The U.S. Attorney General has warned once again of a “credible” threat of imminent terrorist attacks.
Ever since September 11 my head has been spinning with the thought of what might come next. What’s terrifying is that the range of possibilities is so huge.
So, consider this: you’re Tom Ridge. Naturally, you want to protect the country against any possible terrorist attack. But you’re also working with limited resources and need to focus your attention on probable targets. What do you consider to be the most likely forms of attack?
Here are two scenarios I consider frighteningly possible:
An Oklahoma City-style attack on government buildings, coordinated against multiple targets at once.
Some kind of an attack on nuclear power plants. Perhaps a single-engine plane filled with explosives. Not sure if this would be effective, given the sturdiness of the plants’ construction, but I’ll bet that wouldn’t stop them from trying.
It’s mighty hard to try an Oklahoma City-like attack around any government building right now. I think they all have secured their perimeters pretty well. As have major skyscrapers.
I would think that your garden variety suicide bomber could just blow himself in a crowded place however. That’s cost-efficient.
I was thinking about the rumors that malls are going to be bombed on Halloween. If malls were a plausable target (in my opinion they’re not,) wouldn’t the day after Thanksgiving me a much more likely date for them? Terrorists could kill two birds with one stone, kill more people if they do attack or crash the stock market since rumors ahead of time would scare hoards of people away from the biggest shopping day of the year evem if they didn’t plan to do anything.
Well, if I were the terrorists, I’d plan a surprise attack on myself. Blow up my own headquarters. No one would ever predict that. The terrorists would have us all scared and confused if they did that.