Is Al Qaeda Targeting Offshore Oil Platforms on East Coast?

This week Al Qaeda issued a threat over the internet, saying "cutting oil supplies to the United States ... would contribute to the ending of the American occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan." The group also called for attacks on petroleum facilities in Canada, Mexico and Venezuela.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper responded to the threat saying he takes seriously Al Qaeda’s call for attacks and Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said we can protect "all of our assets, both human and structural. He went on to say that government and private industry were keeping a watch on oil pipelines to prevent terrorist actions.

It’s nice to know pipelines are being protected, whatever that means, but what about oil production installations and, a little closer to home here in Newfoundland and Labrador, what about the oil rigs at sea such as Hibernia or White Rose off our shores? Who’s protecting them? Just how vulnerable are these oil rigs as they pump away out at sea?

Does anyone remember the terrorist attack on the USS Cole and how a couple of zealots in a small boat simply sped alongside and blew themselves up? Men died and a great deal of damage was done. Consider as well that this was a US navy vessel that would likely have been on the lookout for attack, not an oil rig with workers going about their daily routines.

Stockwell Day’s grand statement that we can protect “all our assets” may sound great but isn’t it just rhetoric?

Consider that recent reports have identified the sadly under funded state of the Canadian Coast Guard, the Navy has had to cancel maneuvers on multiple occasions because it couldn’t afford to fuel vessels and put them to sea and every day foreign fishing boats go undetected while fishing in the very same waters where these oil platforms are hard at work. It sure doesn’t sound to me like a recipe for tight security.

Considering that none of the problems I’ve just mentioned are any secret, it stands to reason that Al Qaeda terrorists are aware of the issues as well. Essentially there is a total lack of military security off the shores of Newfoundland and Labrador. A lonely oil rig out in the middle of the unforgiving North Atlantic, with no protection in sight, might just look like an easy target and it probably is.

In their attempts to protect oil installations will Stephen Harper and Stockwell Day step up to the plate and assign patrol vessels to protect these offshore installations or will they simply assign a few security guards to check on onshore pipelines? If the history is any indication I think we all know the answer to that.