Still Another Chilling Terrorist Plot

It takes more than money to keep our Department of Homeland Security healthy; it also requires an occasional gaggle of village idiots.

As soon as officials feel the public’s anxiety level is beginning to wane they dispatch a sleazy government agent provocateur to find some hapless losers who can be snookered into cooking up an improbable terrorist scheme.

For example, there was 2006’s infamous Liberty Seven who were charged with plotting to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago. News conferences were called, the media splashed the story all over print and screen, as politicians orated about the level of threat America was under.

Then it slowly leaked out that the “seven” probably couldn’t find Chicago and had no idea what the Sears Tower was. The whole thing had been cooked up by a government informant who was busting them so he could stay out of jail.

Now we have the arrest of four suspects in Newburg, NY who have been charged with plotting to blow up Jewish synagogues in New York City. Supposedly, the plot was hatched in a Newburg mosque by a Muslim terrorist cell.

Now it appears that none of the suspects are Muslim and that the whole plot was created by a government informant who is on probation for identity theft. All four are described as losers, and one of the suspects is mentally challenged and on medication for schizophrenia.

But this didn’t stop Assistant U.S. Atty. Eric Snyder from proclaiming that, “It’s hard to envision a more chilling plot.” He went on to describe the suspects as “eager to bring death to Jews.”

Once again, politicians and officials are given an opportunity to pontificate about the constant threat America is under as she continues to produce terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan, while bean counters at the Department of Homeland Security rub their hands together as they anticipate the budget windfall this will produce so DHS can search for even more village idiots.

After all, this is only “the latest in a string of homegrown terrorism plots hatched after Sept. 11.” But no official will admit that they’ve all been stillborn. There’s no money in that.

--Case Wagenvoord