This morning, all too early, my alarm eased me from sleep. I hit the snooze button immediately, so all I heard was some white-esque noise. Five minutes later it went off again, but I was on the other side of the bed and was in that hazy period when you are on the brink of drifting off but not quite there yet. This time I heard more than static.
"If your clock-radio just kicked in, we have been talking about the bombs that have hit London. Al-Qaeda has taken credit for the attack."
This sunk in for a second and then I sat upright suddenly. I turned the radio off and went downstairs. As I got to the main floor, I asked my parents who were reading the paper, "How bad is it?"
They had no idea what I was talking about, so the news happened after the Trib "went to bed" last night. I said "al-Qaeda hit London" and my mom squeeled out an "Oh my God!" We turned the TV on and all they had were cell phone videos of I-don't-know-what. It gave me a little motion sickness so we changed channels, but they never said what exactly happened, what was hit, when, how many bombs, etc. Almost as if at 7:15 AM CST everyone should already have the most up-to-date information. I don't remember the 9.11 or 3.11 news being delivered that way. I didn't find out until I got to work the answers to the above questions. And I was flipping through the morning shows and all the cable channels. None provided the basic information. I found that strange.
My mom commented, "I'm sorry, but we need to wipe them off the face of the earth," which I thought was a fitting statement from her. I knocked on Michelle's door to tell her that she left my car inexplicably on the street overnight and if there's a ticket she'd have to pay for it. And then I told her that al-Qaeda hit London and she flopped over in the direction away from me as it sunk in and then sleepily said, "What is their PROBLEM?!?" It was hilarious.
I've been reading some news stories thoughout the day. I find it surprising that at least on Google News and the few other sources I've checked, there is coverage but it's not being given the same credence as the Madrid train bombings were. I'm sure though that the television coverage is finally off of Natalee Holloway and onto wall-to-wall reports from London.
I was glad to see the G8 leaders in their press conference and their unity, including from France. Now I wonder how this will impact the War on Terror.
Was this in fact al-Qaeda? The branch calls itself "The Secret Group of al-Qaeda Europe" or something like that. While I think we've cut off and cauterized many of the al-Qaeda hydra's heads, there clearly is much more work to be done. And I think the most powerful tool (though obviously not the last domino to fall) would be the capture of Osama. If Porter Goss knows where he is, and is in the Pakistan/Afghanistan gray area, why can't we get him? What are these "sovereign land" hurdles he speaks of? Is he in Iran? Iraq? Lodi, Calif.? He's an old man with a dialysis machine unable to travel far distances or communicate (which may be the problem -- his own followers might not know where he is) with his lieutenants. Why is this so difficult and why is this taking so long? We are not a people of limitless patience. And we also demand tangible results....
No comments:
Post a Comment