Urban survival reality

Don't mean to sound so depressing, but I had a good dose of reality today.

My Iraqi co-worker came in two hours late. He was heading into work this am, and insurgents stopped the car in front of him and shot the three passengers inside dead. He himself was a passenger in the vehicle he was in, and through the combined efforts of the driver and him, they evaded the ambush. His daily routine is to leave his house, catching a ride with one guy, then change vehicles en route with a different driver, then change one more time. He figures his technique is keeping the insurgents from id'ing him as an employee of an American company.

Today, he was afraid. This is the closest yet he's come to being nailed. He and his buddies are defenseless. All they have is their wits.

Is this the epitome of survival? I dunno, I just know it is more than I could bear, and yet, they have no where to go.

Was the final analysis wrong place, wrong time (almost) OR was he in fact targeted and they just didn't get it done?

Irrespective, paints a pretty nasty portrait of life for a liberated citizen of Iraq.

I'm of the opinion that he has not yet been targeted, though likely they've intelled him and it will only be a matter of time. We believe the poor sods in front of him were on the daily roster and their number was up. In any case, that was close.

With all the violent killing going on here right now, it is definitely changing how people interact. I watched a police video yesterday of a poor old man crossing a road. About halfway across, he started to double over and then fell to the ground moaning. People came to his aid, and after about a dozen people were surrounding him, comforting him, trying to figure out what was wrong and how to help, yep, he detonated his stash, and those dozen people disappeared in a fireball. Yeah, we're talking women and children too, all of them just erased from view.

It is bad. They are just killing now for the sake of killing. Lots of good people dying all around us. We all had better hope and/or pray that this doesn't come to our little world. I certainly hope the London incident sent a message. Survival, in this day and age, may end up having to perpetually stay at threat level 1 when out in the public. Can you imagine driving 3 hours to your favorite fishing hole, setting up camp, then being overrun by 50 or 60 bad guys who's only motivation is destruction? What is in the survival kit for that? <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Don't know what you could put in the survival kit for that. It's only a matter of time before it comes to main street USA. Too many of the enemy are here already and we are doing nothing to close the borders. I don't know what the answer is.

I'm trying to refrain from crossing the line from survival to survivalist. It isn't easy to limit the conversation to bics or matches and an altoids tin or a plastic soap container when there are so many direct threats around you. Is body armor part of my EDC? You betcha!!!! Every time I am transiting outdoors now I am constantly thinking of the nearest place to hide under that will protect me from flying shrapnel. My security blanket is 12 foot high concrete T-Wall draped with razor wire. It is extreme.

But that is what I have chosen. I have learned to deal with it. What I said earlier is reality. It has been for our country since it began, really. We have just enjoyed a prolonged period of tranquility. I think it will be over soon.

I don't think it can, on that scale.

Over There, the bombers look like the rest of the population. Over here, they'd have to recruit from the following groups to be able to blend in (U.S. Census Data for 2000):

• White - 75.1%
• Black - 12.3%
• Hispanic - 12.5%
• Asian - 3.6%

That's over 100% actually, I'm assuming it's because some identify with more than one classification.

In my opinion, all suicide bombings would do here would be to make it extremely uncomfortable to appear to belong to the same ethnic group the bombers do. Sure, John Walker Lindh was white, but I doubt there's enough like him to provide a sufficient pool of volunteers.

Could be wrong. But the fact that we are a "melting pot" works to our advantage, I think.

Benjammin,

While the world has gotten worse, here in the U.S.A., there are some things that we have that the rest of the world doesn't. FIrst we have a constitution and bill of rights that is supposed to guard us, as citizens, from governmental tyranny,and iIt works pretty well.

Second most states have passed right to carry legislation, so the idea of pulling a car over and terrorizing the occupants is reduced. I believe the statistics are that for every woman that gets a carry permit four are protected as the bad guys don't know who is who.

Third we have had "extremists" in the United States since it was founded. It causes occasional problems, but there has been a marked decrease in "radical" activity in the last five years. A much bigger threat to our society is the growing methamphetamine problem. From labs producing four to five times the toxic waste to "product" and the criminals tendancy to just dump it. Labs are blowing up and spreading the danger to neighbors, and responding emergency workers.

Lastly as a Deputy Sheriff, I can tell you that the Department of Homland Security has not been lax. There has been information given to local law enforcement agencys that the public will never see. This is information that was not given out even three years ago. Information from gang task forces tracking gang members, to possible terror alerts, to many other advisories that the public is not given. Some because it is part of an ongoing investigation, and some because it is just rumor that is being passed on for us to keep and eye open.

When people start looking at the world like it was going to blow up any minute, people tend to go to extremes and are then part of the problem, or are perceived as a redical and thus are having resourses spent on them that could be used on a legitimate consern.

Stay Safe

With all due respect to law enforcement, 'law enforcement' is just that -- they enforce the law. They are not tasked with protecting anyone and unless we want one officer per person, they cannot protect us. They can only be one place at a time, and basically, they arrive after the fact. It used to be -- they would be there to draw a chalk line around your body, but now in the era of suicide bombers, there isn't enough left of you to draw a chalk line around. Look at London -- surveillance cameras every few feet, but that didn't stop the bombings, it helped in apprehensions after the failed bombing, but you are dealing with fanatics that want to die and take as many of us with them as possible. It is up to the individual to protect himself or herself and their family. You cannot look to any agency or government to protect you, they cannot do it -- and you should not realistically expect them to do it.

While I agree with you that it is up to the individual to protect himself against "normal" criminal behavior, do not dismiss the efforts of law enforcement--particularly the much-maligned FBI--in stopping terrorism. The reason there have been no further suicide attacks here is because federal law enforcement has been so successful in monitoring, infiltrating, and then arresting the cells remaining in the USA after Sept. 11, 2001. The time to combat these people is in their planning stages. Once the delusional idiot straps on his bomb there is very little a citizen, even an armed one, can do to stop him.

Regards, Vince

I am not dismissing the efforts of law enforcement, just stating that they are inadequate against the enemies we now face. even the secret service will admit that they cannot protect against someone willing to sacrifice their life to kill the intended target. civilized society can only exist as long as people want to live together peacefully, the enemy we face prefers death to life.

Let's not overstate the problem. As many die in UK traffic accidents every week as died in the London suicide bombs. What's in your PSK to protect against traffic?

you basically proved my point for me -- government mandates seat belt laws, airbags, etc -- yet people still die in traffic accidents. it is up to the individual to drive as defensively as possible, to protect yourself as well as you can.

Vince, I think a lot of you, bro, but I really believe that you are being naive re. the interdiction of potential terrorist threats by LE. If that were so, they would be crowing about, as they were the possible attacks upon LAX.

If there is a message as to why there has not been more 'homeland' [god, how I hate that term] in-security, I belive it is only attributable to environment. But as our social clusters become more decentalized and less cohesive, the environment becomes more and more ripe.

Now, if you want to look at a very strange (sciologically) model, look at Israel, where the vast majority of the populace has done military service, and is either armed or is qualified to be so on short notice. Their crime model, IIRC, is about that of Britain. They have a divese society, with many languages and many more politcal positions thann you can count. But, by god, when it comes to threats to existence, they are cohesive.

Alas law enforcement is reactive for the most part. I guess that I'm spoiled living in a rural area where the local population is known. We get a fair amout of tourist influx and as such try to look for trouble. However it is true that you are responsible for your own safety. Which is why many peace officers support right to carry legislation, because we can only be one place at a time. Under my shirt is kevlar not a red "S" and cape.

My point was to provide some calm not eliminate all concerns.


"Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't meant their not out to get me!

I would agree in the ideal sense that we are better prepared and vigilant now than we were prior to 9-11. My experience tells me that the reality of the situation makes it inevitable that something more will be done, something much worse than what we have yet seen, if for no other reason than by the mere fact that we can see the obvious holes and gaps in our coverage, by virtue of those same freedoms which we are allowed to govern our own affairs by. All too easily, I have been able to walk freely and unchallenged into schools, during lunch hour no less, right into the cafeteria, without even being challenged. Even if the challenge comes, it is going to be by one unarmed, unprepared person. Imagine a coordinated assault on all the schools in a given metropolitan area, carried out by a small number of suicide bombers, and multiply that by 10 or 12 cities, and you can see where we are so vulnerable and helpless.

Now I have trod where I did not want to go. Considering the level of security we are maintaining here, and the amount of effort being put into actively pursuing the bad guys, pressing all our intelligence and interdiction efforts possible, and yet daily we still have attacks, if we cannot back home even consider the plausibility of stopping illegal drugs from entering our borders, how then could anyone assume that much more harmful stuff is not being brought in, or as is the case with meth, that much more destructive material is not being produced in our own neighborhoods. We are in a police state here, and we cannot stop it.

I think the FBI and all the other agencies we have are doing the best they can hope for, but it will not stop people who are quite willing to die to kill others. Recognizing the threat is only the beginning, how do you stop them? The answer is you don't. Suicide bombers are driving into heavily armed soldiers here and killing the soldiers by the dozen, soldiers who are everywhere here, much better armed than any permit holding American citizen, (I don't recall seeing anyone driving around town in an Amtrack last time I was home), How will you stop the attacks that are sure to come? Discounting the suiciders, how do you stop 50 armed thugs from invading your home one day while you are at work and your wife and kids are busy cleaning house (that is how they do it here)?

It may be tranquil back home for now, but I don't see how it can stay that way for long. The likelihood that the bad guys are already there, already armed, and only awaiting the opportunity is very high, it is expectable.

There I went and did it. I didn't want to, but I guess I had to say something. Sorry. As with here, the terror of the thing is much worse than the reality. Statiscically, the losses incurred by insurgent attacks relative to the general population are quite low here. To have lost less than 3,000 Americans and less than 25,000 Iraqis so far, after two years of conflict, seems negligible compared to the conflicts of our past. Doubltess any losses incurred back home should something bad happen will seem considerably worse than they relatively would be, mainly because of the hype and the coverage. Still, it will bring a change to our lives, our perceptions. People will have to deal with the reality that we are not able to defend ourselves 100%, although we can do better than anyone else on the planet I think. How we use this new awareness will determine many things about our country, our society, our future. What I expect is that for many of us, we shall assume a greater level of accountability for our lives and our actions.

Believe me, I do not say this to be argumentative with anyone. I would like nothing more than to be proven totally amiss. My responses here are given solemnly, with the hope that maybe, through my experience here, some of you will think about the situation in ways you might not have otherwise considered, and be able to utilize that knowledge to your benefit and those for whom you care. There are Iraqis here, like my friend, who can and do function in this hostile environment with their eyes open and facing reality full on. I would have him be an example for us all, that far and away, the best survival tool we have in any situation is the endowment of intelligence, which encompasses knowledge, wisdom and reason. Is that not our mantra, our caveat, the purpose behind this entire forum? Whether it is terrorism, or finding ourselves off the beaten trail, or stuck in traffic on the way home, semper peratis.

Because "Chance favors the prepared mind".

Here's a good quote that I scrounged up that pretty much gets right to it:
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To use fear as the friend it is, we must retrain and reprogram ourselves...We must persistently and convincingly tell ourselves that the fear is here--with its gift of energy and heightened awareness--so we can do our best and learn the most in the new situation.
Peter McWilliams, Life 101
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"If that were so, they would be crowing about, as they were the possible attacks upon LAX."

Actually, I think foreign nationals who are here illegally and are suspected of being terrorists get a (mostly) one-way ticket to Gitmo, and a quiet one at that. You definately want as little publicity as possible, at least if you want the information you wring out of them to have any value.

As far as Israel goes, I agree. But they are facing a threat several orders of magnitude greater than what we are. If they are cohesive as a society, it's because they had better be. Their survival as a nation depends on it. We are not in the same situation--at least not yet.

Regards, Vince