The Fort Dix Terrorists

Why are they still here?

There is a lot of talk around the blogosphere about the 6 men arrested yesterday for plotting a terrorist AlQaeda type attack against soldiers at Fort Dix, NJ. Michelle Malkin notes that one of the accused terrorists is an Albanian refugee that arrived here during the Clinton administration’s attempts to protect them from Serbs, and several of them were here illegally. Kim Priestap reminds us that the were going to do everything they could to kill soldiers “in the name of Allah.” Bruce of QandO reminds us that even though they were determined they appeared the be “[n]ot too bright. In fact, amateurish to the extreme.” Jules Crittenden, rightfully states that this is just another reason that we should be enhancing our stance on illegal immigration and notes: “An illegal immigrant who has been detained and/or deported is one who won’t be driving drunk, committing sexual assaults, murders and burglaries, or planning jihad here.”

Wonkette, seems to think that attacking Fort Dix would have been a suicide mission because: “The Fort Dix that is full of lots and lots of Army reservists with way, way more guns.” but lets not forget the sniper attacks at Fort Bragg a few years ago and how effective they were for the simple reason that while there are lots of weapons and ammo on a military installation for the most part the only armed individuals would be the military police at any given moment. John Hinderaker even notes the bias that many liberal sites will “… say that this as another case where those arrested were only goofballs who never came close to hatching a dangerous plot.” And Michael Cutler of Counterterrorism Blog asks if the same thing can happen again with Iraqi refugees since the President wants to make it far easier for refugees from Iraq to be admitted to the United States.

But one question I have not heard asked is this: If we are truly a nation at war and these men sought to attack US Military personnel on our own soil, why are they being held in US Federal Prisons like a regular criminal when they should be joining their fellow jihadis in Gitmo?

If it’s well within the realm of legal reason to capture and hold “enemy combatants” at Gitmo why do we still consider “enemy combatants” captured in the US to be criminals?

These six jihadis should have been on a plane to Cuba as soon as they were captured. If their attack had succeeded US Military personnel would have been killed and their deaths should carry the same punishment as if it had occurred in Iraq or Afghanistan. The war is not just “over there” its right here, and the fact that it hasn’t broken out more can be directly attributed to the fact that the Administration and a few stalwart individuals are ever vigilant and look to take out these home grown groups before they get to the operational stage. Were we are going wrong with the war here is by treating our enemies found in the country as criminals when they should be “enemy combatants and subversives.”