News Analysis: New York attempted bombing underscores U.S. vulnerability to terror strikes: experts

by Matthew Rusling

WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Monday's rush hour explosion in New York City underscores how vulnerable the United States is to terror attacks, U.S. experts have said.

"The New York explosion shows that the United States remains vulnerable to attacks," at a time when the Islamic State (IS) and other terror networks remain highly influential and inspire attacks by individuals worldwide, Darrell West, a Brookings Institution senior fellow, told Xinhua.

A man attempted a suicide bombing on Monday morning by strapping a pipe bomb to his body during rush hour in a subway tunnel near Times Square in New York, one of the busiest and most densely packed areas in the United States.

The suspect was identified as 27-year-old Akayed Ullah, an immigrant from Bangladesh, according to U.S. media reports.

The would-be attacker, who survived the attempted blast, told investigators that he was inspired by the IS, which had carried out bombings in Christmas markets in Europe.

The attack also highlighted the challenge the United States is facing. In an open society where people have the freedom to walk around without being interrogated by police without a probable cause, attacks can and will happen, experts said.

"It is very difficult to stop individuals bent on harming other people. You can't police every part of large cities and guarantee public safety," said West.

There are literally millions of "soft targets" for car attacks across the United States -- malls, shopping areas, churches, mosques, downtown areas and highway rest stops for bombers or shooters, as well as sidewalks filled with people, Wayne White, former deputy director of the State Department's Middle East intelligence office, told Xinhua.

"As we have just seen, even in New York, which is on higher alert, there continue to be vulnerabilities," he said.

While the IS wreaked havoc in the Middle East for several years and overtook vast swaths of territory, it is currently on the run. But at the same time, the group remains capable of inspiring sympathizers through the use of social media to carry out attacks around the globe.

"With ISIS's caliphate all but destroyed, the group's terrorist capabilities ironically could increase elsewhere," said White.

"Many hundreds of surviving combatants could be escaping across borders to fan out, bent on terrorism, with IS acolytes continuing online propaganda from various venues," he explained.

While the massive Sept. 11 attack on the world trade center in New York in 2001 killed nearly 3,000 people, terrorists have focused more on European cities such as London and Paris in recent years.

That could change, however, as U.S. President Donald Trump's Jerusalem decision "could incite more extremists to strike here or make others not here more determined to get here," White said.

White was referring to Trump's recent decision to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a city that both Jews and Muslims claim as their own holy site.

The move has stirred up riots in the Middle East, and experts said terrorists could exploit the situation by sewing it into their narrative that the West is at war with Islam.

The IS doesn't need territory to inspire people to violence as it is expanding into a global terrorist organization from a regional one based in the Middle East, Amanda Kadlec, policy analyst and Middle East expert at the RAND Corporation, an American nonprofit policy think tank, told Xinhua.

Even if no direct links exist between an attacker and other members around the world, its message is alive and well, said Kadlec.

Some think the IS will lose its recruiting luster now that the dream of the caliphate -- a vast Islamist kingdom -- is gone and its supporters switch from fighting in the field to sporadic violence, but it is unknown whether the situation will remain in the long term.

Some have argued that without a sense of cohesion and a safe haven as in Syria, Iraq or even Libya, the IS may have trouble maintaining its appeal as an organization or inspiring people to mass violence in the long run.

The challenge for the United States is continuing the strong integration of Muslims into the American society rather than the isolation that these communities experience in Europe -- an environment in which terrorism thrives, Dan Mahaffee, senior vice president and director of policy at the Center for the Study of Congress and the Presidency, told Xinhua. Enditem