Where is the public outrage?

I WILL NOT BE SILENT.

I have been waiting for three days now to see if there was some mass outpouring of public rage about something that has been in the news lately. And yet there is none that I've heard. In case you missed the significance of this event, on the day after Christmas . . I DID NOT.

These are my opinions. You may disagree. But if you cannot see that a major shift in our political landscape has taken place, you are not paying attention. This shift in policy does not bode well for the future of myself, my children, my grandchildren, or this county. On Sunday December 26th, 2009, I know that there was major chaos, as a terrorist Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, 23, tried to set off a sophisticated explosive device strapped to his body, inside his underwear, as his flight from Amsterdam to Detroit was over US soil and about one hour from landing. You may notice that I say terrorist. He is not an alleged terrorist. He is a terrorist. Thank goodness he is a bumbling, stupid, and incompetent terrorist. But he is a terrorist and was intent on killing a plane load of people.

Mutallab is directly linked to the terrorist organization Al Qaeda. Fortunately a fast-thinking, and fast-acting Dutch man realized what was happening and literally flew across four rows of seats, subdued the man, and extinguished the flames of the device with his bare hands before it could detonate. He then dragged the man into the aisle and hauled him in a choke hold up to the first-class section and held him for the remaining hour of the flight to Detroit. I hope he poured some alcohol on the terrorist's burns as treatment. So? Great . . . we say! How fortunate. But what happened after the plane landed is a big sign of a dramatic . . VERY DRAMATIC . . shift that has taken place in our war against terrorism since January 20th of this year.

Prior to January 20th, this terrorist would have been yanked off the plane and turned over directly to the CIA and the FBI and detained as an enemy combatant. I hope he would have been taken to Guantanamo and water-boarded for days and days until he had snitched out every associate he had. For certain, he would have been directly interrogated over and over and over. I was in interrogation in the army. I know what information can be obtained. Even without the most severe tactics. Sodium pentothal works wonders. So does sleep deprivation and minimal starvation. Hypnosis. Red ants. Noxious, but non-toxic odors. Firm pinching. Ear twisting. Yelling and screaming and threatening. Good cop and bad cop. The interrogation arsenal we have is very large. And ALL of them justified to not just defeat our enemies . . .but more importantly to keep them from destroying us. And you can use all those tactics and methods on the enemy. How far would any of you go if you thought it would have stopped 9/11?

The CIA might have discovered information from him about other attacks that are being planned? Where did he get his funding? Where was he trained? Where was his headquarters? Who gave him his mission? Why this mission? Who assisted him in this suicide bombing? But instead, he was taken off the plane to a waiting ambulance and carried to a hospital.

He was treated for his burns at taxpayer expense and the FBI was allowed to question him, as they might any US citizen would be. And since he is now under the protection of, and in the hands of our own US civil and criminal court system, he immediately had a court-appointed lawyer provided for him at taxpayer expense. Probably even a team of lawyers? And of course . . he froze up and went silent. He has NOTHING to say to the FBI or anyone else. Nor can he be compelled to say a single thing. He has now been arrested and is in jail for no more than attempting to shoot at a US Marshall and missing. Attempted murder. Or holding up an armored car.

I am sure he will be subjected now to a variety of psychiatric evaluations to find out if there was some deep-seeded reasoning for his actions? Maybe his mommy took her nipple away from him too soon? Maybe his daddy spanked him too much? Maybe he was bullied too much in elementary school? Maybe he was ostracized by his playmates? Maybe he had too much poverty influencing his life? Maybe he was a victim of racial prejudice? Maybe he didn't have government provided health care? Maybe global warming melted his brain-cells? Maybe this is society's own creation? Maybe he watched too much Fox News or listened to Rush Limbaugh too much? Maybe he was temporarily insane?

One thing is for certain my friends, THE PAST FEW DAYS reflects a serious shift in our nation's strategy to win the war on terror. And one in which the terrorists themselves will learn from. And if you don't at least care or mind that this shift has taken place, then you will not be able to complain or moan when something more serious happens. We are not a safer nation today than we were in the days and years prior to January 20, 2009. We are not even AS safe. We have a greater threat to our safety. We are in more peril.

To do nothing, or to say nothing about this is to be no different than England's Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain saying that Hitler was not a bad man and certainly England had nothing to fear from the man's goal to reestablish a strong German nation. To not protest . . for me, is to acquiesce and say that I don't mind or care. I will not be silent.

I did not agree with George W. Bush on many, many, issues. He was not a great President. He had many serious flaws and made many bad decisions for our country's economy. Sometimes the apple falls far from the tree? But it is very significant that since September 11, 2001, there has not been one single attempt of a terrorist attack on US soil. In fact, as a result of interrogations at Guantanomo, numerous other attacks were thwarted before they could take place. We were a safer nation. I fear the tide has turned. This fact did not elude me over the weekend. I will remember it. I will proclaim it.

I only hope now that Mutallab does not decide to sue Delta and the Dutchman for civil damages or for physical pain and suffering being dragged down the isle of the plane and restrained. Perhaps he will sue them for failing to treat him more quickly? He has that option. I know that if I were the Dutchman I would be moving my personal assets out of harm's way before I was sued. I am sure that in some boardroom right now, Delta's lawyers are scrambling to determine what their liability is to the ticket-holding "passenger".

This administration will certainly protect Mr. Mutallab's interest in his right to defend himself. I fear that I cannot count on them to guard my own.

B. McElhaney
December 29, 2009

(postscript: As I said, these opinions are my own. I would have been very happy . . if it could have been done safely . . to take a vote of the passengers and judge him before landing, open the door and toss him out from 30,000 feet).

postscript added January 1, 2010. In a recent CNN poll taken the week after Mutallab's bumbled attempt to blow up the plane, 58% of American's now believe that "waterboarding" is an acceptable form of interrogation. That is up from 32% one year ago. It's amazing to me how much people's moral judgements change when their is an action and not just a threat.