As ABC News reported Thursday, the FBI has issued a warning that Al Qaeda may be planning attacks on U.S. shopping malls. It is not known whether the threat is credible or whether it is a case of terrorist disinformation.
As uncertain as the information is, the FBI is right to share it. By disclosing the information, the FBI is increasing the odds that a possible threat will be detected in time to stop it. In addition, it is allowing Americans to make informed decisions about whether to continue to frequent shopping malls as usual or use alternatives like shopping online.
Of course, the latest news is unwelcome to the poltiical left. The response is to ridicule the information and pretend it's all made up. Here is an example of a typical inappropriate and absurd leftist response to the FBI warning, from Dave Johnson and James Boyce at The Huffington Post:
Is there a single person in this country who doesn't wonder if this is another Bush trick? Be honest, it crossed your mind, didn't it?
No, Huffington Post, I don't wonder whether this is "another Bush trick." I know perfectly well what Al Qaeda is willing to do. Mass murder of innocent men, women and children is the Number One Play in Al Qaeda's playbook.
But here's a glimpse at the sort of short-sighted poltiical myopia that pervades The Huffington Post and much of the left:
Congress must act! Congress must remove Bush and Cheney for lying to the country to start a war. Congress must restore the public's trust in our country's leadership. The current situation is dangerous. If the government says we are about to be attacked we need to be able to believe them and act on it, instead of rolling our eyes and wondering how these clowns think they can get away with more of this fear-pumping. Because there just might BE a time when we ARE about to be attacked.
Ignoring for a moment the rest of the overheated political rhetoric, let's focus in on that last sentence: There "just might BE a time when we ARE about to be attacked."
Ya think?
Have Messrs. Johnson and Boyce forgotten about Naradin Abdi, the would-be shopping mall bomber who pled guilty a little over three months ago to conspiring to support terrorists?
An attack from Al Qaeda is not just a future possibility. It is an immediate danger. Al Qaeda seeks, and is actively pursuing, America's destruction.
If you get your news from The Huffington Post, you may not have heard much about Nuradim Abdi lately, nor his guilty plea, and I'll bet you've already shoved to the back of your memory bank Al Qaeda's post-9/11 attempt to kill Americans using shoe bomber Richard Reid, as well as the post-9/11 Al Qaeda plot to fly a plane into the Los Angeles library tower, the 2006 transatlantic aircraft bombing plot, and the recent Al Qaeda videotapes calling for further attacks on America.
Having conveniently forgotten all these urgent red flags, The Huffington Post concedes magnanimously that someday "there might just BE a time when we ARE about to be attacked."
But not today! As long as President Bush is in office, all terror threats against America are imaginary.
I wonder why the continued Al Qaeda threats on our Office Supply stores doesn't get more press? We can't let them get their hands on our Post-It Notes!
http://www.humblenarrator.com/2007/11/09/fbi-receives-unconfirmed-al-qaeda-threats-against-office-supply-stores/
Posted by: Michael Parkatti | November 09, 2007 at 01:45 PM