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Al Qaida Promises More Small Scale Terror Attacks
Sunday, 21 Nov 2010

WASHINGTON — The terrorist group Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula now says it believes that it will have more success in its war against America with small-scale attacks like its attempts to bomb two U.S.-bound cargo planes in October. The editors of a special edition of the Yemeni-based group's English on-line magazine, Inspire, boast that what they call Operation Hemorrhage was cheap, and easy, using common items that together with shipping, cost only $4,200 to carry out, according to MSNBC.

"It is such a good bargain for us to spread fear amongst the enemy and keep him on his toes in exchange of a few months of work and a few thousand bucks," AQAP said in its online Inspire magazine, released on militant websites.

"To bring down America we do not need to strike big," the editors write. With the "security phobia that is sweeping America, it is more feasible to stage smaller attacks that involve less players and less time to launch" thereby circumventing U.S. security, they conclude.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Sunday he believes Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula's boast that it will try to carry out more cheap, small-scale attacks.

Adm. Mike Mullen said the terrorist group in Yemen has grown and is dangerous, and that counterterrorism efforts should focus on its activities.

The United States has already stepped up airline passenger security after a Nigerian man tried to detonate explosives hidden in his underwear on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit last December. AQAP had claimed responsibility.

In the magazine, an author identified as the group's head of foreign operations says the package attacks were intended to cause economic harm, not casualties. "We knew that cargo planes are staffed by only a pilot and a co-pilot," the author writes, "so our objective was not to cause maximum casualties but to cause maximum losses to the American economy," by striking at the multi-billion dollar U.S. freight industry.

"We are laying out for our enemies our plan in advance because as we stated earlier our objective is not maximum kill but to cause (damage) in the aviation industry, an industry that is so vital for trade and transportation between the U.S. and Europe."