Britain is bracing for a possible Holiday of Terror as intelligence forces there have concluded al-Qaeda is going to attempt spectacular attacks on public and crowded locations such as shopping malls and sports venues:

Shopping centres and sports stadiums are Al-Qaeda’s top targets for a Christmas bombing blitz, it was revealed yesterday.

A chilling security report warns that fanatics are determined to inflict a masscasualty attack in the UK.

Gordon Brown is expected to give a terror update to the Commons at midday.
It will come just hours after Security Minister, Alan West has presented his report, Security in Crowded Places, to the PM.

A top security source said the message was stark.

He told The Mirror: “Al Qaeda are determined to carry out an attack in the UK. They want mass casualties, iconic targets and mass media coverage where the television cameras are present.”

The timing of this warning coming with a similar threat warning here in the US is not coincidental folks. My guess is the same “chatter” is referrencing possible pending attacks on the West – with maybe the UK a higher risk target than the US. Attacking the West on the celebration of Christ’s birthday is an obvious attempt to rally the Muslim community, which is right now opposed to al-Qaeda because of all its attacks on and massacring of Muslims.

The UK’s new security efforts are quite broad and disturbing:

Britain will boost security at stations, airports and other potential targets, under plans that were expected to be unveiled overnight by the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.

Restaurants, cinemas, schools and hospitals would be instructed to improve security arrangements, he was expected to tell Parliament, The Sun said.

The full text of Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s speech to Parliament can be found here. Right now the best way to detect and find any terrorist threat is in capturing the last minute coordination communications that will be transmitted between terror cells and their handlers (financial and otherwise). We need the NSA listening in and tracking down leads like never before. We cannot turn every shopping mall and sports arena into a secure facility with checkpoints and screeners. Our only hope is to detect the attack before it happens.

To paraphrase Jack Nicholson from A Few Good Men: “We don’t want the truth because deep down in places we don’t talk about at parties, we want the NSA on that com tap, we need the NSA on that com tap.” The fact is if anyone can stop an attack on public locations it will likely be the NSA that will do it. We should stop comparing them to Nixon and start praying they have covered every base. I would rather they intercept a few too many conversations than a few to few.