Every year the goons at DHS and various federal agencies trot out the “As the holiday shopping season approacehes, concersn of terror attacks at shopping malls….” warnings. Here’s the first i’ve seen this year:
Exclusive: FBI: Al Qaeda May Strike U.S. Shopping Malls in LA, Chicago
Here’s the actual alert:
The unclassified shopping mall threat information was circulated by the FBI on November 7th, based on intelligence received by the FBI in late September. The full text of one version of that report is as follows:
December 2007 Al-Qa’ida Plan to Target US Shopping Malls in Chicago, Illinois and Los Angeles, California.
As of August 2007, al-Qa’ida planned to strike US shopping malls in Chicago, Illinois and Los Angeles, California during the 2007 Christmas season. Al-Qa’ida hoped to disrupt the US economy and had been planning the attack for the past two years.
FBI Comment: This information was obtained through a lengthy chain of acquisition, and was provided to the source by a sub-source who spoke in confidence. The veracity of the information is uncertain but the threat is being reported due to the nature of the information.
That’s it. The whole thing. Or, to shorten it for clarity: We heard from a friend of a friend of a friend that AQ was gonna try something. ‘Course, that was two months ago, and we can’t say if its true but….
This is like a weather report that says “Might rain tomorrow. Might Not. Back to you, Ted!”
Anyone with even the vaguest sense of self-preservation could figure that, gosh, a mall full of folks shopping for a traditionally religious holiday might make a tempting target. And leaking the possibility of attack might cause buyers to stay home and thus give the ol’ US economy a shot in the chops. Thats the beauty of this kind if terrorism…you dont need to fire a shot – just threaten and get the result you want.
I don’t spend alot of time in malls, when I do spend time in malls I usually have a pistol, and any gift giving I do usually comes from gun shops where the staff and most of the customers would be thrilled if someone walked in, shouted some Islamic slogan and pulled a gun out from under their coat.
But…you never know. Even broken clocks are right twice a day.
