Arrest in mall bomb plot shows Midwest could be terror target

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- This city doesn't have the tallest skyscrapers or any high-profile monuments.

Yet Columbus is where authorities say terrorists plotted to bomb a shopping mall.

Experts say the attraction could be Columbus' central location in a state easily accessible to much of the nation and a diverse population that allows outsiders to blend in. Even its modest size and its ordinariness could be part of the allure.

"I think it's important that people remember that the heartland is out there," said James Ellis, a terrorism specialist with the National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism in Oklahoma City, created after the bombing there in 1995. "The lesson of Oklahoma City is that terrorism can happen anywhere."

The government disclosed charges Monday against Nuradin Abdi, 32, a Somali man accused of planning to blow up an unidentified mall. He is accused of conspiring with convicted al-Qaida operative Iyman Faris, a former Columbus truck driver who sought to sabotage the Brooklyn Bridge. Family members say Abdi hated terrorists and is innocent.

Though Columbus' tallest building is less than half the height of the World Trade Center, the city's interstates, malls and even its farmlands are the type of "soft targets" that terrorists are focusing on more often, experts said.

Malls are symbols of thriving commerce to terrorists intent on hurting the nation economically, and they have many unguarded entrances.

"It really doesn't have the same symbolic value of attacking something that is a large monument or a symbol of military power," Ellis said. "But out of frustration or because it's kind of an amateurish do-it-yourself group, they could go for softer targets."

Col. Paul McClellan, superintendent of the State Highway Patrol, does not believe Ohio's capital is more vulnerable than any other city but noted that Ohio is the crossroads of interstate highways.

"Statistically, if you get anything to the state of Ohio by air, rail or water, by truck it can reach two-thirds of the population of the rest of the country within one day," McClellan said.

Terrorists also pick communities where they are more likely to blend in, experts said. Columbus' population of more than 710,000 is almost 32 percent minority, about 7 percentage points more than the U.S. population.

Columbus is home to more than 30,000 Somalis, the second-largest Somali community in the United States, after Minneapolis.

Abdi is charged with providing material support to al-Qaida, conspiracy and document fraud. If convicted, he could get up to 80 years in prison.

Though authorities said no specific mall was targeted, that was no comfort to Susan Miller as she shopped Monday for a Father's Day present at Polaris Fashion Place.

"I think we're always going to be vulnerable for the rest of our lives," said Miller, 23. "It could happen anytime, anywhere, anyplace. Terrorism doesn't ever sleep. Columbus seems like a smaller city, but it's still an easy target."

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On the Net:

National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism:

http://www.mipt.org