Ray Kelly is great, according to profile in friend’s magazine
Newsweek says the NYPD chief keeps us safe, and if you don't like his methods, you forgot about 9/11
Topics: NYPD, Ray Kelly, New York City, Newsweek, Tina Brown, Media Criticism, Terrorism, War on Terror, Politics News
According to a very thorough and convincing profile in Newsweek, New York police commissioner Ray Kelly is America’s best ever terror-fighter, and he personally stops a new 9/11 from happening literally every day. He manages to constantly stop terror plots from destroying the city even though annoying “civil libertarians” and the worthless FBI are constantly getting in his way. It is, clearly, a very fair and unbiased take on the commish, that happens to be written by a guy who has known Kelly for years. And published in a magazine edited by Tina Brown, who has met the commissioner once or twice.
“Kelly’s most critical mission,” according to author Christopher Dickey, “has been to thwart all terrorist threats against the city, and he’s aimed to do that, in some cases, even before a plot is entirely clear to the plotters themselves.” That is some remarkable police work, right? Thwarting plots before they have been plotted!
Plus! “The record, however, is hard to argue with: at least 14 full-blown terrorist attacks have been prevented or failed on Kelly’s watch.” That is hard to argue with, because it is not followed by evidence supporting that claim!
Have critics of “the pugnacious police commissioner, who looks bulldog-tough even in bespoke suits” simply forgotten about 9/11? It seems likely!
Continue Reading CloseParadoxically, because the approach is so effective, it makes people feel much safer and spurs the belief that aggressive policing is no longer necessary. Like the tattered American flags once draped from windows or flying from car antennas, memories of the horror that settled on New York after 9/11 have faded. Just before the anniversary of the atrocity last year, the Associated Press launched a lengthy series of stories that took a critical look at Kelly’s policing, detailing the surveillance and undercover work in Muslim communities, the cozy relationship with the CIA, and the troubled NYPD–FBI relations. The series won a Pulitzer Prize—and NYPD supporters have been rebutting its details ever since. What Kelly resents in particular is the implication, never proven in print, that he’d gone beyond the very carefully lawyered legal constraints on police activities. And, as he sees it: “These questions would not surface—and did not surface—in 2002.”
Alex Pareene writes about politics for Salon and is the author of "The Rude Guide to Mitt." Email him at apareene@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @pareene More Alex Pareene.



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