Wasting valuable cannon fodder
by digby
Steve at No More Mister Nice Guy makes an important point that seems to have eluded all the hysterical gasbags on TV today. Referring to the shocking news that the American recently revealed to have been killed fighting for ISIS in Syria had once been an airline worker in Minneapolis (and therefore all of our airports are under siege from ISIS, runferyerlives!) he writes:
Think about it for one second: You're the leadership of ISIS. You make a big effort to recruit foreign fighters, and one of those fighters turns out to have access to secure areas at a major U.S. airport. What do you do?
Well, if you're serious about conducting terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, you don't put this guy on the front lines as cannon fodder. You send him to a training camp far away from the field of battle. Then you send him back to Minnesota in one piece. You don't squander an asset like this by getting him killed like any random soldier ...
One would think that any American, in fact, would be kept off the front lines in their war if they were intent upon attacking the US any time soon. Even if they don't have access to airports they surely would have value to a terrorist group planning attacks on US soil.
Yes, it could happen. It's certainly a possibility. But they are very busy right now committing atrocities and scaring the living hell out of everyone they come in contact with in Iraq and Syria. We don't appear to be at the top of their list of priorities at the moment. Their threats against us are to kill American they capture, a terrible thing to be sure. But unless you are an American in Iraq or Syria right now you probably don't have to stay up nights worrying about ISIS sneaking into your home and killing you in your bed.
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