WARNING: Raw footage below.There is a reason why terrorism is called terrorism. The goal is to impose your will and agenda on others through fear and intimidation. Watch the SUV weave through and concrete barriers, and time it’s approach to detonate next to the line of school children, walking near the road.These are the tactics that we are fighting. These are the cowardly acts of those who are unable to present thoughts and ideas that can be implemented through conventional leadership means. These are the tactics that our enemy would love to bring to our streets.
Targeting children is despicable. It is cowardly and, it can only result in hardening our resolve. Unfortunately it is not unprecedented, and the signals are all around us that it is something that those who hate the US have thought of, considered, and planned.
Consider:
- 2005 – Al Qaeda documents are intercepted that discuss the merits of attacking soft targets, specifically schools.
- In Afghanistan, U.S. forces capture an Al Qaeda training camp where videos were recovered showing terrorists staging takeovers of schools. The terrorists gave orders in English, violence was extreme, and childrens’ bodies were flung from the roofs for a greater media effect.
- In Iraq, U.S. forces capture blueprints and floorplans to United States schools in Texas, Virginia, New Jersey, California, Oregon, and Pennsylvania.
- February 2006 – The Department of Homeland Security is reported to have started a training program for school bus drivers, in which the drivers would learn to watch for terrorists who were casing the bus routes.
- May 2006 – Two Saudi men board a school bus in Tampa, FL, in a possible “dry run.”
- June 2006 – 17 members of an Islamic terrorist cell are arrested in connection to a mass bombing plot. One of the 17 is a school bus driver.
- August 2006 – Three unidentified middle eastern men entered the United States from Canada and attempted to purchase multiple school buses.
- March 2007 – The Associated Press reported that the FBI sent out a bulletin to law enforcement agencies warning officers that terrorists were attempting to obtain driver’s licenses that would enable them to drive school buses.
- August 2007 – 17 school buses go missing in the Houston, TX area. Authorities state that this is a “homeland security concern.” Note that Texas is one of the states from which school floorplans were found in Iraq.
Bottom line, the next 0 – 12 months is going to be a very interesting time for the incoming administration, and all of us.