Who is the Enemy - Seriously

It gets very shady, the story of which country and which peoples are the true enemies of the United States. They'd love for you to believe it's Venezuela, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran, but really, I'm not so sure these days. The more I read, the more skeptical I become. And then I find out about situations like what happened in Baltimore, and, well, see for yourself:

Before, during, and after the 911 terrorist attacks on the United States, they were seen photographing and conducting other surveillance on critical infrastructure targets around the United States -- from oil refineries in Texas to bridges over the Mississippi and military airbases to nuclear facilities. These young Middle Eastern men and a few women used the cover of door-to-door art sellers to furniture movers to toy vendors at shopping mall kiosks. Their actions aroused the suspicions of federal, state, and local police, however, when detained, they were eventually allowed to return to their home country -- Israel.

Last Friday, another suspicious Israeli -- a 24 year old man -- was stopped by Maryland State Police after a motorist saw him photographing and videotaping the Fort McHenry Tunnel in Baltimore from his van, which had Connecticut tags. The incident, reported in a small "Regional Briefing" page 3 column in the Metro section of the Sep. 24th Washington Post, occurred at around 6:30 pm. The Israelis' actions were reported to the Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center, the Maryland State Police unit responsible for homeland security. A half hour after the initial report on the van was received, Maryland police later found the Israeli's van parked on Interstate 95 in Laurel, Maryland and when troopers asked for the Israeli's drivers license, he did not produce one.

The police towed the van (although it is not clear that it was searched and checked for explosives -- a common denominator with the vans of other Israelis seen conducting surveillance of U.S. tunnels and bridges is that most tested positive for explosives). The Israeli was questioned for four hours at the College Park State Police Barracks. UPDATE: An AP report states that police did use a dog explosive detection team to test the Green 1998 Dodge van for explosives and the results were negative. The AP report also states the Israeli did not immediately produce his "international license," a license which is not valid for driving in the United States. The Israeli's passport indicated he had been in the U.S. for one week. The motorist who reported the van said it was traveling south on I-95 through the tunnel and then turned around and traveled north through the tunnel -- in what was clearly some sort of surveillance operation. Police found a lap top and digital camera in the van but there is no information whether the police examined the computer data and photos taken.

Police then released the Israeli after they were "satisfied" with his cover story that he was legally in the United States visiting friends. However, the Israeli's intentions may have been inadvertently provided to the police when he told them he was taking photos of the Fort McHenry tunnel because he was "fascinated" with the Baltimore harbor tunnel system -- an indication that he was also interested in the other highway tunnel in Baltimore -- the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel. In October 2005, a threat to blow up the two tunnels with explosive-laden vehicles led police to close them to traffic for two hours.

Could be nothing. Just a coincidence and a strange yet normal situation with a tourist checking out the architecture of our transit situations. But really, in the grand scheme of things, it's hard not to wonder, and even harder not to assume something much more devious is at hand here.