Malls and Terrorists

Other than discussing who might win an Oscar and then this morning talking about who did win and what they wore, one of the other important news item of this past weekend was the musing by spokesperson of Al-Shabab towards the end of their 75 minute rant, that the West Edmonton Mall might be a suitable terrorist target (Globe and Mail). And I suspect they are right. In fact almost every large mall in Canada and in fact the western world would be an easy and effective target for anyone who wanted to get attention by killing the maximum number of people. Attacking such a mall would certainly  get a lot of attention. And that of course, is the whole point of committing a terrorist attack. The terrorist are only effective if we pay attention to them. The reason why a terrorist would even mention the possibility of an assault upon a Canadian mall is not so they want us to know an attach is imminent, it is so we spend intellectual, emotional and physical resources dealing with people's fears.

In raising up the possibility that the West Edmonton Mall would be a potential target, Al-Shabab has done exactly that. Former members of Canada's multitude of security agencies (did you know that we have six secret security agencies?) and former soldiers who now work for think tanks or private security companies will join the Prime Minister in using the threat to validate our moral panic (definition) and thereby expand the powers of the state security apparatus. As I have said in other blogs, it is not surprising when people who have a vested interest in security articulate the need to spend tax dollars in their specific field of commercial interest. 

Which is not to say that the threat is not a legitimate threat, but rather that our first response should not be to draw up our knees up around our ears (for those who are still flexible enough to do so) and wail that somebody needs to do more to protect us. While I have never been to the West Edmonton Mall, from pictures it looks as chaotic as any other mall. It is designed to ensure ease of access. There probably is no way to ensure that it is a completely safe place. Even if one installed guards and metal detectors at every entrance there must be a hundred other ways to gain access. While hiring that many new guards would be a boon to all of those graduates from the various Law and Justice courses in the community colleges across Canada who cannot get a job with a police force, it would not make one shopper safer from a terrorist attack. What would make it safer would be to set up programs that assist those who are struggling with coping with their lives so that they don't feel a need to become radical. But I digress.

This morning CTV News had an online item whose headlined screamed "Canada 'completely unprepared' for large-scale terror attack"(CTV). It turns out, at least according to John Thompson who is a "terror and security expert", that amongst other things that make us unprepared is that both the police and the army reserve units do not have large (or any) reserves of ammunition!  That is - we don't have enough bullets. I find that surprising. We seem to spend a lot of money on both our police and our armed services. The Globe and Mail, in September of 2014 reported that the defense budget is about $18 billion (Globe and Mail); the Fraser Institute released a report in that same month that states that "total expenditures on policing in Canada in 2012 were $13.5 billion" (Fraser Institute). I am not a fan of guns and have on occasion wondered if we would be better off if some police officers had no bullets in their guns; I am also not a strong advocate for my tax dollars being used to buy things that kill people in other countries but if we must spend a total of $31.5 billion on attempting to make this world a safer place - perhaps buying a few extra bullets would be a good use for some of that money.

There are a hundred reasons why we are unprepared for a terrorist attach in Canada - including the fact that it is almost inconceivable to us that we as kind, caring, giving and concerned world citizens would ever attract the ire of any other people. If we started to recognize that more and more of the world do not see us defined as such - we would perhaps be better prepared.