Smaller Cities Fearing Attacks

Terrorists scored a psychological blow in 2001 by hitting two very obvious targets, two of America's most important cities - New York and Washington. But might attacks in smaller, less obvious locations throughout the US make average Americans feel that they're not safe anywhere? That's the worry of some observers following last week's discovery of a plot to attack an unassuming shopping center in central Ohio. An Associated Press story picked up by papers across the country entitled: "Why Plot Against Central Ohio?" describes why cities of seemingly little importance, like Columbus, Ohio in this case, might actually make more inviting targets than large urban centers. "Though its tallest building is less than half the height of the World Trade Center towers, Columbus' interstates, malls and even its farmlands are the type of targets that terrorists are focusing on more often, experts said," writes AP. "Highways are vulnerable to attack and a convenient way to move weapons to targets. Malls are symbols of thriving commerce, with many unguarded entrances, to terrorists intent on hurting the nation economically." Sources contacted in the story also speak of the psychological blow an attack in a smaller city could deliver, in the same poignant way the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing made many Americans think that if it could happen there, it could happen anywhere.

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