Heightened Alert

Recently, msnbc reported that naval forces in the Gulf were on heightened alert. However, I think there's rather less to this than meets the eye. This is about a Saudi offshore oil terminal (”Ras Tanura”, shown in the picture).

From msnbc:

A British navy official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, said a threat from al-Qaida last month to target Gulf oil terminals had resulted in the stepped-up security and vigilance.

If there is to be a surprise here, it would be a "terrorist attack" on that facility, not on Iran. But I think the kind of surprise that might have sounded plausible a month ago when the warships left port probably doesn’t look so plausible in today’s climate. It doesn't look good for a president when the world spins completely out of control (see: Korea, North).

Although isn’t it funny how they conveniently forgot about that threat for a whole month before raising the alert level over it? Some enterprising young reporter should ask them about that.