Six months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Lansing Mayor David Hollister still has his eye to the sky.
“We have been advised that middle-America capital cities could be targeted,” Hollister said. “We don’t have definite information, though it is a possibility.”
Hollister said Lansing hasn’t changed since the worst attacks on U.S. soil, but city officials are more prepared.
“Some of our planning and coordination has intensified,” he said. “The U.S. Conference of Mayors has regular updates on the Internet on domestic terror.”
Lansing police and fire officials also meet on a regular basis, constantly tweaking emergency preparedness plans.
“I never in my wildest imagination thought I would be worried about a plane flying over the city, or anthrax or some other chemical being introduced,” Hollister said. “Now it is something you have to worry about and think about.”
In East Lansing, city employees now carry ID cards.
“We have become more mindful of who is in buildings and having the building secure on the weekends,” City Manager Ted Staton said. “Having a large research facility like MSU, we have to be prepared and we are mindful of that responsibility.”
Other issues, such as violent acts or discrimination against Muslim and Arab-American students, are starting to subside, said Fahmi Atwain, adviser of MSU’s Muslim Students’ Association.
Atwain said most people in the East Lansing area have not shown anger or discrimination toward people of Arabic descent.
“They came to learn that it’s not the fault of Muslims living here,” Atwain said. “They had family they lost and friends they lost too.”
The number of American Muslims living in fear has gone down since Sept. 11, said Hussein Ibish, Midwest regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
“That has subsided largely,” he said. “We don’t really hear much about hate crimes any more. I think things are back to normal.”
Back to normal but not perfect, Ibish said.
Although there are fewer reported hate crimes, he said, the association is dealing with other problems facing Muslims.
“There is still a problem with employment discrimination, racial profiling in airports and with people being ejected from planes during or after the boarding process,” Ibish said.
Mike Rip, MSU director of epidemiology and a professor of war and revolution, said the speed at which U.S. forces drove Taliban leaders out of power is impressive.
“I think the war has gone quite well,” he said. “Our forces went through and essentially displaced the Taliban with almost minimal casualties.”
But the conflict is far from over. Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida network have so far eluded U.S. forces.
“We may have underestimated their tenacity,” Rip said. “The United States has a long history of underestimating our enemies. These al-Qaida people are entrenched in caves. It’s very difficult to dislodge them.”
Rip said the conflict may escalate.
“The country shouldn’t be complacent,” he said. “I think it’s going to become more unpleasant before it gets better. It’s not in any way farfetched to imagine the remnants of al-Qaida would really be desperate to get back at the United States.”
Rip also said events of the past six months have created new problems for government officials.
A classified document reported by the Los Angles Times and New York Times last week indicated the United States has developed plans that would allow it to use small-scale nuclear weapons against seven countries.
“It’s really crossing a threshold,” Rip said of the report. “This is a whole new thinking.”
But Rip also downplayed the report, saying it’s the government’s job to develop contingency plans of all sorts.
“We may just have to get used to this whole new way of thinking,” he said. “They’re preparing for any eventuality, which is what they’re paid for.”
State News staff writer Shaun Byron contributed to this report.
