FBI RAIDS CORAL SPRINGS APARTMENT: A Terrorist Amongst Us

In case you haven’t heard the news, the FBI raided an apartment located at the Tara Gardens Apartments, 10001 Atlantic Boulevard located in Coral Springs Florida last night at 10:00 p.m..  They were looking for one of the suspects, Mohammed Attar  who occupied apartment #122. Apparently he was on the passenger manifest of one of the flights that was hi-jacked.

The FBI in swat jackets surrounded the premises in one quick motion and swooped in on the apartment.   As of this morning, the last of the FBI agents left the building. The entire apartment was seen from the outside window as completely cleaned out. Obviously Mohammed had left.

Tara Gardens Apartments is operated by Simon Cayouette. It has 38 Condominiums.  The specific owner of the condominium where the terrorist lived is ,JEAN-LUC SAMBAULT of Mercier Quebec, Canada. The place rents as a Hotel and offers daily, weekly and monthly rentals. The Hotel has been operating illegally and contrary to the City of Coral Springs Ordinances that do not allow a Hotel in this area.

Carmen talking to reporters on the scene

One of the other tenants that lived on the second floor directly above the suspect, Carmen Paddila, indicated that he was seen at a party in Lakeview Village 2 weeks earlier.  She described how the FBI raided the place. She was questioned by the FBI, and her son was shown a picture of the suspect.

At this time, the suspect is still at large as the FBI continues their search for him and the rental car.

Terrorist Amongst Us?

Coral Springs is not unlike most suburban cities in the United States. We have parks, great schools, and of course the great weather. Most people who live in Coral Springs were not born here, since this city was only established in the 1970’s . There are some from other countries of the world. As a young city, many people move in and out of here, with some only staying a few years. Maybe that is what the Terrorist recognized best about Coral Springs: He could blend in.

Perhaps this blending in is what in the end makes this particular terrorist so revolting. He attended parties in the neighborhood, and most probably was even at the pool sharing the ‘Rays’ with other tenants of the Tara Gardens Apartments. He shopped at our malls, and he might of even seen a movie or two at our Regal Theaters. He had partaken in our society. For all intents and purposes he was one of us. But he wasn’t . We had no impact on his way of thinking. He obviously didn’t know what it meant to be an American and enjoy the freedoms of our society that he was so bent on attacking. This brainwashed individual had a stake in the killing of innocent people. Why then wasn’t he brainwashed with our love and affection? Why didn’t he see that the America he lived in was good?

I think it is because like most terrorists his mind, emotion and thoughts were only to destroy America. Perhaps it was out of envy or maybe, because he didn’t get the love and attention that every American kid can expect from their mothers. Whatever the reason, this barbaric murderer fooled us all, and was a terrorist amongst us.

How foreign is this concept of Freedom to so many people in the world. The freedom to speak, or practice ones religion, is not a concept accepted among the middle east countries. Not one of those countries are democratic with the exception of Israel.  These terrorists cannot understand our concept of freedom because they have only lived in a restricted society.  Even more so, our society could not believe that these type of people can exist, and live amongst us . Times are changing. Now, we can’t just accept the next door neighbor as a nice person, we must investigate to make sure he is.

When I was growing up, we never locked our front doors. There was no reason for it. We knew the people in the neighborhood and we had confidence that nothing will happen. As I grew up and got married, we moved into another neighborhood that was not as familiar. Our doors were locked all the time. Eventually we added a security system. It was not because we didn’t trust our neighbor, but more because of what we knew the real world was like.  We protected ourselves from the improbable event of our house  getting robbed. Now at night, the reality has set in and I make sure that the alarm is on before I go to bed. It is natural for me to do it.

The same holds true for the new world that we have been forced into. The doors to our country must be locked, and the security alarm must be turned on, every night.  The world has changed and maybe for the better. We should be more careful in who our neighbor is, and the current events are evidence to it.

Other changes that we must have and must expect our government to implement:

1. Security Staff checking people and luggage at the airports must be better paid and smarter individuals. No more shall we accept the lowest paid people to do the job they aren’t doing. We must have qualified people protecting us that know how to deal with situations and how to recognize any threats. EL AL airlines does it.  I would be even willing to pay extra to the airlines if I know that the flight will be safer. Add an additional $10.00 per ticket and we can even hire an Air Marshall to protect every single flight! (80 passengers = $800, easy money for protection)

2. Immigration into this country must be overhauled. How did these terrorist get a Green Card to start off with? Any one applying for a green card should be checked with Interpol to make sure of no criminal past. We need responsible people into place that will  check into every individual coming into this country. It will lengthen the process of immigration, but isn’t it worth saving lives should we allow another terrorist to obtain easy access?

3. Missiles at the Pentagon: I cannot understand how we spend trillions of dollars on the defense budget but we don’t have  a simple missile system to defend the #1 strategic target in the United States. We can’t even put into place a handheld ‘ Stinger’ missile? It is unacceptable that the Pentagon doesn’t have a defense system. Let’s have one.

4. CIA needs more spooks: I don’t want to know how the CIA accomplishes the task of protecting me. As a matter of fact I prefer not to know.  We pay some people a lot of money to know. It is impossible for an anti terrorist organization to operate with politicians breathing down their necks, cutting their budget and telling them how to do their business. If the CIA needs to recruit the worst elements of society to protect all of the good elements, let them do so. Just don’t tell me about it.  We need more James Bonds with licenses to kill, rather than more politicians with license to spend. How did we let this one get out of hand anyway?

5. Get the Leaders: The president must remove the executive order that restricts the military and intelligence community of our country when it comes to taking out the leader of any country or organization that attacks the United States. They are not assassinations. They are preemptive strikes to protect our citizens.   This policy handicaps our CIA and allows most leaders of terrorist countries to escape.   I have never seen any of the terrorist organization leaders strap on dynamite and blow themselves up in a crowd of people. They get the young and the stupid to do it. Make the leaders know that if a bomb goes off hurting our people, we will come after them…personally.  The attacks will stop as they will run out of the leaders to coordinate them, either by the CIA or the military killing them, or by them running away.

6. Countries that support or harbor terrorists must be held responsible for the actions of the terrorists. Not the saber rattling type of actions, but the real hard military and economic actions. They must feel the pain that every innocent victim feels by the actions of one of their ‘Friends’. It is no coincidence that Libya and Iran both condemned the actions of this terrorist organization and that Ben Laden said that he wasn’t responsible. When was the last time you heard these guys not admit to responsibility?  The real reason is that they are unsure of what the United States of America might do to them. It is good for them to worry. It is even better for those that helped or supported the terrorists to know that the United States will swat them down like flies. That is why when we do strike against the terrorist nations, it must be powerful and decisive.

I don’t accept the fact that the changes that we now have to make in our society is anything we can’t live with. We have all matured as a nation of Americans and we are even more determined than before to wipe out terrorist from this earth. Perhaps this is something that the Bin Laden people of the world didn’t figure on.  We are a stronger nation today than we ever were. We are more determined than ever before. It will be good to see the tables turned as the terrorists become terrified as the United States of America hunts them down and destroys their ability to wage war against innocent people.  On that day, justice will be done, and the lives lost in New York City and Washington could be considered as the true martyrs for a peaceful world. At least maybe we can look back at September 11,2001 and honor the victims of the terrorist attack and know in our hearts that they didn’t loose their lives in vain