Just in case you were not paying attention to the threats issued by Al Qaeda in Yemen to the Navy, or didn't think it was serious, it turns out there is a lot more.
If you have a membership, see this Dec 31 MEMRI blog entry. If you don't, check out this post over at Scoopdeck. Here is a portion of a jihad forum posting on Wednesday last week (between the first and second official threat), translated by Richard Wachtel of MEMRI and reported by Phil Ewing at Scoopdeck.
“To this end, information on every U.S. naval unit – and only U.S. [units]!! – should be quietly gathered [as follows:] [the vessel's] name, the missions it is assigned; its current location, including notation of the spot in accordance with international maritime standards; the advantages of this naval unit; the number of U.S. troops on board, including if possible their ranks, and what state they are from, their family situation, and where their family members (wife and children) live; what kind of weapons they carry; the [vessel's] destination…; the missions it has carried out; the [recommended] way to monitor it around the clock; if its location is changed, define its movements and its route; monitor every website used by the personnel on these ships, and attempt to discover what is in these contacts…; identify the closest place on land to these ships in all directions…; the number of any nuclear arms that might be on these ships, and the extent of the damage should they be attacked; the simplest way of neutralizing these naval units; the newest technology used by these ships; all scientific developments in the area of naval warfare; which naval units are closest to Islamic countries; which naval units are close to Western countries in general; searching all naval websites in order to gather as much information as possible, and translating it into Arabic; search for the easiest ways of striking these ships…"Mr. Juan Garcia, Al Qaeda on line 1. While not uncommon, I do think you have to take a Jihad call for direct intelligence on family members to sailors seriously. This type of thing raises legitimate questions regarding the value of a Facebook Fan Page for Navy family programs, not to mention a review of security procedures for ombudsmen. It will be interesting how the Navy reacts to the specific threat against families of sailors, because I think considerable thought is necessary for a responsible reaction.
It is another reminder how much major newspapers and TV in the media desensitize the nature of the enemy our nation confronts in the ongoing conflicts. I am not suggesting the way we act (like surging into Afghanistan) is justified by the enemy behavior; completely unrelated and off topic. I am saying there is a role in the freedoms of journalism to protect the people, and part of that role in wartime is to insure we articulate well the very real dangers facing our nation. Whether people choose to take the enemy seriously or not is their choice, but the government truly has no choice and must take it seriously.
Several months ago I made a choice to stop listing the vessels operating in the 5th Fleet AOR every weekend. It was in response to some comments from someone I admire and trust during a wargame I participated in this summer. I'm starting to think that was a good decision, because even though it is completely possible to track naval vessels generally, I don't want to do the legwork for would be adversaries.
Remember the first rule: Don't believe everything you read on the internet. Also remember the asterisk, some places on the internet mean more than others, and those Jihad forums MEMRI covers are as legit to the terrorist groups as the Small Wars Journal is to the US military - and the SWJ is highly influential. The only thing that can be concluded by the recent statements and activity regarding Al Qaeda is that the Navy is now on their radar.
Who do you think Al Qaeda associated groups will look to learn sea tactics? Still think piracy is no big deal? I wonder how well financed and organized terror groups look at the tactical situation for successful operations in Middle Eastern seas when examining the catch and release system for armed bandits at sea currently in place dealing with piracy? If at first you don't succeed and get caught, no worries, you'll be released if you dump your arms before your caught and act like a poor, dumb former fisherman...
It is sad but true. It is also sad that a direct Al Qaeda attack against US Navy ships is more preferable than direct Al Qaeda attacks against international merchant ships, because at least our ships have a chance of defending themselves. If ships start blowing up instead of being captured, many things are going to change; starting with the higher cost of imported goods for you and me, and ending with blood.
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