ConservativeINC

ABC News is reporting that the FBI has received an intelligence report that al Qaeda plans on attacking shopping malls this Christmas season in Los Angeles and Chicago. (I added the bold for your benefit)

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.”

Law enforcement officials tell ABCNews.com that the FBI received the information in late September and declassified it yesterday for wide distribution.

The alert, like similar FBI and Department of Homeland Security terror alerts issued over the past five years at holiday times, raised questions about the credibility of the information.

The bulletin acknowledges that U.S. intelligence officers are uncertain as to whether the information is real, and intelligence officers say there is a concern that it could be “disinformation.”

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.

The source reportedly had only “indirect access” to al Qaeda and word of the actual threat came to U.S. intelligence officers “through a lengthy chain” of contacts.

With the shopping season approaching, however, the FBI officials decided it was necessary to share the information.

For the past few years, jihadist chat rooms have regularly posted comments from anonymous individuals who have suggested or boasted about similar plans to attack such soft targets as shopping malls.

“Out of abundance of caution, and for any number of other reasons, raw intelligence is regularly shared within the intelligence and law enforcement communities — even when the value of the information is unknown,” said Special Agent Richard Kolko. “In the post-9/11 era, sharing information is our top priority. Al-Qa’ida messaging has clearly stated they intend to attack the U.S. or its interests; however, there is no information to state this is a credible threat. As always, we remind people to remain vigilant and report suspicious activity to authorities.”

“We have no credible, specific information suggesting an imminent attack,” a DHS official said.

Of course the chances of them actually pulling anything off seems to be relatively small. They have hit us hard in the past and I think that is going to continue to be their attack of choice whenever they hit within America. That’s because it seems like 747s filled with a bunch of fuel are pretty good force multipliers. Even if the terrorists orchestrated a couple dozen of these attacks, assuming they used four people for each attack, there’s no way they would even get close to the death toll they achieved on 9-11.

Plus they would be seriously pissing off this sleeping lion. 9-11 was one thing; people weren’t individually picked out for killing and we didn’t see the faces of the killers as they committed their act of war. This time their pictures will be plastered on television shows as they’re mowing down Christmas shoppers. Don’t you think the American people would take this as a slap in the face and want to kick some more jihadi ass? I think so.

If I were the terrorists I wouldn’t want to remind the American people of they’re fighting the War on Terror. Let’s just say that in two months there are some attacks on malls. The first thing that is going to happen is that President Bush will get all the support he wants to do whatever he deems necessary to win the war. We’ll also get a lot of people joining to help the war effort and we won’t have to worry about losing the will to fight the war for another couple of years. That would comfortably get us through the rest of Bush’s term and might help a Republican win the next presidential election.

That’s why the terrorists aren’t going to do anything to our homeland. I think that they are banking on a Democrat getting elected president because that would mean a significantly less strident American military presence in the Middle East in particular and everywhere else in general. I would be shocked if they tried anything before the end of January 2009. So shop and enjoy your last year of relative peace and stability. BigT

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