Imagine if you will, Heathrow International Airport in virtual silence. That was the scene August 10th, 2006 as thousands of travelers stood in line to catch flights home to various parts of the U.S.  There was no carryon luggage or purses allowed, just clear plastic bags holding passports, wallets and boarding passes.  The passengers appeared overwrought, but not a single passenger was irate at the long security lines or angry that they could not carry lap tops, IPods,  books and magazines or any type of item typically taken on to flights to pass the long hours of overseas travel.  Liquids were especially forbidden, even in luggage.  No tiny shampoos or body wash bottles. No toothpaste or deodorant, none of the personal care items usually packed to save space when travelling. Travelers accustomed to having the creature comforts often chosen for long flights and extended trips abroad did not complain or argue.  For once, an international airport was free from demanding passengers. Cooperation ruled the day three years ago. A day many will never forget.

Once the planes were boarded, the tension was palatable.  Some people were eyed with suspicion.  Some cried and many showed signs of anxiety.  Everyone was seated quickly. There was no luggage to put in over head bins or carryon’s to stash under seats. The passengers clung to their clear plastic bags in eerie silence. They just wanted to get home.  There are never any guarantees in life, but this day was different and everyone on the flight knew it.  The silence of desperate hope is deafening.    

That was the day that flights resumed out of London after MI5 and Scotland Yard along with U.S. Intelligence thwarted a diabolical terrorist plot to blow up planes heading Stateside.  I was one of the potential murder victims.  If not for the diligent work of intelligence officers in the U.K. and the United States, I would have been nothing but ashes and dust sinking to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Their plan was evil even in its simplicity; the terrorists filled personal care bottles with a potent explosive and planned to blow up planes in waves, three at a time, as they crossed the Atlantic.  To this day I shudder when I remember the fear I felt knowing I was one of the passengers meant to be blown to pieces as I flew home from London. I thought of the thousands of people dead due to the violence of terrorism. I thought of their friends and family members that lost so much to senseless acts of hatred and malice. That was the day I changed my attitude regarding those who would heartlessly kill innocent people to further their godless cause. That was the day I knew we are all under threat of annihilation by Al Qaeda operatives whose god would have us dead.

Flash forward to 2009 and Najibullah Zazi, the latest to be accused of a terrorist plot. According to the FBI, Zazi was under surveillance due to suspicious actions reported to Denver authorities. Zazi allegedly told agents he received terror training in Pakistan at an Al Qaeda sponsored camp. The 24 year old Afghan born Muslim was also caught with items purchased from beauty supply stores for hydrogen-peroxide based bomb making. Zazi was called the leader of a cell group that included his father and other foreign born Muslim nationals. The plan uncovered by officials alleged that Zazi and his group planned to blow up several targets in the New York City area and had maps depicting various targets. An official FBI document claimed Zazi had homemade bomb recipes on his computer and found his fingerprints on bomb making ingredients in a Queens apartment he recently visited while on a trip to New York. It was the day before the eight anniversary of 9/11. This case is bound for trial.

Before Zazi, there were the three American born Muslims and one Haitian man who were picked up by authorities for plotting to bomb Bronx synagogues and shoot down planes with surface to air missiles.  According to one of the alleged terrorists, they were “mad at the U.S for the war in Afghanistan and wanted to get back at America.” They were arrested and face trial. Then there was the ex-con who converted to Islam while in prison. He decided to blow up a federal building in Springfield, MO. After serving his term in an Illinois State Prison, the ex-con now known as Talib Islam unknowingly plotted his terrorist act with local and federal agents.  He faces life in prison.  Let’s not forget the Jordanian man who plotted to blow up a sixty story high rise in Dallas using what he thought was a working car bomb. An undercover FBI agent helped 19 year old Hosam Maher Husein Smadi while posing as a fellow terrorist. Smadi idolizes Osama bin Laden. These are just a few of the Islamic extremist plots that have been stopped by American law enforcement  since September 11th, 2001. There have been many more and many we’ve not heard about; the numbers are frightening.  U.S. Intelligence and our allies have saved thousands of lives. New York, Springfield, Dallas and Denver are closer to home than many living in denial can imagine. Law enforcement has their hands full within our own borders. It’s time to find a way to keep others who want to hurt us out of our country. There are plenty here already and prepared to act.   

 Now many of these suspected terrorists are guests of our State Prisons. Pleading innocence through court appointed attorneys, receiving special protection from fellow inmates, eating Islamic meals prepared for religious dietary needs, given a Koran and allowed to observe Islamic religious rituals. How nice for them. And, of course, all at the expense of the tax payers of the various States they planned to destroy. The men awaiting trial are converting other prisoners at an alarming rate. Prisons have become a hotbed of Islamic recruiting as we fill our jails with men who want to destroy our nation. The disenfranchised and hard core criminals in our prisons are buying the rhetoric and being released into society ready to join the many cell groups active in our nation. Al Qaeda has managed to bring their message to our shores, convincing prisoners to join their cause and help plot against our people. This has only recently come to the attention of law enforcement, many calling it the worst of terrorist threats.

I am not a person who screams for torture and unjust action when I am upset with a situation. I even struggle with the death penalty for convicted murderers.  But when dealing with the irrational, rational action cannot work. They don’t understand their thinking is so far from normal it is past the point of reasonable discussion, debate or consequences.  So I came up with a plan that I think most people sick and tired of being threatened by ex-cons, cave dwellers and people who wipe their ass with bare hands while facing Mecca might applaud. Let’s try this; take each suspected terrorist on a military plane with armed guards, give the terrorists each a parachute and drop him over the desert of Afghanistan, Iraq or whatever nation they are ‘visiting’ from, with no provisions, not even water. If they manage to survive have several troops waiting to escort them to where they hold insurgents captured by our Armed Forces and give them the shoot to kill order if they fight or protest. Let their native countries deal with their home grown garbage. There may be the odd casualty of war, but no more pampered and protected pets in one of our jails with free legal advice, three square meals, medical attention, and a fair trial. Send them home for a taste of Middle East justice.  It is the kind they tried to exact here, at home, our home. And by all means, keep them away from our criminals already sitting in our prisons. The criminal mind will seemingly fall for anything. That’s why they ended up in prison in the first place.

 In the name of all that is true; stop letting them come here and take up with cell groups and sleeper groups waiting for their turn to inflict destruction on the American people.  Profile those who want to come here. Right now we can’t afford any more ‘visitors’. There are plenty here already and they want to hurt us. If that is politically incorrect, then so be it. I am tired of these people invading my home.  Politically correct or not, we are being held hostage by men who dwell and plot in caves and I, for one, have had enough.

You may find my language strong, even despicable, but once you’ve been a target for no other reason than the fact you live in the United States of America, then you may change your mind as well. I know I have. I was one of those people who continually defended their right to be considered innocent until proven guilty. I called people who think like I now think, racist and ignorant, but that was before I was targeted to die at the hands of Islamic extremists who demand I think like they think or suffer their home grown justice.  I know the fear and anxiety of being missed by a terrorist.  I am one of the lucky ones. We have thousands dead because of these terrorists who will not stop until we convert or they are all dead. I have no intention of becoming one of them so that leaves option number two. Don’t be fooled, they are here, recruiting and planning to spread violence to cities and towns all over the nation. No one is safe from terrorism in America, especially now that we are growing our own.