The Pendulum Swing
I’m back from summer break and ready to pick up my blogging duties. Lesson from vacation trip this year: don’t drive in urban Italy unless you have Formula 1 experience. I still have a bad case of the shakes whenever I get behind the wheel.
The last few months have provided some great new grist for thriller writers. First there was Bruce Ivins, the Ft. Detrick, MD, biological researcher whom the FBI claims was the sole person behind the 2001 U.S. anthrax attacks. Those attacks killed five people and infected over a dozen others. After Ivins’s death in July, which was ruled a suicide, the FBI moved to close the case, stating that the evidence against him was overwhelming.
Still, questions abound. How did the FBI eliminate all other suspects? How did Ivins prepare the anthrax spores? Where did he do the work? Why was no trace of the spores found in his house, his automobile, the lab where he worked? How did he get to Princeton, N.J., the location of the post box where postal inspectors said the tainted envelopes were mailed? And perhaps most confounding, what was Ivins’s motive?
There have been calls for an independent review of the Ivins case, but so far the Justice Department isn’t playing along. They’d rather turn the page, letting the questions fade. As one FBI investigator put it, "There will always be spores on the grassy knoll."
Another case involving the FBI is equally intriguing. Aafia Siddiqui is a Pakistani native who came to the U.S. in 1991 to attend college. She received a bachelor’s degree and doctorate and also obtained U.S. citizenship. In 2003, she was again living in Pakistan. One day she left home in a taxi, and simply vanished. At about that time, the U.S. Justice Department had begun investigating her for alleged ties to al-Qaeda.
Siddiqui resurfaced this summer in Afghanistan. The FBI claims she was seen acting suspiciously near a provincial governor’s residence and was taken into custody by local police. According to court filings, she had in her possession a "mass casualty attack" list of locations in America – Brooklyn Bridge, Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty. She also allegedly was carrying instructions for making bombs and biological weapons.
After her arrest, Siddiqui was questioned by a group of U.S. Army officers and FBI agents. The government claims that during the questioning, Siddiqui got hold of an M-4 rifle and started shooting at the interrogators. She was wounded in the exchange of gunfire. She is now in New York, where she had been indicted in federal court on charges of attempted murder.
Questions? Here are a few. Where was Siddiqui from 2003 to 2008? No idea, says the government. Why was she carrying such sensitive information around Afghanistan and where did it come from? Can’t say, replies the government. How could she, a woman of only ninety pounds and no known military training, get her hands on a rifle while in U.S. Army custody? And most intriguing, why is the government charging her only with attempted murder and not with any terrorist-related offenses?
My point is not to paint Ivins and Siddiqui as innocent victims of government conspiracy. Maybe they are and maybe they aren’t. Instead, the real lesson is how far the pendulum has swung in recent years. After the 9/11 attacks, Americans strongly supported government efforts to stop terrorism. Now, in the popular press and around the kitchen table, the FBI, Homeland Security, the CIA – all the agencies involved in fighting terrorism – are viewed with skepticism, even cynicism.
This isn’t the first time Americans have been willing to believe the worst of their own government. Check out some of the top thrillers from the 1970s, like James Grady’s Six Days of the Condor or Loren Singer’s The Parallax View (both of which were made into fine movies.) It took decades for America to outgrow the hangover from Vietnam and Watergate. It’s sad to think it may take as long for America to come out of its current tailspin, brought on by the war in Iraq, by Abu Ghraib, by excessive government secrecy, by botched terrorist investigations.
Still, I won’t complain too loudly about any of this. Like I say, it’s a great time to be a thriller writer.
The last few months have provided some great new grist for thriller writers. First there was Bruce Ivins, the Ft. Detrick, MD, biological researcher whom the FBI claims was the sole person behind the 2001 U.S. anthrax attacks. Those attacks killed five people and infected over a dozen others. After Ivins’s death in July, which was ruled a suicide, the FBI moved to close the case, stating that the evidence against him was overwhelming.
Still, questions abound. How did the FBI eliminate all other suspects? How did Ivins prepare the anthrax spores? Where did he do the work? Why was no trace of the spores found in his house, his automobile, the lab where he worked? How did he get to Princeton, N.J., the location of the post box where postal inspectors said the tainted envelopes were mailed? And perhaps most confounding, what was Ivins’s motive?
There have been calls for an independent review of the Ivins case, but so far the Justice Department isn’t playing along. They’d rather turn the page, letting the questions fade. As one FBI investigator put it, "There will always be spores on the grassy knoll."
Another case involving the FBI is equally intriguing. Aafia Siddiqui is a Pakistani native who came to the U.S. in 1991 to attend college. She received a bachelor’s degree and doctorate and also obtained U.S. citizenship. In 2003, she was again living in Pakistan. One day she left home in a taxi, and simply vanished. At about that time, the U.S. Justice Department had begun investigating her for alleged ties to al-Qaeda.
Siddiqui resurfaced this summer in Afghanistan. The FBI claims she was seen acting suspiciously near a provincial governor’s residence and was taken into custody by local police. According to court filings, she had in her possession a "mass casualty attack" list of locations in America – Brooklyn Bridge, Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty. She also allegedly was carrying instructions for making bombs and biological weapons.
After her arrest, Siddiqui was questioned by a group of U.S. Army officers and FBI agents. The government claims that during the questioning, Siddiqui got hold of an M-4 rifle and started shooting at the interrogators. She was wounded in the exchange of gunfire. She is now in New York, where she had been indicted in federal court on charges of attempted murder.
Questions? Here are a few. Where was Siddiqui from 2003 to 2008? No idea, says the government. Why was she carrying such sensitive information around Afghanistan and where did it come from? Can’t say, replies the government. How could she, a woman of only ninety pounds and no known military training, get her hands on a rifle while in U.S. Army custody? And most intriguing, why is the government charging her only with attempted murder and not with any terrorist-related offenses?
My point is not to paint Ivins and Siddiqui as innocent victims of government conspiracy. Maybe they are and maybe they aren’t. Instead, the real lesson is how far the pendulum has swung in recent years. After the 9/11 attacks, Americans strongly supported government efforts to stop terrorism. Now, in the popular press and around the kitchen table, the FBI, Homeland Security, the CIA – all the agencies involved in fighting terrorism – are viewed with skepticism, even cynicism.
This isn’t the first time Americans have been willing to believe the worst of their own government. Check out some of the top thrillers from the 1970s, like James Grady’s Six Days of the Condor or Loren Singer’s The Parallax View (both of which were made into fine movies.) It took decades for America to outgrow the hangover from Vietnam and Watergate. It’s sad to think it may take as long for America to come out of its current tailspin, brought on by the war in Iraq, by Abu Ghraib, by excessive government secrecy, by botched terrorist investigations.
Still, I won’t complain too loudly about any of this. Like I say, it’s a great time to be a thriller writer.
posted by Rob at 5:55 AM
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