Al-Shabaab Video Threat Means Heightened Security at Mall of America

Reuters and other news outlets carry the news that the Minnesota's gigantic Mall of America is under heightened security after a video threat posted online by terrorist group Al-Shabaab. Also at CNN and CBS News. According to Reuters' version of the story: The U.S. homeland security chief said on Sunday he takes seriously a threat made by Somali-based Islamist militants against shopping malls, including the Mall of America in Minnesota, and urged people going there to be careful. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson was reacting to a video released by al Shabaab appearing to call for attacks on Western shopping areas, specifically mentioning Mall of America, the West Edmonton Mall in Canada and London's Oxford Street. ... Mall officials issued a statement about the threat made by the group, saying they are monitoring events with the help of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. "Mall of America has implemented extra security precautions, some may be noticeable to guests, and others won’t be," the officials said.

Comments

Re:From Mall of America visitor rules:

[DeadDecoy]

Somehow I doubt having overconfident civilians in a chaotic situation with guns will help anything. Surprise is a key element of terrorism, and well-intentioned people with guns may not have the opportunity to respond when something bad does happen. You're more likely to get injured civilians shot in the crossfire from friendly fire or just poor aim. Heck, it's hard enough getting police to use/refrain-from-using firearms appropriately in crowded areas.

Re:visibility doesnt matter.

[TWX]

impact is what counts, and groups like Shabaab understand that even if they are incapable of rendering an attack, its the threat that counts most. Commercial targets instituting checkpoints and screening are what these groups are going for, as these hallmarks serve as a consistent reminder that Shabaabs presence is taken seriously by america as a legitimate threat they cannot proactively reduce or mitigate through normal foreign policy to a level that would permit the american "way of life."

Personally I think everyone's overreacting. I was curious so I did searches for "largest mall in America" and "Largest mall in Canada" and the two North American malls were the first hits. This is reminicent of the joke from the first Die Hard movie, where Alan Rickman's Hans Gruber is listing terrorist groups that he wants freed in exchange for releasing hostages; one of his mooks questions one of the groups and he quietly replies, "I read about them in Time Magazine." This seems more like someone looked up what the biggest malls are, and made a list, more than having significant targets.

London's Oxford Street is also listed as the largest shopping area in Europe, so I expect that it was similarly found through some kind of search. Granted, if terrorists are operating out of the Middle East then it's probably a little easier to get to London than it is North America, but even still, after The Troubles, the UK has a lot of experience dealing with terrorism even in its own borders, so I doubt that it's any more of a credible threat than the other two.

Re: From Mall of America visitor rules:

[Anonymous Coward]

Even the own article you mentions

"This chart does not use the very latest data due to differences in how intentional homicide is defined and calculated for each country."

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate#By_country

When you pull out the wars it drops

Re:The US gets back what it seeded

[OzPeter]

Why didn't they land a bit closer? Seems Americans' awesome knowledge of geography isn't a new phenomenon.

Because if you read First Barbary War you learn that the expeditionary force consisted of 8 Marines and 500 local mercenaries. Given that the US navy was only about 7 years old at the time, I doubt that they had the ships available to transport all those people.