Some not bad, non-DU stuff:
http://www.bilerico.com/2010/05/times_square_bombing_100_homegrown_american.phpTimes Square Bombing: 100% Homegrown American?
Filed by: Sara Whitman
May 3, 2010 8:00 PM
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An attempt at a car bombing was made Saturday night, in Times Square. Quickly, there have already been claims whispered of the Taliban sneaking about in our midst by the New York Times:
"No motive had been determined in the attempted bombing, and federal and local officials said there was no evidence to support a claim of responsibility issued Sunday by a Pakistani Taliban group that has a reputation for making far-fetched attempts to take credit for attacks."
A few paragraphs later, again a hint of outside terrorists:
"Investigators were reviewing similarities between the incident in Times Square and coordinated attacks in the summer of 2007 at a Glasgow airport and a London neighborhood of nightclubs and theaters. Both attacks involved cars containing propane and gasoline that did not explode. Those attacks, the authorities believed, had their roots in Iraq."
Um, call me crazy, but didn't Tim McVeigh use a car bomb in Oklahoma City? Wasn't that domestic terrorism? Crazy right wing nut cases who wanted to take over the government?
Homegrown? Nothing to do with Iraq or Iran or Pakistan?
Am I the only one who is making this very direct connection? Why does it feel like the media is pumping up a frenzy of hate against Middle Easterners?
The Teabaggers carry guns to their demonstrations. Guns. I have to say, I've been to many a demonstration in my time but never saw anyone- aside from the police- with a gun. The rhetoric has become increasingly more and more violent- people openly calling for the death of the President on facebook, for instance.
I'd bet having to take my pants off through airport security (god knows we are headed there anyway), that this is a 100% American effort.
We need to start looking at ourselves, at our media, and at the messages rained on us a little more closely. Who buys all those guns in this country? You know, the semi-automatics, machine guns- the stuff that no one in the world hunts deer or quail with.
There are a lot of angry, white people out there. White. Not black, not latino, but white people who are feeling their power erode away.
I sincerely hope the police, FBI and Homeland security are a lot smarter than the media. I also hope it was one warped lunatic who failed.
But something tells me, it's not.
So let's see. The MSM, which went full-bore with "white guy did it," was really trying to drum up anti-mideastern sentiment? (Other than anti-Israeli sentiment, that is, which is an MSM staple). And guns--which were being legally carried in the states in question by Tea Party people---- = bombs. And--oh my, guns, can't have people exercising THEIR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS.
And nobody else but Tim McVeigh has EVER used a car bomb. Naw. Moslem terrorists never use car bombs.
And we all know the left NEVER called for GW Bush's death. Never burned the man in effigy. Naw, that never happened.
I think I'll just grant Sara's wish here and call her crazy.
And several experts on bomb-building and Taliban psychology/intelligence:
I agree with everything you said. Let's also acknowledge that this was strictly amateur hour. You see, there were at least two fatal flaws with this construct that has been referred to as a "bomb" by just about everybody and that's just in the sketchy descriptions that I've read.
First, containers or bottles like propane tanks Can't. Blow. Up. They are designed to exclude oxygen and despite what happens in the movies, no oxygen = no combustion. The containers can be punctured and their contents ignited upon contact with oxygen in the atmosphere, they can be heated to a point when the valve fails and releases the contents but neither failure is exactly explosive in nature. One can WELD on a bottle and as long as you don't puncture the vessel, it won't explode. I know because of science and experience. I've done it. Plus, if anybody gets the bright idea to force oxygen into a propane tank so that it will be combustible, then there will be one less would be terrorist that we have to worry about. It isn't a secret what happens when you introduce liquid oxygen into an environment of petroleum distillates.
Second, not all "fertilizer" is ammonium nitrate. I can buy a ton of Miracle Grow and not have anything remotely explosive. The fireworks and gasoline may have made a merry fire but nobody was ever in any real danger so while the intent was there, the knowledge was lacking.
It's possible to ignore science in fiction but it isn't possible to do so in reality and still achieve a desired result. This tendency to ignore science just screams Beck fan teabagger to me. I could be wrong of course but I don't think that I am.
Oh, well, maybe you should do some re-think there old man.
Pleeeese!!!
Since when would any Taliban extemist use M-80's as an addition to a bomb?
The only people I know who know anything about M-80's are red blooded American or Canadian teenagers who like to blow up water closets in the gym bathroom, or kneejerk, American wing nuts who attend Tea Party conventions and demonstrations. Since I don't believe that it was any teenageer whopurchased the vehicle for cash, I can only think it is the latter animal who is trying to blow people up to make some kind of statement. I think the clincher for me though was when they reported that there was a gun locker in the car that was full of fertilizer. But the kind that does not blow up. Only someone who goes around asking for proof of Obama's birth certificate and calling people facists and nazi's is stupid enough to travel around NYC with a locker full of non-exploding shit. Even the Taliban aren't that dumb.
No, but YOU are!
And now the post-discovery-of-their-complete-and-abject-stupidity spin:
More data needed.
I'm a sometime military analyst, and I'd give none of the current conjectures anything better than a "well, could be, I 'spose".
It does sound like amateur-hour Al Qaeda. I see RWNJ (Right Wing Nut Jobs) targeting Federal buildings, synagogues, mosques etc but not crowded city streets. The RWNJs may blow up kindergartens, but if so they'd be Gummint ones.
Exactly which kind of enemy we face doesn't matter. Just that they're the enemy, no matter which flag the plead allegiance too.
So, this "sometime military analyst" doesn't think it's important which enemy we address, just that we hit all enemies, any enemy. For example, in WW II, we could just as easily have gone to war against England rather than Germany, since England was once an enemy of ours.
This military analysis business is easy!
Color me a conspiracy theorist, but isn't this a wee bit convenient? Al Queda is responsible again? They were highly successful in Iraq, Afghanistan, and on 9/11. The first bomb attempt at the World Trade Center wasn't enough to bring the building down, but caused quite a bit of damage.
So they chose an idiot this time who'd leave behind all sorts of evidence, rig up a bomb incorrectly using MacGyver-like bits of flotsam and jetsom, and then promptly jumps a plane for Pakistan?
No way. I smell a chance to pump the Afghanistan war against Al Queda and their new base of power in Pakistan.
And here come the 9/11 "truthers." Oy vey.
Yes, I will color you a conspiracy theorist. What would you suggest, maybe a nice mauve? Also, Is there a color for
brain damaged?
