[saintjohn]

Scared? No. Prepared? Yes.

The fact is, Al Qaeda doesn't have to actually do anything in order to affect the political situation in France. The article I cited suggests that the group is planning something similar to the Madrid train bombings. As long as the French government thinks that there's a credible threat, you can expect the police and military to respond - especially in Paris.

It would be nice if temporary security measures actually made everyone (including us Yankee tourists) safer, but the opposite seems much more likely. If recent history is any indication, the French police will probably "crack down" on all of the wrong Muslim groups, antagonize the same disenfranchised youths that were responsible for the recent Paris riots (and setting fire to some 200 cars per night), and provoke widespread civil unrest and destruction without actually rounding up any terrorists.

Add the possibility of train bombs to that scenario, and you can see why I'd prefer to spend my French vacation mountain biking and rock climbing in the forests of Fountainbleu. I love Paris, but I didn't love riding the Metro with heavy-handed military patrols the last time I was there.

Anyway, I certainly hope that Al Qaeda isn't planning anything, and I hope that the French government doesn't do anything stupid, and I hope that article is the last I read about all of this. Hope isn't much of a plan, though, if anything goes wrong.