It could happen here

Major news outlets are reporting that a pair of bombers have blown themselves up in two different subway stations in Moscow.  The FSB is going on the assumption that the perpetrators were Chechen.  Chechen rebels have threatened to bring their fight to Russian cities.  Russian forces recently killed several Chechen leaders, so this may be a revenge hit.

Here's the deal.  It's really hard to defend against either lone bombers or small groups of them.  Even if they are foreigners or have gone overseas for training, in a free society, the police cannot watch everyone all the time. 

What's to stop radicalized Muslims from adapting such small-scale terror tactics to strike the American homeland?  Nothing.   Talk about effective, cheap, economy of force tactics to strike fear in the root of your enemies society.

So far, except for 9/11, we've gotten lucky in the United States.  But those who would do us harm have struck targets overseas, including London, Madrid, and Bali. 

Al Qaeda so far seems to be continually going after the long bomb touchdown against us.  They succeeded on 9/11, and the government has reported on stopping several groups that were in the planning stage of other large scale attacks. 

But could they stop one or two people who learn how to make small wearable bombs and walk into the neighborhood Kroger and blow themselves up in the produce department?  Or the young woman with a child who walks into a school bus terminal in Louisville during the morning rush to get kids to school and taking out a group of kindergarteners waiting for their bus?


My guess is no.  My other guess is that if Al Qaeda ever does start using such tactics, it will break Americans out of their current state of not caring too much about these kinds of threats and either go or get off the pot.  We will either get serious about neutralizing the terrorists either military or socially,  or we will show that we do not deserve our role in the world.