Living in a Post-Khobar World

Thomas Freidman wrote a couple of recent columns about turning back the clock. First, on May 27, he said that Guantanamo Bay prison should be shut down immediately. Next, on June 1, he wrote these cheery thoughts:

I worry that 20 years from now some eighth grader will be doing her National History Day project on how America's reaction to 9/11 unintentionally led to an erosion of core elements of American identity. What sparks such dark thoughts on a trip from London to New Delhi?

In part it is the awful barriers that now surround the U.S. Embassy in London on Grosvenor Square. "They have these cages all around the embassy now, and these huge concrete blocks, and the whole message is: 'Go away!' " said Kate Jones, a British literary agent who often walks by there. "That is how people think of America now, and it's a really sad thing because that is not your country."

Friedman also complains about what a hassle it is for people, especially Arabs, to get student visas into the US. He sums it up like this:

Bottom line: We urgently need a national commission to look at all the little changes we have made in response to 9/11 - from visa policies to research funding, to the way we've sealed off our federal buildings, to legal rulings around prisoners of war - and ask this question: While no single change is decisive, could it all add up in a way so that 20 years from now we will discover that some of America's cultural and legal essence - our DNA as a nation - has become badly deformed or mutated?

Of course, the prisoners at Gitmo Bay were taken prisoner while under arms, fighting on behalf of the Taliban or al Queda. Some of the prisoners who were released after swearing to be neutral have turned up killing Americans.

Several of the 9-11 hijackers entered this country under student visas which caused a large outcry.

Both of these are responses to 9-11. Reasonable people can debate them although Friedman gives the impression of a man who just wants everything like it was on September 10, 2001.

But that isn't why our embassies are fortresses. That goes back to June 25, 1996. On that date, terrorists exploded a truck containing the equivalent of 22,000 pounds of TNT near an Air Force barracks in Saudi Arabia. 19 service members were killed and hundreds were injured, not counting the Saudis also killed. The official report details actions to be taken to prevent similar actions in the future. The basic precautions involve exactly what Friedman is complaining about - fencing likely targets off from the host countries.

These precautions were not in place on August 8, 1998 when terrorists used car bombs on the US Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. 220 were killed and more than 4,000 injured. This official report on these bombings included this recommendation:

For those US diplomatic buildings abroad not meeting Inman standards, essential physical security upgrades should be made immediately and should include a number of specific measures involving perimeter and counter-surveillance.

When I was growing up it was common to hear older people reminisce about living in a time when people didn't bother to lock their doors. Friedman has become one of these people, railing at the world because it isn't the nice friendly place it used to be and blaming the US for taking precautionary measures.

We could do as he wants. We could empty the prisons of terrorists, open our already-porous boarders, and stop protecting our embassies. The death toll would be in the thousands but we would be showing the world a friendly face.

That's what it's all about isn't it? As long as we are open and friendly, terrorists would never attack us.