If you don't read Cori Dauber's Ranting Profs blog, you should. She's an expert on the military and the media. Today she responds to a long story about an al Qaeda operative who was finally killed by the Saudis after a long search through several countries. You can read the WAPO story about Mejjati here.
The point of the article is supposed to be that al Queda's central command still has some kick to it, but what I want to know is why there was apparently no press mention of the guy back when he was alive. The FBI was aggressively looking for him too, after all. Did the press just not cover the story? Did the government keep this under its hat for some reason? Or did they not bother going to the press because they didn't think there was any point?
RTWT, including some disturbing information about threats that Belgian officials shrugged off - just a month after the Madrid bombings.
I made this comment on Cori's site and wonder what the Winds crowd thinks.
Dear Cori,
I wonder how much coverage of the search for Al-Qaeda operatives would be helpful to law enforcement or the public. Unless there is some concrete description of an individual, the only other option is generic warnings ala Tom Ridge and the color wheel. I think it would be a full time job just tracking the threat-making via islamic websites etc. I hope our best computer weenies are tracking them technically, but I just don't think their actual threats are actionable.
Cordially,
Uncle J
Military Matters
Uncle Jimbo, your point is well taken.
Cori is right to ask the question, though, given the tone of the WAPO article, which contrasts the opinions of "investigators" against those of "US officials".
We know people are persons of interest. Real, actionable threats. We refuse to act on it because it's politically incorrect. CAIR, the ACLU, Democrats would rather pat down Joe Foss or Al Gore in an airport than young Muslim men and women.
Until and unless the Gov't is willing to engage in massive manhunts for these guys, we won't make traction in bringing them down and have to rely on blind luck. The same is true in Western Europe, where the political will to anger Muslims is even less, and internal attacks on Jews or Americans tolerated as long as not too many of their countrymen are involved. Too much courting of the Middle East at America's expense and pandering to Muslims at home.
Seafarious notes that we did know a little about the search for Mejatti.