Just over a week ago a man with ties to the Taliban drove an SUV loaded with home-made bombs into Times Square in the heart of New York City. Thanks in large part to two very observant street vendors, the local authorities rushed to the scene where they found the smoking car that contained two five-gallon containers of gasoline, three twenty-gallon propane tanks, 152 M-88 fireworks, two alarm clocks connected to wires and a metal gun locker filled with 250 pounds of fertilizer. Authorities were able to dismantle the contents of the SUV, preventing what had the potential to be a very dangerous and deadly situation.
Within two days, local and federal investigators, who are to be commended for their effective and professional handling of this dangerous situation, had located and taken the suspected bomber, Faisal Shahzad, into custody as he was attempting to fly from New York to Dubai. Shahzad has since admitted that he was the one who tried to detonate the bomb in Times Square and that he had recently received bomb-making training in Pakistan.
Despite the fact that we narrowly averted a major disaster in Times Square, as long as terrorists are still free to slaughter the innocent, our work will not be done. This potentially deadly terrorist plot, hatched by a Taliban-linked extremist, threatens the sense of safety in decent people throughout the United States but must strengthen the commitment of our nation to defeat terrorism. It is evidence that terrorism is not limited to any location, population or way of life and that these people, who have so little regard for human life, must be hunted down and brought to justice no matter where they are around the world.
This potentially dangerous situation must serve as a reminder that we must continue working on securing our country by coordinating our national anti-terrorism efforts, increasing information-sharing among our intelligence agencies, and strengthening our defense. We must do everything possible to deal with our enemies on the foreign battlefield rather than here at home.
Today we face a unique set of national security challenges as a nation. Working to anticipate the diverse nature of potential security threats is a responsibility that I do not take lightly. This incident is a strong warning that the U.S. must not slip back into a false sense of security. The characteristics of American society that make us the envy of the world – our freedom and openness – also make us vulnerable to horrible acts of terrorism. We are determined to defend American citizens and American values by securing our homeland against our enemies and the threats they pose.
– Congressman Bob Goodlatte
To contact me please visit my website at www.goodlatte.house.gov.
