Al-Quaeda operates in places such as Pakistan, Afghanistan and a lot of other countries "over there." And except for 9/11 and the first strike of the World Trade towers, we're pretty safe here at home. Right? Wrong!
How many people know, for instance, that Al-Quaeda and Hamas have cells currently operating in Santa Clara, California? Or, how about the Algerian Armed Islamic Group in San Diego, or Hizballah in Detroit, or the group known as the Islamic Jihad in Herndon, Virginia. According Steve Emerson in his book, American Jihad, and others, there are dozens of terrorist cells or terrorist support groups across the U.S. in cities such as Raleigh, North Carolina, Columbia, Missouri and even in Orlando--Disney Land for goodness sake.
As Americans we need to take our heads out of the sand and look around. I did a book a couple of years ago called Soldier of God in which I have suicide bombers coming to our shores. Cops I talked to around the country all had the same thing to say: It's not if suicide bombers are coming here, it's when.
Let's wake up.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Cheney and the CIA
Okay so former VP Dick Cheney is the bad guy once again. Current DCI Leon Panetta just put a stop to a Company program--that never got out of the planning stages--to find and assassinate the bad guys. Mostly al-Quaeda leadership. Cheney apparently ordered the CIA not to say anything to the Congressional oversite committees that monitor the Agency.
If every notion that every CIA planner ever dreamed up, and began to figure out how it could be done, was presented to our lawmakers, Congress would quickly find itself in gridlock. Feasibility studies are just that--nothing more than what-ifs.
Now, if the Company had actually come to the decision to begin training the personnel to implement such a scheme then Congress should have been notified. No question of it.
I think we need to give our intelligence gathering people the room to dream. Not a wholesale license to do whatever the hell they want to do. But let them dream.
A CIA spokesman--a man I trust--told me a couple of years ago that the Company missed 9/11 big time. But for every 9/11 they missed, dozens if not hundreds of other acts of terrorism against us and our interests were thwarted. Do we want the CIA's methods to be publically broadcast? I don't think so.
Make thinking out of the box illegal--no!
If every notion that every CIA planner ever dreamed up, and began to figure out how it could be done, was presented to our lawmakers, Congress would quickly find itself in gridlock. Feasibility studies are just that--nothing more than what-ifs.
Now, if the Company had actually come to the decision to begin training the personnel to implement such a scheme then Congress should have been notified. No question of it.
I think we need to give our intelligence gathering people the room to dream. Not a wholesale license to do whatever the hell they want to do. But let them dream.
A CIA spokesman--a man I trust--told me a couple of years ago that the Company missed 9/11 big time. But for every 9/11 they missed, dozens if not hundreds of other acts of terrorism against us and our interests were thwarted. Do we want the CIA's methods to be publically broadcast? I don't think so.
Make thinking out of the box illegal--no!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Getting started
I'm just getting started, so I'll ask everyone to bear with me.
In the coming weeks I want to reply to any number of questions readers have asked, among them why has Kirk McGarvey switched from the old reliable James Bond Walther PPK. A few years ago he switched from the 7.65 mm version to the 9 mm, but lately he's been using a Wilson tactical grade 9 mm modeled after the old army 1911A1 Colt. But this is probably one of the most accurate pistols anywhere in the world at this time. Why carry 15 or 17 10 mm rounds in a pistol with dubious accuracy, when you can carry half that many and hit what you're aiming at?
I also want to discuss what I call flash points--that is places where with very small provocations large events can suddenly erupt. Places like the Taiwan Strait, or the border between North and South Korea---this is a North Koren armed with nuclear weapons and the rockets to deliver them, by some estimates, as far as the U.S. West Coast.
And I'd like the share my views on such notions as Israel taking out Iran's nuclear program. The thought of that sponsor of international terrorism armed with nuclear weapons is the stuff of novels and real world nightmares. Of course Israel could only succeed if the U.S. sold it bunker busting bombs.
I want to do some posts on my writing. I'm working on a pair of Kirk McGarvey books at the moment. In the moring it's GOD PROJECT: THE SEA (you can read more about this book on my website at david-hagberg.com.) on which I just hit page 332 this morning. In the afternoon it's THE CABAL, the sequel to DANCE WITH THE DRAGON and THE EXPEDITER, on which I hit page 276 today. I should have both delivered sometime this fall.
And then, of course, there'll be the day-to-day events on the international stage from which I write my novels. There's an ancient Chinese curse that says: May you live in interesting times.
We certainly do!
In the coming weeks I want to reply to any number of questions readers have asked, among them why has Kirk McGarvey switched from the old reliable James Bond Walther PPK. A few years ago he switched from the 7.65 mm version to the 9 mm, but lately he's been using a Wilson tactical grade 9 mm modeled after the old army 1911A1 Colt. But this is probably one of the most accurate pistols anywhere in the world at this time. Why carry 15 or 17 10 mm rounds in a pistol with dubious accuracy, when you can carry half that many and hit what you're aiming at?
I also want to discuss what I call flash points--that is places where with very small provocations large events can suddenly erupt. Places like the Taiwan Strait, or the border between North and South Korea---this is a North Koren armed with nuclear weapons and the rockets to deliver them, by some estimates, as far as the U.S. West Coast.
And I'd like the share my views on such notions as Israel taking out Iran's nuclear program. The thought of that sponsor of international terrorism armed with nuclear weapons is the stuff of novels and real world nightmares. Of course Israel could only succeed if the U.S. sold it bunker busting bombs.
I want to do some posts on my writing. I'm working on a pair of Kirk McGarvey books at the moment. In the moring it's GOD PROJECT: THE SEA (you can read more about this book on my website at david-hagberg.com.) on which I just hit page 332 this morning. In the afternoon it's THE CABAL, the sequel to DANCE WITH THE DRAGON and THE EXPEDITER, on which I hit page 276 today. I should have both delivered sometime this fall.
And then, of course, there'll be the day-to-day events on the international stage from which I write my novels. There's an ancient Chinese curse that says: May you live in interesting times.
We certainly do!
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