Remember the man arrested at Detroit's Metro airport last week with $80,000 in cash and nuclear data on his computer?
It sounds like there's even more to the story. The man was also carrying suitcase bomb instructions, data about U.S. nuclear power plants, a commemorative edition of a newspaper dated September 11, 2002, and a hand-written threatening note. The note said, “This community is angry. Something is going to happen. We are going to see justice. This is a powder keg waiting to go off.”
Even more alarmingly, as Little Green Footballs points out, U.S. Magistrate Judge R. Steven Whalen initially ordered Sisayehiticha Dinssa released "under strict supervision."
I don't know what legal standard Magistrate Whalen thought he was applying, but release under "strict supervision" seems like an impractical idea on the face of it for a case of this type. Calling for "strict supervision" is merely a sop that makes it look as if the community is protected, when it really is not.
Law enforcement officials have limited time and resources. They certainly cannot "strictly supervise" every nut with suitcase bomb instructions, nuclear data and threatening notes in his possession, nor should they be required to do so. They will either waste inordinate time and resources attempting to watch every move of each suspect 24/7 or something will eventually slip through the cracks and a potential threat will mature into a serious danger -- probably both.
Fortunately, a federal judge, U.S. District Judge Paul D. Borman, reversed the magistrate's ruling and ordered continued detention for Dinssa. He ruled that Dinssa was both a flight risk and a danger to the community.
It bears repeating: We are in a war. It is a war that we did not choose. Our enemies are deadly serious about killing us.
In wartime, giving latitude to your nation's enemies who are are threatening you and actively preparing for your destruction can be, and often is, fatal.
Comments