Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban recently claimed responsibility for the deadly attack that took place at a police academy on Monday in Lahore, Pakistan. But that’s not all. According to Mehsud, the next attack is going to be much closer to home. In a phone interview with the Associated Press, Mehsud indicated that his terrorist organization was planning a devastating attack on Washington D.C. that would “amaze” the world. Heritage analyst James Phillips told Fox News:
It should be taken seriously because [Mehsud] has ordered the deaths of many Pakistanis and Afghans and has a close alliance with Al Qaeda. It’s not too much of a stretch to think he might be involved in an attack on the U.S. if he’s able to get his followers inside the United States. He’s a militant extremist whose threats cannot be ignored.
Though most Americans associate terrorist attacks with bombings, armed ground assaults can just as deadly and disruptive. The most dramatic recent example was the Terrorist attacks that took place in Mumbai, India last November, killing almost 200 people.
Ground assaults are not just a terrorist tactic that might happen over there. Over here, it has been less than two years since six terrorists were thwarted in their attempt to assault Fort Dix in New Jersey.
It would be wrong to assume it can’t happen here. It would also be wrong to start manning the barricades. What we need to do is keep fighting the long war against transnational terrorism—even if Washington doesn’t want to call it a war.
First, in order to prevent attacks from being planned in the first place, we must continue to search out and investigate plots using the authorities granted after 9/11 by the Patriot Act. Second, America must remain on the offense, getting them over there before they can get over here. That means fighting and winning the war in Afghanistan-Pakistan.
