Peter Canellos, the Boston Globe's Washington bureau chief has an interesting idea . Those courses offered to military officers and war reporters on how to conduct themselves when faced with a terrorist, why not offer them to ordinary citizens in clubs, churches, even schools.
Ordinary people do fight terror.
But while the Department of Homeland Security has made efforts to help communities get ready for possible attacks -- including the creation of nearly 2,000 local Citizens Corps Councils -- they have focused mostly on FEMA-style preparedness; the Citizen Corps website offers advice on how to create a ''three-day disaster supply kit," but not what to do if confronted by a hijacker, a kidnapper, or a suspected terrorist.
Homeland Security officials did not return messages asking for further information on civil defense programs. But giving people a sense of when and how to fight back might do more than just prepare them for the unlikely chance that they'll be aboard another United 93. It could rob the terrorists of their best weapon: the fear that nothing can stop them.
It would be real civil defense. I can think of a number of men and boys who would jump at the chance.
Posted by Jill Fallon at May 16, 2006 11:13 PM | Permalink