Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab

Richard Reid, the notorious “shoe bomber,” was charged with eight criminal counts related to his acts of terrorism including, attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, attempted homicide, placing an explosive device on an aircraft, attempted murder, interference with flight crew members and attendants, attempted destruction of an aircraft, using a destructive device during and in relation to a crime of violence and attempted wrecking of a mass transportation vehicle. Reid pled guilty to all eight counts on October 4, 2002.

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-described mastermind of the September 11 attacks, called himself a “jackal” and was quoted by American interrogators as saying that “the language of war is victims.” On Dec. 8, 2008, Mohammed, along with four co-defendants, sent a note to a military judge at Guantánamo asking to confess and to plead guilty.

Now suppose you are a young Afghani born Muslim who grew up in Pakistan but moved with your parents to the States to attend high school in New York City. Later, you decide to join Al-Qaida and seek revenge against the U.S. because of what the U.S. military is doing to civilians in Afghanistan. You receive weapons training at a camp in Pakistan where you learn about explosives and how to detonate a bomb. When you return to the U.S., you build a powerful explosive while living in Denver and then drive to New York City where you plan a martyrdom operation to detonate the bomb in the subway system. However, good police work eventually results in your arrest and charges that include conspiracies to use weapons of mass destruction and to commit murder in a foreign country, and to provide material support for a terrorist organization. You are twenty-five years old and if convicted of the charges, you probably will spend the rest of your life in prison. How do you plead?

Well, if you are Najibullah Zazi, you plead guilty in U.S. District Court, but only because your mother could face criminal immigration charges. Huh???

If he really were a committed terrorist who believed in martyrdom and a cause like Reid or Mohammed, why wouldn’t he plead guilty? Maybe, like Oklahoma City bomber and terrorist Timothy McVeigh, who instructed his lawyers to use a necessity defense when he was charged with eleven federal offenses and faced the death penalty, Zazi only believed in the act and not the cause.

With wealthy parents and lawyers swarming to represent him, it seems unlikely that 23-year-old Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the “underpants bomber,” will remain committed to his cause and plead guilty. But why should taxpayers have to pay for the costly trial of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and his four co-defendants when they have asked to plead guilty to all the charges?

2009 was both a good year and a bad year for law enforcement.

Nationwide, law enforcement deaths dropped to a 50-year low, with 124 officers killed in 2009. The homicide rate also dropped in cities across the U.S. Here in the Twin Cities, the rate in Minneapolis fell 50% from 38 homicides in 2008 to 19 this past year. That was the lowest number of homicides in a quarter century. Minneapolis was known as “Murderapolis” back in 1995 when the city reported a record 97 homicides. Homicides in St. Paul also fell from 18 in 2008 to 12 in 2009.

The decline in homicides bucks the conventional wisdom that murders and crime in general both increase in times of recession and economic hardship. No one is exactly sure why homicides are declining here and across the country, but some in Minneapolis attribute the decline to better police work, improved security technology, clearing alleys of garbage and graffiti, and working with rather than locking up juvenile offenders who show an interest in getting out of gangs and crime. St. Paul attributes the decline in part to targeting domestic disputes and helping gang members get driver’s licenses and find jobs if they pledged to go crime free.

Despite the nationwide drop in homicides, last week’s arrest of Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab demonstrates that our national security system has improved little since the 9/11 attacks. Part of that failure could be the result of our continued focus on “war” rather than on police work. I’ve always questioned the use of the term “war on terror”. Though we are certainly engaged in a battle with terrorists in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and now Yemen, the best way to prevent terrorists from striking the country again is through improved police work and intelligence gathering and sharing. The right question many are asking is why someone who is listed on the Terrorist Watch List was allowed to purchase an airline ticket?

No matter how many scanners we place in airports, terrorists will find a way around them. And how is preventing passengers from using the restroom the last hour of the flight, and restricting the use of blankets and carry on luggage going to stop a similar incident? Obviously, a terrorist could set off an explosive device well before the last hour of the flight. Instead of focusing our money and efforts on improving intelligence and communication between government agencies, it appears that we’re going to spend a fortune on scanners and new rules that will only inconvenience passengers and provide the illusion of safety.

In other words, pretty much what we have in airports now.

Happy New Year!