Would a combination of gasoline, propane cylinders, and nails even work as a bomb? Seems to me it would probably start a big fire rather than a true explosion. These guys appear to have minimal skills at best.
That's not the point of Terrorism.
Property damage is NOT what this is about.
The idea is fear.
They want you to be afraid of every SUV, every blade of grass.
Pretty much. Might create a nice ball of flame that would quickly dissipate. These are clearly homegrown terrorists that haven't got much of a clue of what they are doing. Thats a blessing right there but its being hyped up way too much.
In a way, I hope this was Al Quaeda- when you look at the ineptitude of these latest moves against the planning and training that went into 9/11, they're really going downhill.
But since they don't have the means to do that by sheer force of arms, they use terror as a force multiplier. Attacking an airport full of vacationing families accomplishes almost nothing militarily; but it does create a disproportionate level of fear among the general population. And that fear degrades morale, it makes negotiation harder and accomadation or capitulation more likely. It is absolutely about creating terror.They didn't say, "hey, let's be terrorists and scare people". They are using bombs and other such weapons which kill. Yes, the result is that people are scared, but that is not the primary intent of the attacks. The intent is to kill, maim, and otherwise destroy what has come to be known as "The West" - and they're not too particular about how that result is accomplished; whether it's through the slow erosion of rights, the destruction of the economy, or the infusion of their own people to the point of being able to take over. They're using any and every means that they've got access to to complete the 6th pillar of their faith.