America Doesn’t Learn
America’s fight against crime and terrorism inside the country never seems to learn from its mistakes or build on things that have been proven in countries like the UK, Israel, Sweden, Germany and many others.
The worst home-grown example of terrorism in the United States was the bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma. It could be argued that if proper security precautions had been taken at the building, that things might have been different. In its piece on the bombing, Wikipedia contains this.
As a result of the bombing, the U.S. government passed legislation designed to increase the protection around federal buildings to deter future terrorist attacks. From 1995 to 2005, over 60 domestic terrorism plots were foiled due to preventive measures taken in response to the bombing.
So after various incidents in the years preceding the bombing, won’t these precautions taken.
Simple precautions, such as we’ve had on UK flights for years might have prevented some if not all of the perpetrators of the September 11th, 2001 attacks of even getting on the planes.
In the late twentieth century, I was always amazed at the lack of airline security in the United States. In the end the good people of New York and Washington paid the awful price.
And then there are guns! The United States has the highest rate of gun crime and murder of any f the so-called civilised countries. There are now reports that those with guns are so irresponsible that many of America’s mammals are disappearing.
So what does the United States do?
It discloses that Osama bin Laden was planning an attack on a train to mark the 10th anniversary of september 11th, 2001.
Surely this small fact is a challenge to all of those idiots out there, looking for their five minutes of fame.
Be vigilant of course, but don’t give them ideas!
Always Listen to the Taxi Drivers
Taxi drivers are usually those who know most about what is going on, although it does often come over with a certain slant.
So should we take too seriously, an interview I heard on the BBC, where a reporter talked to taxi drivers in Bradford? To a man, they said the United States was the terrorist.
America’s Gleeful Vengeance
Osama Bin Laden was a truly evil man to many, or was he just someone who saw an opportunity to make a name for himself and just took it in a very evil way.
In some ways it is a pity he is dead, as he should be in a Court of Law on trial for his crimes. And when after due process, if the verdict was guilty, he should have not been given a death sentence.
We have had enough martyrs that have inspired evil movements in history. They’ve inspired some good ones too, but I can’t see this happening in Bin Laden’s case.
At least though Osama bin Laden is dead and we won’t get the sort of speculation that we did after the Second World War about whether the truly evil Hitler was really dead.
Incidentally, I have read somewhere that Hitler’s biggest fear was that he would be captured and exhibited in somewhere like a zoo. He would have been tried at Nuremburg and if found guilty would have been executed. Judging by the way we have dealt with the various African, Croatian and Serbian war criminals, who have been found guilty at The Hague, we have moved on in the last sixty or so years.
But has America, where the death penalty is still a major part of the punishment system, as it is in Iran, China and North Korea?
I am also rather worried about the almost gleeful celebrations in the United States. This is sending the wrong message around the world and in my view it is rather disrespectful to all of the good people killed in the attack on September 11th, 2001 and all the other attacks inspired by Bin Laden. I know we celebrated in a similar way after the Second World War, but that was only after the war against Germany and Japan had been brought to a conclusion. We have not completely defeated the terrorists.
It will be interesting to see how Muslim groups and people around the world react to Bin Laden’s death.
I will be holding my breath, but hoping that the good Muslims who just want to get on with their lives in a peaceful manner have more effect, than those who want to carry on Bin Laden’s evil ideology.
As Rachel Harvey has just put it on the BBC, “Bin Laden may be dead, but his ideas are not.”
The Royal Family was Well-Advised
The Queen as we all know finds that nearly all her travels or events are accompanied by extreme weather. But as least her family seems to have been well-advised in their choice of date for the Royal Wedding. The forecast is showing a grey morning with perhaps a shower, but it all clears up for the ceremoney and the ceremonials afterwards.
You can also argue, that their choice of date has been good for the Americans. It seems most of them are over here and have thus missed some of the worst and most dangerous storms in living memory in the Southern States.
Florida Tourism
I can’t understand why anybody would want to go to the United States for a holiday and especially the state of Florida. After all according to this list from an official web site, they have executed 69 people since 1976.
I did hear though on Radio 5 this morning, that the clean-up after the Gulf oil spill has gone well and that the beaches are clean and tourism is on the rise.
But then you have the murders of James Cooper and James Kouzaris.
You wouldn’t catch me going.
It would appear that the murderer of the two Englishmen, is just 16 and will be tried as an adult and could face the death penalty.
So at least Florida has its priorities right. Tourism is more important than cleaning up crime.
Surely to improve tourism, they must do the other. But of course without using the death penalty. But then American justice is not about justice, it’s about vengeance.
Stupid Calls From the United States
I have my old phone number at my previous house diverted to my mobile phone. It must be very frustrating for the scammers from the United States, who keep rnging me from Delaware, as O2 now properly display their number. so I let them ring and then end the call.
This is a new phenomenon. Until perhaps two weeks ago, these scam calls didn’t give a number, but now they do, so I can treat them with the contempt they deserve. After all, if they are important calls, the caller would probably know my e-mail address, so they’ll do that instead.
It’s funny though that all these calls seem to be from the United States, so is that country, now the new Nigeria?
Is the United States Going to Legalise On-Line Poker?
According to the BBC, some states are going to do this.
As many Americans do it anyway, prohibition is just publicity and good fortune to those outside US law.
I don’t actually care as anybody who plays on-line poker, probably needs his head examined. I don’t use casinos or poker sites on-line, but I have played cards for money in the past and do bet on horse racing and various events on-line.
Legalisation could be good for the UK, as many of the trustworthy sites have a UK element.
Why The Full Dress Uniforms?
I know the attacking of Libya is serious, but why do the admirals of the United States Navy appear on TV, in full dress uniforms with all their medals and decorations?
Some have almost as many as Gaddafi!
The Anonymous Widower 