The Quabbin - map depicts exactly how vast this "protected" areas is - leaves food for thought - image custompro.com
Yesterday, after midnight 7 individuals from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Singapore were found at the Quabbin Reservoir (which supplies water to Boston, and Western Mass. cities), the State’s labs deemed the water “safe” at approximately - 11:00 AM (Masslive). The incident has left residents a bit concerned given the fact that the individuals caught at the Quabbin Reservoir were in a restricted area, after midnight, noted they were there as “recent college graduates, who were chemical engineers”, and it was in the interest of their careers. The word “fishy” is being used a great deal in response to the incident.
Local NBS Affiliate WWLP reported that local residents had concerns:
Since 9/11, cars are restricted on the roads through the Quabbin. Frequent visitors George and Elizabeth Banas of Belchertown told 22News they're concerned there may be even tighter security at the Quabbin.
George told 22News, “You could drive everywhere on your bike or walk, that's it. They blocked everything off, you know.”
“When you get a report like that, kind of alludes to something may have happened, is a potential target for terrorists, then you stop and think about it,” said Elizabeth Banas.
And when George Fuller of Ware first heard the 22News report about the seven alleged trespassers, something ominous went through his mind.
“The fact that they wanted redemption for Boston, I thought someone wanted to get back at us for what happened in Boston, what we did to the two that we caught,” said Fuller. “It's the first thing I thought of.”
There are concerns, since the group of individuals reasoning may not add up – the first thought might be that they were doing a “recon” or checking for ease of access to the Reservoir for a future date.
The claimed to be recent college graduates, yet there are no local area colleges (Massachusetts Universities) that have yet graduated – commencements are this coming week. Therefore, recent may have meant last year. Are there student visa’s still valid?
When police ran their names through Interpol, et. al – did they understand that the brothers who bombed the Boston Marathon also did not show up on any lists – one did, but due to a misspelling of the name, was missed – add to that that there was zero information sharing between agencies, and the MA FBI had no clue Russia, and Saudi Arabia had warned the U.S. about those two in particular a year or more prior to the bombing.
There is no mention of further investigation, rather putting extra emphasis on watching the water supplies around the state – just in case.
Understanding that this occurred Tuesday at midnight, had the group dropped a chemical into the drinking water, the “speed” with which the public was notified would have left 1950’s civil security volunteers a bit embarrassed. It is not so much the fact that it takes some time to test several million gallons of drinking water for problems – it is the fact that the only notice made available to the public was newscasts. Given the fact that newscasts are not reaching a large percentage of the population, knowing a major water supply was breached, without immediately knowing (13 hours later) that the water was “safe to drink”, left those that get their drinking water from Quabbin exposed had there been any biological or chemical threats to the water supply.
On the one hand it is a matter of panicking a lot of people if nothing might be wrong, while on the other hand not panicking a lot of people and having more than a few funerals should there have been something lethal placed in the water supply.
Do we lack confidence in the police? By no means, it is the general bureaucracy that has shown to be less than efficient as a whole, especially in Massachusetts (which one might consider a mini-Washington).
Given the era in which we live, with a proclivity for those visiting this nation from certain radical and violent areas, who might just want to blow up people enjoying a day at the marathon or kill half the state by poising their water supply, and the reaction of some individuals who feel that we are somehow to blame for future attacks after having caught, incarcerated and killed the two Boston Bombers, is politically correct, yet plausible. To recap:
Massachusetts recent attack may have residents on edge.
A major water supply was breached at midnight by individuals from nations who are known to export terrorism. Those individuals suggest they are recent students, yet there are no graduations scheduled at the time, there is no adequate civil defense in place to warn residents of any hazards in a timely fashion. Were these individuals here on valid or expired visas? Were they a decoy or on reconnaissance? In other words, checking access to the supply, making a dry run to see how long it would take to get in and out of such an area in order to practice Jihad in masse?
2 comments:
A real threat to the Quabbin (besides clearcutting the surrounding forest) is the VT Yankee nuke just upwind over the border. Think Fukushima! (the same type old BWR reactors). If there's a large release from that Entergy nuclear facility the Quabbin watershed lies right in the path of the radioactive plume. :O
Hello D.O., Regarding Yankee Nuclear – should something happen such as you describe (Large release – and or accident such as, Chernobyl, See List of Nuclear Plant Accidents since 1952), the water at the Quabbin would be one of the horrors. It goes without saying, we (collective) are living in an age when the risk to life (human, animal, plant) with any man-made event, has increased. Do you recall the color of the rivers (Westfield comes to mind) back in the 70’s? - The water was a lovely shade of green? There are far too many things that come to mind when one thinks about the environment and the fact that the U.S. has a sterling record (!!!) – while the rest of the planet appears to not to give a whit – while we are curbing our fishermen with catch-limits, the Japanese are fishing 90 miles off shore, the same with off-shore drilling – thoughts on the creation of rain by the Chinese? – Or the lack of controls in manufacturing there and elsewhere – whenever the wind blows, Lord knows what is coming our way. The idea that chemical weapons exist, is just mind-boggling and the fact that there are those who would target civilians, for any cause, but ironically in the name of religion is perhaps the most frightening. We, (the collective) have some control over what happens to the environment in general, but we cannot control those who see nothing wrong with flying airplanes into buildings, or setting bombs besides children at a marathon, all in the name of a god who would see innocents murdered. (Truly that is not God, rather man using God for political gain.) – So the planet is fine, but man is the problem on so many levels – so, how do we combat that?
Post a Comment