If I frequented these New York City locations, this kind of thing would make me nervous:
Five suspicious bags have been found unattended this year at Penn Station and other sensitive locations, prompting an investigation into whether they were left by terrorists attempting to gauge the city’s response.
Could just be some forgotten bags. Could be someone pulling a hoax. But it could also be someone probing security for a future event.
I was in NYC last December and visited Penn Station. This was before the train bombing in Spain, mind you. There are balconies around the main platform there and we were aeting dinner on one of those balconies. So I got a chance to watch the crowd there. What I saw made me think of terrorism and how there are other targets than just airports that need to be secured.
One thing in particular was that there were heavily armed guards patrolling the platform. I even commented that I would never thought I’d see thst sort of thing here (in the U.S.)
I also saw how simple it would be for a terrorist to go in the guise of a tourist and travel to any part of the city with a couple of large suitcases loaded with any type of WMD material, and never be stopped or in any way impeded in his mission.
That caught my attention and has shown me that we may never be able to even attain the ILLUSION of security. The thing I took away from that is that in these modern times, the best policy is one of not fanning the flames of terrorism, instead working to solve the problems that creates the terrorists in the first place. If that is not done, there will be no way to prevent the next 9-11.
Consequently, I do happen to agree with Bush and his cronies in that there was no way to prevent 9-11. Not with their tactics of strong-arming terrorists into submission that they pursued.