Just because Bush is wrong doesn't mean...
... there are no terrorists. Yesterday's arrest of a bunch of Pakistani Brits by Scotland Yard vindicates the observations, a couple of years ago, of financial journalist Annie Jacobsen:
http://www.womenswallstreet.com/series/series.aspx?cid=9
Basically, Jacobsen wrote that she observed what seemed to be a dry run for a terrorist attack on a jetliner. She watched a bunch of Syrians behaving in a strange, coordinated fashion that looked as if they were reconnoitering an airplane with an eye toward blowing it up. Jacobsen wrote a series of columns about it, received a bit of media attention (including a spot on MSNBC's conservative "Scarborough Country" news/talk show), but was dismissed by most people, including Kafalas.com's liberal friends, as a paranoid, jittery weenie with a touch of racism. The group of Syrians on the plane were supposedly identified as a touring band on their way to a gig in Tucson or some such place.
Well, I'm here to tell you that yesterday's arrests were a vindication of what Jacobsen was saying. Not a vindication that the episode she witnessed was, necessarily, that of a group of terrorists scoping out a plane and trying out an attack procedure -- but a vindication of the assertion that such scoping-out missions have been going on.
Jacobsen's contention was that because of tightened security on airlines, it's tougher to get weapons or explosives on-board than it used to be and that as a result, terrorist groups have gotten smarter and decided to try bringing explosives on-board in the form of components, to be assembled into deadly form on-board by a team. The Russian jet that was blown up last year, and the plot that was revealed yesterday indicate that she was correct.
It may be that the Pakistanis arrested yesterday were not all that close to a successful attempt to blow 10 planes out of the sky, or whatever it was they were supposedly trying to do. If they were still experimenting with test tubes last week, that suggests that they probably didn't have the formula down just yet (and also that they're not as smart as we're giving them credit for being). Nonetheless, there was a threat there, and our friends at Scotland Yard dealt with it. This is a good thing.
Urb's Blog
http://www.womenswallstreet.com/series/series.aspx?cid=9
Basically, Jacobsen wrote that she observed what seemed to be a dry run for a terrorist attack on a jetliner. She watched a bunch of Syrians behaving in a strange, coordinated fashion that looked as if they were reconnoitering an airplane with an eye toward blowing it up. Jacobsen wrote a series of columns about it, received a bit of media attention (including a spot on MSNBC's conservative "Scarborough Country" news/talk show), but was dismissed by most people, including Kafalas.com's liberal friends, as a paranoid, jittery weenie with a touch of racism. The group of Syrians on the plane were supposedly identified as a touring band on their way to a gig in Tucson or some such place.
Well, I'm here to tell you that yesterday's arrests were a vindication of what Jacobsen was saying. Not a vindication that the episode she witnessed was, necessarily, that of a group of terrorists scoping out a plane and trying out an attack procedure -- but a vindication of the assertion that such scoping-out missions have been going on.
Jacobsen's contention was that because of tightened security on airlines, it's tougher to get weapons or explosives on-board than it used to be and that as a result, terrorist groups have gotten smarter and decided to try bringing explosives on-board in the form of components, to be assembled into deadly form on-board by a team. The Russian jet that was blown up last year, and the plot that was revealed yesterday indicate that she was correct.
It may be that the Pakistanis arrested yesterday were not all that close to a successful attempt to blow 10 planes out of the sky, or whatever it was they were supposedly trying to do. If they were still experimenting with test tubes last week, that suggests that they probably didn't have the formula down just yet (and also that they're not as smart as we're giving them credit for being). Nonetheless, there was a threat there, and our friends at Scotland Yard dealt with it. This is a good thing.
Urb's Blog
posted by Urbie at 7:44 AM
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