Demagogue

I'm no intelligence analyst. So I don't know what level of fear or concern is justified in the post 9/11 era. There may be legitimate reasons to worry about so-called "sleeper cells" of Islamic terrorists, but conservative columnist Cal Thomas has come up with a bizarre, new reason to hype fears about al Qaeda-inspired cells plotting within the U.S.

In today's Washington Times, Thomas writes:

As we saw with the September 11 hijackers, modern sleeper cells are ad hoc entities and one cell knows little about other cells.

... Sleeper cells try to appear nonthreatening and avoid notice. They charge anyone suspicious of their activities and intentions with discrimination, racism and the all-purpose "Islamophobia."

One of the best portrayals of how a sleeper cell operates is in the hugely popular Fox TV show "24" Monday nights. This season's show depicts a Muslim family living quietly in a middle-class neighborhood until "activated" in a plot to gain access to U.S. nuclear power plants and stage simultaneous meltdowns.

Cal Thomas sure is ahead of the curve. He rightly suspects that the Arab family living on your neighborhood block is devoting its dinnertime conversation to the subject of producing a "dirty bomb."

And, if you don't believe him, you should know that his suspicions are verified by a fictional TV drama.