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  1. SteveSc Member
    SteveSc
    @SteveSc

    I’m amazed that there hasn’t been a coordinated attack at various malls around the country involving automatic weapons.  It’s not as if getting people across the border is difficult…

    • #1
  2. user_231912 Inactive
    user_231912
    @BrianMcMenomy

    As addicted as jihadists are to symbolism, I’m guessing they realize that the days around 9/11 are days where we are paying closer attention, if only out of national memory.  I’m guessing they will choose a different date.  They will, without question, try something soon.

    How?  ISIS might subcontract with some Mexican drug cartel to take on multiple high-profile targets (schools, perhaps).

    • #2
  3. user_536317 Inactive
    user_536317
    @JimW

    One FB friend posted this evening, “I have been advised by close friends in the know that perhaps it might be a good time to take a trip out of LA. and not go visit any other large city in Ca.”

    I have no idea who those CFITK might be or how reliable they are.

    I’ve made a stab at several “paralysis via potus fundraiser” jokes, but I confess feeling more nervous than in years past. I live near the port and work in west L.A.

    • #3
  4. derek Inactive
    derek
    @user_82953

    9/11 although successful was a mistake. It elicited a response. There is a rule in world affairs. The US doesn’t care, and you are in deep trouble if they do. I have no reason to believe that these folks are stupid, there has been a nasty darwinian pruning going on for years.

    I would look at something like Boston Marathon type operations. Simple, cheap and extraordinarily effective bang for the buck. They managed to have a major city, one of the drivers of the US economy shut down for a few days at the cost of a couple of guys, some nails and explosives and some firearms. The reaction of the American public was amazing; make sure that one of them is cute. The intelligentsia will go out of their way to convince everyone that it has nothing to do with Islam. 

    Benghazi was another example where they designed an attack, again on the cheap that tied the US military into knots. Remember how effective drones were until Benghazi? Not so much afterwards. They found the weak spot; the line of command had a chokepoint that allowed a successful attack. 

    Expect more like that.

    • #4
  5. profdlp Inactive
    profdlp
    @profdlp

    I don’t know how much credence to put in the report, but I read that eleven commercial jetliners have “disappeared” from the Tripoli airport.

    http://freebeacon.com/national-security/missing-libyan-jetliners-raise-fears-of-suicide-airliner-attacks-on-911/

    • #5
  6. 3rd angle projection Member
    3rd angle projection
    @

    History tells us no. Otherwise, we would have been attacked on every 9/11. But who knows with our new open borders policy. Anything’s possible at this point. We have gone through the looking glass, so to speak, on many levels. I will not be surprised either way, big (Boston Marathon) or small (ISIS’ssss new wanna be citizen, whatever Hasan).

    • #6
  7. user_124695 Inactive
    user_124695
    @DavidWilliamson

    Well, it certainly wont be the US, err, facility in Benghazi, which is now a Jihadist leisure facility and aquatic center  (dunno what happened to all those anti-aircraft missiles that went missing).

    We can rest easy, knowing that Mr Obama is focused like a laser on the threat  – at least when he is not playing Golf or schmoozing with Hollywood celebrities or fundraising for… what, exactly?

    Anyway, as we speak, he is joining the NATO summit, leading from behind – what could possibly go wrong?

    Update – ’twas the Embassy is Tripoli, not Benghazi – but what difference at this point does it make?

    • #7
  8. Valiuth Member
    Valiuth
    @Valiuth

    Simple Lome gunmen shooting up a crowd would be easy to pull off. Several such actions on one day would be very rattelling. But, we shouldn’t let ourselves grow to paranoid here it is an easy trap to fall into. The worst attacks will be the ones we can’t now imagine.

    • #8
  9. user_549556 Inactive
    user_549556
    @VinceGuerra

    Truck bombs at multiple NFL stadiums on opening weekend would be a devastating one.

    • #9
  10. TeamAmerica Member
    TeamAmerica
    @TeamAmerica

    Okay, what is ‘CFITK?’

    • #10
  11. AUChief Inactive
    AUChief
    @AUChief

    TeamAmerica:

    Okay, what is ‘CFITK?’

     I have been advised by close friends in the know that perhaps it might be a good time to take a trip out of LA. and not go visit any other large city in Ca.
    Took me a minute too.

    • #11
  12. user_199279 Coolidge
    user_199279
    @ChrisCampion

    AUChief: CFITK

     Google called it “Controlled Flight Into Terrain”.

    Sort of along the same lines.

    • #12
  13. user_199279 Coolidge
    user_199279
    @ChrisCampion

    We got hit last 9/11.

    It’s interesting in that people keep talking about logical and rational choices made by fanatics, as if they’re thinking in their own best interests.  Their interest is in establishing a caliphate.  That means that there are no limits on irrationality.

    The West’s influence is all economic-based.  A big economy has a big influence on the world, and that means Western culture is exported, everywhere.  OBL had the right idea in this regard – attack them in as outrageous a way as possible, hurt them economically, and you will start to bring down the bear.

    Not this bear, though – because he’s a milquetoast.  The only thing that’ll bring him down is coming home from a round of golf and have to talk to his wife.

    Grrr.  I say "Grrr".

    • #13
  14. Pencilvania Inactive
    Pencilvania
    @Pencilvania

    First off, I pray that every one of their #@*! plans blows up directly in their faces alone.

    I do think though that the administration’s non-reaction to Benghazi makes it much more likely that they attack our citizens abroad than here. Any American living in an unstable country is in danger now, with history proving that this admin does not ride up to your rescue.

    • #14
  15. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    derek: 9/11 although successful was a mistake. It elicited a response. There is a rule in world affairs. The US doesn’t care, and you are in deep trouble if they do.

     There was a rule in world affairs.  The new rule is “if the US cares, they will hold a press conference in front of a tame White House press corps, express justified outrage at those on the wrong side of history, and then hit the links.”

    Oh, and hashtags.  Lots and lots of hashtags.

    • #15
  16. The Mugwump Inactive
    The Mugwump
    @TheMugwump

    The terrorists are tactically cunning, but then it’s rather easy to attack a free and open society from an unexpected direction.  Nevertheless, our enemies lack any sense of overall strategy.  Random mayhem is entirely pointless except for the chance to display Islamic swagger and braggadocio.

    • #16
  17. Misthiocracy Member
    Misthiocracy
    @Misthiocracy

    James Lileks: If so, how?

    Interminable cable news retrospectives.

    • #17
  18. Nick Stuart Inactive
    Nick Stuart
    @NickStuart

    Some event(s) on the order of magnitude of Benghazi, nothing like 9/11/01. The ones who are rational actors won’t want to risk influencing the November elections in a national security direction. 

    November 2014-December 2015 will be a time of bad actors consolidating gains and reaching for all they can grab. November 2016-January 2017 will be the very, very dangerous time as Obama will be the lamest of lame ducks. Much, much lamer than even now.

    Discussed in more detail previously on Exjon’s post.

    • #18
  19. Casey Inactive
    Casey
    @Casey

    Misthiocracy:

    James Lileks: If so, how?

    Interminable cable news retrospectives.

     Don’t cancel your cable!  If you cancel, the terrorists win!

    • #19
  20. user_86050 Inactive
    user_86050
    @KCMulville

    Drudge has a story on airliners that have been stolen. Another story on ebola raging out of control.

    A clear sign of impending disaster is if Obama assures us that all is well.

    How’s your morning so far?

    • #20
  21. Misthiocracy Member
    Misthiocracy
    @Misthiocracy

    Casey:

    Misthiocracy:

    James Lileks: If so, how?

    Interminable cable news retrospectives.

    Don’t cancel your cable! If you cancel, the terrorists win!

    Too late. I’ve already lost my soul to Netflix/iTunes.

    • #21
  22. Misthiocracy Member
    Misthiocracy
    @Misthiocracy

    KC Mulville: How’s your morning so far?

    Pretty good. I had some bacon and coffee for breakfast, and I’m knocking back a few chapters of Saki’s “Beasts and Super-Beasts” before I head off to the office.

    • #22
  23. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    As far as what they might do, when I heard of a panga hitting the beach a week before Labor Day, the first thing I thought of was Mumbai, 2008.

    • #23
  24. BuckeyeSam Inactive
    BuckeyeSam
    @BuckeyeSam

    I always consider location. Why? It’s always seemed to me that if they struck at liberal bastions, they’d lose some of their bigger apologists. Then, again, after the planes and the marathon bombing, NY and Boston are still awash in liberal supporters. That said, if these terrorists begin striking at the heartland, they may enrage red staters, but the coasts will likely yawn.

    In the end, I still believe that if terrorists continue to hit the liberal bastions, they’ll eventually shake up enough “moderates” and some liberals who say “enough is enough.” I think I’ve read that there were more than just a few liberals and moderates who became terrorist hawks after 9/11. Dennis Miller and the late Ron Silver come to mind. After all, you can’t be a liberal if you’re dead.

    • #24
  25. CuriousKevmo Inactive
    CuriousKevmo
    @CuriousKevmo

    If I worked in an African or European embassy, I’d be worried.

    • #25
  26. Seawriter Contributor
    Seawriter
    @Seawriter

    Valiuth: Lone gunmen shooting up a crowd would be easy to pull off.

    Depends on where.  In cities like Washington, New York City, or Chicago, where guns are tightly controlled that would work.  You could get an impressive body count.  In Dallas, Houston, or even the People’s Republic of Austin, with all those carry-conceal holders wandering around your typical jihadi  attempting it would likely be dead before emptying the first magazine.  

    Yet my gut tells me that shooting up the Mall of America (or even the Capitol Mall) would feel insufficiently spectacular for ISIS/ISIL.  They have to be looking at topping 9/11 of 2001.  My bet would be on a dirty bomb or two in some place symbolizing American decadence – San Francisco, New York City, or Washington D.C.

    Seawriter

    • #26
  27. DrewInWisconsin Member
    DrewInWisconsin
    @DrewInWisconsin

    KC Mulville:

    A clear sign of impending disaster is if Obama assures us that all is well.

    Which he did last weekend, saying that everything’s fine, and if you think the world is falling apart, it’s because Facebook. 

    We’re doomed.

    • #27
  28. Seawriter Contributor
    Seawriter
    @Seawriter

    BuckeyeSam: It’s always seemed to me that if they struck at liberal bastions, they’d lose some of their bigger apologists.

    I don’t think that factors in.  They do not understand American politics or America.  To them we all look alike.  They will hit the areas that most offend their religious sensibilities and/or allow easiest access.  That would be places in Blue States.  My short list would include Boston, Detroit, New York City, Minneapolis, San Francisco and Los Angeles.  

    Seawriter

    • #28
  29. Casey Inactive
    Casey
    @Casey

    KC Mulville: A clear sign of impending disaster is if Obama assures us that all is well.

     All is not well yet.  But it will soon be well.  A bird, a plane, SUPER O!

    “Those who make the mistake of harming Americans will learn that we will not forget and that our reach is long and that justice will be served.”

    How long is our reach?

    But Obama said his administration’s strategy is to contain the threat of the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), rather than seeking to eliminate the group entirely.

    The president said wiping out the extremist group, which has taken over large swaths of Iraq and Syria, is not an achievable goal, but that the U.S. can still mitigate the threat it poses. “Our objective is to make sure that [ISIS] is not an ongoing threat to the region,” Obama said. “And we can accomplish that.”

    Not long enough to reach for the stars, I guess.

    • #29
  30. Foxfier Inactive
    Foxfier
    @Foxfier

    The Mugwump:

    The terrorists are tactically cunning, but then it’s rather easy to attack a free and open society from an unexpected direction. Nevertheless, our enemies lack any sense of overall strategy. Random mayhem is entirely pointless except for the chance to display Islamic swagger and braggadocio.

     On the other hand, they’re hard to attack with the kind of success that that culture desires.

    What scares me is home growns– like the marathon bombers, they think enough like us to be more scary and dangerous.  That is who might try, say, a chain of Christmas eve mall bombings.

    I think they will try to attack, but I don’t know how– their world view of who is a brag-worthy target is just too alien.  I do know that military bases have been very pro-active in the stuff that isn’t totally obvious from driving in, but a lot of that is just noticing changes that wouldn’t make sense if I hadn’t been curious when I was in and guessing.

    • #30
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