< Five at 8 - 12/30/09: The unheeded lessons of 9/11 | Main | Carl Kasell's farewell >

The four phases of terrorism

Posted at 1:57 PM on December 30, 2009 by Bob Collins
Filed under: Crime and Justice

The four phases of terrorism in the U.S. are (a) disbelief (b) anger (c) finger-pointing and (d) "if it moves, shoot it." In the wake of the Northwest Flight 253 incident, we have reached D, when we see suspicious activity where it doesn't lurk.

In New York City today, a van in Times Square -- there's something you don't see every day -- caused police to close the tourist spot because it had tinted windows and no license plates.

It turned out not to contain explosives (in the old days, we would assume it was stolen), but note the photographers who showed up to document the air going out of the story.