Massive Terrorist Attack Blocked by British Authorities

[Megalomania]

Will you shut up Megalomania. I don't know where you are from, but I can tell you this- the issue being discussed is a serious and grave matter in Britain, so I don't take kindly to you turning this into another debate about Bush.

I was continuing one, I didn't spontaneously come up with that post.
Honestly, there was talking and critisism of the war, and Bush, and I was just replying to that :-/

Anyway. What we're all doing now could probably count as trolling.. just pointing that out so we might reach an agreement to stop before the topic is ruined.

Yeah to clarify I was in no way reffering to just Bush on that front.

Okay, I misunderstood that.

Also, mustard gas is nothing to fight a war over, dont be foolish. Every nation on earth has weaponry to the level of or surpassing the distructive power of mustard gas.

Seeing as though I'[m not supposed to be 'turning this into a debate about Bush', I don't think I'll answer that. :-/

Make your own thread for this. OK this isnt fox news, you can't get invited on the show to talk about Leberman losing or the Israel conflict and then shift it to your talking points about democrates wanting to "cut and run". It doesnt work that way, you wanna talk about that stuff feel free to make a new topic.

Refer to the above points, I didn't start it.
I'm not the guy on fox changing the topic to conflict,
I'm the guy writing about it in the paper the next day.

 

[Anonymous]

So that's what happened. I flew back the morning after this was discovered, only to find that all liquids (and apparently, chapstick and deoderant are liquids) were no longer allowed on planes. Also, they were hand searching all carry-ons at security and just before you boarded. Fortunately, this was happening everwhere, so all my connecting flights were late, too. >.< It made for a very long travel day, especially traveling with young children.

Also, let's just stay on topic, please. If you have something else that's not too related to this discussion, make a new thread. Particularly if it's a debate, that belongs in the Symposium.

 

[ryanwh]

You know, something worries me and as a lamen Im assuming this hasnt been an oversite but...
OK, you ban all liquids, right? So now they're putting more liquids on the plane. Wouldnt it be EASIER to poison passengers then? You'd only need to tap the main water source. And there are agents that react explosively with the acids in our stomach, a terrorist could poison the supply and turn people who drink from it into human bombs.
It may be out there, but "out there" is where the terrorists seem to be thinking, yes?

 

[Anonymous]

I don't see how there'd be more liquids, you still get beverage service on all flights, and nearly everyone gets something. All of that is canned or bottled, and, given that they were searching crew bags as well as passenger's, I'd say it's all probably tested, too, at least insofar as you can test an unopened beverage. There is no tap water on planes, they use hand sanitizer in the bathrooms.

 

[ryanwh]

Well I was thinking if they're banning bottled water it'd be pretty screwy to not offer a free source of liquid for people who dehydrate easily. And I dont see them giving bottled water away, so I guess this is based on a hypothetical water tank being installed.

 

[Anonymous]

You can get bottled water on a plane now, although they're only 8 oz bottles. But you can ask for more, if that's not enough, I suppose.

 

[ryanwh]

So does a shoe bomb, but guess what? Everyone's taking their shoes off now, arent they?

 

[BlackStaticWolf]

Wouldnt it be EASIER to poison passengers then? You'd only need to tap the main water source.

Nah. It's fairly easy to guard such water sources and prevent tampering, despite what movies would have you believe. There haven't been biological attacks on our (the "Western" world) water supplies for exactly that reason. The security measures already in place make it extremely difficult to execute such an attack successfully.

And there are agents that react explosively with the acids in our stomach, a terrorist could poison the supply and turn people who drink from it into human bombs.

The "explosive" reactions are insignificant in scope. It'd kill the victim, but it wouldn't really make them into bombs.

It may be out there, but "out there" is where the terrorists seem to be thinking, yes?

Interestingly enough... not really. Every attack they've perpetrated or attempted has been perfectly feasible... even relatively simple. The simpler the plan, the easier it is to execute. When it comes to invoking terror, actually succeeding at a simpler, even less destructive plan is more effective than failing to execute a more destructive plan.

 

[tensuke]

Hmm, my dad just flew back in from Alaska, but he was only late because he missed a flight.
And about the liquids, it would suck if you buy some expensive wine or something then you can't keep it...

 

[ryanwh]

typicall flaming, cheap shots

K, glad you find this all so amusing.

Interestingly enough... not really. Every attack they've perpetrated or attempted has been perfectly feasible... even relatively simple. The simpler the plan, the easier it is to execute. When it comes to invoking terror, actually succeeding at a simpler, even less destructive plan is more effective than failing to execute a more destructive plan.

Im not talking about logical assumptions for a smart terrorist, Im talking about what some are actually attempting. Making a bomb on the plane from individually harmless items, detonating with a trigger hidden in a phone, its all very indirect, nothing like walking up to a bus and blowing yourself up. To attack us, HERE, and really make a dent they have to think outside the box. Could the 3 terrorists just of boarded a bus and blown themselves up and killed almost the same number of people? Probably, and it'd be much easier since bus security is none-existant. But they want to make a single, larger impression, and less is not more if your goal is to blow up the things that have the most security to break your enemy's morale.

 

[Megalomania]

For god's sakes Megalomania. Just quit it.

XD XD XD

I just spat water all over my screen. *grabs a towel* :lol:
I think I'll just ignore that. :lol:

--------------------------

Anyway... banning all liquids is a good measure. A bit steep, but hey... whatever stops the threat..

But it lacks foresight.

If they're gunna ban liquids, they should hopefully figure out that terrorists may use powders and such.

Think about it... thermite... substances like that. Sure, thermite is indirect... and harder to detonate in a plane, but I know how to do stuff like that (not that I would).

Also, it's like.. 75 Aussie dollars for 10 kg of the stuff. It's pretty cheap.

And that's only thermite.. there are more dangerous, explosive, etc. powders that could take its place.

You can make a thermite bomb in a small container... anything that can stand 2500 degrees for 10 seconds (plus the lead up to that temperature) will do. Such as a flower pot.

Anyway, just more ideas that I shouldn't be giving away.

 

[Megalomania]

That would be an excellent plan if not for the bomb-sniffing dogs trained to detect many different varieties of explosives, including thermite and most powder-based explosives amongst other things. Not to mention the K9 units are generally intermixed with separate dogs that can detect a wide variety of chemicals, and the recent introduction of chemical-detection sensors in many airports (though still not very widespread, and in fact rather rare, though handheld versions for security personnel are in development and should be available very soon).

Oops. I forgot... o_o
My bad. :P

Hah... darn ':| :lol:

 

[Xilef]

I think we did pretty well to stop this attack, and I think it would be very hard to smuggle anything onto planes.
My step mother (I was staying with my dad for holidays) she was angry that the mothers have to try baby milk infront of the airport staff, and some mothers use those breast things that squeeze their milk into a bottle. Mega yuk. I would hate to be a parent of a baby going onto a plane right now, even if it is super safe.

 

[Megalomania]

Ever seen what happens to Thermite under an X-ray? Man, that'd be a blast (literally).

Wow, that would be cool. I've only seen it lit via fuse.

 

[Incognitus]

As someone frequently involved in trans-atlantic flights, this is really a concern to me.

We were at the airport ready to fly out two days before the big bust and my mother commented on how lax security had become... She actually said words to the effect of "It will take another attack like the World Trade Centre's and then security will go up again - and then dissolve".

I want to find out full details regarding the whole thing because to be honest the American media are c.r.a.p. Within moments of finding out that arrests had been made, I also learnt that how US air travel was going to be "inconvient" for a while, and also that I didn't worry that US oil prices would rise drastically. As to the actually ins and outs of the whole operation. Nada.

I'm looking on Wikipedia news - but has anyone got a list of all the full details somewhere? I only know the basics. I heard about the baby-bomb thing, and that was pretty shocking but US news didn't carry anything like that >:-|

I repeat: Don't need the skeleton of the story - I want the details. The tabloid stuff that I would have missed :D

 

[Xilef]

Over here in the UK, the news groups just go onto clips of American politisions acting like 2 year olds. Then they comment on wht cannot be brought onto a plane, then where the people live, adn that one was 17 years old.
I'll find you some full details.

 

[BlackStaticWolf]

Over here in the UK, the news groups just go onto clips of American politisions acting like 2 year olds.

Those aren't clips. That's the entire footage. :P

 

[Incognitus]

Over here in the UK, the news groups just go onto clips of American politisions acting like 2 year olds. Then they comment on wht cannot be brought onto a plane, then where the people live, adn that one was 17 years old.

Aye. What was most amusing was that within a week I'm sure it went from "British Authorities block Terrorist Attack" to "British and American Authorities block Terrorist Attack" :|