Earlier this week, Americans were shocked - shocked - when ISIS released a new video threatening to attack [5] Washington DC.
The clip - another Hollywood special shot in full HD - is a kind of mini-lecture series featuring three jihadist speakers. One is an intellectual-looking fellow who calmly makes his case against a serene looking oasis background, another is a raving, crazy-eyed militant who is inexplicably sitting in the driver’s seat of a pickup truck, and the third is a soldier flanked by two not-so-serious looking comrades speaking against a backdrop that features some shrubs and an armored vehicle manned by a couple of set extras and/or character actors.
As patently absurd as it was, it scared a lot of people and at least according to new “information” acquired in raids by French police this week, the militants were indeed intent on keeping at least one of the promises they made in the video - that is, staging more attacks on France, as Reuters reported on Wednesday [6] that the cell raided in St-Denis planned to attack La Defense and the Quatre Temps.
The video described above was actually one of two released on the same day by Furat Media and indeed, ISIS’ video production team has been working overtime this week to capitalize on the frenzy around the Paris attacks.
Furat's latest effort (out last night apparently) is another France montage but there’s a notable 30 second portion which depicts a man building a suicide belt, strapping it on, walking into a crowd, and hitting the switch.
There are still shots of New York (specifically Times Square) that flash throughout.
So, basically, ISIS is threatening to detonate a bomb in Times Square, but don't worry, Bill De Blasio and NYPD Chief Bill Bratton say you should not be "intimidated." Here's GOP mouthpiece Fox News [7]:
Police Commissioner William Bratton described the video as "hastily produced," while Mayor Bill De Blasio insisted that New Yorkers "should continue to go to work, live their lives, and enjoy the greatest city in the world."
"Be aware, but do not be afraid. The NYPD will protect you," Bratton said. "We cannot be intimidated, and that's what terrorists seek to do. They seek to create fear. They seek to intimidate. We will not be intimidated, and we will not live in fear."
Well, some people undoubtedly will be fearful, which is fine because if you're Washington (and especially if you're The Pentagon) you need to keep the fear factor sufficiently elevated to ensure that the public continues to blindly support the lunatic "mission" in Syria.
However, it's a delicate balance, because while you want the public to be mad enough to support continued intervention, what you don't want is an outright voter rebellion wherein suddenly, everyone starts asking the tough questions (like when an exasperated Jim Acosta asked Obama [8] why America doesn't "just take out these bastards") because that's when the narrative starts to unravel and you start having to try and explain why ISIS is a useful destabilizing element in Syria where the top priority (above all else up to and including fighting ISIS), is ousting the Assad government.
In any event, we'd also note that this is at least the second time this year that ISIS has used stock footage of a TGI Friday's. Apparently Islamic State, like everyone else in the known universe, has had a bad TGI Friday's experience at one time or another...