Terror attack at Obama inauguration

Hi!

I'm not sure if this is ASB due to the increased security, but consider this.

A terrorist group such as al-Qaida decides to attempt a terrorist attack in Washington during the inauguration. The group claims (realistically) that Obama is impregnable given the Secret Service, no fly zone, and so forth. However, it knows that 2 million people are going to be converging on Washington for the inauguration. It decides to go after the civilians (for instance, doing something to the overcrowded Metro or roads). The Mall itself is probably too well protected to do anything.

Three scenarios.

1. The attempt is foiled during the inauguration.

2. The attempt succeeds and 100 people are killed in Washington.

3. The attempt succeeds and the group uses a biological weapon in the Metro whose effects are not noticed until the visitors have gone home -- perfect vectors for the weapon.

ACG
 
The first scenario is the most likely, given the security.
But, perhapse they might have been able to sneak a few suicide bombers into the mall?
 

Sargon

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There was a drama-documentary on the BBC some time ago where scientists and other experts theorised and explained the feasibility of a scenario where terrorists used volunteers as plague carriers to infect the civilian population in a germ warfare attack.

That would be devastating, since those people in the early stages didn't appear to have anything worse than a standard cold. With just two or three agents wandering about, and just by mixing with people in shopping areas it started to spread rapidly and of course it was passed on, and passed on etc, before measures could contain it and it caused a lot of trouble. It seemed fairly plausible, although I had some reservations about the documentary's presentation of it.

Have 5 or 6 of those amongst all those people at the inauguration, and no one would know until a whole lot of them had been infected and gone home and passed it on to others they meet...

The US government most probably has measures in place to deal with such a thing as it is a nightmare scenario that governments around the world have considered, but would it be fast and effective enough?


Sargon
 
Probably more likely to be a neo-nazi/white supremacist group launching a terror attack at the inauguration.
 
Probably more likely to be a neo-nazi/white supremacist group launching a terror attack at the inauguration.

Unlikely. Remember that the victims are civilians and not Obama himself, who is impregnable. I doubt neo-Nazis would attack a crowd which is mostly Caucasian. That's why I suggested al-Qaida.

The only way the neo-Nazis could get involved would be if a bunch of African-Americans came down as a group and stood together to watch the inauguration. The attackers would not know where the group was, though (besides, the security forces might realize that the group could be targeted and suggest that they separate). The neo-Nazis never be able to get their agents to the target through the crowds in the Mall.

Besides, any attack on minority civilians may be punished strongly with a minority as the Commander in Chief.
 
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