Andrew McCarthy talks about the "Dix Six"

Yeah, this story isn't going away despite the media's attempt to ignore the obvious:

That we do have homegrown, amateur jihadis in America, and they may not be connected with AQ, but they admire the terrorist group, and they are willing to join the jihad to help the cause.

Andrew McCartyh was talking about that today at NRO:

The mainstream media is atwitter this morning over the six Muslim men arrested in south Jersey for conspiring “to kill as many soldiers as possible” at the Fort Dix U.S. army base. The case, they tell us, reflects the new terrorism: inept, atomized cells, disconnected from al Qaeda or any other regimented international terrorist organization.

Here’s the template setter, the New York Times: “The authorities described the suspects as Islamic extremists and said they represented the newest breed of threat: loosely organized domestic militants unconnected to — but inspired by — al Qaeda or other international terror groups.”

The Washington Post echoes:

[The group] … was portrayed as a leaderless, homegrown cell of immigrants from Jordan, Turkey and the former Yugoslavia who came together because of a shared infatuation with Internet images of jihad, or holy war. Authorities said the group has no apparent connection to al-Qaeda or other international terrorist organizations aside from ideology, but appears to be an example of the kind of self-directed sympathizers widely predicted — and feared — by counterterrorism specialists. The defendants allegedly passed around and copied images of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and the martyrdom videos of two of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers.

Meet the new terrorism. Same as the old terrorism.

The experts have been saying the exact same thing since 11 September. Michael Ledeen, Victor Davis Hanson, Lawrence Wright, and even notables like Mark Steyn have all said that we need to watch out here in America. We've said it. When all roads to strike the nation directly are cut off to AQ and their minions, the amateurs will take up their mantle. This is one of those cases. These six guys (originally cited as ten by Allah yesterday at Hot Air; still no confirmation on that as yet) were planning on causing a lot of Hell in this nation, and it would have been done in the name of Allah.

Thomas Jefferson once remarked that "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." That is still needed now more than ever. And thank God that an astute Circuit City employee saw this, and knew that something was up. This wasn't home movies being converted to DVD for grandma and grandpa in Tonopah. This was a video that these guys wanted out there. They wanted the world to know that they were responsible for this averted reprehensible attack.

Which reminds me ... There are people saying this clerk should be sued, and possibly even prosecuted. His crime in their eyes? He violated these jihadis "right to privacy." They stuck their nose into business that wasn't connected to them. WHOOPTY-FRELLING-DOO! Can anyone imagine what might have been averted on 11 September had the hijackers made such an egregious mistake, and been prevented from accomplishing their mission? We know what might have happened. 2996 American citizens might still be alive today. According to the news report about him this "John Doe" Jim Saxton (R) was considering sending him a thank you note for his inadvertant service to the nation.

Additionally, if we're to ask ourselves to watch out for the safety of the nation, then we need provisions and laws in place to protect those people. There is no way in Hell this nation can support the call to have thids employee prosecuted or sued. As Michelle Malkin observed in March of this year we are all "John Does:"

Dear Muslim Terrorist Plotter/Planner/Funder/Enabler/Apologist,

You do not know me. But I am on the lookout for you. You are my enemy. And I am yours.

I am John Doe.

I am traveling on your plane. I am riding on your train. I am at your bus stop. I am on your street. I am in your subway car. I am on your lift.

I am your neighbor. I am your customer. I am your classmate. I am your boss.

I am John Doe.

I will never forget the example of the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 who refused to sit back on 9/11 and let themselves be murdered in the name of Islam without a fight.

I will never forget the passengers and crew members who tackled al Qaeda shoe-bomber Richard Reid on American Airlines Flight 63 before he had a chance to blow up the plane over the Atlantic Ocean.

I will never forget the alertness of actor James Woods, who notified a stewardess that several Arab men sitting in his first-class cabin on an August 2001 flight were behaving strangely. The men turned out to be 9/11 hijackers on a test run.

I will act when homeland security officials ask me to “report suspicious activity.”

I will embrace my local police department’s admonition: “If you see something, say something.”

I am John Doe.

I will protest your Jew-hating, America-bashing “scholars.”

I will petition against your hate-mongering mosque leaders.

I will raise my voice against your subjugation of women and religious minorities.

I will challenge your attempts to indoctrinate my children in our schools.

I will combat your violent propaganda on the Internet.

I am John Doe.

I will support law enforcement initiatives to spy on your operatives, cut off your funding, and disrupt your murderous conspiracies.

I will oppose all attempts to undermine our borders and immigration laws.

I will resist the imposition of sharia principles and sharia law in my taxi cab, my restaurant, my community pool, the halls of Congress, our national monuments, the radio and television airwaves, and all public spaces.

I will not be censored in the name of tolerance.

I will not be cowed by your Beltway lobbying groups in moderate clothing. I will not cringe when you shriek about “profiling” or “Islamophobia.”

I will put my family’s safety above sensitivity. I will put my country above multiculturalism.

I will not submit to your will. I will not be intimidated.

I am John Doe.

That clerk (supposedly a Muslim themself, as Hugfh observed today) was a "John Doe" that loved this nation, and knew what they were seeing was important to authorities. And thanks to them, several lives were saved from an imminent, impromptu assault. We need the protections so we don't face the PC-driven attacks from the apologists in this nation that tell us to shut up, sit down, be quiet, and let the authorities handle things. The authorities aren't complaining they got help from someone outside their net of assets. They're praising them. We all should. And we need these protections in place so that we can help the authorities when it's necessitated.

Publius II

UPDATE: Just picked this up from WNBC in New York:

The suspected Fort Dix plotters had originally discussed crashing and exploding tanker trucks into buildings to cause mass casualties, law enforcement sources have told NewsChannel 4.

Investigators said the suspects were recorded talking about obtaining licenses to drive trucks ranging from gasoline tankers to those that carry other hazardous materials.

Law enforcement sources told WNBC.com's Jonathan Dienst that the suspects dropped that idea early on because with three men being in the United States illegally, it would have proved difficult to get the necessary licenses.

Sound familiar, folks? Our enemies used planes and tried to obtain pilot's licenses prior to their dramatic attack on 11 September. They had the necessary identification to enroll, and escaped notice until the attacks had taken place. These guys saw the avenues cut off to them then, and opted for a more crude sort of attack against a US military base in hopes they could kill as many people as possible. There is no way -- and I mean no way -- these guys, with their enabling defenders, are going to get out of this. They wanted bloodshed in the worst sort of way.

Folks, the fight never ends. Neither does watching the frontier. We have to remain vigilant.

Publius II