uh-oh

I visit a large midwestern U.S. Air Force base regularly, at least every couple of weeks or so. Normally, the entry procedure is simple, you drive up to the main gate, show entry pass and identification, and get waved on through, frequently without even having to come to a complete stop. It's a lot like driving into a large business facility such as a manufacturing plant where they have modest security.

This morning, the tenth-of-a-mile-long approach to the main gate was heavily barricaded.

Concrete roadblocks formed a four-turn slalom course and converted a three-lane entry into a narrow and convoluted path impossible to drive more than a couple of miles an hour on and that permitted only one vehicle at a time to approach the gate.

Numerous large pieces of metal pipe embedded in the road surface, similar to those used to delineate many parking lots, completed the obstacle course.

At the gate, I was scrutinized carefully, the interior of the car was likewise visually inspected, and several questions regarding my business there, my destination, how long I planned to be there, and whether anybody else was in the car (a Ford Explorer, hard to hide a human in unseen) were asked, and my face was observed closely as I answered. My identification was carefully examined, and it was evident that my signatures were being compared.

The only times that the base has manifested security this tight was in the weeks following the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. It was quite obvious that the military facility was on high alert and was taking unusual precautions.


It's time to get nervous. Something big is afoot. I think we really are going to war in Iran.