Terrorism expert Jessica Stern was interviewed on NPR on 07/07/05 by Lynn Neary. She made a point of referring to the "Al Qaeda movement" rather than "Al Qaeda," emphasizing that the jihadist movement is much broader than just Bin Laden's organization, and that Al Qaeda has moved to a more inspirational and inciting role after the 9/11 attacks and the overthrow of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
"Al Qaeda, the Al Qaeda movement really is growing in Europe," she said. Europe has become really one of the key fronts in the war that the Al Qaeda movement is perpetrating, and also an important source of recruits."
"Mass transportation is a very attractive target; a lot of people are crowded together," she observed. Planes have become more of hard target in the wake of 9/11. So "soft" targets like subways or buses become more attractive for terrorists.
She stressed that all cities are vulnerable to terrorist attacks. "I think that London is really about as sophisticated a city as it is possible to imagine in regard to thwarting terrorist attacks and responding rapidly." She thinks that the Olympics will be a likely target for attacks.
Summing up the immediate lesson of the London attack, she said, "I think it says that terrorism is something that we have to learn to live with. It's something that we cannot avoid. It's true. It's something we can mitigate. But there is no 'winning' the war on terrorism."
Also interviewed on NPR on 07/07/05, Bruce Hoffman of the RAND Corporation said that half a dozen planned Al Qaeda attacks in London had been foiled since 2001, including one a year ago that he called almost identical to the recent attacks. He observed that the London attacks had all the "hallmarks" of an Al Qaeda operation: "simultaneity; attacks against innocent civilians; and, attacks against mass transit or infrastructure."
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