| 10 August 2006 Waking Up Remember the jingle? You would have to be of a certain age to recall it. “See the USA, in your Chevrooooolet! America is asking you to call....” I was groggy and dreaming about the road trip I am going to take, not in a Chevy, but in a stern German product designed for the autobahn. I shook my head in the soft comforter. It was the first good nights rest since the power and the air conditioning came back, and I probably overdid it. The bedroom could probably safely store sides of beef. The sleep was deep and profound. It was not America calling, it was London from the radio. The mellifluous voice of the presenter was in mid-sentence- I resolved to adjust the time on the radio to Greenwich Mean, but the words concerned me more: ”Latest figures are twenty-five overnight arrests, four since released. Believed to be up to 20 aircraft targeted - to and from USA….Heathrow and the roads around it are at a virtual standstill. No planes, except those in the air already, will be allowed to land at Heathrow. All other UK airports severely affected…no hand luggage allowed ... all carry-on items to be carried in a clear plastic bag ... spectacles but no cases... no liquids of any kind, no mobile phones…formula for infants must be tasted in the presence of Security….” I like to get stunning news while I am still asleep. It spreads the impact, which could be hazardous to the heart. I turned on the coffee. This is what the buzz had been all about, all the chatter about the long hot summer and what was going to come. But it was so weird, so déjà vu. Destroying multiple airplanes over the ocean was the ancient plan of Mohammed Sheikh Kalid. The thug they called The Brain. The plot must have hinged on a new technical development- perhaps a new liquid explosive that could be introduced with the carry-on luggage and detonated with a battery from a cell phone or an iPod. I shuddered with the coffee. This was going to make the unpleasant experience of air travel a nightmare. “Mass murder on an unimaginable scale,” is what the voices are saying, “as many as nine or ten planes.” Old hat, I thought, even if there was a new wrinkle. We must have scooped up all the deep thinkers already. There is some good news in this. The deep penetration of the terror networks seems to have worked out. The bad news is that this is part of the original plan to disrupt commerce and vacations. It will do a pretty good job on that. There are some deep implications here, personal and national. I have not thought them all through, since it is still so early. In the wild flurry of e-mail this morning was a thoughtful piece from a man named Victor Davis Hanson. He is a fellow at the Hoover Institution in Palo Alto, a very nice place, but a long way to go without an airplane. He noted that reading the history of the 1930's, the long slide into the abyss for Europe, the stories have an air of the unbelievable. Reading about the Rape of Nanking, or the Italian invasion of Abyssinia makes you wonder why no one took action. It is so easy to say: “Aha, here is where Japanese imperialism could have been stopped! There is the moment the Nazis could have been squashed like bugs!” If only someone had acted. If only. Hanson's point is right on. He says that if we step back a little from our own mad news, we would see that we are rushing, not sliding, toward a moment in history that will at least replicate the dimensions if he 1940s. Shoot, the Iranians have just delivered a rocket to the Hezballah that can fly the complete length of Israel. It is a weapon from a product line with the tradename “Earthquake,” which is sort of catchy, don't you think? We have spent a lot of time worrying about offending the communities from which the bombers come. I am deeply sensitive to the possible injustices that will occur, but there is not much time. There may be enough to change things, alter the course of the future that is rushing down on us. And maybe there is not. It is time to wake up, gentle citizens. This long sleepwalk toward the cliff needs to end. I say that with the full knowledge that the slogan has been used before, and I know which language the words were spoken in. The British minister responsible for the investigation was careful to say that this is not a war between specific people or religions. Poppycock. Wake up. The Lutherans are not smuggling chemical bombs, and the Buddhists are not restive. I am a pretty ecumenical fellow, and am perfectly content to let my fellow humans indulge in whatever mass delusions give them comfort against the night. But there is one collective hallucination that calls its members to holy war, and it is the only one that does so. If you read your history you will know where this is going, and it is not going to be pleasant. I am going to finish my coffee and go into this day alert and prepared. I regret that I am not going to be driving my Chevy into that future, but that is just the way things are. We ought to wake up for the trip. Copyright 2006 Vic Socotra |