A reader writes:
A key factor left out of the debate over why terrorists are not hitting soft targets is the impact on fundraising and recruiting. There is no softer, more panic-inducing target than to attack a few kindergarten classes like the Chechen rebels did several years ago. However, I imagine it does not play as well with potential donors as would knocking down a tall building or blowing up an airplane. Movie theaters and shopping malls are probably less off-putting than schools to potential donors, but they also would not likely arouse the passions of potential recruits.
Another writes:
Terrorists have not attacked public places like movie theaters, malls, or grocery stores in the US.
When I was in Israel, there was an army of elderly men checking every single bag before allowing anyone into any public building of a decent size. On popular Ben-Yehuda Street, groups of volunteers patrolled with rifles in hand on Thursday nights (the beginning of the weekend in Israel) to keep an eye out for terrorists. I had my backpack checked before I could go into grocery stores, movie theaters, shopping malls, museums, or really any shop large enough to hold a crowd, precisely because suicide bombers have stricken those places in the past.
However, what this says to me is that your reader is right; there really aren’t that many terrorists out there. We are fortunate enough to live in a country where movie theaters search your bags for outside food, not bombs, but unfortunate enough to live in a country where too few people realize this is so.
But according to Romney, Santorum and Gingrich, the very survival of the US is at stake. And Ron Paul is the nut?
The Dish 