Bill Dalton: The next 9/11?

EDITOR'S NOTE: The views and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not of Ottawa News Network.

Iran may be losing the war in the Middle East, but when it comes to exporting terrorism, they’re still good. Very good.

And Americans should be afraid. Very afraid.

After killing their Supreme Leader, innocent schoolchildren, and destroying much of their military capabilities, Iran only has one viable weapon left against the United States besides oil, and that’s terror.

Who doubts that they will use it?

Who can forget images of the Twin Towers collapsing after being struck by hijacked airliners on 9/11? Or smoke billowing from the Pentagon? Those successful strikes at the heart of America only serve as inspiration for something even more devastating in the months ahead.

Maybe on America's 250th anniversary or during the World Cup soccer games? Something beyond unforgettable — perhaps involving our own nuclear weapons on American soil, since Iran doesn’t have any yet?

The Trump administration and mainstream media are playing down reports of drone activity over America in recent weeks, drowned out by the noise from the War in Iran.

But the mysterious drones — sophisticated ones displaying long-range control links and seemingly immune to jamming by radio waves — were spotted earlier this month over Fort McNair, N.J., where Pentagon leaders Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth are living because it’s not safe at home.

More concerning are the waves of drones flying over Barksdale AFB near Shreveport, La., which houses B-52 bombers and nuclear weapons. A shelter-in-place order was issued March 9 at the base, but the sightings continued that week.

Even more alarming is that the U.S. military wasn’t capable of disabling the devices or willing to blow them out of the sky. Officials reportedly have no idea where they came from or where they went after their flyovers.

Military experts theorize someone — sleeper cells of Iranian terrorists? — is “probing” our military base defenses to determine if they’re vulnerable to attack.

Clearly, they are.

These non-commercial drones, not the kind hobbyists buy at Wal-Mart, may be capable of carrying small explosive devices. What if they dropped payloads on The White House or Mar-a-Lago or where top military leaders are sleeping?

Perhaps unthinkable is what could happen if multiple drones dropped ordnance on where nuclear weapons are stored, such as Barksdale AFB? Could multiple explosions create a “dirty bomb” situation with our own nuclear weapons, rendering the base uninhabitable?

No one of course wants to talk out loud about what could happen, including me. But counter-terrorism experts in the FBI, CIA, NSA and other federal agencies hopefully are losing sleep over the frightening possibilities.

At least they should be since Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence, appears to be asleep at the wheel, allowing President Trump to make crucial decisions about “imminent dangers” to our national security.

Gabbard doesn’t help me sleep better at night, and I don’t have drones hovering over my house. Not yet.

But then I don’t know how terrorists think, because I’m not a terrorist.

Only terrified.

— Bill Dalton is a former reporter and editor for The Kansas City Star and worked for several Michigan newspapers. He spends summers on the family farm near Fennville. His new novel “The Bank Game” — a trashy crime thriller — is available from Amazon.

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