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"Inept" terrorists?
This is from a discussion thread at National Review's military affairs blogg, "The Tank."Gregory rightly said, "Sometimes even the inept terrorists are successful, and we should never forget that." And as he alluded to, I would openly state that readers should very cautiously doubt just how inept the UK terrorists involved in this weekend's attempts really were. Here's why: There were three very powerful bombs, made completely of openly available materials and designed to duplicate similar bomb designs from Iraq and elsewhere that have the convenience of military grade high explosives as the triggered initiator for the blast. Other than that (largely), the designs were - in even their basic publicly sketched appearance - the same. And the only failure was common throughout each one: Failing dual cell phone triggering mechanisms. We almost certainly do not know the half of this weekend's bomb designs being publicly supplied to and reported by the media outlets. It can be almost universally assumed that they were far more intricate than simply gasoline and propane tanks with zip-lock baggies full of nails taped to them. Though I have no direct knowledge of the specific design, I know enough to be confident that I have not yet laid eyes on the true complexity of the design. Nor has anyone currently calling these terrorists 'inept.' I have, however, maintained in various offline discussions since Friday that there was either a minute (and system-fatal) flaw with the triggering designs or in the end-point bomb maker's implementation of them. The same failure indicates the same failed design or the same failed implementation, perhaps both. This is a minor issue technically. Important, but minor. And it will be overcome by an intelligent and adaptive enemy. These were not 'cheesy' or 'amateur' bombs. They were bombs smartly made with materials designed to avoid detection...with a consistent glitch in the triggering mechanisms. Those who wish to dismiss the attempted bombings as 'amateurish' would be well advised to quietly reconsider. This would have been more deadly than the vast majority of bombing attacks by Palestinian terrorists in Israel. And we don't call them inept, do we? Hint: No. We don't. Because intent is intent and dead is dead. And the enemy learns and adapts. Posted by: Mike 2007-07-03 |
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