A Victory Against Terrorism
at Fort Dix
GrassTopsUSA Exclusive Commentary
By Gennady Stolyarov II
05-15-07
It can no
longer be said with any accuracy that the War on Terror is being
waged ineffectually or that it is not making a difference in
defending Americans from the threat of violent Islamofascist
fanaticism. On Monday, May 7, 2007, the lives of American soldiers
at the military base at Fort Dix, New Jersey, were saved when six
members of a local Islamist terrorist group were arrested by the
FBI. The heroic work of law enforcement in this case prevented
another tragedy from occurring on American soil and scored a
significant victory against the enemies of Western civilization. It
also demonstrated that the government can effectively combat
terror threats at home—provided that it uses the proper methods.
Some homeland security measures are far better than others, and what
the FBI did to avert this threat should serve as an example for all
government agencies fighting the War on Terror.
The FBI was
first alerted of the Fort Dix terror threat in January of 2006, when
the group of six fanatics asked a store clerk to transfer video
footage to DVD; the clerk saw the contents of the footage—men firing
weapons and urging violent Islamic holy war—and informed the FBI.
This was serious evidence of a threat, warranting further
investigation, but the FBI held even more exacting standards. To its
credit, the FBI sought to ascertain precisely the nature of the
group’s beliefs and intentions. It infiltrated the group with two
informants who gathered extensive information about the members and
their planned destructive activities.
The evidence
was clear and incontrovertible; some of the men openly admitted to
the informants their willingness to “kill and die in the name of
Allah.” The sessions during which the group collaborated to attack
Fort Dix and other military installations in the area were secretly
recorded. The informants found out that one of the group’s members,
Serdar Tatar, used his job as a pizza delivery person to conduct
reconnaissance at the military base and seek out the best places on
which to initiate an attack. When the group tried to arm itself with
M-16s, AK-47s, and other attack weapons on May 7, the FBI was ready.
The seller of the weapons was actually an FBI informant in disguise,
and the would-be terrorists were caught red-handed. They are now
being prosecuted, and the evidence against them is not only
reasonable; it is overwhelming.
Anybody who
wages the War on Terror can extract numerous valuable lessons from
the FBI’s conduct in averting the Fort Dix threat. Here are just a
few.
Focus on
specific threats with substantial evidence behind them. The
greatest likelihood of terrorist activity comes from a few
individuals and groups in this country who show themselves to be the
most strongly inclined toward such activity. Suspicious activities
like practicing to shoot soldiers or scouting out military bases—as
well as a fanatical support for violent jihad against the West—are
the surest signs of danger. Focusing on the people who display these
signs and leaving everybody else alone is the best way to combat
terrorism on U.S. soil. Randomly searching Caucasian grandmothers or
East Asian businessmen at airports does not move us one step closer
to winning the War on Terror. It only needlessly inconveniences
good, productive, innocent people and violates their liberty and
privacy. Only a highly sophisticated targeting of actual likely
suspects can do the job well. The government should devote more
resources to the kind of good work that averted a possible tragedy
at Fort Dix, while focusing increasingly less on random airport
profiling and needless one-size-fits-all regulations that have shown
no positive results.
Recognize
that due process of law and the fight against terrorism go
hand-in-hand. The FBI’s work at Fort Dix showed that there is
virtually always an opportunity to gather sufficient and even
overwhelming evidence against terror suspects before arresting them.
Usually, when such evidence exists, it is quite blatant and provides
more than enough legitimate grounds to take action against the
suspect. Plans to kill American soldiers, for example, are enough to
convict anybody in a court of law. The FBI did good work by biding
its time and gathering the evidence needed; now I have no doubt that
the six fanatics will not be treated leniently by the courts. At the
same time, the kind of rigorous standards to which the FBI adhered
will help preserve the rule of law and the primacy of due process in
this country, which are among the surest safeguards against
arbitrary government power.
Acknowledge
that liberty and security are inseparable. The most commendable
aspect of the FBI’s work at Fort Dix was that a grave threat to
American security was alleviated without a restriction of the
liberties of a single innocent person. This is an empirical
refutation of the popular adage that liberty and security must
somehow be traded off against one another; no such trade-off exists.
As Benjamin Franklin wisely pointed out, “They who would give up an
essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or
security.” True long-term security requires the violation of no
innocent person’s freedoms; indeed, only in a climate of liberty can
genuine security take hold. At the same time, full liberty does not
require blindness to the threats against the lives of free people.
Only the guilty need to be restricted and penalized in this War on
Terror—whose purpose, after all, is to let the innocent and peaceful
among us carry on with life as usual.
The FBI and the store clerk who first
raised suspicions against the six would-be terrorists deserve to be
honored and commended for preserving liberty and security in this
country. Let us hope that others learn from this incident the proper
ways to combat Islamofascist fanaticism.
Gennady Stolyarov II is
Editor-in-Chief of
The Rational Argumentator, a magazine championing the principles
or Reason, Rights, and Progress. His works have been published by
Le Quebecois Libre,
Enter Stage Right Magazine, the
Ludwig von Mises Institute,
Rebirth of Reason, and other organizations. Mr. Stolyarov can be
contacted at
gennadystolyarovii@yahoo.com.
GrassTopsUSA is a 501c4
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Copyright
GrasstopsUSA.com 2007
