Smoke And Mirrors, Or The Real Thing?

I make the difficult transition of going from the usually innocuous world of professional sports to the more serious topic of terrorism. I have held off writing about this for at least two months because I have read many stories in the past about "impending attacks." However, since this one has come from multiple sources I have decided to write about it.

According to World Net Daily: "Another Pakistani journalist is reporting receiving another threat – this one from a senior Taliban leader – warning all Muslims to leave the U.S. in anticipation of a major terrorist attack before the end of Ramadan.
The head of the Islamabad-based al-Quds Center reported receiving an audio message from Mullah Masoom Afghani urging U.S. Muslims to get out of the country "because Allah's punishment would fall on America in the month of Ramadan."
Muslims are observing Ramadan this year Sept. 24 to Oct. 23. "

If you want to view the full article just click:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52460


It was back in August on CNN that I first saw a story of a manhunt being conducted by the FBI for a man who had smuggled in a so-called dirty bomb. CNN was the only news outlet that I saw report the story and then it disappeared after a few days. I heard Michael Savage talk about it as well. But I don't listen to him very much and when I have recently he has not mentioned this impending threat.

Usama bin Laden and friends have influenced elections in the past, most notably in Spain, so it comes as no surprise that they would try to influence this upcoming election. The question I have is who will lose the most. Obviously, if an attack does occur we would all lose. But suppose this is more of just a smokescreen. I have read over and over again that al-Qaeda is not powerful enough anymore to pull of a large scale attack inside the United States, however, such a perilous threat reminds everyone that UBL is still out there.

I can't say I believe there will be an attack soon or not. I have no idea, really. There have been many, many false alarms since 9/11 so who knows. I pray that this does not happen, of course, but I would not be shocked. I also do not believe that al-Qaeda is not capable of pulling off a "spectacular" attack in this country.

I really don't think that the vast majority of Americans understand the global threat of Islamic extremism. So many people want to blame our support for Israel. But the reality is that Israel has nothing to do with the fact that Islamic extremism is at the heart of the current genocide going on in Darfur or the Islamic Courts taking over Mogadishu and attempting to impose sharia or strict Islamic laws. In fact, there are 14 conflicts going on in the world right now that involve Islamic extremists, which obviously has nothing to do with Israel.

So getting back to the election. If this is all just smoke and mirrors, and hopefully it is, will it pull people to vote Republican, believing they are more equipped to handle the War On Terror. Or will the folks vote Democrat, believing that the GOP bumbled things with Iraq and that a change is necessary.

Personally, when I read about the possibility of such horrific attacks taking place, I use the Ronald Reagan method of "trust but verify." I believe there are many people out there who wish to harm the United States, but I am also realistic. I know that politics is a dirty game and that there are those, on both sides of the aisle, who would float rumors for their own or their party's benefit.

Time will tell, of course. Again, I pray that there are no attacks on this country. But I also wish that more people would take the time to vote. Many people have given their lives for us to have the privilege to vote, a privilege that may not always be there.