No it doesn't surprise me at all really... I've been hunting around the internet for the last few minutes looking for info on recent threats, etc...
I found these two articles that are interesting...
First, is an article talking about threats in the US which mentions "hardening" of American targets due to unpublicized victories over plots in the U.S. -
http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=TERRORISM-09-09-05&cat=WW
" "There is no specific intelligence to suggest there is an effort on the part of terrorists to conduct any imminent attacks," said Russ Knocke, principal spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, which handles both counterterrorism and emergency management in the country."
and this semi - conflicting talk found in an article discussing threats in Indonesia from today in Australia:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/10/02/wbali202.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/10/02/ixnewstop.html
"This year's bomb season also coincided with "chatter" picked up by Western electronic eavesdropping indicating that Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, were planning a series of attacks in October, to be known as the "Great Ramadan Offensive" to mark the Islamic holy month."
I realize that one article was from just under a month ago and talking specifically about the US and the other is speaking about threats in Indonesia, but I just thought it was worth mentioning. IIRC Bush himself made a speech on 9/11 talking about threats within the country in the upcoming months.
As far as trying to keep it quiet about the events in Oklahoma last night if that's indeed what is happening - I don't know if it's a good or bad thing to want to downplay these situations in America. I for one don't like being in the dark, but perhaps it is better not to cause panic and fear? After all, here in America we aren't really accustomed to these things vs. the rest of the world.
When it all comes down to it I hope my speculation on all of this are wrong - completely. I hope this was just some nut who decided to try to take the rest of the "world" with him when he went out... My intuition though tells me otherwise.
When I saw this thread, the Ramadama-dingdong offensive was the first thing I thought of. Savage is very troubled about it, because of that book about nukes-in-US. I'm skeptical about nukes in the US, myself-- the book's been out for over a year after all, but the author has an impressive history and a record of credibility. So I understand Savage's concern. FRegards....
I vagely recall Osama declaring that the next attack against America would be targeted to cause major casualties against America's children. You can find large concentrations of American young people on university campuses. I have a bad feeling about this
And my daughter just started college...