Bloody Thanksgiving

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warned US security agencies to be on full alert for a possible Al Qaeda attack against New York. This follows a massive terrorist assault in India's biggest city Mumbai, killing more than a 100 people and injuring 400 others. As I'm writing this, Indian police are still in pitched street battles against the terrorists. Two hotels, the Taj Mahal and the Oneji have been attacked. An undetermined number of hostages are being held by the terrorists who identified themselves as the "Deccan Mujaheedins". However, Indian Intelligence points to another fundamentalist group which allegedly linked with the Deccans to create this very chaotic situation.

President-elect Barack Obama has condemned the attack. The entire United Nations also condemned it, saying that the terror attack was a cowardly one staged by fundamentalists. US intelligence agencies say, this could very be the handiwork of Al Qaeda, the dreaded group of Osama Bin Laden. An anti-terror expert told CNN that the Mumbai attacks could just be a big diversionary tactic, aimed at pulling Pakistan into a war with India, thereby insulating Osama Bin Laden's group which is hiding in the border hinderlands of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

A few weeks before the Mumbai attacks, a video of Sawahiri was released lambasting US president-elect Barack Obama. That video should have been analyzed by security agencies since it could be a sign, a signal for aligned fundamentalist groups in India to start their terror campaign.

These attacks show how lax India's intelligence forces are. Even the head of the anti-terror intelligence group and his close-ins were killed by the terrorists. Possibly, there could be external help since the attacks bear the trademark of Al Qaeda. The operation was highly sophisticated and show how well financed these groups are.

Now, the question remains--what's the next targets? Aside from New York, which traditionally remains the target of fundamentalist hatred, there are indications that Al Qaeda-affiliated groups are silently organizing and in the last stages of planning their attacks. There is a big possibility that Asian countries frequented by Westerners for the holidays will be the next targets. Will there be an attack in Bali Indonesia? Possible. Will militants attack Australia? They could. Is Singapore safe from militant attacks? If New York was attacked by Al Qaeda, what would spare this tiny island from these frenzied groups? How about China? Is China a target? Hongkong, Macau and even Beijing are possible targets.

What am I saying here? Governments all over the world, especially in the Asia-Pacific region (where security and intelligence capabilities are weaker than European ones) should take extra precautions and alert themselves for possible terrorist attacks. These fundamentalist groups are determined to strike allies of US prior to the swearing in of Barack Obama. Terrorists think that Obama does not have the mettle of a Clinton or a John McCain, so they think that they should intensify both their low-intensity and high-intensity conflict plans to lure Obama into a trap and make him commit an error. It was good that Obama retained Gates as Pentagon head. The US cannot afford a new head for the Pentagon at this point since very serious security threats plague the world today.