Search Result: al-Qaeda

Although most people think of burning skyscrapers and car bombs when asked to define "terrorism." It's likely that you, as American law enforcement officers, will never face a full-blown al-Qaeda attack. Instead, your brush with terrorism will probably be a lone gunman with a political agenda. The editorial appeared in the July 2009 issue.

Many Americans have failed to learn the real message of that day. We were not attacked by a small band of zealots with box cutters but an ideology that still thrives in the world and must be defeated before there can be peace.

The first phase of the Iraq War alone cost $79 billion and more than $100 billion may be spent on the reconstruction of Iraq. Back at home, American cities received only a relative pittance to fund their new homeland security duties, despite being deemed the front lines of response to terrorist attacks.

Al Qaeda is alive and kicking; we are still at war; they still want to kill us, and the intelligence community, the military, and law enforcement may not be able to prevent the attack.

You can say with just a little bit of hyperbole that all Americans and all American landmarks are targets of Al Qaeda in the war on terror. However, some places are more vulnerable and have drawn more attention from the worldwide network of Islamic fanatics than others.