November 27, 2010 8:55 AM

May your holiday season be a happy (but not explosive) one

The FBI thwarted an attempted terrorist bombing in Portland’s Pioneer Courthouse Square before the city’s annual tree-lighting Friday night, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Oregon…. A Corvallis man, thinking he was going to ignite a bomb, drove a van to the corner of the square at Southwest Yamhill Street and Sixth Avenue and attempted to detonate it. However, the supposed explosive was a dummy that FBI operatives supplied to him…. Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, a Somali-born U.S. citizen, was arrested at 5:42 p.m., 18 minutes before the tree lighting was to occur, on an accusation of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.

OK, so Portland has a (not altogether undeserved) reputation as a bit of a backwater. One of the things I love about living here is that Portland still has a bit of a small town feel to it. That, and traffic is, relatively speaking, is a breeze compared to places like Houston or San Francisco. Being a backwater means that it’s quiet, reasonably safe…and nothing ever happens. Oh, every now and then someone tries to blow up a Christmas tree lighting ceremony, but…wait, WHAT??

Yep, that’s right; someone tried to detonate a bomb at Portland’s annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony on Friday night. Thankfully, the FBI has been monitoring the suspect for some time, and even though they allowed the operation to proceed, no civilians appear to ever have been imperiled. The system, in this case at least, worked…and we should all give thanks for those dedicated to preventing this sort of thing from becoming a tragic reality. Because of them, many innocent Oregonians are proceeding with their holiday plans…instead of making plans to bury friends and loved ones.

We tend to be focused on “large” attacks with hundred, perhaps thousands, of casualties, and after 9.11 that fixation is certainly understandable. Realistically, though, we’re at much greater risk from an attack of the sort that was foiled here in Portland. A solitary actor, a relatively small device, and a crowd. Just think of what the result could have been had the attack succeeded. The toll in terms of loss of life would in and of itself have been horrible. The impact on our collective psyche would also have been horrific as well. If we lose our collective sense of security when it comes to public gatherings, the changes in the way we live our lives would become incalculable. This, of course, is the goal of terrorism- to inculcate a sense that our personal safety cannot be guaranteed anywhere at any time. Before long, we stop doing the things that add value and meaning to our lives, and we retreat into a shell and make our personal survival Job One. Life becomes something that’s less lived than it is endured, and slowly but surely, the things we value begin to decay from within out of fear and uncertainty.

Mohamud allegedly responded he was looking for a “huge mass that will … be attacked in their own element with their families celebrating the holidays.”

Thankfully, here in Portland we’ve been spared that scenario. We got lucky this time. Fortunately for us, the FBI and those tasked with monitoring and defeating the terrorist threat met their responsibility ably and admirably. The odds are, though, that somewhere and sometime our luck run out. The challenge facing us it to recognize the threat we face…and to continue living our lives in spite of it. There are a few thousand people who were in Pioneer Courthouse Square on Friday night and likely never possessed a clue as to the peril they could have faced had things turned out differently.

As you go about living your life today, it might just be a good idea to take a moment and reflect on the fragility and wonder of life. Hug your kids, kiss your significant other, and enjoy the moments you have. You never know when things might change…and they almost did in downtown Portland last night.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on November 27, 2010 8:55 AM.

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