The Cutting Edge

Fun fact: Alabama is the birthplace of ace terrorist Rashid Ruif.

Rauf, 27, from Ward End, Birmingham –an Al Qaeda suspect said to be the “key player” behind the alleged liquid bomb plot to blow up transatlantic airliners – was killed in a missile strike last Saturday in North Western Pakistan by an unmanned US drone.

So they say.

At the time of his death Rauf was meeting with Egyptian extremist and senior Al Qaeda field commander Abu Zubair al-Masri in the tribal heartland of Waziristan.

Indian investigators will now probe the significance of that meeting, thought to have been a “council of war” to discuss jihadi attacks against western targets, and examine connections between LET, JEM and the Mumbai attacks.

Unbelievable.

Well, you never know with these wily terrorists. For all we know, he could be alive and well, right? I mean, look at Tim Osman/Osama bin Laden. Alive and plotting against Western Civilization...dead since 2001...what's the difference? For all intents and purposes, he is alive and busy. That's the terror of it: you just never know. No preparations will ever be enough. We can go around and around on this carousel of terror for ever and ever and ever, world without end. Amen.

But don't you worry. Alabama has just opened a brand spanking new Fusion Center with a grant from the Department of Homeland Security. (Background info on fusion centers here.)

The Fusion Center is a collaborative operation that receives and disseminates data aimed at combating terrorism and crime, according to Col. J. Christopher Murphy, director of the Alabama Department of Public Safety. DPS houses the center, provides the officer in charge, and serves as co-chair of its steering committee, along with the Alabama Department of Homeland Security.

“We know that information-sharing is critical in fighting terrorism and other criminal activities that victimize the public and undermine our safety and security,” Murphy said. “Through the Alabama Fusion Center, we have established a means to capture, analyze and disseminate data that furthers the work of protecting our state,” he said.

So there's absolutely no chance whatsoever that Rashid Ruif will come back for his ten year high school reunion or anything and take revenge on all those classmates who voted for Israel-supporting President-elect Barack Obama. Top terrorist Zawahri considers Obama nothing but a 'house-slave,' so you can imagine the radical Muslim terrorists disappointment with him, and by extension, with people who support him. And that would be a lot of people. People who maybe should learn a lesson.

Zawahri [whose name often appears as Zawahiri in our bizarre western media], referred to Obama as a "house slave". It was a historical reference to pre-Civil War days when white Americans in the land of the free could legally own black Americans; those who worked in the mansions were typically more docile, and more inclined to do the bidding of their owners, than those who worked in the fields.

The man running the new Fusion Center is Vice Admiral (ret.) Roger T. Rufe, Jr., who hails from the Coast Guard. Now this is actually kind of fortunate because, as it turns out, Alabama is also ahead of the curve with port security. All workers are required to have federal ID cards by December 30, 2008.

New federal ID cards will be required of all local port workers starting Dec. 30, and the enrollment center in Mobile was bustling Thursday as people scrambled to get their cards, which require an extensive background check and cost more than $100 each.

Doug O'Brien, a 51-year-old truck driver for CTL Distribution Inc. in Theodore, sat with about a dozen people waiting to either apply for or pick up their cards. O'Brien, who was applying, said he had waited so long because up until a week ago he had heard very little about the program.

"All of a sudden, you've got to have it by the end of the month or else you don't drive, you don't work, you don't eat," O'Brien said.

The pressure is on. These people must be processed to get their cards so that they can work. But again, don't you worry. Alabama is on the cutting edge of this port security program. And these people are motivated to get their cards because they need to work and put food on their families and presents under the tree and all that good stuff.

The enrollment center at the International Trade Center opened exactly a year ago this week. Since that time, the state docks has worked with the Alabama Trucking Association, held public meetings, distributed flyers and taken other steps to get the word out.

Mobile is far ahead of many other ports in terms of number of people enrolled, placing seventh, just after Lake Charles, La., according to federal data.

O'Brien's company is footing the bill for his card, called the Transportation Worker Identification Credential, or TWIC.

The requirement also becomes effective Dec. 30 for the ports of Pascagoula, Gulfport, Pensacola and Panama City. By April 15, 2009, all ports must be in compliance and all credentialed mariners must be in a possession of the card.

And look who administers the program.

The program — a result of the terrorist attacks of 9/11 — is being overseen by the Transportation Security Administration, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, in conjunction with the U.S. Coast Guard. It is being administered by Lockheed Martin Corp., with the Alabama State Port Authority helping implement it locally.

So you can see that Vice Admiral Rufe is the perfect fit to lead the Fusion Center with his Coast Guard background. After all, we are talking about port security, one of the known weak links in our national security system since 9/11. Lockheed Martin, DHS, the Coast Guard, Port Authority...what more do you want? The top people are on the case.

Of course, if somehow some terrorist was ever able to slip through this amazing security, that would be really almost unbelievable. But it could happen. Unfortunately, you just never know with these things. The terrorists are so wily. It's like they can outsmart our most stupendous preparations, you know?

But I'm sure we have nothing to worry about.