Perhaps a soft sense of complacency had washed over America, as warm as summer sunshine. Last month the fourth anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, came and went with little notice, as remote from everyday discourse as a Civil War re-enactment at Gettysburg. Talk from the White House about the continued threat of international terror served primarily as fresh grist for debate about Iraq. And the subway bombings in London, well, those took place an ocean away. Nothing happening here.
Thursday morning, though, brought a jolt, reactivating instincts that of late have been submerged. In a speech defending the Iraq campaign, President Bush said that, since 2001, the U.S. and its allies have blocked 10 serious Al Qaeda plots–three of them against American targets. “We’ve stopped at least five more Al Qaeda efforts to case targets in the United States or infiltrate operatives into our country,” he said. “Because of this steady progress, the enemy is wounded–but the enemy is still capable of global operations.”
By day’s end Bush’s words took on new and eerie resonance. New York officials, citing unusually detailed intelligence that had originated overseas, revealed that their city’s subway system–with 468 stations handling millions of riders each weekday–may be the target of a terrorist attack in the coming days. The Associated Press reported that, according to an unnamed law enforcement official, the threat is “specific to place, time and method”–and involves a bombing.
Suddenly, echoes of the London blasts reverberated not only through New York, but through Chicago and all the other U.S. cities that thrive on mass transit. CNN added another twist, reporting that the same intelligence that triggered the New York alert also had provoked a successful U.S. raid against Al Qaeda operatives south of Baghdad.
That left Americans with more questions than answers about how the various domestic and international threads supposedly tie together.
But warnings that New York police will pay strong attention to briefcases, luggage and baby carriages reminded all of us that killer weapons can be transported as easily as a pile of paperwork, a clutch of underwear, or a days-old child.
Admonitions to report suspicious objects or behavior to police or transit personnel conveyed obligatory advice, but also reiterated what each of us should know: Our own alertness to possible danger is as likely to save lives as is our reliance on police and other public servants.
Mostly, though, Thursday’s new talk of urban terror should remind us that complacency is a dangerous trait. Much as we yearn for the comfort of Sept. 10, we cannot wish our enemies away.
