All Alone in the Night

Apparently Wonkette's take on the Fort Dix six's plan to attack soldiers at Fort Dix is becoming the accepted wisdom about the attack.

Ok. So, the plot was: six dudes from New Jersey buy some guns and storm Fort Dix. The Fort Dix that is full of lots and lots of Army reservists with way, way more guns. And, like, extensive military training and shit. Yes, thank god these terrorists have been caught and locked up before they could be killed within minutes of deciding to carry out the dumbest fucking terrorist plot we’ve ever heard of.

It is not my intent to blow up the attackers beyond their means. They were clearly not too bright, and the incident serves as an important reminder that law enforcement and intelligence are critical tools in this war. (BTW, would these men have been caught pre-Patriot Act? I'm pretty sure they would have, but I'm not certain of that. If I'm right, that's a good reminder of how little the act really did to further secure the U.S. against attack.) But slightly more competent terrorists could have done a lot more damage than people who've never served seem to realize.

Yes, Fort Dix is filled with soldiers, as are all military posts. Contrary to what a lot of people appear to believe, however, soldiers don't wander about 24/7 with weapons, and even soldiers who are armed only have live rounds when they're on a range, with the exception of on-duty military police. So six men with weapons and live rounds could pose a non-trivial risk to a lot of soldiers, depending on how they executed their attack. Again, I'll note that these individuals in particular don't strike me as too likely to have done their due diligence, so they probably wouldn't have been overly effective, but they certainly could have killed at least a few people before they were brought down, and a more intelligent bunch could kill a lot more than a few people.

As Ann Althouse properly notes, the September 11 attacks would have sounded preposterous if someone had suggested them ahead of time, yet they worked disturbingly well. The price of living in a free society is having a lot of places where people can kill effectively. Personally, I'd rather live in that society than one where my safety is guaranteed by taking away most of my rights, but poo-pooing the threats strikes me as an ignorant response to the problem.

Update: Edited for clarity. In the immortal words of Ralph Wiggum: "Me fail English. That unpossible!"