THE MODERN FACE OF TERRORISM, PART II….The dramatic events in Britain over the last couple of days are a stark reminder of a terrorist threat that is likely getting worse for the West, not better.
Fortunately, no innocent people suffered any serious injuries as a result of these attacks. What’s more, the attackers do not appear to have been well trained:
Several experts and officials said the technology behind the London car bombs seemed amateurish. While the attackers apparently tried to detonate the bombs using cellphones, “they didn’t go off because there were not top-grade people putting them together,” one Western official said.
Do you ever get the sense the West is incredibly fortunate that recent would-be terrorists lack sophistication? I’m reminded of Kevin’s post after the Fort Dix arrests.
Let me get this straight: these guys dropped off jihadi videos at a local store, talked to Philly cops about getting a map of Ft. Dix, were still trying to procure weapons after 17 months of planning, and practiced for the attack by playing paintball.
This reminds me of that guy who planned to bring down the Brooklyn Bridge with a blowtorch. Or those dudes who wanted to destroy the Sears Tower but couldn’t even afford to buy boots and rental cars, let alone explosives. Or Jose Padilla, who, it turns out, was a deluded schmoe who didn’t really have serious plans to do much of anything.
Is al-Qaeda recruiting these doofuses just to lull us into a false sense of security?
There have, of course, been far too many devastating acts of terrorism in the West (New York, London, Madrid, Oklahoma City), but there are times it seems we’ve been lucky that those willing to do the most harm have not been “top-grade people.”
