Exclusive: FBI: Al Qaeda May Strike U.S. Shopping Malls in LA, Chicago

Exclusive: FBI: Al Qaeda May Strike U.S. Shopping Malls in LA, Chicago

blogs.abcnews.com

The FBI is warning that al Qaeda may be preparing a series of holiday attacks on U.S. shopping malls in Los Angeles and Chicago, according to an intelligence report distributed to law enforcement authorities across the country this morning.

The alert said al Qaeda "hoped to disrupt the U.S. economy and has been planning the attack for the past two years."

(visit the link for the full news article)

Sounds plausible and definitely would play into this administrations hands to keep the public living in fear. The article indicates this was known in September, yet no mention until now and no change in the Homeland Security threat level. I've always wondered why this tactic never played out given the impact and relative ease of carrying out such an operation. Too much emphasis is placed on the obvious targets.

brill

blogs.abcnews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Yes, because as we all know, its Al Quida who is disrupting the US economy.

Perhaps the U.S. govt. should just shutup and tell nobody of any threats, real or imagine, then if there is an attack, the American people would demand why the U.S. govt. didn't warn them, the response will be that they don't want to scare the public. Think the public will accept that excuse?

I agree with you. I they really wanted to rack up casualties there are plenty of targets that are less secure. Schools, malls, office buildings, etc..

reply to post by deltaboy


Yes, probably they should. I doubt the public will even react to this... there is always some new threat being manufactured in the US isnt it? People must be getting so sick of it. I know I am...

From watching the news, you would think its probably best to never step outside at all.

Originally posted by wsamplet
I agree with you. I they really wanted to rack up casualties there are plenty of targets that are less secure. Schools, malls, office buildings, etc..

Thats my point. Are you Americans going to build a society where everybody is being monitored 24 hours per day? You still would not be safe from terrorism you know. There is no way to be completely safe. All you are doing is making the terrorists succeed. You will be the ones in the cage with no freedoms left.


[edit on 8-11-2007 by Copernicus]

In would imagine that they wait to announce such things publicly so the enemy doesn't have time to adapt their plans when they find out we are on to them.

Reuters carried this story as well, but mentioned in the first paragraph that there was no information it was a credible threat.

An FBI report warned al Qaeda may be planning to strike shopping malls in Chicago and Los Angeles during the Christmas season, but a bureau official said on Thursday there was no information it was a credible threat.

Source: Reuters

The ABC News item also talks of US intel officers saying they dont know if its real and that it could be disinformation...



[edit on 8-11-2007 by Copernicus]

Can anyone say timing....

Here we are coming up on the biggest shopping time of the year in the U.S. and these warnings are just coming out....

I'm usually the last one to speak out about our Government, but I'm coming around ( a little bit )...

just more scare tactics... for whatever reason...

very very interesting...

I'll take the warning as issued, HOWEVER as someone mentioned above, what are the ramifications of such a warning or even possible attack.. The Economy!
But the economy is already shaky and it wouldn't take much for a big dump to happen, perhaps this sort of thing is beneficial to more than just Al-Qaeda. The expected correction of the markets happens, the blame goes to Al-Qaeda. Analysts will say it's not the economy's fault, it's all Al-Qaeda, we bounce back and we continue on as if nothing is happening with our dying dollar and all the other aspects of finance that we currently ignore.

interesting indeed...

I'm going to go out on a limb here and bet this won't happen. Come on people, how many times have we heard this already? Bridges, malls, Halloween, Christmas... I've heard it all before.

Well actually... the joke is going to be on Al Qaeda. With the economy going the way it has been there won't be anyone in the malls anyway.

Originally posted by deltaboy
Perhaps the U.S. govt. should just shutup and tell nobody of any threats, real or imagine, then if there is an attack, the American people would demand why the U.S. govt. didn't warn them, the response will be that they don't want to scare the public. Think the public will accept that excuse?

Not sure where your going with this. The comment I made merely pointed out a discrepancy with respect to when the initial matter was known and when it was disclosed to the general public. No one is saying the Department of Homeland Security should hide the facts or details but the sensitivity to these matters has certainly lapsed. In the past there have been other indications of forthcoming attacks that have prompted a change in the threat level almost immediately.

I don't mind the idea that the US govt should shut up with other matters though.

brill

Originally posted by Copernicus
Reuters carried this story as well, but mentioned in the first paragraph that there was no information it was a credible threat.

An FBI report warned al Qaeda may be planning to strike shopping malls in Chicago and Los Angeles during the Christmas season, but a bureau official said on Thursday there was no information it was a credible threat.

Source: Reuters

The ABC News item also talks of US intel officers saying they dont know if its real and that it could be disinformation...

The original article also states:

Law enforcement officials at three different agencies told ABCNews.com the FBI alert was based on a source who has proved reliable in the past.

So its anyones guess as to the accuracy of this story. Given that the source mentioned has a track record of unfortunate success there may be some bite to this which prompted public notice. Who knows.

brill

reply to post by brill


Wasn't there some other scare back in September? I've lost track of all the various scares...

Maybe that's why it wasn't released back then or even in October. There must have some kind of Scare-o-Meter -- if it drops below a certain level, they release a new scare. Maybe.

Originally posted by jtma508
Well actually... the joke is going to be on Al Qaeda. With the economy going the way it has been there won't be anyone in the malls anyway.

Or the idea could be perceived as kicking someone while they're down. Its no secret the US economy is faltering so why not drive it even further into the ground. On the other hand online shopping is thriving too. Personally I don't see anything happening but the potential is huge. Most of the security measures have been arranged for obvious critical targets with little to no protection in other areas. Others have pointed out you cannot protect everything and you can't live in fear either but inevitably an event is gonna happen.

brill

Originally posted by Beachcoma
reply to post by brill

 

Wasn't there some other scare back in September? I've lost track of all the various scares...

Maybe that's why it wasn't released back then or even in October. There must have some kind of Scare-o-Meter -- if it drops below a certain level, they release a new scare. Maybe.

Yes it seems like its a scare a month but that could be a piece of the bigger picture. Get people used to the doom and gloom until the real deal happens. A scare-o-meters is a good idea

brill

[edit on 8-11-2007 by brill]

If main stream media starts pointing to this alert for a few weeks the holiday shopping season is going to be even slower than predicted. Hopefully most people won't take the alerts too seriously and continue to shop at stores. I don't even know the number of alerts that have been put out over the years and nothing has happened, except for a heightened sense of fear in the general public. Maybe thats why I always have the feeling in the back of my mind that something is about to happen

In light of the recent events in Pakistan, (Placing the country into lockdown using the excuse of terrorism) I would certainly not be surprised if Bush is stepping up the fear mongering so that he can attempt the same lockdown on the citizens of the US using the same excuses.

In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Bush put Musharraf up to the lockdown as a test to see how it might play out in the States.


Let's face it, Al-Qaeda isn't stupid. They realize that sky scrapers and government buildings are much more vulnerable and valuable targets than shopping malls.

A well placed bomb in a mall, there goes a couple of stores.
A well placed bomb in a sky scraper, there goes the entire building.

No, they're not that stupid. If a bomb goes off in a mall, it definitely wasn't Al-Qaeda...

Originally posted by jtma508
Well actually... the joke is going to be on Al Qaeda. With the economy going the way it has been there won't be anyone in the malls anyway.

HAAAA!! Now that's funny, gave me a very amusing picture of some sweaty dude going in with his thumb on the button, looking around in confusion, getting very depressed all of the sudden and going home with shoulders slumped!! Talk about your bad day at the office!