We all know how important it is to have a good reputation and the price we pay when it becomes damaged. The latest reports linking Senator Obama with the 70's radical, William Ayers, can not help him in his nomination bid.
William "Billy" Ayers was a member of the '70's domestic terrorist group: Weather Underground Organization (WUO). WUO were opposed to the Vietnam war and pledged to bomb the Capitol, The Pentagon and Police Stations after issuing a "declaration of a state of war" against the United States Government in 1970.
These days, Ayers is a professor at UIC. Apparently, Ayers and the Senator have served jointly on various Boards and have appeared on discussion panels together. Most likely Senator Obama failed to do the proper due diligence on his co-host and was unaware of his terrorist affiliations and involvement. Unfortunately for the Senator, many voters may not be so forgiving, especially when they realize that Ayers has recently made comments to the effect that he does not regret planting bombs and thinks he did not do enough. He even went so far as to state that he can not entirely dismiss the idea of planting a bomb today.
Last week during training of an Executive Protection class in Baltimore, I spoke about the need to keep an open mind when it comes to terrorism and to realize that terrorists come in all shapes, sizes and colors. I even discussed domestic terrorism and drew their attention to the Weather Underground. We should remember that terrorists will not always arrive looking as they do in television footage.
For instance, Timothy McVeigh could walk down any street in the U.S. prior to the bombing in Oklahoma and not one single person would ever have suspected him of being a home-grown terrorist. Everything (and everybody) is not always what it seems.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Latest linking of Senator Obama to a '70's terrorist may damage his reputation.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Spying on the terrorists
CSPAN had a very interesting author on this morning, Mike German, discussing his latest book, "Thinking like a Terrorist." Not only did he speak about the insights gained from living with terrorist groups while an undercover FBI agent, but he also spoke about how ineffective many of our approaches and agencies are in dealing with terrorism.
For instance, Mr. German is very much against wide sweeping powers that grant agencies greater powers to detain and question suspects. He believes that by lessening control and oversight, there is a danger for agents and law enforcement officers to concentrate more on quantity of arrests and concentrate less on quality of information.
Mr. German also believes that spending a lot of money on equipment and technology does not necessarily make a community any safer. He cites the example of London and the much talked about "Ring of Steel". However, all of those surveillance cameras did nothing to prevent the London bombings, when young men were able to transport bombs in their back packs. He said that there are so many video cameras placed throughout the British capital that an average person walking around London is photographed approximately three hundred times a day, yet those same cameras were not able to prevent the bombers.
This is an interesting view, especially when one considers that surveillance cameras are being considered for cities throughout the U.S. like they are in London. Mr. German raised another interesting point regarding religious fanatacism. He said that while the focus today is on Islamic terrorists, few stop to consider that domestic terrorist groups such as the Aryan Nation, had and continue to have strong ties to Christianity. Mr. German pointed out the full name of the Aryan Nation is; Church of Jesus Christ-Christian Aryan Nation.
No matter what church or beliefs they are alligned with, terrorists come in many different forms. Mr. German knows that better than most. After the Oklahoma bombing by Timothy McVeigh, Mr. German successfully infiltrated an anti-Government anarchist group and helped to bring them down before they perpetrated any of the heinous crimes they were planning.
