In the summer of 2002, the FBI received videotapes from two different sources in two different countries, shot in Las Vegas – purportedly by Al Qaida operatives scouting out potential targets.
Tuns out this is something nobody wanted to know. Here is the AP story about it. The mayor claims no one ever told him – the FBI documents talk about the mayor’s concerns at the time of a negative impact on tourism.
But the FBI thought the tapes were important enough to send out to Las Vegas and invite all the major security services in the area to come watch it; city and county police, some kind of terror response/SWAT unit, the head security people at the casinos, and so forth.
Only two local cops appeared. The word came back that the casinos didn’t want to see the tapes for liability reaons. If they had advance warning yet did nothing and got hit, they would have a trememdous liability. But if they knew nothing and did nothing and were hit, their liability was less.
I have to admit, this makes a certain amount of screwy sense from the casinos’ point of view, so long as there isn’t an attack on Vegas, and they know the odds are in their favor. But the various police agencies who blew this thing off – WTF knows why? Following the lead of their casino masters? Intramural squabbling?
Anyway, the FBI or Homeland Security or whoever would have been the Big Dog at the time, they allowed this local big-money-based apathy to smother any public warning.
I certainly hope that the casinos have fired their lawyers who gave them that advice. Because, you see, if there were a terrorist attack on Las Vegas (Would troops going into battle to avenge Las Vegas cry, “Remember the hookers!” when they started their charge?), you can bet your ass that there’d be a 9/11-style analysis committee formed to figure out why the intelligence failed and as soon as word got out that the casinos were given a “heads up” on it and didn’t want to be bothered, every ambulance chasing lawyer would be headed to what was left of Vegas with a chubby so big, even Enzyte Bob would be jealous.
That’s true, and you’d also have the local cops and the casino people spinning a story on how the FBI “undersold” the data, and if was REALLY that important the FBI should have INSISTED they all see the tape. They would blame the FBI for letting them get away with blowing off warnings.
And in a sense, they would be right. This war on terrorism has a disturbing feeling of having our defenses always measured against corporate profit margins.
They’re looking for subtle attractions among the casinos/hotels that most travel guides don’t cover, like “the closest spot you can park a Ryder truck to a casino entrance”, or “here’s the closest fertilizer wholesaler.”
Safety is a question of money. How safe can we afford to be?
(This story made me think about the time I lent my 65 Ford pickup to a buddy and the brakes failed and he ended up in the planter at the Mirage and the reaction of the security guards. What a hoot!)
NZ, South Africa and Australia are currently involved in a Tri-Nations rugby tournament. This weekend the All Blacks (NZ) go to South Africa to play. Out of the blue Al Qaeda are “apparently” targeting the game. http://www.planetrugby.com/Tournaments/Tri_Nations/story_37626.shtml
There is one of several possiblities.
A) Someone, somewhere is full of shit.
B) The SpringBoks are thinking they might lose and are covering there arses
C) Al Qaeda read the tournament schedule wrong and thought Australia was playing in this game.
Seriously Al Qaeda can not be seen as sensible chaps but targeting a little known game between two countries that haven’t gone out of their way to piss them off? Well I refuse to believe they are that stupid.
The only other explanation is someone is shit stirring. We are all (the whole bloody planet) on tenderhooks, we all are expecting the worst and hoping it doesn’t happen but we do need to calm down a bit I think.
I work in a mall, and yesterday morning I was walking through the outdoor court, and it was kind of serene and beautiful and I thought about bringing my camera and taking some pictures. And then I thought 'hmm. If security saw me taking some pictures, it might make them suspicious, what with the relatively recent terror alert regarding shopping malls.
Actually, we agree. I don’t think throwing money around would ever make us completely safe either. My comment was a sarcastic barb meaning, “We could never spend enough money and be secure” kind of thing.
