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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (340248)	12/28/2009 6:13:22 AM
From: unclewest	3 Recommendations Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 793986

uw, can you understand from the reports how the underware bomber was trying to detonate the charge, and why he failed? It seems from what I can make out that if it had gone off as planned, the plane would have blown up before anybody had a chance to react. Insufficient info has been made public to determine why he failed to create an explosion. It does seem he created a deflagration which is one step below a detonation. For several reasons, I do not believe the aircraft would have gone down even if he had succeeded in creating a detonation. It was reported that he had 80 grams of explosive. That is less than 3 ounces. Is that enough to take out an airliner? I'm quite certain the answer is yes, but for such a small quantity, charge placement would be critical. I gather from reports I've read that this charge was not placed in a flight critical location. Not even close. As I understand it, this 80 grams was still between his legs when he attempted to fire it off. Explosives exert equal shock waves in all directions. His legs and groin would absorb some, his upper torso and ceiling some more, and his seat and flooring still more. If he was not next to a window, other bodies would help absorb more of the shock wave. In such a situation it is quite possible, even likely, the shock wave would not have blown out a window. IMO this looks more like a planned suicide bomber attempt than a genuine aircraft take down mission. He may have taken out a few passengers close to him. The large quantity of blood and some body parts would have freaked out a lot of folks. But I don't think the small quantity of explosives coupled with very poor charge placement would have taken the aircraft down. On the other hand, if this was really a suicide bomber mission on board an aircraft, the charge placement was excellent. The deed gives me pause to think about this. Our enemies are alive and well. Suicide bombers are willing to do their deeds in the US. Their mission planners are looking for maximum publicity while simultaneously inflicting major economic damage. It ain't over. I doubt our enemies see the failed detonation as complete mission failure. Based on the amount of publicity generated, the fear factor increase among flyers, as well as the increase in airline security, the leaders of this OP probably consider it a significant partial success, rather than an outright failure. Because the more folks we devote to airline security, the more exposed we are everywhere else.