Individual Entry: London, 2005/07/07 08:51
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July 07, 2005

Thoughts : London, 2005/07/07 08:51

What can you say on a day like this?

I've been thinking all day about what to blog on this. Most of it seems too obvious or too trite.

- Yes, it is a tragedy, and I grieve for the wounded and the families of all of the victims.
- No, this is not the work of true Muslims. Despite what many think, Islam is very strict about when violence can be used and against whom, and in no way was this act in accordance with those teachings.
- Yes, it is sad that there are people who can be fooled into thinking this is appropriate behavior; and yes, the people who talked them into it are evil.

England at least has a long history of dealing with terrorism on their own soil, and while they have grown complacent since the peace accords in Ireland, many people know how to handle such threats, and most of the infrastructure remains in place.

I guess the question becomes – what can be done about this? More specifically, can terrorism be prevented? And can terrorists be caught?

On the first question, I think the answer is "no." You may be able to catch more terrorists before they act than we do now (although do we really know how many are caught by various intelligence agencies?); but I do not believe you can stop a terrorist who wants desperately enough to inflict mayhem on a society. Consider America's own Eric Rudolph who, because of his twisted vision of Christianity, set bombs in abortion clinics and Atlanta's Olympic park. I do not think there was anything anyone could have done to have stopped Rudolph from planting his first bomb.

Some would say "make explosives harder to get"; but I believe that only provides false security. First, it is quite easy to make explosives out of fairly mundane chemicals. Remember, Timothy McVeigh used fertilizer and fuel oil, neither of which could practically be banned – at best the government has made it harder to buy large quantities, which merely means new terrorists need more patience. Second, someone who is planning on setting off a bomb is not worried about breaking the law, and when has a law ever actually made something unavailable to a society? Drugs are illegal; but are commonly available. Prohibition was a failure. Gang members have illegal guns and ammunition. No matter what you make illegal, a criminal will certainly find a way to get it.

On the question of "Can terrorists be caught?" – that likely depends on how much privacy and civil liberties you are willing to give up. If there were cameras and microphones in every room of every building. If people were required to carry LoJack style devices on them at all time (and there were sensors that detected people who did not have a device). If you were willing to let the government search any location at any time, then you could probably collect enough information that you could catch any terrorists after the fact. But would you really be willing to live like that? Note, I do not suggest that all of the precautions could prevent the terrorist from acting since the volume of data is too big to analyze.

I think at some level, the unfortunate truth is the terrorists are one of the prices we need to accept for living in a free society.

Posted by Steven at July 7, 2005 06:15 PM

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Posted by: davee at July 7, 2005 07:49 PM

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