Saturday, June 30, 2007

Terrorpalooza

I never understood the whole "blow up car at an airport" idea. After 9/11 it seemed to be the sole obsession of LAX airport security, and they went so far as diverting all traffic, except cabs and buses, away from the terminals for awhile (I have no idea what they do now). Why they imagined wannabe terrorists would find it impossible to obtain a cab I have no idea. In any case, there's nothing special about airports which make them desirable targets for a car bomb. There are plenty of places with greater crowds and less security which would presumably be much better targets. The reason why airports are seen as terrorist magnets is because of concerns they'll blow up planes.

Anyway, assuming this was an attempted terrorist attack it appears the ranks of international terrorists are filled with incompetent idiots.


...and what Larry Johnson said:



As events unfold I'm simply asking that folks take a big deep breath and try to keep things in perspective. Are there jihadist extremists in the world who are willing to kill innocents? Absolutely. Are they amenable to negotiation? No. I am not in the, "have you hugged a terrorist today" camp. However, we need to stop equating their hatred with actual capability.

If today's events at Glasgow prove to be linked to the two non-events yesterday in London, then we should heave a sigh of relief. We may be witnessing the implosion of takfiri jihadists--religious fanatics who are incredibly inept. While I am not an explosives expert I am good friends with one of the world's foremost explosives experts. Propane tanks and petrol (gas for us Americans) can produce a dandy flame and a mighty boom but these are not the tools for making a car bomb long the lines of what we see detonating on a daily basis in Iraq.

My main beef remains that much of the cable news media reacts to this nonsense like a fifty year old guy on Viagra or Cialis--they pop major wood. And the same warnings are appropriate--an erection lasting more than four hours may be harmful. Amen.