OK, you add what happened today in India to what is coming later this week… “Black Friday”.
What AQ desires more than large numbers of killed and injured is a huge cost in the terms economic damage as a result of their attacks. The figure of the “economic cost” of 9/11 varies widely with the upper limits up into the billions.
OK, so we have “chatter” for an attack on the subways and rail lines of NYC. If the cells abort the attacks as a result of this alert, how difficult is it to hit just as soft of a target—a heavily populated target with a definite economic inpact… such as shopping malls during the holidays?
The US economy is bad shape. Retailers are filing bankruptcy. It isn’t difficult to hide gernades, suicide bombs and automatic weapons underneath winter coats and in shopping bags. You cant stop and search everyone trying to get into Macy’s.
The dirtbags get in, shoot up the place. The casualty figures may run high—over a thousand, depending on the nature of the attack.
The economic cost will be high. Nobody will go to the malls. Malls and stores close. This "plot" was featured in a Tom Clancy novel back in 2003.
Add Macy’s, Dillard’s, Saks, Toys R Us, Best Buy, etc. to the bailout list. And there is precedent… the Feds gave the airlines $40 Billion to cover “losses” after 9/11.
And if such an attack happens, nobody can assert any valid political reason to stop any large scale Special Forces incursion into Pakistani Tribal Areas.
Western intelligence services have been expecting an al-Qaeda spectacular terrorist attack in this crucial period between the end of President George Bush’s administration and the succession of Barack Obama.
Signals intelligence “chatter” in recent weeks indicated that Osama bin Laden’s terrorist organisation might be plotting an attack “to grab the headlines” before Mr Obama takes over in the White House on January 20.
British security and intelligence sources said there had been increasing concern, particularly in the United States, that a “terrorist spectacular” was on the cards.
The multiple attacks on Westerners in Bombay last night showed all the signs of an al-Qaeda strategy — picking on vulnerable Western “soft targets” but not in a country where there would be maximum security. The attacks on Western targets in Bali in 2002 when al-Qaeda-linked terrorists planted bombs in tourist-favoured restaurants and clubs was another example where the group switched its resources to achieve maximum impact.
Counter-terrorist experts last night said that India would have been selected for the latest spectacular “probably because that’s where al-Qaeda has sufficient resources to carry out an attack on this scale. They don’t choose for the sake of it, they look to see where they have the greatest capability and then order an attack,” a counter-terror expert told The Times.
The key to this latest attack was the search by the armed terrorists for American and British passport holders. With a reported 40 Britons held hostage, the terrorists have the upper hand. The counter-terrorist sources said targeting Bombay’s most luxurious hotels and a crowded railway station had all the hallmarks of an al-Qaeda operation.
Bombay has been targeted before when 180 people died during a bomb attack on the railway station in 2006, but that incident was put down to militants, not al-Qaeda, and the Indian government suspected that the attackers had links to Pakistan’s intelligence service, the ISI.
This attack, however, involving the taking of Western hostages made it more likely that the operation’s masterminds were from the core leadership of al-Qaeda, which is based in the lawless tribal regions close to the Pakistan/Afghanistan border.
Although an unknown group claimed responsibility last night, the taking of Western hostages and the deliberate seeking out of American and British citizens indicated a “typical al-Qaeda-style activity”, according to security sources.
Other sources said India was the home of a complicated network of terrorists and it might be too early to jump to the conclusion that it was an al-Qaeda operation. “It seems to be a highly opportunistic attack,” one source said.
However, this is traditionally the way al-Qaeda works. The leadership decides an attack should take place and leaves its franchise operators to decide how best to carry it out. Many of the gunmen appeared to be young but they also seemed confident, suggesting that they were well trained.
As the unprecedented scale of the attacks became clear last night, it looked to be the most co-ordinated terrorist operation since the targeting of the Twin Towers in New York in 2001.
Dozens of gunmen were involved in up to 19 different attacks, although the main focus seemed to be the taking of foreign hostages and detaining them in two of Bombay’s most prestigious hotels.
Judging by the apparent cockiness of at least one of the gunmen caught looking into television cameras, these terrorists were clearly prepared to die for their cause.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/wo...241036.ece
Sources: Al Qaeda Targets Amtrak N'east Corridor
Heightened Security Presence In Place At Penn Station; Attack Could Cripple Transit Between Boston, Washington
Cops, Feds Armed With M16s On Patrol For Foreseeable Future
NEW YORK (CBS) ― The world's economic fears were violently pushed aside on Wednesday by another global threat -- terrorism.
A massive coordinated attack was launched in Mumbai, India just hours after the FBI warned that Al Qaeda may be targeting New York's subways and railroads.
If Al Qaeda terrorists have their way there will be chaos and mayhem here this holiday season, a mass transit bomb plot that would probably affect all the subway and train lines at Penn and Grand Central stations.
"The threat is serious, the threat is significant, and it is plausible," said Congressman Peter King, R-Long Island, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee.
Uniformed officers, including this NYPD Counter Terrorism Squad members and Amtrak cops with M-16s, flooded Penn Station Wednesday after the FBI said it had received a "plausible but unsubstantiated" report that Al Qaeda operatives discussed a plan two months ago to bomb New York City's mass transit system.
The report said: "These discussions reportedly involved the use of suicide bombers or explosives placed on subway/passenger rail systems."
Sources told CBS 2 HD the plot involved the Long Island Rail Road. If the explosion went off in Penn Station, the source said, it would affect transportation of Amtrak's northeast corridor between Boston and Washington, LIRR service and New York City subway service.
"This is definitely linked to Al Qaeda and they had very significant details about exactly how they would carry out the attack, where they would carry it out -- that's what makes it sound so plausible," Rep. King said.
http://wcbstv.com/national/nyc.subway.te....874830.ht
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NYC Rail Security put on alert; AQ “Spectacular Attack” expected during Transition
