Picadilly Car Bombs

[shesulsa]

Nail bombs are known for causing much damage - not so much to property as it is to PEOPLE. A nail bomb is a deliberate attempt to maim and/or kill.

For the edification of anyone and everyone who is unfamiliar with these devices, here's a couple of links.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19990419/ai_n14222844

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19990419/ai_n14222676

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nail_bomb

AND ... for those of us who want our men and women home soon ... and in tribute to the prosthetic-legged-serviceman my husband sat next to at Sea World on June 29, 2007 and all others who have been injured by NAIL BOMBS ...

http://pdm.medicine.wisc.edu/18-3pdfs/249Asai.pdf

:asian:

 

[tshadowchaser]

Not to make light of the attempts of some to place these car bombs where they did but do yo think these attempte where completly real attempts or more "dry Runs" for somehthing bigger to come in the future.

I would have hated for those car bombs to go off considering the amount of damage they might have caused and am thankful that the attempt was foiled. I am worried that they might have been attempts to test the awearness of the British police and that something much bigger might be in the works

 

[jdinca]

Not to make light of the attempts of some to place these car bombs where they did but do yo think these attempte where completly real attempts or more "dry Runs" for somehthing bigger to come in the future.

I would have hated for those car bombs to go off considering the amount of damage they might have caused and am thankful that the attempt was foiled. I am worried that they might have been attempts to test the awearness of the British police and that something much bigger might be in the works

I dunno. Given that had they gone off, they could have killed hundreds, followed by an attempt to cause a conflagration in a crowded terminal, I'm not so sure these were dry runs.

 

[Jeff L]

I'm shocked that some of my fellow countrymen seem to find this funny.


Hopefully those of you across the pond have already seen the worst of these attacks.

 

[CoryKS]

I'm shocked that some of my fellow countrymen seem to find this funny.


Hopefully those of you across the pond have already seen the worst of these attacks.

I agree. I can only hope that the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of this latest attempt is proof that al Qaeda has eaten the seed corn.

 

[Tez3]

To raise a genuine smile..... interviewed on the tv the Glaswegian baggage handler who tackled one of the car bomb terrorists at Glasgow's airport. When asked why he tackled him and was he scared. "Och no" he said firmly " we'll be having none of that in Glasgow!" Bless him for his bravery and his down to earth attitude.

 

[jdinca]

Tez, what's the opinion over there on the comments made by the mayor of London?

 

[Tez3]

What comments? Seriously I've been watching the BBC news plus the radio and have heard nothing! To be honest no one actaully takes a lot of notuce of him, he's made anti semitic remarks as well as other stupid stuff before, he's a real numpty and a relic from the old days of the communist sympathisers, he's not called Red Ken for nothing!

 

[jdinca]

What comments? Seriously I've been watching the BBC news plus the radio and have heard nothing! To be honest no one actaully takes a lot of notuce of him, he's made anti semitic remarks as well as other stupid stuff before, he's a real numpty and a relic from the old days of the communist sympathisers, he's not called Red Ken for nothing!

Whoops! After doing some searching, I've discovered that they were old comments about how the west is to blame for suicide bombers because of our middle east policy dating back to the first World War.

Based on some of the stuff I've come across, he strikes me as a true whack job.

 

[Tez3]

He's one of those white so called liberals that wants to be see by his 'black brothers' (and Moslem etc) as the good guy who 'understands' them if you know the type I mean. he'll dress up in African clothes and try to 'connect' etc. it actually comes across as patronising and he just looks a **** lol!

A very distrubing thing has emerged from these bombings.. that the would be killers are doctors. None of them are British but were allowed into the country to practice medicine which last time I looked meant trying to heal people not kill and maim them.

 

[Hand Sword]

Yes, there are plenty of "Foxes" in the hen houses all over the world now.

 

[CoryKS]

On a lighter note, here's a site where you can Pledge a Pint for John Smeaton, a baggage handler who tackled one of the Glasgow Airport terrorists. He's only up to aboot 600 pints so far.

 

[crushing]

A very distrubing thing has emerged from these bombings.. that the would be killers are doctors. None of them are British but were allowed into the country to practice medicine which last time I looked meant trying to heal people not kill and maim them.

What I thought of when I first heard they were doctors was something I read several years ago about first generation middle class people tending to be much more radical. I wish I could remember more about that article and the reasons that were given. It may have been a Foreign Affairs article, but I'm not sure.

 

[jdinca]

He's one of those white so called liberals that wants to be see by his 'black brothers' (and Moslem etc) as the good guy who 'understands' them if you know the type I mean. he'll dress up in African clothes and try to 'connect' etc. it actually comes across as patronising and he just looks a **** lol!

A very distrubing thing has emerged from these bombings.. that the would be killers are doctors. None of them are British but were allowed into the country to practice medicine which last time I looked meant trying to heal people not kill and maim them.

Zawahiri is a pediatrician.

 

[michaeledward]

Complete lack of perspective... How ironic you should use that phrase just before the drivel you went on to post. Lets see what your reaction would have been if that same exact package was parked outside your place of work or home.

I have been waiting a LONG time to use this smiley. :321:
Probably get another warning for it, but I'll take one to express that thought.

Scott, when I read this, I wanted to respond, but I wasn't quite sure how to do so, and make clear what I meant. In your post, you posit the 'what if' the 'car bombs' were outside my place of work.

There are two thoughts here.

A - The world is a big place, and a failed, minor threat to one small block on the far side of the Atlantic Ocean, really shouldn't inpinge on my daily life at all. Now, you may take offense that my decision to label these items as a 'failed, minor threat' ... but we are not referencing Nagasaki, here.

B - I hope that my reaction, if these devices were outside my home (which is my office), would be thankful that the perpetrators were incompetent. And I hope that it would not cause me to tremble in fear. It's a big world, and there are many dangers in it.

But, something about your call .... that I should be afraid .... just doesn't ring true to me. And I don't want to sound all 'super-human-brave' or anything. I just want to sound reasonable.

Well, I've been away to the North Country for a few days. My wife got me a book to read on the trip; Al Gore - The Assault on Reason. On the first page, of the first chapter, I found my answer.

Scott, really, truly, I hope that a terrorist car bomb outside my house would not cause me to live in fear. Fear is stronger than reason. To make the case for his argument, Mr. Gore quotes a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

"Men feared witches, and burnt women".​

That is my argument. I do not want to give into fear, because somewhere, a woman might be set on fire, to free society from the clutches of witches. Read the responses of our colleagues here at MartialTalk. How many are crying loud "Witch! Witch!"?

I hope that I never contribute to such an activity.

Regards.

I'm off to read the posts I've missed.​

 

[Ninjamom]

ME, you continue to try to justify your original post, which quite frankly, is as indefensible as it was rude and insensitive. No one on this forum posted from a perspective of irrational fear, yet you belittled any concern over the matter, claiming that the car bombs shouldn't really qualify as bombs at all. You showed a complete lack of understanding of the facts of the situation (that the propane gas canisters loaded next to nails with a remote detonator tied to a cell phone could do considerable damage and showed some degree of sophistication), and when confronted with the facts, you changed your tack to, "look at me, I'm a hero of sound reason, protecting helpless women from would-be witch-burners."

Why not just be a man, admit that you got the facts wrong, and apologize?

 

[Sukerkin]

I've stayed away from this thread for a number of reasons but. now the dust has had time to settle, I dare venture an opinion or two.

Mike, usually I find your posts contentious but thought provoking and I've rep'd you before now for your boldness in laying things on the table, bare and unadorned. In this case, I fear, as many of us have done, that you spoke in haste, didn't put your point as you wished and have drawn flak for it.

It is no shame to re-position an earlier post with clarifications when they have been misunderstood. Attempting to move on from a position that is poorly grounded does neither yourself nor your readers any favours.

The mini-bombing campaign may have been carried out in a way that seems somewhat Amateur Night but the devices were quite capable of considerable harm (tho' I'm yet to hear anything about how effective the trigger mechanisms would've been). It's the fact that the perpetrators seem to be well educated, intelligent members of the community that is the worry.

On the one hand, this means that even 'reasonable' individuals are being seduced by a mixture of real and perceived injustice to their 'homeland' or faith to commit unreasonable acts. On the other, this is dry tinder to the sparks of our own extremists (who wont settle until every 'raghead' is either dead or at least not on 'our' soil anymore).

I shant even mention the possibility that these are manufactured events, manipulated for the purposes of our own government, as that in itself is off-beam for the current situation.

I firmly believe now that the oft referred to New Crusade is starting to spool up and that in not too many years we shall have a conflagration of Christian vs Moslem violence that proves we learnt nothing from the two world wars the West inflicted on itself. There's a doomed inevitability about it and the crying shame is that most of those that will perish are no different than you or me in what they want out of life.

Ah well - I guess I'm still 'down' from reading the other thread about people stepping over a dying woman to carry on shopping. I'm sure come the sunlight of tomorrow I shant be so Doom-Laden .

 

[michaeledward]

Sukerkin, thank you for your thoughts.

I don't think that I need to 'reposition' my original thoughts. I thought I captured it right on. In fact, in the third post on this thread, I commented that my original post was not about the reaction of the Brits.

The point of my original post is that MY government over reacted with each threat before; and how will they over-react now?

As for Amatuer Night, it is an apt description.

I've been away, but I still don't think we have a clear explaination on several of the ascertions made throughout this thread. I am just back to where there is news, and things still not defined to me:


1 - How were the bomb plotters (I know 8 are now arrested) connected to al Qaeda?
2 - How much gasoline and how much propane was in these vehicles. Reports I have seen said 33 gallons of gasoline. Other reports say a total of 50 gallons of fuel. No reports on the size of the propane tanks in the vehicles. No reports on any testing of these devices.
3 - How the Glasgow incident connects to the London incidents. There seemed to be little connective, among them.
4 - What, if any, was the connection to the Gay Pride Parade?
5 - Where the registered owners of the Mercedes arrested?
6 - And lastly, only hinted at so far, is if these eight persons are involved with the British Health Care system, might there be something more to worry about than car bombs?

Thank you, again.

Got to go change my signature now ....

 

[Tez3]

ME, if you have a problem with your media not giving you the information you think you deserve, there's not a lot we can do about it. Why do you think you are due a clear explanation?

I have read some words almost mirroring yours, interestingly enough, in the Irish republican press if that's the correct word for what the provos still shove out.

You are quite right though about events over here not inpinging on your life, so why did you let it? Leave us to worry about OUR NHS and the terrorist threat, you worry about what ever you worry about, your government probably?

We don't let it make us fearful or cower in the corner, I think most people realise that.

Are you sure it is witches men fear and not women? A feminist would argue that point.

 

[Sukerkin]

Good questions there, Mike :tup:.

I can see that I shall have to dig into the reported news on this once again, especially as my curiosity is piqued by Question 4 above.

In a weird display of the Kevin Bacon Degrees of Seperation game, it seems that one of the criminals involved in this was the neurologist of a friend of my missus's sister {I think I got that chain right }; as you can imagine, her personal fear is somewhat in line with Question 6.