Jordan's Daily -- Almost!: World Trade Center

Showing posts with label World Trade Center. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Terrorism Fears – Even Obama Can’t Save You

After the horrible events of the World Trade Center bombings, most countries beefed up their security and politicians boasted about how the world is a safer place.

But just last week, a nobody drove a common SUV truck into New York’s Times Square, with enough explosive force to kill thousands of innocent people, out for a night on the town.

American President Barack Obama told reporters at a news conference shortly after the event that his administration will do whatever is necessary to keep American’s safe.

Bull.

Where was Homeland Security – the American federal department responsible for monitoring and preventing terrorist acts on American soil – when Faisal Shahzad drove his SUV full of explosive materials right into the heart of New York’s Times Square?

The only reason Shahzad didn’t succeed in his bombing attempt, was because of a hot dog vendor’s concerned call to police, about a man acting oddly.

That’s right – for all the billions of dollars the American government has spent on anti-terrorism, a humble merchant peddling hot dogs and sausages from his hot dog cart on the street prevented the latest terrorist threat to the most powerful nation on Earth.

Yet President Obama tells his citizens not to worry, he’s got their back.
Yeah right.

He didn’t have their back last week – although Shahzad was on a no-fly list, he was able to purchase and board an airplane bound for Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Had authorities arrived just moments later, the terrorist would have been soaring about 30,000 feet in the sky towards the safety of home.

If American President Obama really did have his finger on the pulse of potential terrorist attacks, then Shahzad and his co-conspirators would have been captured long before he posed any real threat. Or at least, long before he had the opportunity to drive a bomb into a very busy Times Square.

President Obama’s administration dropped the ball on this – and who knows on how many other possible attacks which may be to come. The only reason no one got hurt was pure luck.

I don’t know about you, but relying on luck doesn’t exactly make me feel all the safer traveling through the States.

Monday, December 28, 2009

Christmas Day Bombing and Beliefs

Image via Wikipedia

Score one big victory for the terrorists, after the Christmas Day bombing attempt on an American jumbo jet just days ago.

Security – particularly in the United States – got tighter than ever before over the days, weeks, months and years following the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

Never in recorded history had humankind been on such a high state of alert. At one point in time, we even had to remove our shoes – our shoes – prior to boarding an airplane.

Then, just as the world’s attention was focused on the holiest day for Christians – Christmas – the world was reminded just how important these measures are, as a man lit what initial reports claimed to be “fireworks” aboard an American flight over western Canada.

One wonders how on Earth – or rather about 30,000 feet in the air – someone can even get on an airliner with anything remotely flammable with all these security precautions.

And far worse, the ramifications since the Christmas Day fire cracker stunt may have gone too far, with little effect. In some American airports, security guards are even testing baby milk brought onboard flights. Maybe if you are real nice, they’ll feed and burp your infant?

Reportedly, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was briefed weeks ago about increased terrorist activities involving bombing attempts and American-bound flights. The reports said that secret terrorist cells had devised a new way to bypass security measures to get explosives on planes, and that these terrorists were conducting training exercises to ensure success.

The recent attempt this holiday season may have been the terrorist’s first attempt or a trial as part of their training exercises.

Either way, it sure got the world’s attention.

The real problem isn’t going to be fixed by adding more security – though that will be the immediate visible solution. For every additional security measure taken, eventually those unscrupulous minds that want to do harm, will.

For every creative and innovative step taken to prevent a terrorist strike, there are just as creative and innovative people at work figuring out how to circumvent these steps.

The only real way to prevent terrorist attacks of airplanes is to stop flying. And that’ll never happen, because air travel is an important necessity in our global village.

Well, there is one other possible way to put an end to terrorist attacks – world peace. If we could only ever achieve a world that truly is at peace, then, and only then, would we ever really be safe from the harm done by those non-peaceful terrorists.

But world peace will never happen either. There is more to peace than sitting around a campfire, roasting marshmallows and singing Cume-By-Ah.

With deeply held religious beliefs – some may even go so far to call ‘em cult-like beliefs – behind many wars around the world, some wars will never end despite all the attempts at peace.

Then you have beliefs so deeply entrenched in a person’s life, they are willing to actually die for them. Like those who killed by flying planes into the World Trade Center in 2001.

Stopping a belief – no matter how wrong – is virtually impossible. A belief is the foundation towards ideas, and ideas lead to actual solutions to problems.

And those problems, for the terrorists, are how to constantly counter all the security measures so they can fulfill their beliefs. So we come full circle, over and over again.

Because the American named “war on terror” isn’t really about people, bombs, planes, or peace. It’s all about beliefs.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Remembering Remembrance Day

Today when 11:00 am strikes clocks all across the globe, silence and the occasional trumpet playing “Taps” will be all to hear.

On this day, we remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom – our men and women serving in the armies, the navies, the air forces and other military organizations of our countries.

We think about loved ones too – currently serving, often far from home, and under fire from hostile forces.

Image by Shreyans is in India via Flickr

We remember images of fallen soldiers. The caskets covered in our country’s flag slowly marched off planes by their war-torn buddies, their bunk mates, their friends. We remember watching as the family is in tears on the tarmac, witnessing with disbelief,

Image via Wikipedia

still in shock at the loss of their son, their daughter, their husband, their wife, their father, or their mother.

As the fighter jets rocket through the sky in the “missing man” formation, we remember the fireworks of tracer bullets, bomb blasts, and burning debris captured on television from the battle grounds our soldiers are in today, have been in the past, and may be in again in the future.

Many will remember serving in these battle grounds, the sights, sounds and smells so vividly etched into their memories, it is almost like being there all over again.

Image via Wikipedia

Many more will remember the last time they saw their son, their daughter, their husband, their wife or their mother – before being taken away to serve in another country for months on end.

For some, that last memory of their son, their daughter, their husband, their wife, or their mother was the very last time they saw them alive.

Remembrance Day means very different things to us all.

For some it is a very personal day, hitting at our heartstrings of someone special who once was here, and now is not.

Others are luckier to be further removed from the horrors which keep us safe, and fondly remember talking to that sweet old man in uniform, listening intently as he told an exciting story about how he escaped from behind enemy lines.

For that sweet old man, the story covers a hidden wound – the loss of his f

Image via Wikipedia

riends who didn’t make it.

Still others in different parts of the globe use this day to celebrate their freedom, remembering when a sliver of light through the crack in the door suddenly flooded the room, as a team of soldiers burst in, to rescue innocent civilians captured as prisoners of war.

Many will not use this day to remember soldiers abroad, but right here at home – such as when they brought in food, blankets and medical supplies to victi

Image by wallyg via Flickr

ms of the ice storms in Ontario and Quebec in Canada. Or when soldiers helped provide one last journey of dignity as they solemnly assisted in removing the bodies from the World Trade Center on September 11, in the States.

You may remember when a soldier handed you a cute teddy bear, gave you a piece of chewing gum and ruffled your hair, as the United Nations Special Task Force helped move a children’s hospital out of harm’s way in the former Czech Republic.

However you remember Remembrance Day, the fact that you are is what really matters.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Airport Security Sees You Naked – Even While Wearing Clothes

Just how comfortable are you with your body? Now imagine complete strangers eyeballing you up and down – just how comfortable are you with your body?

You may be asking yourself just that question if you catch a flight at Canada’s busiest airport – Lester B. Pearson, in Toronto, ON.

The airport is considering implementing a new scanning technology being tested in several airports in the States, and already in use in one airport off Canada’s west-coast in British Columbia, which scans through clothing.

The scanner in question uses the latest in X-Ray, heat sensing, and other technologies – which have been deemed “classified” by the American government’s Department of Homeland Security – to get up close and personal with passers-by. It can even detect body piercings and some tattoos (depending on the type of ink used).

Air travel has undergone quite the transformation over the years – thanks to terrorist activities, most notably those on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on what has been branded as “9-11.”

Image by wallyg via Flickr

I remember a television commercial back in the 1980’s for American Airlines, where a couple of cute kids (a boy and a girl) run past security, down the boarding tunnel, and into their grandparents arms. Everyone turns and sighs “awe” all teary-eyed, as the jingle began in the background.

These days, even the cutest kids running past security at an airport could easily be shot dead.

That is unless security first scans them from head to toe, sans clothing.
Just how much more of our private selves must we sacrifice to travel by air? It is one thing to scan people as they board a plane for things on our person, in our luggage and carry-on bags. But does some complete stranger, have to see us completely naked?

In the American airports where this scanning technology is in place, they have placed the monitors in a small locked room, with one sole security guard, who watches them, only alerting the guard at the actual scanner by pressing a button when he suspects something isn’t just right. Then the guard at the scanner will take the suspected person into custody for a “chat.”

At the British Columbian airport where the scanner is in use, passengers have the option of being manually scanned instead of being forced through the scanner.

But the fact that any airport anywhere in the world is using technology which can show, record, and store images of our naked bodies is wrong.

The American Department of Homeland Security assures us that the images will only be retrieved and reviewed if absolutely necessary, and for the safe

Image via Wikipedia

ty and security all those involved.

Still, despite all the security checks and balances, there will always be the odd ball employee who sneaks through the cracks. How would you feel if nude pictures of you suddenly appeared on the Internet?

Or what about celebrities – just think how easy it would be for one of these security guards to access the scanned images of some famous person, and then sell them on eBay for a small fortune.

Regardless of what is done with the images once captured, the fact that a complete stranger is watching my bare body as I walk through the scanner freaks me out.

As impressive as the technology is, it is overstepping the line between acceptable levels of security and paranoia, which breaches the right of individual privacy.

What business is it of the airline or the government what piercings or tattoos people have as they board a plane?

In this era of pandemic viruses spreading like wildfire, what’s stopping the governments from using these scanners to detain people who appear to have some rash, or other physical signs of illness?

Imagine being stopped, strip searched, fingerprinted, and being poked and prodded by some strange medical practitioner because the security guard operating the scanner thought you were carrying some strange disease – when the rash on your chest was nothing more than an allergic reaction to last night’s dinner?

There is security for the sake of actually protecting people and property, and then there is overkill. This new see-through-the-clothes scanner is overkill, and hopefully the government does the right thing and kills this project, before it begins.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Reflections on the War on Terror

Where were you yesterday morning, eight-years ago?

I remember exactly where I was. I was working for a medium-sized financial software company, and I had been busily typing away on a tight deadline. I had got in early that morning, so around 9am when my co-workers started to arrive, I had already been in the office for a few hours.

“Did you see what happened,” one of my co-workers said as she came in.

Image via Wikipedia

I had no idea what she was talking about, and when she told me a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York, I didn’t believe her.

Then more colleagues came in, saying another plane had crashed into the other twin tower.

We didn’t have a TV at the office, but we all had Internet access, so we all were watching the horrific events of September 11, 2001 unfold on the various news websites. I was on CNN.com – which kept updating their front page with the latest headlines – this was long before live video-streaming was popular online. In fact, there were so many “hits” on the CNN.com site, that it eventually crashed.

Image via Wikipedia

When news spread of the collapse of the first tower, we were all in shock. The office was located above a shopping mall, and there was a RadioShack downstairs.

We hustled downstairs, and gathered around people from other offices and shoppers in the mall at the RadioShack, all trying to see the live coverage on the TVs for sale.

I don’t think anyone got much work done that day – we were all so wrapped up in the events which eventually launched the American “War on Terror,” dramatically increased the security at all airports and border crossings, and changed the world in many other ways.

The attacks on the World Trade Centers eight-years ago really did change the world. The most powerful nation on the planet had taken a major hit, and since then, as been involved in a war which sees no end, has cost thousands of lives, and trillions of dollars.

It’s even involved a beheading or two – probably more – but these gruesome acts pale into comparison to the tragic oil-greedy American invasion of Iraq.

Despite former American President George W. Bush’s claims, and later Former Secretary of State Colin Powel’s presentation to the United Nations (UN) at the time, the American’s never were able to prove Iraq’s perceived threat. At the time, they claimed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and were trying to sway the UN security council to get on-board the attack the Americans were about to engage in.

“You are either with us, or you are with the terrorists,” threatened then Am

Image via Wikipedia

erican President George W. Bush – the ultimate bully in the so-called “War on Terror.”

President Bush created a war machine which immediately sought justice for the attacks of the Pentagon and the World Trade Center eight-years ago. Within hours after the attacks, they had already started spreading rumors that it was Al Qaeda, Bin Laden, Iraq, and Saddam Hussein.

The Americans began bombing Afghanistan to get Bin Laden – destroying the infrastructure, displacing millions of innocent civilians, killing thousands – but never ever catching Bin Laden. For all we know, Bin Laden is living the good life in the States, protected by the very people supposedly out to get him – with or maybe even without their knowing it.

Despite the UN’s uneasiness in what was obviously an American-led war to secure more oil in the Middle East, Afghanistan became a humanitarian cause. Now the UN gets involved, not to defend American interests, but to police a wild country, where even the local population has been pitted against each other, just to survive.

Canada, being a strong supporter of the UN since its inception has sent thousands of Canadian soldiers to

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Afghanistan, resulting in far too many Canadian deaths for a war which should never have occurred in the first place.

Canadian soldiers will probably continue to die in the Middle East – most likely in Iraq, when the UN will eventually tackle the latest American Viet Nam.

Viet Nam was a war to stop the spread of Communism, started by the ever-trigger-happy Americans. The war was so poorly planned, it turned into a blood bath for both sides, with no real winner, but many losers.

Iraq is just like Viet Nam – it has been poorly planned, organized, and should never have happened. It has resulted in continuous deaths of Americans, and locals, and there is no clear winner – but again – many losers.

I remember where I was on September 11, 2001 – and worse – I see how our planet has been scorched by it, in ways we will never be able to repair.

Jordan's Daily -- Almost!

Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Terrorism Fears – Even Obama Can’t Save You