Slaughter Planned For Our Schools

By Brad Thor (a New York Times bestselling author and a former member of the Department of Homeland Security's Red Cell Analytic program.) Story compliments of REAL NEWS.

September 20, 2007

The "Perfect Day" is a plan conceived of by Islamic terrorists and discovered during interrogations in Iraq and Afghanistan that calls for a day of unimaginable horror, bloodshed, and carnage across America.

Signs of the plan are everywhere, here are just a few:

a.. Floor plans and blueprints for American schools have been found in al Qaeda safe houses in Iraq.

b.. Osama bin Laden received religious permission to kill up to 2 million American children.

c.. Chilling al Qaeda video footage showing their operatives training to take over mock American schools and issuing their commands in English have been uncovered in Afghanistan.

d.. Seventeen school buses have been stolen from the Houston area along with thousands of school bus radios in the Pacific Northwest.

The list goes on and on, yet most Americans know nothing about it.

Sources in law enforcement, the military and intelligence circles think that when the attack comes it will look very much like the horrible school siege of Beslan, Russia -- except that it will happen in multiple schools at the same time across the country for maximum impact.

Experts I have spoken with believe that the attack will most likely happen in America's heartland; at a school where there will be a significant lag time between the 911 call being received and a tactical team getting to the site. It will also likely be at a school where the boys are too small to fight back.

The question I heard the most when I first started talking about this scenario was "why?" Why would they attack that which is most precious to

us: our children? Don't they know that our response would be over- whelming? Yes, they do. And that is exactly what they are counting on.

They want us to attack innocent, peace-loving Muslims in our communities and set fire to each and every mosque we can find. They want that imagery to be used overseas as propaganda, and they want it shown on Al Jazeera so that 80 million Muslims are exposed to Americans starting what will inevitably be positioned as a holy war.

We can't allow that to happen. We need to understand that while the majority of terrorist attacks around the world are committed by Radical Muslims, the vast majority of Muslims around the world are not radical and have no interest in violence.

That said, good, peace-loving Muslims need to raise the volume of their voices.

Americans need to not only hear that they embrace and support liberty, democracy and the Constitution of the United States, but also that Islam can be practiced without its political component. If the citizens of America know that American Muslims stand with them, then the chance of widespread violence in the aftermath of the next horrific attack will plummet.

The best response to an attack is to make sure that one never happens. But what do we, as average citizens, do?

First, parents need to talk to their schools and hold their school boards accountable for the safety of their children. Your police and sheriff departments (along with fire, ambulance and other first

responders) must be involved in the formulation and constant updating of your school's safety plan. As terrorist tactics change so must your school's plan and your local law enforcement officials are the best people to work with on that plan.

In addition, Colonel Dave Grossman, author of "On Combat" and an expert in this field, also recommends following the four D's:

Deter: An armed police presence at schools goes a long way toward convincing terrorists to target another location. Unarmed guards are a waste of money and give parents, teachers and students a false sense of security. If your school cannot afford a continuous police presence, encourage your local law enforcement agencies to drop by on a random basis and visit. Invite them to do paperwork in your school's cafeteria or teacher lounge and advertise that fact on your school's web site.

Detect: Terrorists, according to "Terror at Beslan" author, John Giduck, always do their homework. Like sharks, they don't come straight in for the kill. They swim in ever-tightening circles, gathering intelligence -- assessing whether you or your school are easy prey. Much of the intelligence they gather while swimming in those ever-tightening circles comes from the school web site itself. Things like blueprints, bus routes and schedules, etc. should not be made available on the Internet.

After they gather as much "open source" material as possible, including visiting city/county offices for information on alarm and closed circuit camera information about your school, they will then do on-site reconnaissance -- video taping or photographing your school or school buses. Could you spot active surveillance of your school? Keep in mind that the terrorists might not always look like you expect.

Delay: When, heaven forbid, the attack does come, teachers will be the first responders. They need to get their students someplace safe as quickly as possible. According to Colonel Grossman, they need to be prepared to hold out in a safe, impenetrable location until the threat is over, or to keep moving as often as necessary to put as much possible distance between them and the terrorists.

Destroy: From the Israeli school massacre in Ma'alot to the horrible siege at Beslan, the biggest lesson that has been learned is that law enforcement officers must go in immediately. The longer they wait, the greater the number of children who are going to die.

Parents need to be prepared for the grim reality that there will not be a happy ending to a terrorist attack on our schools or school buses.

The terrorists will not negotiate with us. They are intent upon creating the most disturbing, horrific carnage possible. Even if we could have reached the 9/11 hijackers via radios, there is nothing anyone could have said to make them turn those planes around. It will be the same once they have launched an attack upon our children.

The terrorists have told us loud and clear what they plan to do.

Beslan was their playbook. We know they are coming for our children and we know what they intend to do. Feigning ignorance in the aftermath to justify our lack of preparedness will not stand. We must act now, we must prepare -- and it must be for the worst.