Buffalo is rarely at the center of a national news story. This past weekend, everyone's attention centered on an FBI investigation that turned up five possible al-Qaida members living in Lackawanna. After over a year, authorities believed they finally had enough information to file charges against these men. A tip from members of their own community led law enforcement officials to break up what is being called the first known al-Qaida cell operating in the United States.
The arrests open up a lot of frightening realities for Americans. These men were all legitimate citizens, registered democrats, high school graduates and Bills fans. On a pilgrimage to Pakistan a few years ago, the men were brought to a terrorist training camp where they heard Osama bin Laden speak. Although it isn't known how long they were at this camp, they were there at the same time as John Walker Lindh, the American Taliban soldier. The fact that these men could be convinced of al-Qaida's mission leads to one inevitable conclusion: America must face the fact that terrorism is a domestic, as well an international, issue.
Locating domestic threats poses its own problems, however. The government cannot avert the problem by tightening border security or cracking down on visiting students; instead, it has to rely on at-home sources. The role of a citizen has suddenly grown to include watchdog over domestic terrorism. The last thing we need, however, is another era of McCarthy-ism where everyone rats out their neighbors. Since there are no exact charges being brought to these men, we must tread very carefully. It is the job of the state and law enforcement officials to find out as much information as they can from legitimate sources to make wise decisions and target the right people, not the sole responsibility of private citizens to discern which people may or may not be "suspicious."
How justified was the FBI's response? We must applaud them for picking up these men who had seen bin Laden in the last two years, attended terrorist camps and spoken of their connection to the al-Qaida network. The FBI report, however, cited no infractions other than being at the wrong place at the wrong time, as it is not known how actively the men participated. If there is a link to terrorists who are higher up on the chain, that, too, must be revealed.
The final suspect still at large is a Yemeni man by the name of Kamal Derwish, who allegedly led the men to the camps and set them up with their community in Lackawanna. If, through these arrests, men who serve the same purpose as him are captured and prosecuted, America has taken an important step to eradicating terrorism on all fronts.
Given the fact that these alleged terrorists were all naturalized citizens, they have the constitutional right to bear arms and can possess the necessary documentation to cross back and forth between the United States and Canada unabated. Therefore, Governor George Pataki's proposal to tighten border patrols between New York and Canada would only provide the illusion of security without any real effectiveness. These arrests also make the airline industry's proposal to minimize searches for "trusted frequent fliers" problematic. Many terrorists could remain inactive for an extended period of time before springing into action, all the while traveling extensively through out the United States and abroad without causing suspicion. Assuming that those who can afford to be frequent fliers should be exempt from airport scrutiny promotes a dangerously na??ve impression that terrorists are only from lower economic classes.
Americans need to recognize that terrorism is not merely an infection from the outside, in the form of immigrants, be they illegal or legal, or militants posing as foreign exchange students. If those who have lived the American Dream could be made to side with enemies of the United States, the government must then refocus its energies internally and reevaluate the role our nation has played in foreign affairs.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
