Thinking suspicious thoughts

I'm wondering whether any of my readers might know whether the MOSSAD has the equivalent of a terrorist "rat line" to report susicious behavior which might be connected to terrorism. While most law-abiding Americans would be unlikely to think this way, I know that if I were a foreign born resident with such information who wanted to help this country, I'd be highly unlikely to share it with American authorities, because those who take calls can pretty well be assumed to be either penetrated by the enemy or at least incompetent (which is the next thing). And if you wanna get really paranoid about these things, suppose that "regime change" came to the United States in the form of an antiwar, pro-Islamist type of administration. They might very well place "anti-terrorist informants" into a very undesirable category. Were I a moderate Muslim from the Mideast, this might very well give me pause.

Of course, reporting suspicious behavior to the MOSSAD might be seen as a crime, so perhaps I should just un-say what I just said. . .

But ahem.

Let's pretend we're in law school, and try out a hypothetical. Suppose a United States resident saw a large mail truck leaving a place he knew to be a Wahhabi madrassa, suppose that the truck had no license plate, and suppose that it was Sunday. There might be a perfectly innocent explanation for this (after all, mail trucks sometimes go on Sunday shooting sprees), but then again, there might not. The point is, something like that would be investigated, and either way, the informant's name would be on record somewhere. If the driver was an employee of the USPS and questions were asked in the usual stupid bureaucratic manner, a terrorist ring might be alerted. And if this was a case where a postal employee was using an official vehicle for personal business, he might get in trouble even absent any terrorist connection (even if no one wondered about the personal business of a postal employee using a mail truck at a madrassa).

It would be a mess, and it's confusing. But while I'm glad I don't have to worry about such things, am I wrong in thinking that the MOSSAD would be less likely to be penetrated?

posted by Eric on 10.02.05 at 01:31 PM





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Comments

Well at least in this scenario using a USPS one could skip all local authorities and go directly to the FBI

but, I have to agree with you... I think MOSSAD, just by its very nature and history... will be a much tighter run, shipshape and bristol fashion, organization.

I'd call them.

Darleen   ·  October 2, 2005 02:13 PM

I, too, would call the MOSSAD.

Yeah, so would I. But might that be considered espionage?

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/crm02057.htm

Eric Scheie   ·  October 2, 2005 03:12 PM

"And if you wanna get really paranoid about these things, suppose that "regime change" came to the United States in the form of an antiwar, pro-Islamist type of administration. They might very well place "anti-terrorist informants" into a very undesirable category. Were I a moderate Muslim from the Mideast, this might very well give me pause."

One more reason to make sure you vote Republican!

Now license plates? Call the local cops and give a description. Being a USPS truck it should have a number stenciled on it. The police will contact the USPS about it and get further information from them.

And you don't have to give your name. Just tell them you're a concerned citizen.

Alan Kellogg   ·  October 2, 2005 09:05 PM

I better start getting my checks from Karl Rove now.

Not just checks, but balances too.

triticale   ·  October 3, 2005 08:10 AM

Your checks and balances are in the MAIL!

Eric Scheie   ·  October 3, 2005 08:35 AM

Remember the USS Liberty?
The Awacs that Isreal tried to sell to China?
The bugging of the Whitehouse phone system
during Clinton's presidency?

Is Israel truely our friend?

anonymous   ·  October 5, 2005 11:55 PM


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