With Focus on Iraq, We’re Forgetting Perils Closer to Home

Whatever happens in Iraq, rest assured we’ll throw everything we’ve got at Saddam Hussein. No expense is being spared in manpower or technology, and the chief saber-rattlers act as if they’ve got stacks of blank checks.

But here at home, it’s a different story. Here at home, where the threat of terrorism seems to grow each day, we’ve got the cheapest security money can buy.

In Los Angeles, we’re still waiting on federal funding for protective gear for police, firefighters and paramedics who will be on the front lines if there’s a chemical or biological attack.

If such a horror is launched, police and firefighters won’t be able to communicate, because they’re still waiting for radios that use the same frequency.

They had the same problem in New York, you might recall. You’d think that in the 16 months since then, somebody might have made it a national priority to get the right radios.

How did we get here, I’m wondering? Why are we sending billions in military hardware to Iraq while leaving ourselves wide open at home, where the whole thing began?

And why aren’t half the members of Congress standing up and getting red in the face about it?

The directors of the FBI and CIA warned in chilling terms Tuesday that hundreds of Al Qaeda soldiers are on American soil, planning catastrophic events. They don’t know where they are, exactly, but a local law enforcement official told me there’s Al Qaeda-linked activity right here in Los Angeles.

The FBI and CIA chiefs think these terrorists might be planning waves of attacks, as early as this week, possibly including radiological weapons.

So how are we preparing? We’re amassing 200,000 troops as far away from here as they can be, staging a war in a country with no proven connection to Sept. 11.

I’m beginning to wonder if George Bush has a Manchurian candidate thing going on, because this strategy looks like it was mailed in by Osama bin Laden, who popped up again Tuesday to rally his troops.

Some of whom might be flipping through local Thomas Bros. guides as you read this.

John Miller, the Los Angeles Police Department’s chief of homeland security, claims the city’s new terrorism tip line drew 58 good leads last weekend. Investigating them is a tricky matter, though, because the unit has only 43 cops. Other divisions are being cannibalized to add another 18 officers this week.

The primary responsibility for terrorism lies with the local FBI office, true. But the FBI is stretched paper-thin, too, and is relying in part on a joint task force that includes the LAPD and other agencies.

So what’s the L.A. City Council doing to help? They’re debating not one, but two resolutions opposing the war.

Guess what, gang. This is just a wild guess, but something tells me President Bush is not going to turn to Donald Rumsfeld and say, “Wait a minute, Donnie, let’s hold everything. The L.A. City Council just checked in, and they’re anti-war!”

If the council wants to do something useful, it ought to get behind Councilman Jack Weiss. The former federal prosecutor is screaming that we’re shockingly unprepared to handle a hit even though we’ve got targets painted on our backs.

He’s pitching a 10-point plan to add some bodies to the LAPD’s anti-terror unit, step up training and beef up security at the ports, which handle 43% of the nation’s cargo and keep getting stiffed by Washington. And maybe get the right radios.

“You can’t just plead for help from your Uncle Sam. You have to do the planning and make the hard choices yourself, and none of that has happened,” says Weiss.

“From a state and local political standpoint, people don’t want to enter this fray. They find it convenient to be able to point to other levels of government and say, ‘They’re going to do it. Tom Ridge said he’s going to do it.’ Well, to date, Tom Ridge hasn’t done it.

“The feds have to do more, but the locals have to stop pretending the feds are going to solve the problem.”

Weiss makes a good point, but he’s much kinder than I care to be. And why are he and U.S. Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice) the only local officials who seem to be taking a lead in calling for more attention to mile-wide security gaps at home?

Is Maxine Waters on vacation?

Has Henry Waxman been reported missing?

Whether you support the mega-billion-dollar war in Iraq or not, there’s another one under way and we’re fighting it on the cheap. We’re targets right here, right now, waiting and hoping the right radios come in soon.

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Steve Lopez writes Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at steve.lopez@latimes .com.