Danger! Danger! US Issues Worldwide Travel Alert
Well, there goes the holiday season. Just a day after Homeland Security Secretary Jeh C. Johnson advised Americans to go about their regular holiday festivities and not be concerned with terrorism, the White House now issues a worldwide travel alert regarding terrorism.
The State Department says that all three major terrorist groups, ISIS/ISIL, Al-Qaeda, and Boko Haram should be considered when traveling as all three have issued numerous threats against all points.
The alert will be effective for months, ending in February 2016. This means all the major holidays are now considered danger zones and potential opportunities for the terrorists to strike. With airports, trains, buses, filled to the brim with travelers, it would be easy pickings for even a small band of terrorists to wreak havoc of unimaginable proportions. In addition, crowded sporting events and shopping centers would all be juicy targets for the terrorists and with the hubub of travelers to and fro, it would be quite a task for security forces to protect everyone.
This holiday season will be the true test of the global security forces. The war is on regarding ISIS and the terrorist groups with just about every country on Earth pitching in to vanquish the menaces.
The State Department went on to say that there was no reason to believe US citizens would be targeted, but considering the fact that so far no power has stopped these terrorists, that bit of reassurance isn’t going to go too far.
These conflicting terrorism alerts only add to the confusion and frustration of the public who are asking how things could have gotten this far. There’s lots of finger pointing and the bottom line is that so far Americans have been spared mass casualties since the 9/11 attacks. Should a small band of terrorists hit American targets via the holiday revelry, it could destabilize the economic markets with people not willing to shop nor attend events. The holiday season is the bread and butter of retailers worldwide, to have it disrupted would send shockwaves the likes of which haven’t been seen since the 9/11 attacks and we saw how commerce suffered.
It would be wise to keep a sharp eye out for anything suspicious and be prepared for the unexpected. Law enforcement and the security agencies will have their hands full so it calls for everyone to do their part to make this holiday season a safe one.
Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34907009?ocid=socialflow_facebook&ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbcnews&ns_source=facebook
