Terrorism Can't Be Beat

Paranoia is running strong in this Age of Terror. Certain ill-fate is just around the bend, and no one has a clue of when, where, and how it will come-not even the feds. You can bet your rump on that, Skip. With billions of dollars being spent to prevent the terrorists' next move, it is hard to avoid one measly, rarely spoken about fact: terrorism can never be defeated. The Vietcong at least had uniforms, but our terrorist foes have decided their money would be better spent on weapons, intel, and fake passports. And who's to say there aren't hundreds living among us? How hard would it be to plant a bunch of anti-American nutjobs in any of our fifty states? Surely, the CIA's list of known terrorists is short when compared to amount of unknown terrorists. Ah, and that is the most frightening fact of all.

While it seems like the terrorists are waiting to pull off another big attack, it will only be a matter of time before they realize the best approach is to carry out simpler and smaller assaults. The recent case of the TB traveler could very well act as inspiration for the suicide bomber schools. Instead of sticks of dynamite being strapped to their chest, they will inject themselves with a highly contagious disease, board a plane, and cough on as many people as possible. Yes, my fellow Americans that is how all those nasty diseases we keep hearing about will find their way to the USA. But that wouldn't even be the most effective move by terrorists. After all, terrorism is psychological warfare. Destroy the head and the body will follow, and never has that saying been truer than now. Currently, we are all a bit paranoid, but imagine the chaos that would occur if the following were to happen.

It's early December, Christmas shopping is in full effect. The malls are packed with consumers, the parking lots are a mess, and across the country, in a dozen or more different malls, the same scene unfolds. A lone gunman walks in and starts shooting at whomever he sees, not stopping until he is taken out by cops or brave shoppers. The news channels run the story non-stop, desperately trying to get a handle on what has just taken place.

"Multiple mall shootings across the United States have occurred today at five o'clock eastern time. Authorities are still trying to figure out the details, but there is belief that these were highly organized terrorist attacks."

Dear God! Imagine the level of national fear, paranoia, and panic. People won't know what to do with themselves. The government will go crazy with new freedom-regulating curfews and rules as they try to plan our retaliation. And the saddest part is that the setting could just as easily be elementary schools instead of malls. Both will be symbolic acts by the terrorists as they could claim an attack on our materialistic ways or on our children, justifying it by saying that our government kills children all the time. We live in insane times, almost surreal at moments, and with technology along with a large and spread out population, horrific scenes can reveal themselves at any point. Worst of all, organizing for the mall attack could be done without any electronic trail, but instead, with simple wedding invitations listing the date and time.

The only way to prevent small but effective terrorist attacks in this country is to turn each state into a police state. But are we willing to sacrifice our freedom, which our ancestors fought so fiercely for, in exchange for minimizing the chance of a new breed of terrorist attacks? Even then we are not guaranteed total safety, and if the enemy is determined enough, no security measures, even total lockdown, will stop them. It is time to utilize that old Whoville wisdom and let the terrorist scum know that their underhanded tactics have no effect on us. They want a war of mind games, let's give it to them. After all, we have the CIA and we all know what sick psychological tricks they are capable of.