Coming Soon To a 'Theater' Near You!

Coming Soon To A ‘Theater’ Near You-Homegrown Terror!
John R. Petrilli

In the past decade Americans have been uneasy and downright resistant toward allowing convicted child molesters from moving anywhere near their neighborhoods, and understandably so. The risk of having one of their children abducted is surely increased when the guy down the street has a history for expressing his sexual preference for vulnerable little children.

Without minimizing that scenario one iota, consider the risk we will be in once the sociopathic killers residing at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba are released over the next year. We already know for a fact that many of their countries of origin will not allow them to return. So where will the U.S. dump this sorry excuse for humanity, this horrendous, death-dealing, murder-loving blight that threatens the very life of free people the world over? Other countries won’t grant them asylum, and we certainly shouldn’t. So where do we put them? Do we leave them in the badlands of the Sahara? Perhaps we should dump them into the Atlantic. Oh, and there’s always the option of sending them to the moon on a one-way trip.

I make these suggestions with total sarcasm to point out the fearfully precarious place that our new president has so rapidly placed us in. How do you simply declare your intention to free men who are sworn to destroy you and every thing you stand for when there’s literally not a place on the planet that wants most of them? Such a question begs for someone to query the very sanity of the rationale behind the decision to free them in the first place! These men have yielded valuable intelligence that has thwarted terrorist plot after terrorist plot (remember, we’ve had not a single terrorist attack on our soil in seven years!). The terrorists are obviously still in touch with their co-conspirators, and are just chomping on the bit to get back to work.

So now that the official powers that be in Washington have issued them their return-to-work orders, where will they strike next? Indeed, where will they strike first? Even with them safely locked away at Guantanamo, every one of our Homeland Security officials has made it clear that the advent of another terrorist attack here in the U.S. is not a question of “If”, but “When”.

Do I agree with the use of torture? In general, no. But think this through. The Geneva Convention issued its standards at a time when unconventional warfare didn’t exist. Back then aggressors had the guts to do battle face to face, and primarily targeted military strongholds, not unarmed, unsuspecting civilian populations. Back then we didn’t have a mobile enemy setting up cells all over the world with the use of state-of-the-art international communications technology. Back then the enemy was visible, somewhat stationary, and respectful of certain established rules of engagement.

Face it folks, this is a very different war with very different combatants. The terrorists we’re dealing with today have nothing in common with our foes of the past. They are cold-blooded killers of civilians. They seek to orchestrate major catastrophic events of death and destruction, and enjoy leveling them against civilian populations. If we want to win the war on terror we MUST be prepared to fight fire with fire. If we opt to be “civil” toward terrorists who would just as soon blow our heads off, we will be defeated in short order. If the terrorists show zero respect for our lives as well as any World Convention, Geneva or other, then we have no obligation to treat them with civility. Their unconventional, barbarous tactics leave us no practical choice but to level the playing field if we wish to survive. Any other approach is a prescription for disaster.