This administration is taking political advantage with our national security. Desperate for a “win”, they capitalize on an opportunity where from their perspective it’s a “win-win” situation. How?
After the debacle that was the Christmas day terror attack, where our Commander in Chief and his top intelligence officer remained on vacation not to interfere with much needed and valuable “family” time, the administration sends FBI agents to Nigeria to meet with Mr. Abdulmutallab’s family. This kinder, gentler approach produces a talkative terrorist who reveals who he trained with and where, as well as other pertinent information they refuse to divulge under National Security issues. However, administration officials are comfortable enough to discuss openly what type of information they have received to give us insight to what they are doing and why their approach worked so well. Now we have information that the next attack is “certain” within the next three to six months. (Note: no increase in threat level).
The kinder, gentler approach creates the opportunity to orchestrate a “win-win” situation for the administration badly in need of a win.
Win #1 – The administration wants us to believe they gained valuable intelligence which would otherwise not be available as a result of the kinder gentler approach. Remember, attack “certain” in 3-6 months.
Win #2 – If an attack occurs, the administration claims a “win” by haven given sufficient warning to the attack generated from a great “family” moment. If the attack doesn’t occur, the great approach provided sufficient intelligence to defeat the attack.
Our intelligence communities are actively working on current investigations to prevent terrorist attacks. DO NOT be surprised to read or hear about a thwarted substantial attack in 2-3 month time frame. This administration will step up and use information on active cases already in its pipeline to benefit its political agenda. It will drive a message that their operational plan worked despite the critics. In the world of “Fed Speak”, they would not have lied – their plan did work. Unfortunately as Americans we will believe a terrorist attack was averted. To the administration, an attack was also averted to their agenda. This disconnect is just what our counter-terrorism program is all about. God help us….
One Comment
The recent attempted bombing in Manhattan reminds us that we must take seriously the widespread assessments that more attacks loom imminent. But where, and when? While prediction is difficult, learning from experience is a must and we must look beyond our cognitive experiences with reason and imaginative questions.
Soft targets may be preferred by amateur terrorists because they are not well defended and they are often in public places where greater civilian casualties may be wrought. But will we recognize what we see? Are all soft target attacks reported as acts of terrorism? What if synchronous or rapidly recurring mishaps suggest a pattern of intent, such as, a rash of accidents involving school buses, or, oil spills of one kind or another? Authorities face disincentives for reporting mishaps as possible terror attacks. Doing so admits failure in our defenses, alarms the public, and give terrorists the publicity they crave. So we must ask ourselves what to make of all unusual events.
One exercise is to look at the rash of of reported crane collapses that came in 2008. They were probably were all accidents, but it becomes interesting when one examines how may happened in such a short period of time as well as the recent history leading up to them. Look at the report below that was composed on August 31, 2008 to focus on this phenomena:
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Crane Collapses and Safety Concerns August 31, 2008
Since the attacks on New York and Washington , DC on September 11, 2001, we have come to grips with being struck where we least expect it. When Attorney General John
Ashcroft announced that the terror threat level was raised from yellow to orange on February 7, 2003, it meant that we were facing a “high risk” of terrorist threat. The
FBI warned Law Enforcement Agencies that “soft targets” were in heightened danger of attack. These included apartment buildings, hotels, restaurants, malls and more. The Department of Homeland Security announced on September 5, 2003 that Al Qlaeda was planning more attacks on US targets. Another FBI warning on August 12, 2005, noted that Al-Qaeda may attempt to hijack fuel tankers and use them as truck bombs on key targets in New York , Chicago and Los Angeles . Since that warning, missing fuel tankers have been reported. Given the public attacks on innocent civilians that have happened around the world inside London , Spain , Indonesia , Russia and elsewhere, and given that the largest of these attacks happened here in the continental United States , we must all learn to think differently. This means seeing what we’ve always seen and thinking what we’ve never thought. “What is wrong with this picture?” “Have I heard of this before?” “Why is this happening here and now?” “Is there a pattern?’ If everyone were aware, more would be safe. That everyone is you. Change does not begin with the words, “They should do something about that,” it begins with, “We are in this together.” Together our common future can be secured by what we do in our day to day lives. If it is so that all that is required for evil to take over the world is for all the good men and women within it to do nothing, then the time to act is now. We must become the defenders or risk becoming the fallen. Lest we forget the thousands of innocent men, women and children who never saw it coming until is was too late. Stop, Look and Listen, and report what you see to the appropriate authorities. The life you save may be your own.
On Friday, August 31, 2008 another large crane collapsed in Dallas , the same day that a large crane collapsed in Alberta , Canada . This is not the first time this year that more than one crane fell on the same day, it is the fifth. In fact, we have had rash of crane collapses in the last year. These last catastrophes on Friday were at least the 43rd and 44th crane collapse this year (37th in North America), and the incident in Dallas was at least the 13th American crane collapse this month. So far this year, cranes in the United States alone have been collapsing at an average rate of one a week. This appears to be an exponential increase in crane collapses according to our research so far. One could argue that this astronomical rise in accidents is due only to coincidence, but one could also argue that we should keep our eyes and ears open to anything that seems out of the ordinary.
These are some of the reports of recent crane collapses that were found on the web:
– August 28, 2008: Crane collapse Calgary, Alberta CANADA
foxnews.com/wires/2008Aug27/0,4670,CanadaCraneHitsTrain,00.html
– August 28, 2008: Crane collapse in Dallas, Texas
myfoxdfw.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7308365&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1
Review of previous collapses:
– August 25, 2008: Crane collapse in Faribault, Minnesota
faribault.com/news.php?viewStory=37026
– August 21, 2008: Crane collapse in Hoboken, New Jersey
hoboken411.com/archives/13350
– August 14, 2008: Crane collapse in Quincy, Massachusetts
boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/08/15/crane_collapse_kills_ironworker/
– August 13, 2008: Crane collapse in Jacksonville, Florida
news4jax.com/news/17183225/detail.html
– August 13, 2008: Crane collapse in Detroit, Michigan
clickondetroit.com/news/17181732/detail.html?subid=10100241
– August 11, 2008: Crane collapse in New Bern, North Carolina
witn.com/home/headlines/26845139.html
– August 9, 2008: Crane collapse in Carmel, Indiana
theindychannel.com/news/17145126/detail.html
– August 5, 2008: Crane collapse in Hilton Head, South Carolina
islandpacket.com/266/story/568142.html
– August 4, 2008: Crane collapse near Shady Grove, Maryland
examiner.com/a-1520586~Crane_collapses_near_Shady_Grove_on_I_370__roads_closed.html
– July 30, 2008: Crane collapse in Smithville, Texas
kxan.com/global/story.asp?s=8760190
– July 28, 2008: Crane collapse in Titusville, Florida:
wesh.com/green-pages/17010670/detail.html
– July 22, 2008: Crane collapse in Vancouver, British Columbia CANADA
nowpublic.com/world/crane-collapses-north-vancouver
– July 24, 2008: Crane collapse in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080724/NEWS07/80724060/1009/NEWS07
– July 23, 2008: Crane collapse in Portland, Maine
truveo.com/Toppled-Crane-Blocks-Vails-Frontage-Road/id/3768073811
– July 23, 2008: Crane collapse in Normal, Illinois
topix.com/city/bloomington-il/2008/07/coroner-one-person-dead-after-crane-collapse-in-north-normal
– July 22, 2008: Crane collapse in Vail, Colorado
thedenverchannel.com/news/16968138/detail.html
– July 22, 2008: Crane collapse in British Columbia CANADA
canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=96cd9292-33bf-4354-bdbf-355c45c753ad
– July 21, 2008: Crane collapse in Houston, Texas
injuryboard.com/national-news/four-workers-killed-in-crane-collapse-at-houston-refinery.aspx?googleid=244210
– July 18: 2008: Crane collapse in Houston, Texas
thepumphandle.wordpress.com/2008/07/19/four-dead-seven-injured-in-houston-crane-collapse/
– July 16, 2008: Crane collapse in Altamonte Springs, Flordida
cfnews13.com/News/Local/2008/7/15/second_crane_brought_in_to_remove_collapsed_crane.html
– July 15, 2008: Crane collapse in Washington Township, Indiana
thetimesonline.com/articles/2008/07/16/updates/breaking_news/doc487e259f83ed9437156851.txt
– July 15, 2008: Crane collapse in Quang Ninh, VIETNAM
sott.net/articles/show/162063-Crane-collapse-kills-seven-at-Vietnam-port
– June 17, 2008: Crane collapse in Snowmass, Colorado
thedenverchannel.com/news/16630073/detail.html
– June 12, 2008: Crane collapse in Dallas, Texas
dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/061308dnmetcrane.26374bbf.html
– June 14, 2008: Crane collapse in Krasnoyarsk, RUSSIA
en.rian.ru/russia/20070614/67180680.html
– June 4, 2008: Crane collapse in Dundalk, MD
myfoxdc.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=6697550&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1
– May 31, 2008: Crane collapse in Campbell County, Wyoming
foxnews.com/story/0,2933,361175,00.html
– May 31, 2008: Crane collapse in Las Vegas, Nevada
usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-05-30-770274277_x.htm
– May 30, 2008: Crane collapse in Manhattan, New York
gothamist.com/2008/05/30/breaking_manhat.php
– May 23, 2008: Crane collapse in Weston, Missouri
usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-05-23-crane-kansascity_N.htm
– May 10, 2008: Runaway crane in Tacoma, Washington
ubcnewsroom.com/runaway-crane-crashes-tacoma
– May 5, 2008: Crane snapped in Glasgow, SCOTLAND
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/glasgow_and_west/7384014.stm
– April 30, 2008: Crane collapse in Annapolis, MD
cms.firehouse.com/web/online/News/Maryland-Construction-Worker-Dies-in-Crane-Collapse/46$59315
– April 23, 2008: Crane collapse in Naples, Florida
naplesnews.com/news/2008/Apr/23/crane-accident-i-75-diverts-traffic-near-estero/
– April 3, 2008: Crane collapse in Aventura, Florida
local10.com/news/15782466/detail.html
– March 25, 2008: Crane collapse in Miami, Florida
foxnews.com/story/0,2933,341468,00.html
– March 18, 2008: Crane collapse in Volos, GREECE
64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:9WA65i8fdzEJ:titanyearbook.com/archives/2008/2008-03-18.pdf+crane+collapse+volos+greece&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us&client=firefox-a
– March 15, 2008: Crane collapse in Manhattan , NY
nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/03/7th_victim_pulled_from_crane_c.html
– March 3, 2008: Crane collapse in Felixstowe, Suffolk , UK
guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/mar/03/weather
– February 22, 2008: Crane collapse in Law Link, Singapore
ridgeonline.wordpress.com/2008/02/22/three-died-two-injured-in-crane-collapse-at-nus/
– February 1, 2008: Crane collapse in Tribeca , NY
wnbc.com/news/15197775/detail.html
– January 18, 2008: Crane collapse in Southampton, UK
supplychain.establishinc.com/public/item/196362
– December 21, 2007: Crane collapse in Sydney, Austria
smh.com.au/news/national/crane-collapse-blocks-innercity-road/2007/12/21/1198175314657.html
– December 19, 2007: Crane collapse in Fort Worth, Texas
cms.firehouse.com/content/article/article.jsp?id=57607§ionId=46
– December 14, 2007: Crane collapse in Manhattan, New York
allnyblog.com/breaking-news-crane-collapse/
– August 27, 2007: Crane collapse in Stamford, Connecticutt
pointriderrepublican.typepad.com/pr/2007/08/hundreds-flee-m.html
– July 10, 2007: Crane collapse in Causeway Bay , Hong Kong CHINA
hkdigit.blogspot.com/2007/07/crane-collapse-in-causeway-bay.html
– July 2, 2007: Crane collapse in Rome, Georgia
wdef.com/news/watch_a_crane_collapse_on_top_of_car_in_rome_georgia/07/2007
– June 2, 2007: Crane collapse in Croydon, London UNITED KINGDOM
contractjournal.com/Articles/2007/07/20/55187/pictures-from-croydon-crane-collapse.html
– May 4, 2007: Crane collapse in Houston, Texas
kvue.com/news/state/stories/050407kvuecranecollapse-cb.39260bd3.html
– March 29, 2007: Crane collapse in London, UNITED KINGDOM
irwinmitchell.com/News/crane-collapse-accident.htm
– March 28, 2007: Crane collapse in Shanghai, CHINA
shanghaiist.com/2007/03/28/huge_constructi.php
– February 1, 2007: Crane collapse in Zhejiang, CHINA
www1.china.org.cn/english/China/198471.htm
– January 15, 2007: Crane collapse in Liverpool London, UNITED KINGDOM
hse.gov.uk/construction/liveissues/liverpool.htm
– December 21, 2007: Crane collapse in Sydney, AUSTRALIA
smh.com.au/news/national/crane-collapse-blocks-innercity-road/2007/12/21/1198175314657.html
– December 11, 2007: Crane collapse in Forest Hill, South London , UNITED KINGDOM
contractjournal.com/Articles/2007/12/12/57124/forest-hill-crane-collapse-latest-news-pictures.html
– November 16, 2006: Crane collapse in Bellevue, Washingom
seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003434979_crane17m.html
– November 11, 2006: Crane collapse in Colorado Springs, Colorado
findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4191/is_20061111/ai_n16862059
– September 29, 2006: Crane collapse in Manhattan, New York
curbed.com/archives/2006/09/29/breaking_crane_collapse_at_one_ten_3rd.php
– September 26, 2006: Crane collapse in Battersea, London UNITED KINGDOM
hse.gov.uk/construction/liveissues/battersea.htm
– September 15, 2006: Crane collapse at Hoover Dam, Arzona / New Mexico
lasvegasnow.com/global/story.asp?s=5415668
– September 14, 2006: Crane collapse in Scranton , PA
wnep.com/Global/story.asp?S=5408000
– August 23, 2006: Crane collapse in Belgrade, Serbia
accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-17357635_ITM
– July 19, 2006 Crane collapse in San Jose, California :
abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local&id=4381970
– June 26, 2006: Crane collapse in Livermore, California
findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20060624/ai_n16506829
– April 4, 2006: Crane collapse in Boston, Massachusetts
foxnews.com/story/0,2933,190366,00.html
– June 26, 2006: Crane collapse in Cupertino, California
abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local&id=3947724
– February 17, 2006: Crane collapse in Klang, Selangor MALAYSIA
constructionrisk.blogspot.com/2006/02/60m-crane-collapse.html
– December 1, 2005: Crane collapse in NEW ZEALAND
teara.govt.nz/EarthSeaAndSky/SeaAndAirTransport/Shipping/9/ENZ-Resources/Standard/4/en
– February 12, 2005: Crane collapse in Liverpool, ENGLAND
encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-128520916.html
– February 16, 2004: Crane collapse in Toledo, OH
yourlawyer.com/articles/read/7609
– 2004: Crane collapse in Sydney, AUSTRALIA
workcover.nsw.gov.au/MediaResources/MediaReleases/2006/fine_sydney_crane_collapse_injures_worker.htm
– December 2, 2004: Crane collapse in Freeport, Maine
osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=NEWS_RELEASES&p_id=11410
– June 25, 2003: Crane collapse in Gaylord, Michigan
cms.firehouse.com/web/online/Photo-Stories/Otsego-County–Michigan-Firefighters-Respond-to-Crane-Collape/45$21223
– April 11, 2000: Crane collapse in Pasir Panjang, SINGAPORE
mom.gov.sg/publish/momportal/en/press_room/press_releases/2000/20000418-UpdateOnCraneCollapse.html
– July 14, 1999: Crane collapse in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4967245
Special Crane Report in 2006:
seattlepi.nwsource.com/specials/crane/
Other Crane Reports:
Crane falls on moving car:
guzer.com/videos/crane_falls_car.php
Crane collapses on expensive cars:
strangecosmos.com/content/item/141723.html
Crane collapses onto road:
truveo.com/Crane-Collapse-Caught-On-Tape/id/3795972450
Counter Terrorism Bureau at crane collapse site:
liveleak.com/view?i=753_1212173191
Crane data:
userinstinct.com/or/crane/forum.htm
China linked to crane collapse:
asdlabs.com/blog/2008/06/10/china-linked-to-crane-collapse/
K. David