Have Terrorists Returned to New York?

Not long ago I wrote an article for the Atlantic Highlands Herald expressing my concern over potential future terrorist attacks on United States soil. In recent years, individuals have become less wary of terrorist threats. Between those who believe that eight years without an attack means the future is terrorist free, and the ill-informed conspiracy theorists who argue that there was never any threat to begin with, many Americans just don't think about terrorism.

Perhaps that is why the news of anti-terrorist raids in New York were widely overlooked by the media. On September 14^th, Raymond Hernandez of the New York Times reported that law enforcement, on both a national and local level, had raided homes in New York after receiving word that an Al Qaeda associate had been spotted at the sites.

But the recent raids in Queens are actually a good sign. According to CBS, a warrant was acquired before any action was taken. We have to remember, in the age of the Patriot Act, law enforcement frequently uses explicitly unconstitutional means of enforcing anti-terrorism policies. While anti-terrorism is vital to keep Americans safe, infringing upon civil liberties can only have a negative impact on our country.

Reports make it clear that while no arrests were made, the raids were not in response to any coherent terrorist plot. They are simply weeding out potentially violent extremists.

But why are Americans ignoring all of this?

Apparently, terrorism is old news.

Americans forget that there was an eight year span between the 1993 and the 2001 World Trade Center attacks. Within those eight years, few people really thought about potential terrorist threats. Sure, the Oklahoma City bombing made headlines, but the perpetrator, Timothy McVeigh, was a "lone wolf," acting out of his own twisted ideology. He wasn't part of a far reaching network of vastly funded operatives, and he certainly didn't have seemingly unlimited financial resources at his disposal.

Muhammad Atta, however, did have such connections. He (legally) entered the country in 2000, and the rest is now tragic history. It is rather embarrassing that Muhammad Atta was able to remain undetected; he entered the country seven years after terrorist Ramzi Yousef attacked the World Trade Center for the first time. For those who don't remember, Yousef and his cohorts resided in a Jersey City apartment. They were close enough to Manhattan to successfully plan, and eventually execute, their plot, yet still far enough away to dodge any suspicion.

After he was apprehended, Yousef predicted a second World Trade Center attack; nobody listened.

We need to listen now! While authorities remain vigilant, one must fear that the average American citizen is less than prepared for a terrorist attack. Would they recognize the signs? Would they know how to react? Have they forgotten the lessons we should have learned in 1993 and 2001?

Only time will tell.

While the full details for the Queens raids are not yet publicly known, it is a chilling reminder that terrorists are still active in America. Certainly, they will try to strike again. We have to be ready to stop them when they do, and ready to react if they are successful. We should try our hardest to stop attacks before they happen, but such an effort will require action on behalf of both law enforcement and the general public.