6/16 Questions for anti-terrorist experts. Richard the Shoe Bomber tried
to detonate the bomb by lighting up a match. Doesn't this strike
to anyone as just inconsistent with what we know about terrorists?
I mean, if you're a REAL Al-Qaeda member, wouldn't you have received
advanced trainings from wacko but intelligent Al-Qaeda members
who would teach you how to light up a damn fire? What kind of
Al-Qaeda are you if you don't know how to use a match? Secondly, why
the heck would you use a match when there are much easier and much
more reliable ways to detonate it, including using a tiny toy-rocket
lighter, fluid lighter, flint, and others that you can buy from REI?
Lastly, how much can you pack explosive power in your shoes, which
I presume is at most 12"x0.5"? That doesn't seem like a lot, or at
lease enough to bring down an entire plane. If you're a REAL
Al-Qaeda, wouldn't you use something bigger and much more effective
than just punching a hole in the window?
\_ There is no "REAL" Al-Qaeda. It's not a highly-structured network
throughout, like the IRA--it is ethnically and culturally
heterogenous, revolving around a fuzzy set of ideas. How do you
become Al-Qaeda? You say "I'm a member of Al-Qaeda." That's part
of the problem--Western countries initially tried to approach it
as an organization rather than as a phaenomenon. So while you may
have several hard cores of various degrees of professionalism,
there are also loads of more amateurish "members". -John
\_ therees also a practice of having the skilled bomb-makers
produce the bombs, and getting much more easy-to-come by
volunteers/martyrs who only need enough training on how to
set themselves off. Needless to say these people aren't the
sharpest tacks.
\_ 'Shoe bomb'? -John
\_ Doesn't it strike you as odd that he would "light up" in plain
view of other passengers who could stop him? If he went to the
restroom, then blammo. I think he wanted to get caught.
\_ Exactly. There are so many facts that make this case weird and
yet the government is still able to tie him to Bin Laden. |