When she isn’t flying, Eble admits that she does not think about terrorism on an ongoing basis. However, three recent developments have her thinking about the terrorism headlines.

“The threat is there weather you choose to live by the threat,” Eble said as she noted that the danger is very real.

On Tuesday Nov. 8, Australian authorities said they had averted an imminent terrorist attack by making 17 arrests in Sydney. Additionally, authorities in that country announced that a major terrorist leader, Abu Bakr, was found dead on the following day. The same day, Al Qaeda in Iraq went on the offensive outside the Iraqi boarders for the first time. They struck Jordan, a US ally in the war and neighbor to Iraq.

The bombing in Jordon resulted in the death of 67 people and injured nearly 300. It occurred when suicide bombers attacked three hotels in downtown Amman. The deadliest attack was at the Radisson SAS hotel where a wedding reception was in progress. Other attacks were attempted at the Grand Hyatt hotel and the Days Inn.

Many see the strikes on Jordan as a significant change in the dynamic of the war. This is the first time Al Qaeda in Iraq has carried out an attack in a foreign country, and it was targeted towards a key US ally in the war.

“This is probably an organized effort to undermine the Jordanian government,” said terrorism analyst Neil Livingstone on Fox News. He noted that there has been Jordanian cooperation with the United States in the War on Terror.

US forces have been using the relative safety of Jordan to train the Iraqi police force, and the Jordanian government has been providing intelligence information to the United States.

“ Jordan is one of the spymasters of the Middle East. Their intelligence service is one of the best,” said former CIA official Michael Swetnam.

The same day another major development occurred in Australia. Indonesian police confirmed that Azahari bin Husin, one of the world’s most wanted terrorist suspects, had killed himself to avoid capture in Canberra, Australia.

Azahari is the leader of a terrorist organization called Jemaah Islamayeh and is accused of masterminding two bombings on the resort island of Bali, which killed at least 220 people. He is also accused of planning attacks at the Australian embassy and a hotel in Jakarta that killed 23 people.

Azahari committed suicide rather than accept arrest by Australian officials. Although forensic experts will identify the remains, officials in Indonesia were able to identify the head as that of Azahari.

“Certainly facially he’s been identified by Gen Gorries Mere, who’s been heading the terrorist tracking team for three years,” said Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty to the Southern Cross radio network.

Wednesday Nov. 9, development in Australia came after the largest terrorism bust in that nation’s history. Australian authorities arrested 17 terror suspects in Sydney on Tuesday and said they prevented an imminent attack.

“I was satisfied that this state was under an imminent threat of potentially a catastrophic terrorist act,” said New South Wales Police Minister Karl Scully.

One of the suspects arrested was an Islamic cleric who has praised Usama bin Laden. Abu Bakr, an Algerian-Australian who leads a Muslim group in Melbourne, called the Al Qaeda mastermind a “great man” according to the Associated Press. Bakr has said he would be violating his faith if he warned his students not to join the jihad, or holy war, in Iraq.

In a radio interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corp., New South Wales Police Commissioner Ken Moroney spoke of the importance of the arrests.

“We have disrupted what I would regard as the final stages of a large-scale terrorist attack,” Moroney said.