Comments on: Is al-Qaeda Targeting the Santa Monica Pier? SM Authorities Fear So

By: A Senior Administration Official

A Senior Administration Official — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 22:23:40 +0000

My friends the Santa Monica liberals, just back from a month in Israel and thus a little paranoid, think a more likely scenario is a homeless-looking dude pushing a shopping cart down the 3d Street Promenade on a Friday night — only the shopping cart is not what it looks like. All too possible.

By: Insider

Insider — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 14:36:30 +0000

“/sarcasm”

Pam, you are a welcome additon to the blog!

I also hate the “discrimination” that people with backpacks (or “PWBs”) are being subjected to on public transport. Despicable.

By: Pam

Pam — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 14:33:12 +0000

I didn’t think racial profiling was allowed in a place like Santa Monica. What about the rights of the men doing the videotaping? They should be ashamed of themselves.

/sarcasm

By: Jim Rockford

Jim Rockford — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 06:59:02 +0000

This is not a joke. Don’t forget Millenium Bomber Ahmed Ressam planned to blow up LAX.

Good luck is not an anti-terror strategy.

It’s pretty unlikely Al-Qaeda can pull off exactly another 9/11, passengers on planes will fight to the death now. It’s that simple. However …

Al Qaeda in Turkey (blasts at seaside resorts catering to Israelis), Sharm-al-Sheik Egypt, Bali, Jakarta, Instanbul, Tunis, Zamboanga Philippines, London, as well as Iraq and Israel have typically targetted the following:

1. “Soft” targets such as hotels, shopping malls, resorts, nightclubs, pizza places, consulates/embassies, banks, synagoges, cultural centers, and other places where lots of people can be killed.

2. Soft targets after considerable surveillance and “dry runs” to maximize casualties.

3. Innocent people, particularly shoppers and/or tourists, to maximize media attention and economic dislocation.

I’d imagine a terrorist attack on “immune” LA particularly the Santa Monica Pier would suit Al Qaeda’s goal of spreading terror throughout America just fine. Didn’t Ayman Al Zawahari, bin Laden’s #2 just threaten that a few weeks ago?

Let’s get real, there is no magic anti-terror fairy over LA preventing terrorism here when it happens in Jerusalem, Bali, Istanbul, Tunis, London, Madrid, Sharm al-Sheik, Jakarta, Zamboanga, Thailand, and other places all over the world.

By: L.A. Observed: Los Angeles media, news and sense of place

L.A. Observed: Los Angeles media, news and sense of place — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

to bring in more diverse readers. (Via Romenesko) ? KCBS-2 reported that Santa Monica has stepped up anti-terrorism patrols after three “suspicious middle eastern men” were seen shooting video of the pier. Blogger Independent Sources is skeptical. Also, Channel 2’s Kent Schocknek blogs snidely about a Border Patrol agent caught helping smugglers.

By: mediabistro: FishBowlLA

mediabistro: FishBowlLA — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

not for sale.” He describes the paper as “very special”– just like Corky in ‘Life Goes On.’ (link via Romenesko) -Virginia Heffernan applies her genius-level critical eye to SoCal quasi-reality show ‘Laguna Beach.’ -Independent Sources notes a fishy-seeming KCBS newscast about the Santa Monica Pier as a potential terror target.