The airborne S%$t goin’ on already qualifies January as a tough
month, and it’s only a few days old. The years 2004 is off to a
fast start with Mounties in the air, Howlin’ Howie claiming that
Jesus is a Dem, and TSA’s chief guy at Dulles being arrested for
DUI at the height of the terrorist alert on New Year’s Eve.
The year didn’t start with a bang, and for a while it looked
like it just might. And we’re not in the clear yet, by any means.
We’ve been Orange since 21 December, and — despite appearances —
the mess in the air is actually getting better. You’d never know it
from the headlines. Flights have been canceled, rerouted and
generally thrown into a mess. F-16s have escorted more than one
airliner to its landing field, and at this writing, certain flights
from London are still being delayed because of specific concerns
about passengers.
The alert that began four days before Christmas is different
from the ones before. We have had lots of pretty color-coded
alerts, and when this one hit, it looked like all the others. A
tail-covering exercise designed by lawyers who only wanted their
bosses to be able to say they had warned us before something really
bad happened. In this case, as usual, local authorities found out
about it by watching Fox and CNN. Nobody at D’OHS told them
anything other than “be tense, so you can die stressed out.”
Everyone was ready to ho-hum it when other signals were
received.
There were specifics about flights to the U.S. from London,
Paris and Mexico City. One report said that a whole bunch of al
Qaeda operatives had moved from Yemen to Saudi Arabia, some to
attack the Saudis and others — some of whom are believed to have
British and American passports — were on the move to hijack
airliners to try for another attack like 9-11. (So why, if we knew
where they were, didn’t we just whack ‘em there and save everybody
a lot of trouble?)
Reports added that those on the move were also moving quantities
of shoulder-fired missiles and other munitions. And it kept getting
more serious. The intel was good enough that some of passenger
lists were flagged because people on the terrorist watch lists were
on them. The French, of course, blew the whole thing. Instead of
letting people show up to be grabbed at the boarding gate, flights
were canceled early and the suspects apparently said, “fromage, les
gendarmes” and took a powder.
It’s no better in London or Mexico City, but it is in Canada.
British Air canceled several Heathrow to Dulles flights for mixed
reasons. Some of the BA pilots apparently refuse to fly with armed
air marshals aboard. (There are EUnuchs in Britain as well as
France). Mexico’s prez, Vicente Fox, is still so desperate to get
his people out of Mexico and into the U.S., he’s protesting that
there’s no real threat. How he would know — the Mexicans aren’t in
the loop on intel for more reasons than space allows to list here
— is beyond me.
The Canadians responded to the new alerts by putting undercover
armed Mounties on many flights. Good for them. Arming pilots is the
last line of defense, but having trained undercover people armed
and on the aircraft is another strong defense. Our Federal Air
Marshals are now — each month — aboard more flights than they
were in the whole life of the service before now. We’ll never be
entirely safe in the sky, but we’re doing a whole lot better than
we were on 9-11.
Loose Canons has made a lot of fun of Tom Ridge and his Homeland
Insecurity Department, and most of it is unfortunately justified.
Now, there’s a new air of seriousness about his actions. When the
specifics came out, he reported to Dubya who reportedly asked him
if he’d let his son fly on one of the suspected aircraft. Ridge had
the guts to say no, and the actions he took were right. Canceling
flights, increasing security at the airports and doing everything
necessary to disrupt and interdict terrorist attacks is his job.
It’s a lot better to be inconveniencing a few hundred people than
having another 9-11. Homeland Security is still an awful mess, but
the fact that we have gone so far without another attack means they
are doing something right.
THE WORST NEWS, OF COURSE, came from home, and from the TSA.
The intel guys thought an attack was most likely to occur on New
Year’s Eve. That’s why there were snipers and chemical sniffers
overlooking Mayor Bloomberg’s cigar-free party in Times Square. In
the Washington area, we had air combat patrols flying, and security
was tight. Apparently so was Mr. Charles Brady, who was arrested
for DUI at about 0100 on New Year’s morning. Mr. Brady is the
acting chief of the Transportation Security Administration unit at
Dulles.
According to the Washington Post, Brady was arrested on
Route 28, one of the main local roads into Dulles International
Airport. The Post report said that Brady was supposed to
be on duty at that hour. Whether he was on duty or off, someone at
that level of authority and responsibility was subject to instant
recall to duty that night. By drinking at all during the night we
expected things to go wrong, he violated his duty and
responsibility to the American people. If it is found that he was
drinking, whether or not he was drunk enough to be convicted of
DUI, he should be fired forthwith. Can’t somebody impose adult
supervision on TSA? It’s not like the National Endowment for the
Arts. What TSA does — or, at least, is supposed to do — is
actually important.
THE POLITICAL PIGS WERE FLYING the other day. The Dems are
injecting religion into the presidential race? I thought they were
for outlawing even the mention of God in public. No, it’s just the
pander bears’ latest performance. Howlin’ Howie thinks he has a
lock on the nomination, so he’s still stumbling around trying to
make like a moderate. His first misstep — he said he wanted to
represent everybody, including guys with rebel flags on their
pickups — sent him and the other candidates into paroxysms of
political correctness. Failing to get any Southern votes that way,
Dean is trying the alternate gambit for the Lower Latitudes: he’s
claiming God is on the side of the Libs.
Last week Dean said, in essence, that Jesus was the prototype
for a liberal Democrat. Wesley Clark — still playing his stand-in
role for Miz Hillary — reflexively joined the pander parade when
the subject of religion came up. Clark is more credible than Dean,
which isn’t saying much. “I’m spiritual,” said Clark. “I’m
religious. I’m a strong Christian and I’m a Catholic but I go to a
Presbyterian church. Occasionally, I go to a Catholic church, too.”
I guess he goes wherever there are more votes any given Sunday
morning. It’s too bad the Republican side is getting advice from
someone who may be more spiritual than the good general, and is
definitely a good deal wackier.
Pat Robertson, having been under political sedation since
advocating use of a tactical nuke on the State Department, revealed
this week that God told him Mr. Bush would win in a landslide in
November. So, Pat, does that mean we shouldn’t worry and just stay
home on 2 November? (Can someone please tell this guy to shut up at
least until 3 November?)
Other spiritually-minded folks are opining about the latest
Jacques-asses’ move. France has passed a law forbidding Muslim
girls from wearing their head scarves in schools and public
institutions. Just to be fair, they’ve also outlawed Jewish
yarmulkes and “oversized” crosses. In the Saudi
government-controlled English language paper, Arab News,
one Khaled Bartafi condemned the French action on Sunday: “Muslims
everywhere, please take note,” he wrote. “France, our champion at
the UN, has finally joined the Anglo-Saxon crusade.” Wait one
damned minute. Don’t we have anything to say about this? Who says
we’d let them join?
