# Is This ORANGE Terror Alert For Real? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 7, 2003, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-orange-terror-alert-for-real/153498 "2003-02-07T17:06:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-orange-terror-alert-for-real/153498/1 "2003-02-07T17:06:48Z")
The FBI have consluded that due toa huge increase in communication activity (with the islamic terror groups), an attack of some kind on the USA, is imminent. I know that Bush is probably deep in plans to attack iraq, but why would the terrorists pick a time like now to attack? Surely, they realize that with a single order, there will be thousands of cells and mosques raided and thousands of arrests. Moreover, attacking and hijacking airplanes isn’t likely to be easy this time! So, is this for real, or is OBL just having fun with us?😕 ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-orange-terror-alert-for-real/153498/2 "2003-02-07T18:03:48Z")
> [@](#): > > I know that Bush is probably deep in plans to attack iraq, but why would the terrorists pick a time like now to attack? I would suggest there is a link between the first half of your sentence and the second half. > [@](#): > > Surely, they realize that with a single order, there will be thousands of cells and mosques raided and thousands of arrests. Possibly true. However, there is an old revolutionary stragey of “heightening the contradictions”–to make things worse so that (in the view of the radical revolutionary) they eventually will get better. The Islamist terrorists believe that “the West” is at war with all Islam. One way to convince Muslims in general that this is so, and thus to rally them to the Cause, is to provoke us into doing things that can be portrayed as waging war on Islam itself (or to doing things that really will tantamount to waging war on Islam itself). If they can get us to “round up all of them A-rabs”, it would really be a great victory for Al Qaida. Also, Al Qaida and their ilk seem to have a strong affinity for martyrdom, so for their actual members in theory the prospect of glorious death in battle at the hands of the infidels–even if it’s just dying in a shootout with the police when they raid your safe house–is much less of a deterrant than it might be with groups motivated by some other ideologies. > [@](#): > > Moreover, attacking and hijacking airplanes isn’t likely to be easy this time! Who says they’ll hijack airplanes this time around? > [@](#): > > So, is this for real, or is OBL just having fun with us?😕 Well, _that_ I don’t know. Unfortunately I think it could very well be for real. Then again, we’ve all been waiting for the other shoe to drop ever since September 11 (no [pun](http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/01/30/shoebomber.sentencing/index.html) intended.) ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-orange-terror-alert-for-real/153498/3 "2003-02-07T18:06:52Z")
I don’t know nothin’ about nothin’ but I just listened to the effervescent Tom Ridge announce the Orange alert. Apparently, there’s a religious holiday ending soon, and they predict that will start up the ‘activity’ again. I suppose we need some Islamic experts to tell us some more about this holiday and what makes it different from any other. ---
**Author:** ![anewthought](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@anewthought](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anewthought)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-orange-terror-alert-for-real/153498/4 "2003-02-07T18:19:53Z")
Publicity. The Al-Qaeda was slammed all over the world after 9-11 for what they did. No one accepts the killing of thousands of innocent people. They thought that they would gain a lot of respect for doing what they did, instead they got a lot of really pissed off people including even those in the middle east who dislike the USA. You will notice how immediately after the attacks Al-Qaeda started posting statements about the attack saying it was in retaliation for Israeli occupation of Palestine, etc… They usually didn’t issue a reason to justify their attacks like that. They learned that people no longer approved of their organization once they moved away from attacking US military targets to innocent civilians. I can see Al-Qaeda taking advantage of an Iraq attack to further their own agenda. This time if they kill a lot of innocent Americans, it will be at a time when outrage and anger in the middle east is at it’s peak, during an attack on Iraq. Many people over there are completely opposed to any use of force on Iraq, don’t see any real reason why we should be there at all, and think it’s all about America’s dominance of oil resources. When/If we attack there’s going to be a ton of bent people. They will be growing with anger for the US. They will be feeling sorry for the innocent people in Iraq who are killed. If Al-Qaeda were to present a serious attack against the USA when we hit Iraq they could say something like this is to ‘avenge the Iraqi people’ or something similar. Then use that to get more recruits. And possibly change some peoples minds about them. This is what the director of the CIA had said originally, an attack on Iraq would probably result in more terrorism, not less. I hope he’s wrong. But he might be right. We’ve fully declared for the past year that an attack was very likely. This has given the terrorists a lot of time to sit and think of something to do in the event that the attack takes place. I don’t think we should take level orange threat as a joke. There are serious considerations for security here. If a war is to begin within the next few weeks as some ppl in the gvt has said, everyone should keep their eyes wide open for anything that looks suspicious & report it. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-orange-terror-alert-for-real/153498/5 "2003-02-07T18:43:59Z")
Jiminy _Crickets_ . . . If I were any _more_ alert, my eyes would be out on stalks like a bug! We can’t _get_ any more alert!!! ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-orange-terror-alert-for-real/153498/6 "2003-02-07T19:00:07Z")
All I know is the\*\*ORANGE ALERT \*\* is for real. Ashcroft said it was, so that makes it _offical_. If it makes anyone feel better, there is a much greater chance of being in a auto accident or hit by lightning than being a victum of terrorists. ☹ [sup]Bet that really made everyone’s day.[/sup] ---
**Author:** ![DrLizardo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5fc32e/32.png) [@DrLizardo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrLizardo)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-orange-terror-alert-for-real/153498/7 "2003-02-07T19:09:57Z")
Kniz - The statistical bit you mention is NOT much comfort to those of us here in NYC, where perhaps our chances are a trifle higher of being involved in some attack. Having said that, and as a staunch conservative (please note that conservative and Republican are NOT synonymous), even I have to wonder if the timing isn’t awfully convenient – just a way to “remind” the U.S. public about the terrorist threat and whip up a frenzy as we head for the sands of Iraq… Emilio ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-orange-terror-alert-for-real/153498/8 "2003-02-07T19:16:05Z")
OK I must go and check what an “orange” alert is. When first reading the thread title, I’,m afraid I took it to mean that a noisy lot of people from the North of Ireland would be involved. Ooops, as whoever’s saying it is goes, “my bad”! ☹ It is a while since I worked in government offfices, and for all I know the colour system might be different in the U.S., therefore I will go and learn, and that means ( ahahaaaaa 🙂 ) that today I was “using the Internet for educational purposes”). ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-orange-terror-alert-for-real/153498/9 "2003-02-07T19:19:44Z")
I think it would be more informative to see what DefCon the military is on. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-orange-terror-alert-for-real/153498/10 "2003-02-07T20:14:06Z")
Great Terror Alerts of the Past. The system officially unveiled–March 12, 2002. The nation begins with Yellow. [http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/03/12/rec.threat.alerts/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/03/12/rec.threat.alerts/index.html) The First Alert, bumped up to Orange, because of increased “chatter”–September 10, 2002. [http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/09/10/ar911.threat.level/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/09/10/ar911.threat.level/index.html) Nothing happens. The First Alert is scaled back down to Yellow–September 24, 2002. [http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/09/24/threat.level/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/09/24/threat.level/index.html) Tom Ridge announces that in spite of increased “chatter”, the alert will not be bumped up to Orange–November 18, 2002. [http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/11/17/homeland.security/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/11/17/homeland.security/index.html) Today, the Second Alert, bumped up to Orange. Because of increased “chatter”. [http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/02/07/threat.level/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/02/07/threat.level/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-orange-terror-alert-for-real/153498/11 "2003-02-07T20:34:53Z")
I’m hesitant to say that just because nothing came of a previous warning, we should ignore a current warning. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-orange-terror-alert-for-real/153498/12 "2003-02-07T21:25:19Z")
People will bitch and moan either way. If there’s an alert and nothing happens, they’ll run to Google to search for a pattern of false alarms. And if no alert were given, they’d be rushing to Google to show where warnings had not been heeded before. ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-orange-terror-alert-for-real/153498/13 "2003-02-07T21:59:32Z")
**Wolf, wolf, wolf! No, really this time there is a wolf. Wolf! Wolf!** ---
**Author:** ![DrLizardo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5fc32e/32.png) [@DrLizardo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrLizardo)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-orange-terror-alert-for-real/153498/14 "2003-02-07T22:01:20Z")
That’s very amusing until the Wolf eats you. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-orange-terror-alert-for-real/153498/15 "2003-02-07T22:16:11Z")
So, does this mean Rover is chasing Patrick McGoohan again? ---
**Author:** ![Latro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@Latro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latro)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-orange-terror-alert-for-real/153498/16 "2003-02-07T22:35:06Z")
Hmm, over here we are mobilising the national reserve. Nothing like a real army, more of a home guard to watch over strategic points. Something is brewing. ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-orange-terror-alert-for-real/153498/17 "2003-02-07T22:37:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DrLizardo \* > \*\*That’s very amusing until the Wolf eats you. \*\* That’s sort of the point, isn’t it.