CIA: It is bin Laden on terror tape

[Lord SteveO]

One of my friends and i agree the most devastating type of attack would be small scale attacks on lots of common targets.
For example 20+ bombings against trainlines, or bridges, or even electric substations.
People would panic, nobody would really know where the next attack is going to be, you can't police every road or rail line in the US.

Similar thing happened in London, there were 100's of buses and trains to pick as targets, it got people panicing about where was safe.
Making people too terified to go use a bus, or a street crossing is the ulitmate terrorism. Forget tower blocks or military bases, attacking everyday locations caiuse the damage. The big strikes get attention, but the small multiple attacks do the big damage.

For these reason i think the US is powerless ot stop attacks. Even the UK had no idea there were sleeper cells untill it was too late. There is no way to predict the tragets.
Agricultural attakcs are similar, they would cause panic more than do damage.

 

[SoundMaster]

One of my friends and i agree the most devastating type of attack would be small scale attacks on lots of common targets.
For example 20+ bombings against trainlines, or bridges, or even electric substations.
People would panic, nobody would really know where the next attack is going to be, you can't police every road or rail line in the US.

Similar thing happened in London, there were 100's of buses and trains to pick as targets, it got people panicing about where was safe.
Making people too terified to go use a bus, or a street crossing is the ulitmate terrorism. Forget tower blocks or military bases, attacking everyday locations caiuse the damage. The big strikes get attention, but the small multiple attacks do the big damage.

For these reason i think the US is powerless ot stop attacks. Even the UK had no idea there were sleeper cells untill it was too late. There is no way to predict the tragets.
Agricultural attakcs are similar, they would cause panic more than do damage.

Excellent points.

The best way for al Qaeda to wage war against the US would be to simply let loose a dozen nail-bombers in malls across the country....say on Black Friday. The retail economy would come to a complete halt. Even if the numbers of dead were relatively small. The fear factor would be devestating.

 

[The Winnipeg Warrior]

Excellent points.

The best way for al Qaeda to wage war against the US would be to simply let loose a dozen nail-bombers in malls across the country....say on Black Friday. The retail economy would come to a complete halt. Even if the numbers of dead were relatively small. The fear factor would be devestating.

.....I agree.

Trains are a perfect example here in Canada. No one goes through a security check.....not even your luggage. You just hop on the coach and and find your seat. Much different than air travel or boarding a Cruise Ship.

When I was in Britain last year, there were absolutely no security checks aboard the Central Rail or Virgin trains, other than producing your passage ticket. But other than that, nothing. Via Rail and Amtrack operate the same way over here.

Take out 10 rail stations across the continent, especially in smaller cities.....that would be more devasting than one hit in a large market. Besides, who would ever think that terrorism would hit places like Albuquerque, Cinicinnati or Grand Forks. Everyone is waiting for the major hit in places like New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles. The element of surprise.

 

[SoundMaster]

.....Take out 10 rail stations across the continent, especially in smaller cities.....that would be more devasting than one hit in a large market. Besides, who would ever think that terrorism would hit places like Albuquerque, Cinicinnati or Grand Forks. Everyone is waiting for the major hit in places like New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles. The element of surprise.

Indeed. Hit a mall in fuck-all Idaho and people will (finally) begin to ponder their place in the world, learn some perspective.

 

[Lord SteveO]

My point exactly.

After 9/11 everyone was angry, they were pissed that someone would dare do this to the US. But at the same time i doubt anyone who wasn't in NY had any idea what was really going on. Most of the terrorism going on in the world didn't matter to them. Same here in the UK. At times i was getting so sick of people's "it doesn't matter to us or affects us" attitude i was hoping some sort of attack would come! But now it has, on the 7/7, and people are starting to wake up.

I think small scale attacks, but wide ranging and semingly random, would be devastating.
Blow up a bus one day, the next you hit a school, then a freeway bridge, then a hospital, then a shopping mall. Nobody would know where was next and people would get scared. It would be exactly what the terrorists wanted, all eyes on them. But it would also wake peopel up and make them realsise that this war on terror affects us all.

 

[Vital Remains]

in the tenth grade i remember a few of my friends turning on a tv in a classroom and
saw the world trade center falling over and they were like "hey this big building is falling over. Awesome!" and they got in a whole shit storm of trouble. I didnt even know what the world trade center was untill 9/11.

 

[The Bringer]

Is that ignorance or just life?

 

[SoundMaster]

Is that ignorance or just life?

For most, sadly, life is full of (their own) ignorance.

 

[MURAI]

Nothing. He doesn't want a truce. He simply wants it to appeat that way to the moderates in the Arab world. There are two facts are work here:
1) he knows America will never enter into a truce with him
2) he needs the sympathy of the moderate Muslims. He already has the extremists, but they simply don't carry as much weight due to their ineffectuall numbers. He knows he needs to win the hearts and minds of the millions of moderate Muslims who think he's a psycho

By feigning a "truce", by extending the proverbial olive branch, it will appear as if he tried to end the conflict peacefully. When America, of course, refuses, he can more easily justify future bloodshed. He can they say "Hey, I gave them a chance to negotiate. They refused. They're not civil...etc".

Yes, that sounds likely.