, 2 min read
The Scare Effect
Stephen cites Gwynne Dyer on these new scary terrorists who use liquid explosives:
Maybe it’s cynical, but there are strong grounds for suspecting that this is all a charade. If they infiltrated these terrorist cells many months ago and now have arrested most of the members, then why would they institute drastic new security measures on flights at this point? And did they really only realize in the last few days that explosives come in liquid form as well?
I’ve known since I was a kid and I was watching western movies that there are super-powerful liquid explosives. Putting those in bottles and getting in a plane is not exactly rocket science. Either we have been assuming that terrorists (Muslim or otherwise) are stupid people, or else, our governments think we are fools. They had to know, for years and years, that terrorists could use liquid explosives. Aren’t our governments supposed to anticipate threats?
If you infiltrate a terrorist cell and find out they are clever and have good tricks to blow up airplanes, why would you make this public? Surely, you want to tell other governments, but why the big media outburst with all the juicy details on how you can fit enough explosive in a toothpaste tube to blow up a plane? Wouldn’t it be a better strategy to just arrest these guys, go to court and put them in jail? Aren’t you just helping to promote terrorists by turning the public light on young fools? Whether the airplanes have been blown up or not, these guys have won by showing that you can have a huge worldwide impact just by plotting such a scheme. The proponents of the war on terror have also won by heating up the security issue once more.
Clearly, this is all part of a public relation scheme.
I hear some guys in the USA got arrested for having too many cellular phones (and being muslims didn’t help). Yes, you can blow up planes using cellular phones as detonators. Yes, muslims own cellular phones. Where are we getting at?
It looks like we are building a case against Islam. That’s what it looks like. Yes, I want terrorists arrested efficiently. Yes, I want sane security measures taken. But, no, I do not want a war on Islam. Sometimes, there are wars you cannot win. (I’m an atheist.)