St. John's University is the highest point in Queens, New York. If you get the the right spot, you can see the skyline of Manhattan ... or as we say out here, "The City."
But, looking out from the right terrace at 10:45am, on Tuesday, September 11th, 2001, you couldn't see the city. All you could see were black storm clouds that seemed to be far, far too close to the ground, yet were as tall as skyscrapers.
Since that day, there has been plenty of anti terrorist measures put in place. Many of them have been put in by the NYPD. New York cops are all over the planet in intelligence divisions. There are anti-terrorist squads, and policemen dedicated to stopping terrorist acts.
However, so far, the terrorists attacks that we know about have been stopped by average people.
As mentioned previously, terrorists are sort of stupid. Look, for example, to the Times Square bomber, who seemed to have put together a bomb made exclusively with Acme parts. Countless lives were saved because several people saw a parked van smoking in the middle of Times Square. Because people observed something, and said something. They were aware of the situation, and acted on it.
New Yorkers have already been changed by 9/11. But then again, 9/11 is when Americans in general were updated as to the change in the rules of terrorism. The only reason boxcutters could take over airplanes is that the "rules" for airplane hijackings were simple: sit still, play nice, you're only being taken hostage.
By 11am on 9/11, everyone knew better.
Since then, terrorists have had a hard time on American soil. There was the Fort Hood attack, and there was an attempt by Pfc Abdo to try a reprise attack at Ft. Hood, but the successes are limited, at best. Why? Because not only are the officials vigilant in stopping terrorists, but there are also average people who are willing and able to foil them. When there was the "shoe bomber" on board a plane, a stewardess, a CIA officer, and a member of the militar all jumped him. There was the "underwear" bomber who was stopped ... though largely by his own stupid exposive.
I would like to see a terrorist try, now, to recreate the exact circumstances of 9/11, with the same tools and equipment. One suspects that the average New York would have said terrorists eating their own boxcutters....
How do you stop a terrorist?
Be safe.
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