No Such Thing as an “Attempted Terrorist Attack”

So what do you call it when a man, claiming affiliation with al Qaeda, ignites an incendiary device on a commercial flight from Amsterdam to Detroit?

It’s being reported that President Obama has called the Christmas day incident an “attempted terrorist attack.” I hope that’s not what he’s calling it.

If someone attacks innocents, for terrorist purposes, then the attack is a terrorist attack, whether or not the attack is completely successful. The Christmas day attack was an attack. Though no one was killed, though everyone arrived safely on the ground, though the attacker was apprehended, the attack was not a total failure. It has bestirred a nation to fresh concerns about security. Who can say that this was not its purpose, or a sufficient condition for its success in the minds of its planners?

The attacker’s associations and objectives will have to be investigated. Meanwhile, it has to be assumed, at least by ordinary Americans, that this was a planned attack by recognized terrorists. The President has not yet completed his first year in office, and now there has been another attack in the United States. Our president has been shy in speaking out against terrorism. His mettle in dealing with terrorism will be tested at a new level, starting now.

Pretty much all of us have anticipated another attack. Many have feared that there will be another soon, and that it will reap deadly, mass destruction. The Christmas day attack is the first incident since 9/11. Things could have turned out much worse. There was understandable fear and commotion as passengers on board the flight responded to what was happening. Reportedly, at least one was burned. All were threatened.

The plan was foiled, but not the attack. And for all the measures that have been adopted to sift the terrorists from the rest of us, it appears that none of these measures made a difference in this case. The plan was foiled by alert citizens.

Alert citizens must accept the challenge, now, of pressing for proper vigilance. We don’t want to hear anymore stories about how this or that clue slipped through the cracks. An attack is an attack, even if no one is killed.

Heads Up Film Fans for Christmas Deals at Amazon

Because of the film commentary often posted here, I know many readers have an interest in film. So here’s something you might like to know. Now until December 22, Amazon is offering deep discounts on movie and TV DVDs and Blu-ray. Click here if you want to go directly to their Christmas discount pages. Boxed sets are especially well-priced.

Has Obama Cut a Deal with FOX News?

The President’s advisors and spokespeople have publicly castigated FOX News and pronounced their verdict that FOX News doesn’t report news. Presumably, this is a calculated strategy to accomplish a certain goal. On the surface, it may seem that the goal is to discredit FOX News. But how realistic is that? Can the White House staff actually change minds about FOX in this fashion? Not likely. What’s far more likely is that more attention will be directed to FOX and that FOX will garner an even larger share of the cable media market. This has to be good news for FOX. But presidents surround themselves with smart people. Since it would have been predictable that FOX would benefit from this kind of “exposure,” you have to wonder, do “all the president’s men” (and women) have a different agenda? Are they out to promote FOX because deep down they regard FOX as an ally?

Again, you have to wonder.

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Flight Ends Well

I’ve never heard of it happening before on a commercial flight, though I may have missed mention of such or am now forgetting. But the news today is stunning. Continental Flight 61 landed safely in Newark, despite the fact that the pilot had died en route from Belgium on a trans-Atlantic junket.

Perhaps in the attempt to sensationalize, news broadcasts have been repeating one other fact in connection with this flight: “passengers report that they had no idea the pilot had died.” Are we supposed to be surprised? I’m surprised if that what’s the media think.

I’m so surprised, in fact, that it wouldn’t surprise me at all if some listeners think they must have heard “co-pilots report that they had no idea that the pilot had died.”

That would be newsworthy. But if it’s what you think, don’t say you heard it here.

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Footnote:

It has also been reported that “the crew gave no indication that the pilot was ill or had died.” Certainly, if the crew did not know of the pilot’s death, this would explain why they gave no indication of it. But that would leave certain other things unexplained, like the safe landing of the plane at Newark.

Another Footnote:

The same ABC news article, authored by a team of two journalists, also includes this remarkable statement:

The pilot . . . died of apparent natural casues.

I don’t know how that happens. I understand the concept of dying from natural causes. But the article says the captain died of apparent natural causes. Does anyone else think that sounds metaphysically bizarre? I should think that if it’s soon determined that the pilot died of actual natural causes, then it will be false, if it means anything, that he died of apparent natural causes. There must be some distinction between natural causes and apparent natural causes that makes it impossible to die from both.

You may be thinking, “But what the journalists meant was that the pilot, apparently, died of natural causes.” But this would be ambiguous. Would it mean more precisely that apparently he died of natural causes (i.e., it appears that he died of natural causes)? Or would it mean that he died of natural causes in an apparent manner?

OK, we should probably infer that the first of the last two options is what the journalists meant by what they actually wrote. But what explains how ABC journalists or in-house editors could make such a simple grammatical mistake?

Simple error? Don’t be too sure. It is the media, after all.