When news broke that U.S. Navy SEALs had killed 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden, Neville Cramer found himself in an unusual situation.
Cramer, a retired Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agent and border security expert, was conducting anti-terrorism training courses in the Middle East at the time of bin Laden's death on May 1.
"I was absolutely thrilled, but I didn't know if standing in the middle of Jordan and celebrating the death of Osama bin Laden would have been completely a good thing," said Cramer, who returned to Scottsdale less than two weeks ago. "The vast majority of people in Jordan are Muslim, so it generated a strange situation. I didn't know whether to act happy or unhappy, but officials in Jordan said they were glad bin Laden was dead. Although Jordan has been a strong ally of the United States for decades and a number of Middle Eastern countries say they are committed to fighting terrorism, I think it would have been more of a problem had I been in Yemen."
In fact, Cramer has spent parts of nearly each month during the past year in countries throughout the world - Algiers, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Lebanon, Mali and Yemen - conducting anti-terrorism training for various border police and other enforcement agencies who want to bolster their national security. As a contract instructor, part of Cramer's anti-terrorism training includes training allied countries to secure border protection and immigration control systems, detecting and preventing the use of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, human trafficking and detection of fraudulent documents.
And although he believes that the death of al-Qaida's leader is a crucial blow to the organization which has terrorist cells throughout the world, Cramer maintains that Americans must remain vigilant in spotting suspicious behavior to help prevent further terrorist attacks in the United States from groups acting out in revenge for bin Laden's death.
He believes the next 60 to 90 days will be critical for al-Qaida to prove its relevance, possibly through other attacks against the United States at smaller targets - shopping malls, sporting events, or even disrupting a city's water supply system.
"We have to do the same thing we did after 9/11," Cramer said. "You have to be vigilant about people acting suspiciously around you. Be watchful of people who are wandering around by themselves at large events. (Al-Qaida's) objective is to kill a lot of people."
Citing an example of a suspicious person, Cramer said, "Here we are in Phoenix, Arizona, and it is June. "No one in Phoenix should be wearing a bulky sweater or a trench coat. Things like that should stand out in spotting suspicious activity."
Cramer also said to be aware of vehicles parked in areas where they should not be as well as unattended luggage or boxes in public places.
"If you have any doubts or feel suspicion about someone, don't hesitate to report it to local police," Cramer said.
Cramer believes the killing of bin Laden was a crucial turning point in beginning to cripple al-Qaida, and gathering information from the compound where bin Laden was killed was key.
"We literally have cut off the head of the spear, or the head of the snake," Cramer said. "Cells are created to prevent intelligence gathering, maintained independently and do not have an independent headquarters and are funded by various means. Taking down a cell won't disrupt the head of the operation. We've struck them at their heart and cut off the head of the snake. I don't know of very many snakes who live longer after its head is cut off. For al-Qaida to survive, they have to communicate, and once they start doing that, there's the chance that a lot of their communication will be intercepted."
Cramer gives President Obama credit for deciding to "take out" bin Laden, straying away from a long-standing U.S. philosophy not to conduct clandestine raids to kill dictators in oppressive countries or radicals threatening to overthrow governments of allied countries, something that was put in place by President Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s.
With billions of dollars spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and thousands of Americans soldiers being killed, Cramer believes the current U.S. administration is likely to conduct more covert operations to kill terrorist leaders plotting attacks against the United States.
"We will see," Cramer said.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 12:03 pm on Wed, May 18, 2011.
I sure would like to see a "no-nonsense" Conservative American columnist with the guts to come right out and say.."No one in America should be wearing a face-covering or a bhurka either". We need some columnists who call "a spade a spade"...no "gray areas"...no "Political Correctness"....just some honest truth for a change.
The Democrats and the Obama Administration....."bends-over-backwards" ...for every Human Rights, Hispanic Rights, Muslim Rights, Terrorist's Rights.....every kooky Ethnic and Religious Group in the Land.
Well, Mr. President....what about the ..RIGHTS OF LEGAL PATRIOTIC AMERICANS.........WHAT ABOUT OUR RIGHTS THAT WERE SUPPOSED TO BE GUARANTEED BY THE CONSTITUTION AND THE BILL OF RIGHTS.......NOT SOME ....SUPREME COURT DECISION...TELLING AMERICANS AND THEIR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATORS..............WHAT THEY "SHOULD" HAVE LEGISLATED.
k33j88 posted at 6:02 am on Fri, May 20, 2011.
This type of hysteria reminds me of nazi germany. Maybe the patriot act should be expanded? Big Sis may want a "pat down" at every turn of your everyday life. Ah yes----Big Govn't--now don't you feel much safer??? Will the last freedom-loving patriot please shutoff the lights?
manini posted at 9:24 am on Sun, May 22, 2011.
With Binladen "dead" for the 9th time since ex-Prez Jorge "Boracho" Bushwhacker first claimed that honor via FOXNEWS TV segment on 12/26/2001 with Pakistan Prez Pervaez Mushariff's announcement of Binladen's death of diabetes in a Pakistani Cave...the ridiculous U.S. Patriot Act should be REPEALED or permitted to sunset by the U.S. Congress. The "War on Terror" is over, bring the U.S. Troops home, save the bankrupt U.S. Treasury $160 BILLION+ annually, & let's start paying off our U.S. National Debt of $14.3 TRILLION+. This will greatly improve the U.S. Economy, provide more jobs like after WWII, the U.S. Navy fleet & USAF warplanes can be mothballed & everything will be goooood!! BTW, when we were on search_&_destroy missions in Nam, U.S. Army General Westmoreland + the brass kept enemy "bodycounts" to show the U.S. taxpaying civilians just how brave & good us U.S. troops were at killing & defeating the VietCong & NVA enemy in combat. We were required to bring in body parts of enemy KIA's to register valid enemy "KIAs". Howcum, OBAMANATION + his Navy SEALs were so squeemish about showing Binladen's "DNA test results" or Pics...I see more gory pics on NCIS TV show daily on cable especially when their morgue pathologist "Ducky" does his autopsies "en camera!"...LOL!!! Anyway, sounds like another "Big LIE" like Prez Kennedy & LBJ used lying about the "Gulf of Tonkin incident" to justify the Nam War, or GWB using the fake WMD B.S. to justify the Iraq War, & the GERMAN NAZI Fuehrer Adolf Hitler + his propaganda minister Goebels used to fool the German people about the Jews, Poles & Russians to justify invading their countries & starting WWII. OBAMANATION + GOP U.S. Senator Juan "McAmnesty" McCain are pushing for "Perpetual War" without a formal Declaration of War by the U.S. Congress, which will cause a thermonuclear WWIII, as evidenced by BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) meeting with Chinese Prez Hu Jintao welcoming Pakistan & North Korean leaders in China recently. Yep, the true enemy of the U.S. is the U.S. Military-Industrial-Security-Complex & the TRILLION$$$$ they'll make from UNENDING WAR$$$...without regard for the thousands of brave U.S. Troop KIAs dying in these worthless wars for OIL or Natural Resources of other countries.
REPEAL THE PATRIOT ACT & get back to U.S. Constitutional basics & the Bill of Rights!!! Defend the U.S.A. against ALL ENEMIES, FOREIGN & DOMESTIC!!!