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Ed's Thoughts

(Ed Jackson recently retired from the police force and raises goats in Oklahoma. His wife is a school teacher.)

Why did our intelligence resources not know of this impending disaster? How did we get to this point in our country? What can we do now?

The perpetrators of this act of war could not have picked better targets. The World Trade Center is considered to be the financial heart of our country. All one has to do is to look around and notice that America is graying. All of us "baby boomers" are getting on in years and it is time to start reaping the rewards of a life of hard work and saving. Most of us are heavily invested in our markets to assure that we might still afford the "necessary luxuries of life". Many of us have personal portfolios while others are invested through their company retirement programs. No matter the vehicle, most of our available reserves are in equities. We have been optimistically anxious this past year as the markets have bordered on recession. The Fed have tried to give a nudge to bring back a robust market and have not been successful. This act of war might well be the nudge in the negative direction that finally drives the country into a full blown recession. When the market re-opens I fear that there will be a blood letting on the exchange floor.

Yes. One of the goals of the attackers was to kill as many people as possible. Their goal, in my opinion, was to kill specific people. The Trade Center complex were offices for some of the world's most brilliant economic minds. Many were fund managers for great funds such as Oppenheimer. How better to destroy an economy than to destroy the people that make it work. If killing were the only goal, a more efficient target might be a major NFL game.

Over the past forty or so years our citizens have been taught to depend on government for everything from social well-being to national security. Just as the officer on the beat is the "visible government" locally, the military is our national "visible government". To strike at the nerve center of our national security is to demonstrate how benign our ability to defend ourselves actually is. The attack on the Pentagon, when thinking in terms of war, probably didn't take that many lives, but it caused a gaping wound in the American Psyche that will be a long time healing.

The attacks on these two great institutions caused a ripple effect that touched all Americans, both economically and in a violation of our comfort zones. For the first time, all commercial and general aviation was grounded. All mail addressed to a destination exceeding six hundred miles from it's point of origin travels by air. Thousands of tons of business and industrial supplies, as well as personal orders and property are shipped, daily, by Federal Express, UPS, or other general carrier. As the majority of travel during the week is for business, countless thousands of business decisions and transactions are put on hold. After being grounded for only twenty-four hours, who knows how many weeks it will take to get our national transportation back to some form of normalcy?

As part of our National security defense plan, all interstate petroleum pipelines were shut down. This action, though necessary to protect against further attack, resulted in a run on gas stations and price gouging by many independent store operators. This act alone went a long ways toward fostering a general distrust and anger among us, against each other.

It was not surprising that the two crashes into the WTC towers was separated by about twenty-five minutes. The last "terrorism" school I attended was several years ago and one of the major topics of discussion was that bombers had developed a trend of setting two charges. The first creating enough damage to bring in fire, police, and other emergency personnel, along with media and cameras, and then the second charge detonates. This not only effectively disrupts emergency services but also gives the publicity that any terrorist group craves.

Why did our intelligence resources not know of this impending disaster?
Over the past number of years the CIA, FBI, NSA, and other intelligence agencies have been hamstrung with oversight and regulation by our Congress. A few years ago, Congress regulated that the CIA could no longer recruit terrorists "insiders" who had a history of violence.

I spent a period of time working undercover narcotics enforcement. Most of my informants were, themselves, crooks. Many times I was cross-examined about the unsavory character of my sources while at trial. My stock response was, "Yes, I have to use seedy people to get my information because the Baptist preacher doesn't know who's dealing dope."

Congress needs to be reminded, perhaps by you, that one does not make an omelet without breaking some eggs. This is a battle for our very existence as individuals and as a nation. Our intelligence services must be allowed to do whatever must be done to do the job of protecting our citizens and institutions.

The Constitution of the United States is a wonderful document but it is not a suicide pact.

What can we do now? We keep on keeping on. All of us has been hurt emotionally. Many of us, myself included as I just retired two months ago at age 58, have been hurt financially. Thousands have been hurt physically.

We keep on keeping on. We are Americans. We get the job done, preferably shoulder to shoulder but, if necessary, toe to toe. We did not get to be the greatest nation in the history of mankind by looking to someone else. We did it ourselves.

You might have an Hispanic surname. You might talk with an oriental accent. You might have originated in Africa. You might be from the middle-east. Your ancestors might have gazed across the landscape of this great land when there were buffalo and deer as far as the eye could see. Or, you might just be a blue eyed, aging, Texan, like me. The fact is, no matter who we are, where we're from, or what we do, we are Americans. We must keep on keeping on. We owe to ourselves, the Nation, and the world to survive and, indeed, strive. We can do it because we are Americans.

God Bless America,
Ed Jackson
Poco Tejas Ranch
Sapulpa, Ok