I was resisting Jay's thesis a bit, until he got to the sniper. He's absolutely right. I moved to the area in September 2002. The morning of Oct. 3, I was driving to Brandywine for an inspection walk-through at the house on which we had just made an offer. WTOP was reporting an investigation of what appeared to be a random shooting in White Flint. I spent a couple of hours at the house; when I got back in the car five people were dead -- four that morning, and now it appeared that a parking lot shooting the night before was related.
I drove back to Fredericksburg, where we were staying with my mother in law. Over the next week, two people would be shot within a couple of miles of her house, one fatally. The entire region was spooked, and our attempts to cope were pathetic. People kept their kids home from school. We were afraid to pump gas, and hunkered down behind the car door if we could. Some gas stations parked empty trailers as barricades around their pumps; others offered to pump for their customers if they were afraid. Cable news was on every minute we were awake. Every sorry twist and turn, which for three solid weeks were exclusively red herrings and wild rumors, ratcheted our adreneline up another notch.
I have trouble imagining what life would be like here if this state of fear were the norm. I'd like to start by thinking that under permanent state of siege, even a flake capital like Montgomery Co. wouldn't long suffer a fraud like Charles Moose as police chief.
I think the administration's answer is The Answer. The message to the terrorists is, "Leave us alone or we'll westerize your homeland, but good." Every building you blow up is another once sovereign nation reformed. Blunt, but probably pretty effective long term.
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ReplyDeleteSorry, posted before I was done.
ReplyDeleteI was resisting Jay's thesis a bit, until he got to the sniper. He's absolutely right. I moved to the area in September 2002. The morning of Oct. 3, I was driving to Brandywine for an inspection walk-through at the house on which we had just made an offer. WTOP was reporting an investigation of what appeared to be a random shooting in White Flint. I spent a couple of hours at the house; when I got back in the car five people were dead -- four that morning, and now it appeared that a parking lot shooting the night before was related.
I drove back to Fredericksburg, where we were staying with my mother in law. Over the next week, two people would be shot within a couple of miles of her house, one fatally. The entire region was spooked, and our attempts to cope were pathetic. People kept their kids home from school. We were afraid to pump gas, and hunkered down behind the car door if we could. Some gas stations parked empty trailers as barricades around their pumps; others offered to pump for their customers if they were afraid. Cable news was on every minute we were awake. Every sorry twist and turn, which for three solid weeks were exclusively red herrings and wild rumors, ratcheted our adreneline up another notch.
I have trouble imagining what life would be like here if this state of fear were the norm. I'd like to start by thinking that under permanent state of siege, even a flake capital like Montgomery Co. wouldn't long suffer a fraud like Charles Moose as police chief.
I think the administration's answer is The Answer. The message to the terrorists is, "Leave us alone or we'll westerize your homeland, but good." Every building you blow up is another once sovereign nation reformed. Blunt, but probably pretty effective long term.
ReplyDeleteActually, The Answer was Jordan's when it was having problems with Palestinian nationalists blowing up Jordanians:
ReplyDeleteStop blowing us up or we'll find out who the suicide bomber was and kill all of his friends and relatives.
They did that a few times, et voila, no more suicide bombers. The problem is, that's a pretty barbaric action to take. Effective, though.
Too bad America can't, or won't, do that.
ReplyDelete