Katrina and Terrorism

Here’s what worries me about the terrible job our government is doing in responding to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Imagine you are a terrorist lying in wait to attack the United States, or perhaps you are one of the Al Qaeda masterminds organizing future attacks. Wouldn’t you be encouranged by the U.S. government’s failures to properly manage such a disaster? Wouldn’t it give you pleasure to realize that your upcoming terrorism attacks might have the potential for being on par with Katrina? With everyone distracted by Katrina, wouldn’t you think about moving your plans up and issuing the orders sooner?

Despite Bush’s tough-guy act, our country is no more secure from terrorism than it was five years ago. Our ports of call still lack strong security. Our mass transit systems in New York, Los Angeles and other cities are still vulnerable despite the recent show of force and random bag checks. Watching Bush respond to Katrina, I get the impression that he not a guy who is in charge. It’s more like he’s the puppet whose pupper-masters have been on the shitter while Katrina wreaked havoc, only to get caught with their pants down.

What I fear is that our country will suffer another catastrophic event sooner rather than later, which will only escalate our decline as a civilization. I’m afraid it wouldn’t take much to send this country into a backwards spin that would ultimately lead to almost complete suspension of civil liberties and widespread martial law. People in some states are already panicking about higher gas prices. Imagine what will happen when they realize another catastrophic event like Katrina could disrupt our fragile supply-chain of food, clean water and energy. At some point civility is lost and we devolve into anarchy, desperation and the chaos of survival. Watching how our government is responding to Katrina leaves me with little faith they can appropriately manage another such event. It almost makes me want to go buy a gun, because then at least I can protect myself and my loved ones since our government may not be able to.

Posted by Cameron Barrett at September 2, 2005 04:49 PM
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