Do you think that by them categorizing it as spectacular, that it will just be a really cool looking attack?
I guess. But then again they also read the Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga) statements in the Congressional Record.
I think the entire strum und drang of "we hear they may do something" is morbidly funny, but I also recognize that the Feds are in a no-win situation here. The public feels like the CIA & FBI screwed up on 9/11 by not heeding warnings and not telling people what they knew. So now they tell people what they know, and it's so vague that nobody knows what to do except sit around and be nervous. Give people not enough information and they berate you; too much information and they panic. (IMO this is function of the public not trusting their government, but that's another story entirely.) My only fear is that something terrible happens, and then the CIA comes out and says that their hands are clean this time because they "warned" us. I would hope that they're more professional than that.
This was not a public warning, it was a confidential warning to law enforcement around the country. Some bozo leaked it out, which is exactly the reason why Ashcroft made public warnings in the past. Everybody has a friggin big mouth in this country.
It's better to get it out to the public. It doesn't make me nervous one bit, it gives the administration an out if a terrorist act actually takes place, and it even has a tiny chance of tripping would-be plotters and forcing them to rethink their plans. Secrecy does not help anyone.
It is not better to give generalized, vague warnings to the public. Amber Alerts are the kind of warnings you give to the public - ya know, with concrete information. Warnings like this just turn people into raving yip-merchants. "He's got a turban! GIT 'IM!" Here's how seriously the Army is taking the war, anyway: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20021114/ap_on_re_us/gay_military_linguists_2 When keeping a closeted military trumps everything else, I know someone isn't taking the threat seriously.
Robin Williams, in his HBO show ealier this summer, had a bit about something like this. "Every few weeks John Ashcroft will come out and say, 'I don't know where, I don't know when, but something terrible's gonna happen.'"
File this under the damned if you do, damned if you don't file. If they don't warn and something happens (regardless of how unclear the information is or unlikey the attack - i.e. 9/11), you get roundly criticized for knowing something and not telling the American people. You make warnings with the same indications (or more) than 9/11 and you get accussed of scaring the populace. You can't win. Remember Bali anyone? They are continuing to go after Western interests. Anyone who wouldn't keep their eyes open and take these warnings seriously is a fool.