Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Should I feel safer?

Ran across this story in the Houston Chronicle this morning that the Houston Police Department has acquired an old Air Force 737 to use for anti-terrorism training. Have I missed something here? The next time some group lets loose with a terrorist attack in the Bayou City will be the first time.
"I don't know of any airport in the country, or any other police department, that has a facility like this It's a win for everybody, and it will be used by the finest police force in the country." - Rep. Ted Poe (R-Houston)
I love Houston just as much as the next guy - hell, I've lived here all my life (except for those formative years on the Forty Acres) - but, let's face it, people come to Houston for business and to visit friends and family. People don't come to Houston to see the sights. So why on earth would a group of terrorists choose to hang out with the heat, humidity and mosquitoes just to blow something up -- wouldn't that make it even hotter?

3 comments:

Unknown said...

The FBI has identified 9 traits that make a target particularly attractive to terrorists. Houston is the only city in the country that possesses all 9 traits. Houston is one of only 3 urban areas that have large chemical plants and flammable materials close to major population areas, making it a prime target. The US Congress considers Houston one of the the top 5 potential terrorist targets. Houston makes the top 10 terrorist targets on any list put out by a reputable organization, and is in the top 5 on almost all of them. Terrorists have been caught in other places with pictures of Houston landmarks, including chemical plants. Do you know something that the thinktanks, terrorism experts, and the FBI and Congress don't? If you do, please let us know. We would all like to feel safer.

Paul B. Kennedy said...

Thank you for your comment.

The war on terrorism, or drugs or whatever else Congress wants to declare war on is but a cover to lay siege to our 1st, 4th, 5th and 6th Amendment rights.

The statistics you cite are bandied about whenever Congress is debating appropriations so that congressmen from Houston can bag some cash to bring back home.

Terrorist "experts" and thinktanks rely on donations and grants to make their money and the best way to increase income is to create more terrorist targets.

Unknown said...

So I guess that 911 and the Cole and Lockerbie and Beirut and the first WTC bombing and all the others were all just in our imaginations then? I guess that the Times Square bomber, who bragged about how many people he thought he could kill was all just a giant delusion? Do you prefer that we don't train, don't prepare, don't share information and don't do anything until something happens, and then we have Congress investigate why we didn't "connect the dots?" There are people out there now, right now, planning on killing as many Americans as they can, as often as they can. There was a terrorist in Dallas that pushed the detonator on what he thought was a car bomb at a Dallas office building. He has pleaded guilty by the way, so please don't tell me that it was just an FBI plot against some misguided nut. I personally know his defense attorney very well, and trust me, if the evidence wasn't there, Peter would never have let him plead out. This time, it didn't happen, but what about next time? You know, terrorists are like defense attorneys in one respect. Like we only need to convince one juror, they only need to get one building or plane every once in awhile. Perhaps you should tell some of the survivors of the various terrorist attacks attacks, or the families of the murdered, how its just a "cover" to get more funding.