Friday, June 29, 2007
Let the Bullshit Begin...
Tony Blair out. Gordon Brown in. British Intelligence, who normally couldn't find their own asses in the dark with a flashlight, thwart not one, but two, or, no, possibly three, car bomb plots. And just in time to bring up all the "7/7" anniversary crap.
And the American media, when they're not gushing over the iPhone, Paris Hilton and, bonus points, a lawsuit involving her Great Aunt and Zsa Zsa Gabor, are eating up the "Al Qaeda did it!" crap with a silver spoon.
Meanwhile, take a look at the claimed evidence and thwarted plots, and things fall apart quickly. These petrol-laden cars were not terrorist plots, but more of the "scare the people" Booga-Booga bullshit, most likely all aimed at giving the American Administration the excuse they've wanted to nuke Iran. Basic scenario: British Intelligence traces the plot to some guy who used to date the sister of the third cousin of the guy who does the gardening at Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's summer palace. Britain wants revenge. America helps. World War III begins.
Item #1: if these were professionally designed bombs, the designers weren't very professional. If published reports are true, the cars were packed with many gallons of gasoline, propane cans, and nails. Let's start with the gasoline. This is not a bomb-making material of choice. Why not? Gasoline does not explode. It burns, but only in the presence of oxygen -- and in order for gas to be in the presence of oxygen, it's got to be exposed to the open air. Meaning that, if you make a bomb with a large gasoline component, it's going to stink to high heaven and be noticeable to anyone with a functioning nose. Which, surprise, surprise, is exactly how alleged bomb number one was "discovered."
Gasoline is an accelerant favored by arsonists, not an explosive favored by terrorists. In other words, if you're going to pour it out on the floor of an over-insured building in the ghetto at three in the morning, then drop a match on it and walk away, perfect. But if you're going to load a car with several hundred pounds of it, then park the car in public and leave it for a day or two, not so perfect.
And then there's propane. Yes, propane tanks can explode. But, oddly enough, they only tend to do so when they're surrounded by fire. Throw one on the barbecue, wait fifteen or twenty minutes, it'll probably go boom -- and sail off in one direction, depending upon where the weak seams were in the tank. Now, if whoever (*cough cough*) set these cars up intended to set the gas on fire remotely, then let it set off the propane tanks as bombs, great. Except that -- this would necessitate a big ol' car fire for a long time before the boom; long enough for people to flee and the fire brigade to come in and put it out. From a terrorist point of view, a failure -- death count, a few firemen, maybe, one or two buildings destroyed, way too much advance warning of danger.
As for the nails included in the "bombs", intended to be shrapnel, from the set ups considered above, their most likely destination would be straight down, as molten slag, assuming no one put out the fire. As deadly projectiles? Not so much. First off, they'd have to be packed tightly around an object that was going to explode outward in every direction, and we've already seen we don't have that. Secondly, and more important, the force of the primary explosion would have to be enough to drive the nails, point out, through whatever other container was around them. In reality, if the nails were positioned for flight instead of smelting, they'd just wind up embedded in the metal cage of the car itself, and not go much of anywhere.
Conclusion: these magical "discoveries" reek of a plant; a set-up designed to allow the government to do... whatever the hell they want to do. At the very least, the amateurishness of the alleged devices involved should assuage the public fear. If these were, indeed, legitimate terrorist devices, all they would have done is flamed up in a big cloud of black smoke, easily dealt with by one fire truck and pensioner with a hose. But if they were intended to scare the populace into further complacency, further fear, further willingness to bend over, grab their ankles and beg the government, "Please, sirs -- can I have another?" Well, then -- they've been the most effective terrorist weapons of all.
But I have to call "shenanigans" in this case, and point my finger at the real terrorists -- the British Government, acting at the behest of the American Administration, for the sole purpose of fomenting yet another war that nobody with half a brain in their head wants.
People of Britain, it is time to say "Enough." It is time to call bullshit on these alleged plots -- especially when a moment's consideration of the alleged methods used reduces the threat to nothing.
And the American media, when they're not gushing over the iPhone, Paris Hilton and, bonus points, a lawsuit involving her Great Aunt and Zsa Zsa Gabor, are eating up the "Al Qaeda did it!" crap with a silver spoon.
Meanwhile, take a look at the claimed evidence and thwarted plots, and things fall apart quickly. These petrol-laden cars were not terrorist plots, but more of the "scare the people" Booga-Booga bullshit, most likely all aimed at giving the American Administration the excuse they've wanted to nuke Iran. Basic scenario: British Intelligence traces the plot to some guy who used to date the sister of the third cousin of the guy who does the gardening at Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's summer palace. Britain wants revenge. America helps. World War III begins.
Item #1: if these were professionally designed bombs, the designers weren't very professional. If published reports are true, the cars were packed with many gallons of gasoline, propane cans, and nails. Let's start with the gasoline. This is not a bomb-making material of choice. Why not? Gasoline does not explode. It burns, but only in the presence of oxygen -- and in order for gas to be in the presence of oxygen, it's got to be exposed to the open air. Meaning that, if you make a bomb with a large gasoline component, it's going to stink to high heaven and be noticeable to anyone with a functioning nose. Which, surprise, surprise, is exactly how alleged bomb number one was "discovered."
Gasoline is an accelerant favored by arsonists, not an explosive favored by terrorists. In other words, if you're going to pour it out on the floor of an over-insured building in the ghetto at three in the morning, then drop a match on it and walk away, perfect. But if you're going to load a car with several hundred pounds of it, then park the car in public and leave it for a day or two, not so perfect.
And then there's propane. Yes, propane tanks can explode. But, oddly enough, they only tend to do so when they're surrounded by fire. Throw one on the barbecue, wait fifteen or twenty minutes, it'll probably go boom -- and sail off in one direction, depending upon where the weak seams were in the tank. Now, if whoever (*cough cough*) set these cars up intended to set the gas on fire remotely, then let it set off the propane tanks as bombs, great. Except that -- this would necessitate a big ol' car fire for a long time before the boom; long enough for people to flee and the fire brigade to come in and put it out. From a terrorist point of view, a failure -- death count, a few firemen, maybe, one or two buildings destroyed, way too much advance warning of danger.
As for the nails included in the "bombs", intended to be shrapnel, from the set ups considered above, their most likely destination would be straight down, as molten slag, assuming no one put out the fire. As deadly projectiles? Not so much. First off, they'd have to be packed tightly around an object that was going to explode outward in every direction, and we've already seen we don't have that. Secondly, and more important, the force of the primary explosion would have to be enough to drive the nails, point out, through whatever other container was around them. In reality, if the nails were positioned for flight instead of smelting, they'd just wind up embedded in the metal cage of the car itself, and not go much of anywhere.
Conclusion: these magical "discoveries" reek of a plant; a set-up designed to allow the government to do... whatever the hell they want to do. At the very least, the amateurishness of the alleged devices involved should assuage the public fear. If these were, indeed, legitimate terrorist devices, all they would have done is flamed up in a big cloud of black smoke, easily dealt with by one fire truck and pensioner with a hose. But if they were intended to scare the populace into further complacency, further fear, further willingness to bend over, grab their ankles and beg the government, "Please, sirs -- can I have another?" Well, then -- they've been the most effective terrorist weapons of all.
But I have to call "shenanigans" in this case, and point my finger at the real terrorists -- the British Government, acting at the behest of the American Administration, for the sole purpose of fomenting yet another war that nobody with half a brain in their head wants.
People of Britain, it is time to say "Enough." It is time to call bullshit on these alleged plots -- especially when a moment's consideration of the alleged methods used reduces the threat to nothing.
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