11.02.10
Quote from the war on terror
A selection of story quotes describing al Qaeda toner cartridge bombs that didn’t go off. al Qaeda plots, even when they don’t work, which is a lot of the time, are always innovative, creative and sophisticated.
Before the September shipments reached their destinations in Chicago, U.S. authorities seized and searched the boxes. They removed “papers, books and other materials??? that now appear to have been sent by the Yemeni militant group al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula to test the logistics of the air cargo system, the official said.
Which raises the question why didn’t Yemen get shitcanned as an entry point for small air freight shipments back then?
The two bombs contained 300 and 400 grams of the industrial explosive PETN, according to a German security official, who briefed reporters Monday in Berlin on condition of anonymity in line with department guidelines.
By comparison, the bomb stuffed into a terrorist suspect’s underwear on the Detroit-bound plane contained about 80 grams.
“It shows that they are trying to again make different types of adaptations based on what we have put in place,??? said John Brennan, President Barack Obama’s counterterrorism adviser. “So the underwear bomber, as well as these packages, are showing sort of new techniques on their part. They are very innovative and creative???
— From here.
EXPLOSIVE devices found on two planes were “very sophisticated”, both in the way they were constructed and concealed, a top US security official has said.
One of US President Barack Obama’s security advisers, John Brennan, said the devices, hidden inside printer toner cartridges, were very difficult to detect
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute says there’s also evidence of novel and more sophisticated devices, including explosives that can be sewn inside the body. These devices can only be detected with the use of body scanners, a security measure which is still being resisted in most countries, including Australia.
Clearly these groups have shown a degree of innovation in the types of bombs that they’re making and how they’re using them. Things like prosthetic limbs, women masquerading as being pregnant, but in fact carrying a bomb inside a cavity in their bellies. Even the idea that breast implants or buttock implants could be used to hide a bombing device.
— From here.
No wonder the terrorists apparently opted for the industry shipping leaders.
From Wired.
The chief executive of the intelligence agency IntelCenter, Ben Venzke, said: “If this attack is by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula it demonstrates an accelerated ability to design new and innovative ways of conducting IED attacks and a focused effort to execute those attacks on US soil …
Terror expert Dr Sally Leivesley said it appeared to be a “sophisticated” device which may have used the powdered toner as a means of evading screening.
From the Yorkshire Post.
The continuing take here is that the plot only reinforces the regular struggle al Qaeda faces in terms of its devices. Its bombmakers go from, for example, underwear loaded with explosive, to packing explosive into a printer cartridge in attempt to boost volume and guarantee evasion.
Their airplane bombers — Richard Reid and the equally feeble underwear bomber — also present problems.
This constrains the bombmaker with obstacles in the form of unreliability, not only from the human angle — but also from the technical side.
In an attempt to remove the need for the bomber, an al Qaeda group’s air-shipped bombs faced additional problems with timing and whether or not they would actually work. And the results, in this case, are apparent.
So rather than always deadeningly looking at it from the side which describes these people as “innovative” and “creative,” one can also observe it from the angle that they are increasingly constrained. And that their technical expertise is definitely finite.
Which is not to say that if they try enough they won’t get lucky.
On the other hand, there are way bigger fish to fry in terms of problems — national and geopolitical.
Again — the Logistics Song.
Major Variola said,
November 4, 2010 at 8:17 am
“Which is not to say that if they try enough they won’t get lucky.”
I think the IRA said it best to Thatcher: We only need be lucky once, you always. Of course, they had just messed up a bombing too. But, they did eventually win. (Or, some subset of them did; the others still light things up now and then.)
A corollary to this asymmetry is that glass empires shouldn’t fly drones.
Best not to make such enemies. Or realize that the occasional falling skyscraper or airliner, or dudes Beslan’ing a Maryland kindergarten, is the price of empire. Empire isn’t free.
Its not clear that trying a low-cost, high-gain strategy at this point is a bad move, indicative of desparation or lack of resources for Al Q. Note also that toner cartridges contain loose powder, which is good cover for the 10 oz + of brisant in there. (Toner doesn’t have the nitrogen content though.. try baby formula or protein powder containers next time, though the electronics will have to be less obvious. Cheese of course is fine camo for the denser cast material.)
Rome didn’t fall in a day. Nor was it blogged.