patrick.net

lame title: Everyone knows they are least likely to be armed. Plus it's a good way for Islamists to target westerners.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/20/opinions/bergen-hotels-targeted-terrorists/index.html

The attack unfolding Friday at the Radisson Blu in Mali shows that terrorists are particularly interested in striking targets with prominent American brand names that cater to Westerners.

Hotels are in the hospitality business and can't turn themselves into fortresses, while hotels that house Westerners are, of course, prime targets for ISIS as well as for al Qaeda and its affiliates. These two factors make hotels a particularly attractive target for jihadist terrorists.

The scourge of these attacks on American brand-name hotels and hotels catering to Westerners in the Muslim world is, unfortunately, likely to continue because of the relative ease of access to many of these hotels that terrorists can achieve. The symbolism for jihadist terrorists is high given the fact that they can potentially kill Westerners and, as is the case with Friday's attack at the Radisson Blu in Mali, they also are attacking a major international hotel company with an American brand name.

In 2003, suicide attackers bombed the J.W. Marriott hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia, killing 12 and they attacked it again six years later, while simultaneously attacking the Ritz Carlton hotel in the Indonesian capital, killing seven. Similarly, a Marriott was bombed in Islamabad, Pakistan, in 2008, resulting in the deaths of 54 people.

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