Terrorism Is Alive and Well in the US

How do I know that terrorism is alive and well in the US? Because I can see that it is working. Another terrorist activity has been reported on the news this morning. Mohamed Osman Mohamud attempted to blow-up what he thought was an explosive-packed van during a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, OR. While there failed to be an explosion, it scares the pants off the American public, which is one of the objectives of terrorism and why it is on the national television news.

While there is hardly a day that goes by without some aspect of terrorism being reported either directly and indirectly, this is a significant increase compared to our historical experience. In effect, terrorism is working.

One of the major reasons that terrorism is working is an abuse of compassion on the part of the American public combined with an unrealistic attitude with respect to personal liberties. When a civilian jury in New York finds a terrorist guilty on only one of a large number of charges, it is apparent that there is something wrong with the system. In effect, the American public doesn't like terrorism in any form, but doesn't have the will to do anything about it, because of ambiguous emotional feelings. When the picture of a terrorist is portrayed on TV, most of the public will say, "Isn't he a sweet looking man. He couldn't have done anything like that. I think he is being framed by government."

As you have noted from my previous correspondence, I am normally not a supporter of big government or most of the actions of our present government. However, in its present activities to control terrorism, through infiltration into terrorist societies, electronic scans and pat downs at airports, it is doing a reasonable job, in spite of the fact that it has to fight the American public to do so. The bottom line is that if left to the American public, terrorism will continue to grow and ultimately achieve a status of success which will make the New York 911 situation mild by comparison.

Therefore, we need a new program. First, we need to take the legal prosecution of terrorists out of the hands of American juries. Terrorists are enemy combatants, no matter what their nationality, age, sex, ethnic origin, etc.. As such, they must be prosecuted by military courts, and those military courts must be immune to political pressures coming from the American public. In the prosecution, a new classification of charge must be established. I suggest, "Intent to commit mass murder". We can leave it up to military lawyers to establish definitions, but murder means killing people. Mass means more than one, whether defined or not. Intent means having put into place some physical means by which to accomplish the murder.

When an alleged terrorist is apprehended, he must be tried by a military court within two weeks of the apprehension. The trial must last no longer than two days. If the alleged terrorist is found innocent, he should be immediately released, but continually surveyed by law enforcement authorities. If found guilty, he should be executed within two days of the guilty verdict. There should be no process of appeal nor life prison sentence.

Let's get the ball moving. There should be no public announcement, because we've seen that the public can't be trusted to do the right thing in this matter. Too bad that we have to go through Congress, which already involves a lot of people, but that is our system of government. In World War II, two people decided to build an atomic bomb. President Roosevelt and General Groves. But that was a time of war. Perhaps Congress should start this whole ball rolling by declaring war against terrorism.