On Flying in Our Age and Republican Ownership of National Security

The following blog post may well be a bias-related incident and encourage all sensitive souls to seek other reading materials.

My dad always says to me that whenever he gets on a plane, he assumes he's dead long before he lands. He says it makes the flight easier to stomach and he said as much to me, long before 9-11. I must say, for those looking for some good advice before takeoff, this does the trick. I, of course, cross myself, and say the Lord's Prayer, even though I'm not particularly religious. I started doing it when I was a kid, and having survived dozens of plane rides since, I see no particular reason to stop, though, truth be told, being something of an atheist/agnostic, myself, I'm not so egotistical as to think that the God above -- should he exist -- would alter his divine plans for the universe on my behalf.

But, as I boarded an aeroplane for Sacramento this Christmas and the news was just breaking that another adherent of that religion of peace was at it again -- curious isn't it? That every misunderstander of Islam misunderstands it in exactly the same way? -- I must say I found myself terrified. Boston, you'll remember, was the originating flight of the first attack on America that fateful September morning and now, having crisscrossed the country, I always count my blessings.

The one time I didn't do that was this time, where as happenstance would have it, I was sandwiched between two American-born converts to Islam who had -- I kid you not -- just come from an Islamic conference hosted by CAIR. The gentlemen hailed from Oklahoma and proceeded to give me something of a Koranic instruction. It certainly did not help matters much that they began speaking Arabic moments before the flight took off and confessed to me that while they didn't agree with Osama bin Laden's message, he was a good symbol for what Islam could achieve in the world. They spoke of the War on Terror as a kind of war on Islam and encouraged me to keep in touch with them as I made my way on the path of Islam. (Yes, I'll admit to being interested in any religion.) Naturally, the pen I held in my right hand was squeezed so tightly that I had difficulty unclenching it when it came time to pick up my baggage.

My favorite bit of that entire plane ride was when one of them took out a full length jack knife and began cutting off pieces of a pear. I stared at it, rather incredulously in our post-9-11 world and asked him, more out of shock than fear, "Um... how did they let you on with that?" To which, he replied, "Oh, this? It's only six inches of a blade, I doubt that they noticed. I have probably a full lighter in my backpack."

So you'll forgive me when I'm a bit upset with the Obama administration for turning our boy, Umar Farouk Abdulmuttallab, whom our president has called a lone "extremist," rather than a holy warrior, over to his defense counsel, losing whatever intelligence we might otherwise been able to sweat out of the fellow. Oh, and lest you all think this chap was poor and that poverty, not a violent reading of the Koran drives men to suicidal murder, we're told that Mr. Abdulmuttallab led a life of luxury over in jolly old jihadi England. He failed, not because of TSA, but because of dumb luck.

But hey, the system worked perfectly, so says Janet Napolitano. You'll remember she was the one who branded anyone who wanted limited government to be a potential domestic terrorist. Good for the Republicans, then, for making an issue out of this nearly catastrophic massacre of American civilians. It's a shame that the Democrats, so wedded to multiculturalist pabulum, have ignored the threat we face.

Professor Pitney said as much to NPR earlier.

"There was a time when a national security issue would not have aroused a partisan reaction. But those days are long gone,” said political analyst Jack Pitney of Claremont McKenna College. “The Republicans have had a sense of issue ownership when it comes to issues of homeland and national security, and consequently it makes political sense for them to think they have an opening here.”