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.