Fewer Americans Frightened of Terrorist Attacks
According to the latest CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey, only 35 percent of Americans believe a terrorist attack somewhere in the United States is likely over the next several weeks. While this level of fear is still way out of proportion with the actual risk, it’s the lowest in a CNN poll since the 9/11 attacks. Between 2002 and 2006, summertime polls typically showed that a majority of Americans believed that a terrorist attack was likely.
Some may recall that last August, the Bush administration stampeded Congress into passing the unconstitutional Protect America Act (PAA) by claiming that they had information about an imminent terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol. At that time a majority of Americans already saw through the politics of fear, according to CNN’s poll.
Then the Bushies cried “wolf” again last February, but Congress didn’t fall for it. They let the PAA expire, and the country reverted to the original Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)– the law that President Bush admits violating from 2001-2005 (and said he would continue to violate).
When the Senate return from recess they will again take up H.R. 6304, the House-passed FISA Amendments Act. The bill gives the green light for unchecked domestic spying, through the use of blanket warrants that are expressly forbidden by the Fourth Amendment. Only 15 senators voted to stop this bill in a test vote last month.
Let’s sum up: fear of terrorism gives the Bush administration leverage to try and force Congress to retroactively legalize widespread illegal surveillance of Americans. When Bush admitted breaking the law back in December 2005, he ought to have been impeached and removed from office. Instead, it looks like our elected representatives are going to give him a “get out of jail free” card.
The terrorists don’t scare me as much as the Congress does.
UPDATE: Vaughn R. Walker, the chief judge for the Northern District of California, issued a ruling yesterday that rejected the Bush administration’s claims on warrantless surveillance. The Justice Department had argued that Bush’s power as Commander in Chief allowed him to ignore the law.
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:32 am
All anyone has to do is look at our unregulated border to the South, with its illegal traveling masses, and then that of North, the stalwart Canada, to know that there are no terrorists of any consequence.
With how the debacle in Iraq is continuing, it cannot be surely said that there have been no attacks in the US because those running our defenses are “good”.
Interesting that this rather obvious lack of terror has taken a good 5 years to sink into the American psyche. That’s about right, always the last to know…
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:10 am
Or….it could be that the administration is doing a bang-up job, eh?
When crime plummets in a city with historically high crime rates because a mayor comes in, sends in the cops and prosecutors to start sending the baddies to jail, is it because there “really weren’t any bad guys in the first place?”
Or is it because the policies are working?
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:30 am
Yep, All those people thinking another attack could be just around the corner are dreaming…..perhaps not
• December 2001, Richard Reid: British citizen attempted to ignite shoe bomb on flight from Paris to Miami.
• May 2002, Jose Padilla: American citizen accused of seeking “dirty bomb,” convicted of conspiracy.
• September 2002, Lackawanna Six: American citizens of Yemeni origin convicted of supporting Al Qaeda. Five of six were from Lackawanna, N.Y.
• May 2003, Iyman Faris: American citizen charged with trying to topple the Brooklyn Bridge.
• June 2003, Virginia Jihad Network: Eleven men from Alexandria, Va., trained for jihad against American soldiers, convicted of violating the Neutrality Act, conspiracy.
• August 2004, Dhiren Barot: Indian-born leader of terror cell plotted bombings on financial centers (see additional images).
• August 2004, James Elshafay and Shahawar Matin Siraj: Sought to plant bomb at New York’s Penn Station during the Republican National Convention.
• August 2004, Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain: Plotted to assassinate a Pakistani diplomat on American soil.
• June 2005, Father and son Umer Hayat and Hamid Hayat: Son convicted of attending terrorist training camp in Pakistan; father convicted of customs violation.
• August 2005, Kevin James, Levar Haley Washington, Gregory Vernon Patterson and Hammad Riaz Samana: Los Angeles homegrown terrorists who plotted to attack National Guard, LAX, two synagogues and Israeli consulate.
• December 2005, Michael Reynolds: Plotted to blow up refinery in Wyoming, convicted of providing material support to terrorists.
• February 2006, Mohammad Zaki Amawi, Marwan Othman El-Hindi and Zand Wassim Mazloum: Accused of providing material support to terrorists, making bombs for use in Iraq.
• April 2006, Syed Haris Ahmed and Ehsanul Islam Sadequee: Cased and videotaped the Capitol and World Bank for a terrorist organization.
• June 2006, Narseal Batiste, Patrick Abraham, Stanley Grant Phanor, Naudimar Herrera, Burson Augustin, Lyglenson Lemorin, and Rotschild Augstine: Accused of plotting to blow up the Sears Tower.
• July 2006, Assem Hammoud: Accused of plotting to hit New York City train tunnels.
• August 2006, Liquid Explosives Plot: Thwarted plot to explode ten airliners over the United States.
• May 2007, Fort Dix Plot: Six men accused of plotting to attack Fort Dix Army base in New Jersey.
• June 2007, JFK Plot: Four men accused of plotting to blow up fuel arteries underneath JFK Airport in New York.
• March 2007, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed: Mastermind of Sept. 11 and author of numerous plots confessed in court in March 2007 to planning to destroy skyscrapers in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:51 am
“We have nothing to fear, but fear itself.” FDR said that, in 1933, during his first inaugural address.
Even including the September 11, 2001 attacks, the number of Americans killed by terrorists since records on this were kept is about the same as those killed by lightning, accident-causing deer or severe allergic reaction to peanuts.
The right likes to promote fear, because fear makes people more conservative.
BTW, my theory on why al Qaeda hasn’t bothered to attack the USA at home again is that they finally got what they wanted in 2001. Their strategy, devised by Ayman al-Zawahiri, was to exploit what he called the “cowboy mentality” of Americans. Confront them, he said, and they will react in an extreme manner.
As Dr. Saad al-Faqih, a widely acknowledged expert on al Qaeda, explained in 2004:
As long as U.S. foreign policy is serving the aims of al Qaeda, we’re probably safe from attack. How’s that for irony?
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:52 am
We do have real enemies who must be taken seriously. The threat level seems stuck on orange of late. Do we miss 2004 when the terror threat was ratcheted up at convenient times in the election cycle? Convenient, I should say for the GOP. I cannot help but feel that the task of keeping the country safe has been unnecessarily politicized.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:02 pm
And then he rounded up all the Japanese, Germans and Italians and put them in Concentration Camps (against the advice of J. Edgar Hoover). Wheee!
Nice quote, Richard.
July 3rd, 2008 at 1:37 pm
The government under FDR did round up a lot of patriotic Japanese-Americans for no good reason, and it will always be a blot on our history and should be a lesson to us. They didn’t round up the mass of German-Americans and Italian-Americans, and they didn’t round up the mass of Japanese-Americans in Hawaii, where they knew better.
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Leo,
Sorry, but some German an Italian Americans were detain for no reason.
Department of Justice report on restrictions Italian-American including round up.
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Bob and JD with the facts, AGAIN!
July 3rd, 2008 at 3:17 pm
You guys like facts? Here are some facts: [I updated the original numbers a bit, they were from 2004]
July 3rd, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Richard, you’re cherry-picking your data. Bob didn’t limit his data set to the US.
First, define “terrorist attack”. Second, I don’t think that Eric Rudolf was just a “disgruntled individual”. He was part of a larger movement. Third, not all terrorist attacks happen in the US. Attacks against Americans also happened in Kenya, the Med, Yemen, Indonesia, etc. Finally, since when does an attack have to be successful?
Full-o-crap again, Richard.
Next thing you’ll quoting yourself as a source, again….
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Bob,
How many German-Americans and Italian-Americans were put in camps? Granted that even a small number is too many if it was done without probable cause. Still, I suspect the numbers were small compared to the number of Japanese-Americans, particularly given the large number of Americans with German and Italian ancestry. This is a serious question that I would be interested in knowing the answer to, and not to score debating points.
I suspect German-Americans as a whole may have had a tougher time during WW I, when there was a lot of pressure to end the German language press, etc. and when they were closer to the old country in time.
July 4th, 2008 at 1:29 am
If we were to bring the rule of law to Bush, Cheney and all the other traitors to this country, the world would see us differently, (under new management, so to speak), and the real threat of terrorism would drop dramatically, but of course the hatred caused by our flagrant dismissal of other peoples lives will take a long time to wear off.
All of the things we need to do to save ourselves would begin when the law is reinstated in this sad excuse for a government.
July 4th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Sure, Larry…
You are so right. I can’t think of a single attack against Americans or American interests before BUSH was ELECTED President.
In fact, using that as criteria, George W. Bush has been President since the early 70s (earlier if you count Sirhan Sirhan). And using the same standards (and since attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan are arguably acts of war) BUSH must not be President anymore…
Again, Larry, you’ve show yourself to be completely clueless.
Happy Independence Day.
July 5th, 2008 at 7:31 am
Bush was elected? I thought the Supreme Court made him President, after he lost the 2000 election. That’s what the history books will say.
July 5th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
No Richard. That’s another fact you consistently get wrong.