Terror at a Christmas Mall

[Roy Karrde]

CHRISTMAS MALL TERROR ATTACK THWARTED: A 22-year-old Chicago man, Talib Abu Salam Ibn Shareef, has been charged with plotting a terrorist attack on a Rockford, Ill. mall during the holiday season. The suspect is accused of planning to set off 4 hand grenades at the CherryVale shopping mall. The suspect is described as an unaffiliated 'lone wolf-style terrorist' who wanted to commit 'violent jihad'.

Well like I have always believed, if you want to take down any western country, and I mean any, Britain, France, Canada, the U.S. All you have to do is have a string of terrorist attacks at Movie Theaters, and Malls. That takes place the detached shock alot of people have, and makes people wonder if going to a mall or a movie will lead to being killed.

[TKnHappyNess]

He's a wanna-be terrorist. REAL terrorists hit important places, not malls. The Mall of America however is different. Same with the Eaton Center in Toronto, Canada, the West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, and any other that doubles as a shopping center and a tourist area.

[Arnen]

Oh god... that's really scary.... Before I moved here, Cherryvale was the mall I always went to, and my friends from my old school go there all the time... x.x

[Roy Karrde]

Nab's post is a perfect example of what I am talking about. What is Cherryvale mall? It isn't the Mall of America, it isn't some uber mall it is and sounds like a mall in any town. You attack a few malls like Cherryvale in various places of the country and people start looking at their own mall. They start to wonder if going there to buy gifts is a suicide mission.

Attacking big places is all good for the news and everything, but you attack the regular malls, the malls that are not landmarks and look like the ones we go to each day. And you will completely shut down the economy.

[Jeff]

Malls are huge commercial centers and people usually feel safe at them, take away that feeling of safety and it could certainly put a hurt on the economy.

A few weeks ago there was a shooting at the Annapolis Mall, not an uber mall, but still pretty big, and popular. Everyone who lives in my area usually goes there and after the shooting happened, everyone who had witnessed it was talking about it in detail, about how everyone had to duck under tables (the shooting was in the food court), or drop their food and run. The stories certainly scared people, and I'm sure it's made alot of people second-guess whether they should go to that mall, I know plenty of people that feel uneasy about going there at night. And that's just from a shooting caused by some local kids. I can imagine if there was a terrorist attack at one or more malls, the stakes would be much higher.

[mr_pikachu]

He's a wanna-be terrorist. REAL terrorists hit important places, not malls. The Mall of America however is different. Same with the Eaton Center in Toronto, Canada, the West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, and any other that doubles as a shopping center and a tourist area.

I just want to state explicity that a terrorist's job is not to kill people. A terrorist is someone who instills fear in anyone deemed to be an "enemy." It is theoretically possible to be very successful as a terrorist yet never physically harm anyone. But what, of all possible stimulus, quickly triggers the most fear in us? Death.

(Heck, since it's the holidays, think about A Christmas Carol. Why did Scrooge reform in the end? Was it because he saw the error of his ways? No! It was because he discovered that if he continued, he would die! He was so terrified of that punishment that he changed and began treating people nicely. Not because he wanted to be kind, but because death scared him.)

The thing is, the most effective terrorists connect that fear with the general public. Like Roy said, if a few smaller malls are targeted, then people will start to think that no malls are safe. Sure, more people die when highly populated areas are attacked, but it doesn't cripple the nation because everyone believes that the smaller areas are still okay! Take away that security, and you break the backbone of an entire society.

Restricting people can be every bit as effective as killing them.

[/explication]

[Alucard]

A couple of years ago he would of just been called some nut job and nobody would of cared, but now it's ZOMG TERRORIZT!

[TKnHappyNess]

(Heck, since it's the holidays, think about A Christmas Carol. Why did Scrooge reform in the end? Was it because he saw the error of his ways? No! It was because he discovered that if he continued, he would die! He was so terrified of that punishment that he changed and began treating people nicely. Not because he wanted to be kind, but because death scared him.)

How do we know he didn't die of natural causes? It was never really explained how he would've died.

[DarkTemplarZero]

Hahah ah this reminds me of CNN's analysis of places the United States is vulnerable to terrorist attacks: In the words of the great Jon Stewart laughing at this report, the places we are vulnerable are limited to geographic locations, or "places".

"Well like I have always believed, if you want to take down any western country, and I mean any, Britain, France, Canada, the U.S. All you have to do is have a string of terrorist attacks at Movie Theaters, and Malls"
By "take down" I assume you mean force them to shoot themselves in the foot and start giving away their civil liberties? I think they're doing a good job of that without doing anything.

And finally, I am a bit creeped out by this, the part of New Jersey I'm from practically has more malls than people, I go to one with friends at least once a week, but whatever, death is nothing to waste your life fearing.

[RedStarWarrior]

Depending, the hand grenades wouldn't have done as much damage. It would have been more practical to build his own chemical bomb if he was that intent on 'violent jihad.' I'd say that this was meant to be more of a statement than anything.

[Cindaquil]

It's kind of sad if you ask me. It's easy to tell the difference between a real terrorist and a plain ol' everyday America hater. The terrorist are smart, the America haters are dumb. Like the guy in this thread. I hope he has a great time in jail with a roughneck rebel who is a hardcore American.

[pokemasterfrank]

(Heck, since it's the holidays, think about A Christmas Carol. Why did Scrooge reform in the end? Was it because he saw the error of his ways? No! It was because he discovered that if he continued, he would die! He was so terrified of that punishment that he changed and began treating people nicely. Not because he wanted to be kind, but because death scared him.)[/explication]

I'm pretty sure that the whole thing was that he'd die and and be forgotten - that no one would care. No one attended his funeral and all that good stuff. But whatever works for the example