Some things to remember

Here are some things to remember about the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

1. They did not involve bombs. Repeat that to yourself. Explosions? Yes. Destruction? Yes! Horrible, senseless loss of life? Assuredly! Were there any bombs involved? No. None. None on the planes, and none on the ground. The knee-jerk reaction to bombs-- the paranoia and the single-minded pursuit of explosives and bomb makers-- has been manufactured. Many public places are now looking at requirements for bomb detection. There are a couple of large, complicated, and very expensive machines that do bomb sniffing. More are being developed, for a market projected in the billions. None has ever found a bomb, because there aren't any.
   
   
2. They did not involve illegal immigrants. The 9/11 terrorists were all legal immigrants in the US on legal visas. They didn't sneak across the border to work in agriculture or as domestics. They applied and were allowed to enter in order to study.
   
   
3. They did not involve citizens of a hostile country. The 9/11 terrorists weren't from Pakistan, or Afghanistan, or Iraq or Iran or any other country which harbors ill will toward the USA. Most all of them were Saudis, which is the one country in the middle east that is most friendly to us (Israel excepted).
   

It seems to me, just from an efficiency point of view, that we should keep the above points in mind in attempting to budget funds to keep ourselves safe. Let's spend money where it's most likely to do some good.