Illinois, welcome to Beit Lid, Israel http://www.projectshiningcity.org/fp106.php  Jack Kemp What happened when the Israeli government imprisoned the founder of Hamas in a prison near a major highway junction north of Tel Aviv? It was called "The Beit Lid (pronounced 'Leed') Massacre." Wikipedia states: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beit_Lid_massacre The Beit Lid massacre[1][2][3][4] was a Palestinian Islamic Jihad suicide attack against Israel. The attack occurred at the Beit Lid Junction, on January 22, 1995. It was the first suicide attack by Palestinian Islamic Jihad. SECTION OMITTED The Beit Lid junction is a well-known waypoint towards Netanya. Strategically, it is an important crossroads between Tel Aviv and Haifa located on Highway 4. "On Sunday mornings, Beit Lid was swamped with thousands of young soldiers and aging reservists heading back to West Bank duty from weekend leaves"[5] Ashmoret Prison is located in the southwest corner of the Beit Lid junction. At the time of the bombing, Ahmed Yassin, founder of Hamas, was being held there.[5] SECTION OMITTED As soon as the first explosion went off, Ashmoret Prison went into lockdown. Corrections officers feared the bombing was a prelude to an attack on the prison to rescue Yassin, who was immediately rushed back to his cell. Emergency crews began to descend on the scene. As they began to triage the wounded, Salah Shaaker raced to where the first bomb had exploded. When he reached the spot, he flipped a switch in his upper torso, detonating another bomb. [5] END OF QUOTE I have to add a personal note. In the early 1970s, I worked and studied on a kibbutz, Givat Chiam Ichud, not far from the Beit Lid junction and transferred buses and bought snacks there many times, seeing the groups of Israeli soldiers waiting for a bus to either take them home or to their assigned bases. When I saw the wreckage of that familiar snack stand, often crowded with young soldiers and other travelers, on American television, it made the attack very real to me. Thompson, Illinois, had a population of 599 in the 2000 Census. I hope the people of rural Illinois, with their small police forces, understand the psychological terror attack that Atty. Gen. Holder has ALREADY unleashed on them and can use every legal and procedural method they can to stop their local prison from becoming the "new Guantanamo." The people of Thompson cannot afford a police intelligence and anti-terrorism division such as New York City has - not that that is a guarantee of safety. Thompson, Illinois, cannot afford thousands of hours of federally mandated or required overtime for their police force. Any outside protection, such as Federal Marshals and the National Guard, will include people entirely unfamiliar with the buildings and topography of Thompson. How big is their fire department? Need I say more? In Israel, when one goes into a supermarket or a shopping center, a guard searches through any bag you have. There are armed guards on school playgrounds. I've seen a beachfront Tel Aviv cafe, full at lunchtime, have two soldiers enter with AR-15 assault rifles in what appeared to be a counter-terrorism training exercise. No one was the least bit upset or looked up from their salads. Thompson, Illinois - this could easily be your new reality. And that goes double for Chicago, the sight of the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) which has been discussed in many a terrorist plot, a recent one leading to convictions in May 2009 in a Miami court. For those of you who may be saying I’m being unrealistic, consider the following. Had I said in 2008 that Obama would bring terrorists to rural Illinois and New York City, close some car dealers in your or a neighboring state, nullify the California Lemon Law for Chrysler owners, say America wasn’t a Christian country, bow to foreign kings and emperors, have an administration official who would praise Mao, and fire the President of General Motors, you would have called me “unrealistic” (and far worse) for that as well. Welcome to the post-American Exceptionalism world of the Obama Administration. Bring your Kevlar vest and a bomb sniffing dog. And if you think this is the end of the assaults on your domestic peace of mind, you have no understanding of what will be attempted by this administration in 2010 as an encore for their 2009 “civil rights successes.” Mind you, the administration’s definition of “civil” (The American Heritage Dictionary defines it as “1) of a citizen or citizens 2) of ordinary community life”) and their definition of “rights” and “success” may not also necessarily be yours – along with even their definition of ‘yours.”