Standing in the security line at the airport the other day, I watched as my wife was “randomly selected” for the so-called “naked body scanner” by a male TSA agent. I had been given a pass and was only subjected to the metal detector.

We had talked about this beforehand. If either of us were selected for the “enhanced” security procedures, we would opt for the patdown. This is mostly because of a video that I saw on the Internet several days before our departure, where a man takes one of the images from these scanners and, using only a few mouse clicks, turns it into a shockingly clear photo of a woman’s naked body.

The TSA assures us this won’t happen with them, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. Indeed, after my wife received a pat down that would be considered sexual assault in any other context, I stood watching the security checkpoint for about ten minutes before continuing to our gate. In that time, probably a half-dozen attractive females were “randomly selected” for the naked body scanner, while only one man (of dozens) was asked to go through the machine. Hmmmm…

Anyway, this experience made me realize one thing: the terrorists are winning. Their stated goal is to destroy our country, and the thing that has always defined the United States is the fact that we are a beacon of liberty for the world.

Today, the United States is one of the most unfriendly, unwelcoming countries in the world.

“To bring down America we do not need to strike big,” a recent Al Qaeda web post said. “In such an environment of security phobia that is sweeping America, it is more feasible to stage smaller attacks that involve less players and less time to launch.”

Al Qaeda gets it: our unwillingness to accept any risk, no matter how miniscule, has fundamentally altered American culture. We are trading freedom for the perception of security. But Al Qaeda knows they can easily and cheaply cause us to continue to chip away at our liberties in an attempt to make ourselves safe – until one day we have neither liberty nor safety.

It reminds me of an old three-stooges gaffe. Larry pokes curly in the eye. Curly’s hands cover his face. Larry pokes curly in the gut. Curly’s hands move to protect his midsection while Larry smacks him in the back of the head…and so on.

If we continually fight yesterday’s battles, we’ll never be prepared for those that come. I would bet that even if the U.S. took security back to the level of the 1990s, there would never be another hijacking – after 9/11, and Todd Beamer’s courageous “Let’s roll,” airline passengers will never again sit back and let that happen.

Should we check for explosives? Sure. Trained K-9 units and “puffers” are dramatically less expensive and less invasive than today’s “naked body scanners.” They are the ONLY things that could possibly detect a “body cavity bomb,” which I predict will be the next escalation of the terrorist’s campaign to destroy our freedoms.

Once that happens, Al Qaeda’s leaders will probably laugh themselves silly when the TSA declares mandatory proctological exams before flying.

News recently emerged that some members of the feared Mexican drug cartel known as the Zetas received military training in the 1990s at Fort Bragg, N.C., by members of the 7th Special Forces group.

While this definitely isn’t good, it isn’t that surprising, either. The Zetas hitmen are known to have defected from Mexican Special Forces units, and it isn’t uncommon for members of foreign militaries to cross-train with the U.S. military. What is ironic, however, is that the training was intended to help members of the Mexican military learn counter-terrorism techniques.

Oops.

This isn’t the first time this has happened. As a matter of fact, in just about ever war in recent history, some of those shooting back at us were foreign troops that had received U.S. training and, in some cases, weapons, too.

Perhaps the military should be a bit more discerning when sharing the wealth. I don’t know if it would help, though. There are plenty of ways a man can become fully trained in the art of killing these days without going to the military. And because the U.S. military teaches a man to fish, I’m not sure they can be held fully responsible if he misuses that knowledge to hurt someone. After all, the U.S. military does not include “barbarism” and “soulless cruelty” in its training lineup.

That training, the Zetas are getting somewhere else.

Check out this very cool new entry into the military logistics arsenal: an unmanned helicopter that can fly up to 1,100 pounds of cargo out to remote combat outposts around the battle space – safer and much less expensive than using a manned aircraft to do the job.

Look for more of this in the coming years – eventually ferrying our troops as well. We have the technology now, it’s just a matter of moving the overton window, the progress of which is much slower than that of technology.

November first is the official release date of Oliver North’s new books, American Heroes in U.S. Special Operations, edited by yours truly. It’s nearly 300 pages of fantastic stories about our nation’s “shadow warriors,” especially those who have been awarded medals for valor during the Global War on Terror.

Men like Rob Gutierrez, an Air Force combat controller who has been awarded two Silver Stars and is being considered for a third medal – the Air Force Cross.

All were earned under circumstances of incredible bravery while engaged in heavy combat – Gutierrez has been credited multiple times with saving the lives of his companions by calling in expertly guided air support to destroy large concentrations of enemy soldiers who were about to overrun his position.

He’s endured horrible wounds and kept fighting, and his exploits are mirrored by those of dozens of other special operators, all of whose stories are told in this book.

With never-before told stories and hundreds of high-quality photographs, it will make a fantastic gift for any patriot on your Christmas list. Be sure to check it out.

Abu Ghirab, Haditha, The Killing Club – you can probably recall several instances over the last nine years where American troops have been excoriated in the media for mistreatment of Iraqi or Afghan civilians. Every time a civilian becomes a casualty in this war, it causes an uproar with Americans and Arabs alike. And it should.

Problem is, in Afghanistan recently, we have begun paying reparations to the families of those caught in the crossfire. Nothing wrong with that in principle, only the Afghans have figured it out, and so now every time we drop a bomb in the current conflict, people come out of the woodwork claiming to have lost aunt Fatima or uncle Omar – and even though a single body can’t be produced, sometimes hundreds claim a wrongful death, looking for a handout from the gullible Americans.

Unfortunately, it is sometimes easier just to pay it and move on, but this is a mistake.

What you don’t hear about in the news are the large number of Afghan civilians who are killed by Taliban Improvised Explosive Devices – and the Taliban doesn’t pay reparations.

Recently, an IED struck a school bus that was transporting a load of girls to school. Nine were killed, and more wounded. This horrific tragedy didn’t rate so much as a blip on the radar screen for the mainstream media. But you need to know these things – so you can understand why our troops on the ground say we need to defeat this enemy.

See, when an insurgent bomb kills and maims innocent Afghans – our troops treat the wounded. In the school bus attack, American medevac helicopters transported those left alive to an American field hospital, where the wounded received care.

The Taliban don’t care who they hurt. American troops are just the opposite – they regularly put themselves at greater risk to keep from hurting someone who doesn’t deserve it. This attitude is being noticed by the Afghan people – we just have to stick around long enough for our troops’ example of selfless service to rub off, and we will have won.

It could happen faster than you think.

A federal judge this week suspended the military’s ban on homosexuals serving openly in the military.

Some of the Marines I was with in Helmand province last week brought up some interesting questions concerning this issue which the judge may not have considered:

Does this mean the military medical system must pay for/perform sex change operations now?

If a transvestite wants to join the military, will s/he be housed with the men or the women? Several male Marines threatened to claim transvestite status and get themselves housed with the ladies.

Several others threatened to claim they were gay and buddy up just to get married financial benefits from the government.

Since the majority of military chaplains are Southern Baptist, and have stated their intentions to resign if forced to perform gay marriages, will this decision signal the end of the military chaplaincy?

This case is a long way from over, and this federal judge has opened a can of worms that won’t be easy to sort out. Stay tuned.

In a conversation with Gen. David Petraeus last week, the Commander of the International Security and Assistance Force mentioned that overtures for peace had recently been made by Taliban leaders hiding in Pakistan. While he stressed that these talks are “embryonic,” he also noted that it indicates a certain level of “pressure” on the Taliban, who have been finding it harder and harder to hide in the federally administrated tribal areas along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan.

That’s because U.S. predator drones have been hitting their hideouts hard for more than two years now. When the Taliban tries to organize in Afghanistan, they are soundly beaten by U.S. forces with impressive regularity.

Add to that the “local help” being employed by U.S. agencies along the border, which Bob Woodward recently referred to as “a 3,000-man secret army funded by the CIA.”  In reality, this “secret army” is nothing more than border tribes who have been more or less hired to do what the government of Pakistan has heretofore been unwilling – or unable to do.

These border tribes move freely in and out of Pakistan and have been constantly at war with one another almost since the dawn of time. What the U.S. military and other agencies have done is form alliances with these tribes by providing medical and humanitarian supplies to them in exchange for intelligence and sometimes direct action on the side of the Pakistan border where U.S. forces cannot go – yet.

These tribes have been helpful in taking the war to the Taliban wherever they hide. But now, the Taliban appears to have found the soft underbelly of ISAF – the supply train.

The U.S. and its allies cannot function in Afghanistan without supplies – the sheer scale of the supply train is mind boggling. Hundreds of trucks make the trip from Pakistani ports to the border daily, carrying everything from food to fuel oil. And attacks on these convoys in Pakistan are becoming almost a daily occurrence.

There are undoubtedly high-level talks happening as we speak between U.S. military generals and the Pakistani government. It isn’t difficult to imagine how this might pan out. Either the Pak army will do something to better safeguard these convoys, or ISAF will.

It can’t afford not to – These attacks unbelievably expensive to the United States taxpayer. Tuesday’s attack near Peshawar which saw militants destroy 20 tanker trucks full of fuel was worth approximately $160 million, assuming each truck held around 20,000 gallons.

More importantly, the American fighting man and his allies desperately need the fuel and supplies that come in through Pakistan in order to win the war in Afghanistan. I have seen some great progress here on this trip, which gives me hope that we really can win it. But without supplies, we and the Afghans lose, and the Taliban know it.

Look for more attacks of this kind in the coming weeks as the insurgents pull out all the stops to try and turn the tide which is, at least for the moment, moving our way.