I have recently returned from a two week trip to the USA where I visited both Washington DC and New York. I have always enjoyed visiting America – I like the country and I like the people… well, most of them anyway. But as the Bush/Cheney era has plunged the country more towards true fascism, it is getting harder and harder to contemplate making future visits with any degree of pleasure.

In just two short weeks, I lost count of the number of times I had to empty my pockets into trays to be x-rayed, had to take my jacket and shoes off and walk through a metal detector. It seems that almost anywhere you go the men in black with their dour no-nonsense expressions, firearms at their side, are waiting for you while you join yet another security checkpoint line. And being a ‘foreigner’ almost guarantees a special bag search at airports or a quick scan with the wand.

I experienced the contrast most noticeably when I visited the NEC at Birmingham at the weekend. If this had been America the queue for security would have snaked out of the front doors while visitors were scanned, x-rayed and visually scrutinised. Being England, there was a polite notice suggesting that random bag searches may take place – sorry for the inconvenience. As it was there were just a small handful of guys keeping watch at the entrance and, no doubt, somewhere deep in the bowels of the building, a team watching the CCT feeds. Yet we are just as vulnerable to acts of terrorism as our friends across the ocean.

I have long argued that the new US security industry, fostered and mandated by the White House mafia, is mere window dressing and is, generally, a pointless exercise. After all, what better target for a suicide bomber than a few hundred people standing idly in tightly packed queues for a security check? It really only serves two functions: to make it appear that something is being done to protect the public and to keep that same public in a heightened state of fear.

The truth, of course, is that unless you really do have hard and reliable intelligence, there is not much you can do to stop a terrorist attack. To pretend that hardened and determined terrorists are going to be put off by security checks is quite obviously absurd. And if anyone really believes that a terrorist is going to try and get something nasty that can be easily found through an x-ray machine and metal detector, then they do not have the intelligence that most terrorists themselves have.

The New York University School of Law’s ‘Center on Law and Security’ has recently published statistics on US terrorism related arrests and convictions. (Source: PDF: Terrorist Trail: Report Card). This report takes into account every federal case in which terrorism was allegedly a factor between September 11th, 2001 and September 11th 2006. The numbers make for interesting reading.

In the period of the five years following the attack on the World Trade Towers, a period during which the Bush/Cheney administration focused so much money, effort, energy, manpower and media headlines on their so-called ‘War On Terror’, there were 510 arrests where terrorist related activity was a stated offence. Of those 510 defendants arrested, only 163 were actually indicted under a terrorist related activity. Of those 163 subsequent prosecutions, the total convictions are: 4.

(They are Zacarias Moussaoui, Richard Reid, Chao Tung Wu and Shahawar Matin Siraj. These individuals were convicted of attempting to commit terrorism. Three of the four had ties to militant Islamic fundamentalism. Moussaoui, once thought to be the 20th 9/11 hijacker, turned out not to be. Reid, the “shoe-bomber,” was apprehended by other passengers on a transatlantic flight. Wu tried to import Chinese surface-to-air missiles into the United States. Siraj was convicted for planning to bomb a New York City subway.)

What is more, the report states:

Nobody affiliated with a radical Islamic group has been charged with crimes related to chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons.

The spin that the report, the White House and Fox News put on these numbers is, of course, that their anti-terrorism measures are working. But the more reasonable and thoughtful amongst us can see a very clear alternative explanation. As the report concludes:

In sum, these numbers – and the stories behind them – tell us either that the threat is much less than we thought, or that the policies of the United States have reduced the threat of terrorism through deterrence, and, yes, through excessive vigilance. The overall record revealed in these charts suggests the presence of few, if any, prevalent terrorist threats currently within the U.S. Any future policy must be premised on this conclusion. It is time, after five years, for a sustained and comprehensive conversation about the domestic prosecution of terrorists.

The method of terrorism is to sow the seeds of fear – to engender in a population a state of fright and insecurity – a worry that they will be the next ones to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. As one who has lived through many years of constant terrorism and been in more bomb scares than airport security checks, the real terrorists in the USA seem to me to be those who live on Pennsylvania Avenue and out close to the Washington Observatory.

Mike Power bought this to my attention a few weeks back and I’ve been meaning to follow it up ever since – and now I’ve missed it! The great Minnesota Book Burning bought to you by the National Socialist Movement of the USA. In their own words:

Tonight nearly 100 men and women from the National Socialist Movement and allied Comrades gathered near Downtown St. Paul, Minnesota. The night began with Dinner at a local restaurant, where we nearly filled the place. After Dinner, the massive convoy of cars, SUVs, pickups, and vans drove to the inner City area where we held the First ever Book Burning organized by National Socialists in the United States.

A nice Minnesota Temperature of approx. 3 degrees prompted the men to work extra fast, and get the fire going quickly. Standing in a massive circle many in attendance stood close to the flames, the torches were then lit, and it began! As flames whipped high into the air, several announcements were made, and I offered the first of many items to the flames. The first thing to hit the pyre was several letters from the German Government telling us how music from our Record Label (NSM Records) is banned in Germany.

After that, an Israeli flag was set to burn. Then the books came hurling into the flames, The Talmud went up in flames along with its brother the Communist manifesto, then came books promoting homosexuality/bestiality, and so on.

Upon viewing either the high flames or perhaps hearing the shouts of White Power in the inner City, the Police soon showed up. They walked through the snow to see what was going on, and asked us to move a vehicle that was parked off of the road. After that they watched on from the road on a hillside. (Original misspellings corrected – errant capitalisation retained!)

I thought the pre-book burning dinner was a nice touch! And all this was followed by rock and roll courtesy of local metal band ‘Total War’.

I need some help here. Is this for real? Or is it a parody site because it sure reads like parody. Sadly, I know the answer – these people are for real. This is what can happen when people don’t study history. And this is what can happen when our elected leaders don’t study history either.

The BBC reports today that Martin McGuinness is travelling to the USA expected to discuss an expected statement from the IRA.

Let me get this straight. The US Department of Homeland Security turns Cat Stevens back because they have reason to believe he has terrorist links – an obviously outrageous suggestion – but McGuinness is allowed in. Gerry Adams is allowed in.

The visit to the United States comes a day after the Irish Justice Minister, Michael McDowell, said he believed Mr McGuinness and party colleagues Gerry Adams and Martin Ferris had left the IRA army council.

Note here – they have left an organisation that they have always claimed they didn’t belong to. An organisation that basically wrote the twentieth century handbook on terrorism. And the US just lets them stroll in. Let’s just note here as any news-watcher will know, statement or no statement, the IRA is currently still active.

(I am aware that there was a suggestion that some charitable money raised by Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) had found its way to possible terrorist organisations. That doesn’t make him a terrorist any more than my income tax financing the Iraq Occupation means I approve of it.)