No, not the old TV series with Diana Rigg in those delightfully
tight leather pants. The Avengers are Humvees with two pods of four
Stinger missiles mounted on each of them, intended as a short-range
air defense package. There’s a bunch of them around Washington now,
the result of our terror alert status being raised — again — from
yellow to orange. It’s time — again — to ask what Tom Ridge and
his Department of Homeland Security are doing to earn their keep.
Unfortunately, the answer seems to be “not much.”
When Mr. Ridge was first appointed “Director of Homeland
Security” his position was symbolic. He was sent up to Capitol Hill
as a cheerleader and lobbyist for the agencies that had authority
and responsibility — Transportation, Treasury, Justice and others.
Establishment of the new cabinet post was supposed to change that,
giving Ridge real authority to organize the defense of the
continental U.S. It rearranged the bureaucratic chairs, but it
really didn’t do much else. Though Secretary Ridge commands a huge
agency with enormous resources we are truly not much safer than we
were on 9-10.
Almost a year ago, the Loose Canons Top
Ten things to do about terror appeared. Since then, the feds
have begun action on just three: arming those commercial pilots who
want to be, slowing the flow of people coming here from the areas
of concern, such as the Middle East, and hiring more Arab-speakers
to translate the growing mountain of information the intel agencies
are accumulating. A grade of three out of ten flunks in any school.
In homeland security, it’s perfectly ghastly.
The only discernible accomplishment of Mr. Ridge and his merry
band is the color-coded alert system we now endure. This past week,
we were treated to the usual: an increase in the alert status from
“yellow” to “orange” on the basis of “chatter” among the various
terror groups the NSA manages to listen to on occasion. The basis
for this fourth rise to “orange” is not the same as the other
three. Our intel guys heard an increase in chatter similar to the
one heard before 9-11. But there are specifics. The warning of a
pair of al-Qaeda truck bombers loose in London is quite real.
American targets in the U.K. are included in their target list.
Concrete barriers now deface London to a greater degree than in any
time in recent memory.
We are getting used to living under “orange” alerts, which is
part of the problem. The alerts serve only to place additional
demands on Coast Guard, Customs, FBI and local police forces, and
impose costs on local communities. But for the rest of us, they are
meaningless. Should we stay home or go to work? Are we to avoid
Washington, New York, or Cedar Rapids? From the Ridgies, there’s no
useful information. The color coded alerts are a political CYA
exercise, nothing more.
We are a nation at peace during a most serious war. I wish Mr.
Ridge every success. It’s hard to conceive his department will
provide my family and me any real protection. At the risk of
agreeing with sad ol’ Joe Lieberman who says this often, the best
defense in the war on terror is a good offense. We dare not wait
for them to come to us.
Iran and North Korea are in the first Axis of Evil sprint event,
competing to be the first to turn nuclear terror loose in the
world. Our intel guys apparently misread what the Iranians have
been up to. They are succeeding beyond our wildest fears, and
appear to have established their capability to produce fissile
material. They may beat the North Koreans and be able to set up a
production line for fission weapons much sooner than anyone here
thought. Just when that might be ranges — according to the jumble
of reports this week — out as far as early 2005 and in to just a
few months from now. Whichever estimate is right, the time to act
against the Iranian nuclear program is upon us.
We have made a serious mistake in “engaging” the mullahs in
Tehran, seeking to reform them through diplomacy. In the past year,
with our focus on Iraq, we have allowed the beginnings of
conversation and compromise with the mullahs. The mullahs are
incapable of reform, unresponsive to diplomacy. Like all Islamic
fanatics, they cannot allow the possibility of diversion from their
mission to destroy the West. Their anxiety is heightened by the
time it takes to accumulate weapons, not by using them. Let there
be no doubt: these people will use nuclear weapons if they can get
them. Saddam’s regime in Iraq was connected to terrorism. The
Iranian theocracy is an embodiment of global terrorism. Every
terrorist organization you can name from Hezbollah to al-Qaeda is
operating in and from Iran, with the active support of the mullahs
of Tehran. There is simply no circumstance in which we can tolerate
Iranian possession or manufacture of nuclear weapons. They will
enable these terrorists to use them as soon as they can.
What, then, to do? The president was right to cut off all
diplomatic contact with the mullahs. We should maintain contact
with the Iranian opposition, but we cannot rely on them.
First, we should mount the most aggressive covert operations
possible against their three nuclear plants. I don’t believe we
have the capability to bring about the sabotage of these
facilities, but if we do, we should. Covert action against the
mullahs is also in order, but is not likely to succeed in time to
thwart their nuclear program.
Second, we should prepare a limited military strike against the
facilities themselves. It must be limited, because there is no need
to tackle Iran as we did Iraq. We are not yet at the point where a
strike must be made, but we will soon be. For now, we should demand
that the nuclear production cease within 90 days, that the
facilities for enriching uranium be dismantled, and that all be
inspected by a multinational team immediately. Not the IAEA alone.
Its complicity in the Saddam stall, and its ineffectiveness in
inspecting these Iranian facilities is too clear. If the mullahs
can be talked into stopping their program and allowing
international verification, military action will not be necessary.
It’s wishful thinking, a faint hope, I know.
Faint because it is, again, no more than a hope for reform of
the fanatic theocracy. It’s a million to one shot that it would
work, but it is worth trying, just once. If it fails, as it almost
certainly will, then waiting will be gambling which comes first:
the Iranian bomb or the Iranian revolution? It’s a sucker bet. We
have the capability to destroy these facilities, and we must not
hesitate to use it if peaceful means fail. And they will. Once
those facilities are destroyed, the Iranian opposition will be
strengthened, and the mullahs will be weakened, perhaps fatally.
Revolution, and freedom, can come in their own due time.
