The Knuckleheads Are Always Looking For a Way to Hurt Us

Received this from a friend of mine recently and this what she had to say---I couldn't agree more.

"Seems to me that our America is in danger from many sources; I wonder if Americans realize the consequences of global concerns……or do most just go about in their big cars, Blackberries, and Rolex watches?"

I think she is right---Al Qaeda will go to any length to inflict damage on us; either physically or fiscally.

A4 Driver 

Singapore: A Threat Against Malacca Shipping March 4, 2010 | 2057 GMT ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP/Getty Images Ships in the Strait of Malacca   The Singapore Shipping Association on Feb. 4 publicized a warning of the potential for attacks against oil tankers in the Strait of Malacca it received from the Singapore Navy Information Fusion Center. An advisory later disseminated by the Singapore Navy requested that oil tankers transiting the Strait of Malacca increase security measures, in particular watching out for small, suspicious craft like dinghies and speedboats and increase communications to other vessels transiting the strait to maintain situational awareness. The International Maritime Bureau’s Piracy Reporting Center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, received a similar alert March 1 from a “foreign intelligence agency.” Southeast Asian militant groups like Abu Sayyaf periodically have previously threatened to target maritime vessels. The heavy maritime traffic and shallow waters of the Strait of Malacca makes for congestion that puts larger ships at a higher risk of being attacked by smaller boats than in the open sea. The combination of an established militant presence, this vulnerability and the strategic importance of the Strait of Malacca to global energy supply make an attack in the strait a top concern for governments in the region and around the world. Given this, intelligence regarding threats is not handled lightly. In fact, the Singapore Navy Information Fusion Center was established in April 2009 specifically to collect and distribute intelligence on the threat against maritime traffic in and around the Strait of Malacca. Few specific details about the origin of the threat have been released, but upon closer investigation, STRATFOR learned of a series of Web postings on the al Qaeda forum Al-Falluja in late December 2009 that included calls from members linked to al Qaeda to target ships in the Persian Gulf, pictures of U.S. naval ships, and diagrams of the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier. Such photos and diagrams are not necessarily enough to allow a successful attack against a well-protected warship, but combined with the right materials, it could be effective against a less-protected vessel such as an oil tanker. Later in January, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula deputy commander Said al-Shihri outlined a plan to take over the strait of Bab el-Mandab between Yemen and Eritrea. While not a very plausible strategy, the statement does reflect an al Qaeda interest in targeting strategic waterways. These threats could very well be unrelated and independent of each other, but they possibility they are linked warrants further investigation.