JFK Terror plot in Trinidad

I turned on my TV today and I was in shock. Finally the whole world knows about Trinidad and Tobago, but not for anything good. Four extremists decided that it would be a good idea to blow up JFK airport by setting off explosives in the main fuel line. These guys decided that Trinidad would be a good place to hide out while they hatched the plot. One was even a Trinidadian.
So it was all over the news that the terror suspects who tried to blow up JFK were held in Trinidad. Now on top of the crime that plaguing us every day, we have to contend with the fact that the rest of the world now thinks we're a hotbed of terrorist activity, and a "potential source of terrorist funding". My country may not be the best, but it sure ain't no hotbed of terrorist activity.

I think this whole thing was just an example of the US using the fear of its citizens to distract them from what's happening in Iraq. The plot was never in any danger of actually being executed, and the authorities knew about it from the get-go. The plotters didn't even have the equipment they needed to carry out the attacks.

On paper this would have been a potential disaster, since the fuel line runs under neighbourhoods in Queens. From working in industrial safety for years, though, and knowing something about pipelines, I think that the effects of an explosion would not have spread so far, since safety systems would shut down the entire system in seconds.

While I am not minimising the seriousness of the potential threat this attack could have been, I also think the extended media coverage was an attempt to quell the voices of discontent against the Iraq war. It's classic politics. When the natives grow restless, give them a reason to realise that they depend on you. Draw attention away from the real issue: the war on Iraq is hurting America more than it is helping it.

And as for those extremists... I am not a lover of the US or US policy. In fact, I hate US policy with a passion. But I know that the American people don't make US policy. US policy is made by men in black suits in a White House. Do these extremists really believe that if they attack the American people, it will affect the men in the black suits personally? They and their families are always safe. All you hurt are innocent people who probably don't agree with US policy either. But you don't care do you? Bloody selfish bastards. You don't care about people. You just care about your misguided mission.

In the meantime, my country is getting a worse international reputation than it already has. Nobody will care that we were the ones that invented the steel drums. Nobody will care that Dwight Yorke and Brian Lara are citizens of this country. Nobody will care that we produced two Miss Universe winners and one Miss World Winner. No one will care that we produced Olympic gold medal finalists in the 100m, 200m and also had silver medals in swimming. Who will know that we had a world boxing champ? Does anyone know that Heather Headley was born here? No, they just love her music. Nobody will know that Trinidad's Carnival is the greatest show on earth, so much that all the biggest celebrities come here to enjoy it.
That's sad, because though T&T isn't perfect, for me it's paradise.