Terror alert? Not again

There was some worry about bomb attacks by local groups against civilians going home to the provinces for the All Saints day celebration. Such warnings are routine, as are checking bags and even frisking suspects when one goes into the local malls.

But the Philippines is upset that the US, Australia and some European countries have a tourist warning. Ah, come on. It's winter up north, and we have such lovely beaches...(and need the money spread around by tourists)..

The worry, however, is not that you might be bombed because of extortion or because of a feud between local university fraternities, but that there might be professionals here again. As the Inquirer notes:

The travel warnings coincided with the arrest this week in Manila of a member of the Abu Sayyaf, a small group of militants based in the south founded with seed money from Al Qaeda in the early 1990s.

translation: They would aim at tourists.

Given the hostage crisis involving Chinese tourists that ended so terribly in August, the last thing we need are more dead foreigners.
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All of this is why Obama is getting so much security when he visits Indonesia and India. The cost of the trip is raising eyebrows, but I don't begrudge him the security. USAToday has an article defending his expenses.