An early spring....

"It was the follow on attack to 9/11 we have all been dreading."   

John was in his sweet spot. Even though he was still at work, his mind was wandering. His body was sitting on the 34th floor of the old IDS Building in Minneapolis. But his mind was elsewhere. Like at his cabin on Red Cedar Lake in west central Wisconsin. It was Thursday afternoon at 2:00 and John still had stuff to do before checkout time tomorrow. He had already cleared it with his boss about leaving early. The green light was given and John would be on Highway 8 heading east about this time tomorrow.

About 2:07, John felt the building shake. He knew the city was doing massive repair and upgrades on the street out in front. All John could think about was the traffic. He was just hoping they did not have his main escape route all hosed up again. But, he could not worry about that now. Time was a wasting, and he had a project to get finished before he shoved off tomorrow.

About 2:15 the tornado sirens went off. John shoved his keyboard away in total disgust. Can't these morons figure out how those damn things work for crying out loud? Good grief! Then John thought about last week. The sirens went off at 6:10 in the morning. Another city goof up. A short in the system of some kind. The sirens were only supposed to go off on the first Wednesday of the month. That is unless it is the once a year special severe weather day. But that day was already behind us.

The sirens kept blaring and blaring. All of a sudden John's boss came into his office. "Have you been listening to the radio?" For Pete's sake John thought, why? I am trying to work here. "There has been a terror attack downtown. Close to the Federal Reserve Building. They think it might have been an Oklahoma style truck bomb. Fortunately, the truck could not get close enough to the building to bring it down. Lots of windows blown out, some injuries, and some minor structural damage."

All John could keep thinking about was how this event would really screw up traffic. Okay, there was an explosion. But why in the world do they have to keep on blaring those damn tornado sirens?

What John did not realize was this - those sirens are not tornado sirens. They are civil defense sirens. And they were blowing for a reason.

All of a sudden John's phone rang and it was his wife. Unlike her usual demeanor, it seemed like she was screaming at him through the phone. "John, you have to get the hell out of there, like right now! The area affected is spreading and will hit the IDS Building shortly." John had no idea what his wife was talking about. And those sirens - can they please shut them off!?

Betty was trying to catch her breath. "John, they think it is a dirty bomb. The geiger counters the local homeland security team are using are going crazy! There is a radioactive cloud covering much of Minneapolis. They are telling people if they can safely leave, do so. Otherwise, get into a storm shelter or if possible, and old fallout shelter." 

John sat at his desk totally stunned. Betty kept talking about the alert, but John did not hear a word she was saying. What John did not know was this was a coordinated attack which had been planned for years. Sleeper cells had been activated in nine of the twelve districts of the Federal Reserve. Of those nine, five had a successful detonation. Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Minneapolis all had a cloud of radioactive dust emanating from where the dirty bombs were detonated. It was the follow on attack to 9/11 we have all been dreading.

This tale is of course not true. Thank God it is not. However, it is very, very possible and plausible. The world is awash with spent uranium and other radioactive materials. Garnering enough radioactive material together on the black market would really not be that tough. Especially for terrorists who have money and nothing to lose.

One thing our government does not tell us is simply this. Those sirens which go off the first Wednesday of the month are NOT tornado sirens. They are civil defense. Right now most people think they are only for a tornado. They can go off for a multitude of reasons, including the detonation of dirty bomb. Our southern border is porous. Our northern border might become so with the new Prime Minister in Canada. Our country is leaking like a sieve for bad stuff which might make it in. 

Most terror experts will tell you the same thing. As good as our security has become since 9/11, it is still only a matter of when, not if. And to hit our financial system would be a real bonanza. As we are wrapped up in knots with our PC culture, the bad guys continue to look for ways to cripple us.

John, and many people like him stuck downtown if a dirty bomb hits will be doomed. They will suffer either a quick death, or a slow one. Much of the cities affected will be unusable for years. Maybe decades,or even longer. The cost of repair to our infrastructure would be massive - maybe even more massive than the trillion plus dollars the 9/11 attacks cost us.

Sorry for being a downer. But the threat is still out there. Hearing the sirens the other day reminded me of that ugly fact. It is not a bad idea to have a "bug out" plan if things get unlivable in your area. And if bad things happen, you will have to react quickly. If you need to be holed up in your house for a week or longer, remember, your house needs to also become your store. Make sure you are prepared.