Dear Ann Landers: What if I meet a terrorist who is hell bent on destroying Americans? If I turn him in, will he think I am prejudiced?
—-Charlotte in Washington, D.C.
Fortunately, I won’t have to post my letter to Mrs. Landers, as Fred Thompson answers this question today in a column on the clerk who saved an untold number of Americans from possible death at the hands of a nascent band of terrorists:
“You remember the young electronics store clerk whose tip led the FBI to the six men plotting to murder American soldiers at Fort Dix. While copying a video tape onto DVD, he saw images of men firing guns and shouting Islamic slogans.
“For a while after the story broke, he kept his head down. Now Brian Morgenstern has come forward — and his story is eye-popping. For a full day after seeing the evidence, he debated with himself about whether he should report what he knew. He was concerned about violating the privacy of his customers and that telling the police might be looked upon as ‘racist.’
“I can understand his regard for customer privacy. Worrying that he’d be viewed as a racist, though, is troubling — because there are people trying to use that charge to keep Americans from reporting potentially deadly behavior. This was the case with the so-called ‘flying imams.’ They provoked real concern among airline passengers – and some think purposely. Then they filed suit against the airline and the passengers who reported them — claiming they were racists.
“Most Americans take the charge of racism very seriously — as they should. It becomes a problem, though, if false accusations are used to keep us from reporting suspicious activities.”
Powerline has an intriguing item today suggesting that terrorists are conducting trial runs to determine to what degree they can count on decent Americans to make a decision that benefits their lethal plans Scary.