This collection of entries is from June 10, 2002.
So, yesterday, as we were sitting around gabbing on Joe's patio, Carol turns to me and says, "Oh! You don't know about this!" and proceeds to tell me a story she heard from my mom at Saturday's bridal shower. I guess the FBI has been in their neighborhood. Why? Well, in the middle of the block, was an Arab family... that moved out suddenly on September 10. I guess the FBI is going back over their data (about damn time) and is checking out the neighborhood. Mom said there had been a lot of arguments between a man and a woman at the house (she really didn't know them), even with an incident where he woman was across the street talking to someone, there was yelling back-and-forth between her and her husband who was in front of their house, leading to the man coming across the street, dragging the woman back into their own house and beating the crap out of her. Nice neighbors. Makes you wonder about whether or not September 10 was just a coincidence or not.
Now, this morning, the big breaking news on TV is about a suspected al Qaeda operative that was arrested on May 8th. At O'Hare. A former Chicago gang member. Hmmm... it's getting closer to home. And this time, this guy - Abdullah Al Mujahir -- a U.S. citizen who was born Jose Padilla and converted to Islam - was involved in a plot to build and explode a radioactive "dirty bomb", probably in Washington D.C.
Great. I'm feeling really safe, right now. The only solace in this is that they caught the guy before anything happened. I feel good about that.
