The Usual Suspects, The War on Terror and the Picken's Plan

I just had a chance to see The Usual Suspects on TV. I had seen it years ago but had forgotten most of it except for the fact that I figured out that Kevin Spacey was Keyser Soze a long time before the end sequence. There was one piece of dialogue that stuck with me this time, though, and it seemed to speak more to post 9/11 America than to pre 9/11 America, which may be the reason that I hadn't remembered it the first time I saw it. The dialogue went something like this, while Spacey was being interviewed by the police he made the statement that Keyser Soze had discovered that real power did not come from money or guns or even numbers but that real power sprung from being willing to do what others were not willing to do.

In the context of 9/11 that statement rings particularly true. 9/11 proved that our enemies were capable of convincing 19 young men to kill themselves in a horrendus manner in order to do devastating physical, economic and psychological damage to our nation. A similar exercise in will was provided to a French diplomat by another militant Islamic sect during the Crusades. The Frenchman was the guest of the head of the Ismaeli Muslims, who were also known as the assassins. While the Frenchman relaxed with the "Old Man of the Mountain," the head of the Ismaeli sect, he signaled for a young man to ascend to the top of the high wall of the castle. On command the young man hurled himself to his death on the rocks below for the sole purpose of demonstrating to the Frenchman the fanatic devotion of his followers. Needless to say the Frenchman was quite shaken, as were all Americans on 9/11.

Americans need to recognize that an incredible example of will was exercised against us and to be able to exercise at least some semblance of counter will power. Unfortunately the casual observer would be forced to conclude that not only has this not been the case, but to date the response has been nearly laughable. We still allow an alleged ally in the "war on terror" ( a term which, as has been pointed out on numerous occasions, is a politically correct but tactically inane means of defining the current situation) to give de facto sanctuary to bin Laden. Worse still we continue to finance both sides in this current conflict.

This failure is clearly a failure in leadership at the highest levels in Washington and requires the American people themselves to take the lead in protecting themselves from attack and to secure their security, economic and political future entirely on their own initiative. Since Washington will not provide the necessary leadership it is up to the American people to do so. Finally, almost seven years after 9/11 a leader has emerged and that leader is (hopefully) T. Boone Pickens.

As Mr. Pickens becomes more effective, look for efforts to smear or otherwise reduce his efficacy and dispirit his followers. I ask you not to buy into them.