied up in over 100 countries around the world generating hatred and resentment, wouldn't a few of those idle soldiers and airmen be able to do a superior job of defending airports, bridges, tunnels, and buildings from the few terrorists who might actually hate us "for our freedom"?

It doesn't matter. In the America that I once knew, the government didn't place its citizens in such a perilous situation that warranted this sort of paramilitary action on the part of civilians.

Are they talking about rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), or real guided missiles like TOW missiles? RPGs are probably much more numerous but pretty crude, while TOW or Stinger could probably be reliably targeted on planes but are bulky and expensive.

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