Bombs on a plane

[Cain]

Al-Qaeda are nice, aren't they?  Planning this just before election time and all...of course, this will now necessitate more "tough on terrorism" rhetoric from all the marginal candidates, and another round of hysterical robot bombing of the Afpak border, which will not in any way play directly into AQ's hands, no siree.

[Placid Dingo]

I liked the wording of the news article i saw... 'this has raised fears Al Quaida may be planning a terrorist attack'. Rly? That's a surprise move for those guys...

[Cain]

Yes, as opposed to being a part of an elaborate street theatre production, which were what Al-Qaeda were previously most noted for.

[Cain]

The flight came out of Yemen.  Chances are it was Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, since I don't think the flying killer robots have killed enough Yemeni tribesmen unaffiliated with AQitAP for them to want to strike back on their own.

Yet.

Give it time though.  In fact, it's practically certain, if the US political community reacts in it's usual manner.  Kilcullen is off quietly weeping somewhere.

[Cain]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304713004575583763928921010.html

No detonators.  The bombs were not rigged to explode.  Do you understand what this means?

AL-QAEDA ARE TROLLING THE WEST.  THEY KNOW THAT "WE" ARE A BUNCH OF PANSIES WHO SHRIEK AND FLAIL AND WAVE OUR HANDS AT THE SLIGHTEST MENTION OF TERRORISM OR A BOMB PLOT (AND THEN LOOK FOR SOME MUSLIMS TO STRING UP), SO THEY'RE DOING THIS TO FUCK WITH OUR HEADS.

[bds]

Mentioned the fact that it's a teeny tiny bit suspect that this causes such a media frenzy two days after a BA chief criticises security methods and right before midterms in Politics earlier today.

The barrage of ad hominems I was subjected to was... impressive.

[Cain]

After all, it's not like the previous administration in the US ever used terrorism scares in order to improve their position in the polls, is it?

Oh, wait.

[Cain]

Argue this in your next class http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Newshog/~3/fNsWdvmEB10/the-toner-bomb-plot-and-al-qaedas-grand-strategy.html

[Juana]

I almost want to listen to Sean Hannity, et al. right now to see if they've fallen for the troll. Almost.

[bds]

Argue this in your next class http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Newshog/~3/fNsWdvmEB10/the-toner-bomb-plot-and-al-qaedas-grand-strategy.html

Tempting. And also interesting link, thanks.

I'm not sure how effective it would be though, considering the class is comprised of me and another liberal, three or four die hard Tories and a bunch of people that don't really care but seem to lean to the right. Oh and there's the crazy curly haired fuck who occasionally mumbles something about Marxism or Communism before subsiding into silence again. Sometimes I stay awake at night, worrying that this might actually be a representative sample of my generation.

Seriously. As a whole the class voted against electoral reform 70-30, AFTER going the pros and cons of each system. What the fuck?

[Cain]

Given how even so-called seasoned security experts are being trolled by this...well, I worry more about that than I do whackjobs on the radio and teevee.  The UK has introduced a whole raft of new security measures, for example, for freight coming in via Yemen (and bizarrely, Somalia)...and it's entirely likely that, with the Underpants bomber, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula meant for this attack to fail (said bomber also didn't have a detonator).  Obama sent two F-15's to escort the plan with the suspect package on it.  What was he really going to do if the bomb went off, shoot the plane down?  That would seem rather redundant.

The Saudi story doesn't add up, either.  They're saying this Fayfi, this "defector" was key in getting intelligence on this operation, which they then passed on to the CIA and MI6.  Fayfi was arrested in the first week of September this year, and Al-Qaeda know, intimately in some cases, how the Saudis go about their "interrogations" of suspects (tip: waterboarding is only the start) and that their plan was therefore likely blown.  They then had two months, which to my amateur eye, is plenty of time to rework the plan in such a way that any intelligence Fayfi had was useless and then carry out some kind of attack no-one could know about.  And yes, they knew he had been taken, they even released a statement concerning it a day after the event.  So what happened?

So far the only sensible thing said on this entire mess has been by a rabbi of one of the synagogues in Chicago supposedly targeted, who pointed out that most of his congregation, as well as most people generally, are aware terrorism is badwrong and there is little more to say on it, so it probably wont be mentioned in any upcoming sermons.

BDS, anyone who walks into a Political Science class with any kind of political alleigance is suspect, especially if that alleigance is party based and especially if they then distort the facts due to it.