IN THE NEWS
The surprising, sordid end of the Alabama church fires case has at least two important points of relevance for counterterrorism. First, it's important to remember that terrorism wears an American face as well as a foreign one. It remains to be seen whether the college students lame explanation for burning nine churches--a "joke" that somehow "got out of hand"--holds up under further investigation. Even if it does, the incident strikes a deep, painful nerve flayed raw by decades of lynching, firebombings, and other efforts to terrorize African-Americans. The defendants may be the dumbest college students on this planet for having inflamed fears about militant white supremacists, or there may be more to their story than they've been willing to admit.
It's more important, however, to recognize how the police captured the three students in question. Finding the arsonists through distinctive tire tracks left at the crime scenes is the most basic police work imaginable. Sift through the evidence, find the connections, capture the criminals, prevent future crimes. The electronic haystack of phone calls, e-mails, and instant messages might never have yielded the evidentiary needle that would have closed the case. If the great electronic dragnet that the Bush Administration has argued is a critical tool of counterterrorism played no role in catching three dopey college students, how effective can it really be against other targets?
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