Lessons Learned from the Times Square Bombing (Attempt)

A few days ago I debunked some lessons learned on the attempted bombing in Times Square. This entry has some real lessons learned.

1) The attack was a failure on multiple levels. Not only did the bomb fail to go off, it also failed to produce any terror. By some accounts, Faisal Shahzad was motivated by anger over drone attacks on Pakistan. This came and went in the news cycle, overshadowed by speculation that losing his house was what really motivated Shahzad.

2) America is not as safe as we think. We all subscribe to a Fortress America syndrome. We are so far removed from most conflicts that we are shocked when violence touches our shores. The only significant military attack on the US mainland was during the War of 1812 when the British sacked and burned our capitol. The few attacks since then shocked the nation. That includes Poncho Villa and Pearl Harbor. During the Obama administration we have had two failed bombings (Times Square and the Underwear bomber) and two shootings (a recruiting station and Fort Hood). Since September 11, terrorist attacks on the US have either been stopped, failed, or did not rise above the background noise of everyday violence. Eventually the attackers will manage to pull off terrorist attacks on a large scale.

3) The left hates the right more than it fears Islamic militants. Between the discovery of the failed bomb and the arrest, the main reaction from the left was to blame the right. Mayor Bloomberg was sure that the bomb was planted by a health care protester. On MSNBC, Contessa Brewer said what I am sure many believe:

I get frustrated… There was part of me that was hoping this was not going to be anybody with ties to any kind of Islamic country. … There are a lot of people who want to use terrorist intent to justify writing off people who believe in a certain way or come from certain countries or whose skin color is a certain way. I mean they use it as justification for really outdated bigotry.

Bombings by Islamic militants are so Bush administration. If we are going to have people bombing us, Brewer wants a new enemy - one she is more comfortable with.

Since the anti-deficit and anti-tax protests began, the left has ascribed darker motives to them. Now we have a situation where someone is disappointed because a group that we are in a shooting war with tried to harm us instead of a new group.

4) The Left's grasp on reality is slipping. They are letting their prejudices get in the way. They will not take the Tea Parties at face value. They jump to the wrong conclusion on a bombing. When the wrong group attacks, they try to frame it differently (he was motivated by the loan crisis, not his religion). In fact, they try to ignore thinking about Islam completely - a threat by Muslims against South Park was largely ignored, would a similar threat by a Christian group be treated similarly? It may be a coincidence but the Times Square bomb was right outside Comedy Central's office. No one mentioned this until after Shahzad was arrested.

None of these lessons are comforting. People want to hurt us and will probably keep trying until they succeed. A large portion of the population is too busy hating a different part to recognize actual threats.