The ?Forgotten War? Is Still a Threat

[thedrifter]

08-28-2003

From the Editor:

The ?Forgotten War? Is Still a Threat

By Ed Offley



Before we all head out for a final summer fling over the long Labor Day weekend, I think it appropriate to pause and salute the troops who have faded from sight and attention in the forgotten war.



No, guys and gals in Kevlar, I don?t mean those hundreds of thousands of you sweltering in the two-way target range of summertime Iraq. Your efforts and sacrifices are still very much in America?s thoughts, thanks to news media coverage of the guerilla conflict you are fighting, and (alas) because of the simmering political ?gotcha? campaigns that portend next year?s presidential election.



And, sorry, troops, I don?t mean those of you who are toiling in obscurity in the deserts and mountain passes of Afghanistan in a fading-but-not-totally-ignored stability mission to shore up the central government from a re-emerging Taliban movement.



Our salute instead should go to the front-line troops in the truly invisible war ? the war against international terrorism that is still very much in play right here in the United States.



Nearly two years after 9/11, the federal government?s response to those attacks is still a prominent ongoing story, but the absence of any major new terrorist incidents within the United States has helped foster an illusion that the danger has passed.



Three seemingly unrelated events this month should dispel that illusion.



First, Canadian officials on Aug. 14 arrested 19 South Asian immigrants on suspicion of terrorism activity following a lengthy investigation. Canadian officials voiced concern over allegations that one of the arrested men had been enrolled in a flight school where training involved flying over the Pickering nuclear power plant in Ontario. Moreover, two other men in the group last year were once found loitering outside the nuclear power plant.



That incident resonated deeply within the American and Canadian governments since the arrests occurred the same day as the massive power blackout ? quickly determined not to be the work of terrorists ? that plunged over 50 million people into darkness in both countries.



While Canadian officials have not yet formally accused the group of planning terrorist strikes, they are being held under a tough new anti-terrorism law that Canada?s Parliament passed in the wake of 9/11. The probe is continuing.



The second event occurred this week in Fredericksburg, Va., where three northern Virginia residents pleaded guilty to federal weapons charges following their arrest by the FBI. All three admitted that they had trained by the Muslim terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which operates in India-controlled Kashmir. Federal authorities had accused the trio of obtaining AK-47 assault rifles and other weapons and training in military tactics outside the central Virginia city.



Officials are also continuing that investigation, which is focusing on a northern Virginia Muslim cleric as a possible instigator of the group.



The third event that prompted me to reflect on the forgotten war against terrorism ? or, better phrased, the forgotten ongoing terrorist war here at home ? occurred in Las Vegas, Nev., over the past two weeks. The U.S. Northern Command, preparing for its formal launch as the Pentagon?s newest multi-service military command headquarters on Oct. 1, 2003, sent 500 members of the Joint Task Force ? Civil Support to Nevada to train alongside another 4,500 federal, state and local emergency-response officials.



The scenario? The massive release by terrorists of bubonic plague spores on the Los Vegas strip.



So as you enjoy the quiet of the beach or mountains or some National Park, take time to hoist a brew in appreciation for those who are carrying on the grim, unyielding duty of deterring or responding to the continuing terrorist threat.



That?s not peace you are enjoying this weekend ? it?s merely a lull.



Ed Offley is Editor of DefenseWatch. He can be reached at dweditor@yahoo.com.

http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/c...09.67471479722

Sempers,

Roger