A lot of luck that another terror attack hasn't been successful here

[quinnox]

I was reading about prior terror attacks, and there have been more than I thought recently. There was a guy, a Muslim extremist, who was going to blow up a bomb in Times Square and something went wrong with the ignition fuse and it didn't explode. He was caught later on because a camera happened to get him on film when he was running away from the vehicle with the bomb in it. The bomb was deadly and would have caused many deaths.

And there was the young man who tried to ignite a bomb on a plane landing in Detroit last year. He was a Muslim extremist too. Once again, by sheer luck, his bomb did not explode that was hidden on his person. They did tests later and it was found the bomb would have taken down the plane if it had exploded. Interestingly, this young man was from a very wealthy family in Africa, and was educated at a prestigious London University and was an intelligent fellow. He fell under the influence of a charismatic Muslim preacher/spiritual leader, and this man happens to also be one who moved among America and was educated here. He also was an inspiration for the Times Square bomber. His name is Anwar al-Awlaki, and he is now regarded as a top Al Qaeda recruiter and influencer.

Its fascinating reading on Wikipedia, about this guy and how he turned into a hardcore philosophical Muslim extremist and how dangerous he is considered to be today.

Its been by pure luck another significant terror attack hasn't succeeded yet on our home soil in the recent past, and I think these Muslim extremists are going to keep trying. Anwar al-Awlaki has said it is the duty of every Muslim man to target Americans, and he especially wants home grown ones to do it.

[MadHound]

1. What do you think of Christian terrorists?

Think we have to worry about Christian terrorists as well? After all, there was Timothy McVeigh, and most recently the Huartee militia. Not to mention the Oath Keepers, and various militia groups around the country. All good Christians, all fucked up whack jobs wanting to kill us. What, think we should be worried about them? All those strange white folks out in the backwoods of bumfuck Egypt, cooking meth and making bombs, clinging to their precious guns and God.

[TheWraith]

2. It's a simple equation: these would-be terrorists are fucking morons.

Besides the fact that they're apparently too stupid to figure out how to actually build a bomb, there's also their choice of targets. Airplanes and landmarks are among the few well guarded purely civilian areas in the public sphere. But there's thousands and thousands of places across the country where an intelligent person could cause havoc: water and power facilities, transformer stations that could black out half of a state, 25,000 gallon fuel oil tanks sitting where anyone could drive up to them, hazardous chemical storage, and on, and on.

Take the guy who tried to blow up the airliner over Detroit. It wasn't luck that his bomb didn't go off: tri-acetone peroxide, or TATP, requires a blasting cap in order to detonate. Just heat isn't enough to set off your underwear bomb--that simply makes it a really fast and efficient way to light your nuts on fire.

So we should be very grateful that the guys on the other side have an almost Bush-like ability to fuck up and choose the dumbest possible thing to do.

[JI7]

3. it's not just luck but i think the more dangerous Terrorists are being monitored

and stopped from even trying. they are the ones who might be more successful.

the ones who failed have mostly been idiot wannabe types that al qaeda probably woudln't invest in to carry out major attacks as during 9/11.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

4. We have always been at war with Eastasia. n/t

[Starry Messenger]

5. What the hell is in the water here tonight?

:crazy:

[leveymg]

6. Al-Awlaki also shows up in the 9/11 and Ft. Hood attacks. Why did they let him operate so long?

He and several other figures show up in virtually every major terrorist attack in recent years. He always seems be let go or escape, or evade attempts at killing him. What does that suggest to you, and what historical/mythical figures does he remind you of?