...Supposedly the Islamic terrorist group, Jamaat al-Tawhid al-Islamiyya, via a message posted on a website, threatened to attack the Netherlands and Italy if the countries' troops were not withdrawn from Iraq. Spokesman for the Ministry of Justice, Ivo Hommes, explains that in light of the attacks in Madrid and in the US, the possibility of an attack on the Netherlands cannot be discounted. "The Netherlands can be just as much a target as other countries in the world".
| You noticed that, did you? Brilliant. |
Hommes says the situation poses a dilemma. "The government tries to be as open to the public without arousing fear. It's important that the government makes clear to the public that it is doing everything possible to fight terrorism".
| Same dilemma all open societies face... |
Besides informing the press, another instrument is the new threat advisory, a system of codes that will be used to warn the public as of next year. The government wants to use this advisory to alert selective business sectors to up their security and to keep citizens informed. For instance, the system could warn about suspicious packages in a train station or about the fact that a scheduled event will not take place. But Bakker is afraid that the system could assist in fostering fear, thereby creating a device terrorists can manipulate. He thinks that the Dutch threat advisory system should be linked to clear measures to be taken in times of emergency. For example if the colour is orange, the fire department should get out its emergency plans. "Terrorism is a hazy, unclear business. The colours should always be yellow, and the colour red means that you are too late," Bakker says.
| Same problem we've run into here. Nobody takes the system quite seriously... |
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