LAPD Prepares for Suicide Bombers

[El Rojo]

gc70, don't mistake my hypotheticals as my personal feelings of how I would like to see this thing go down. I am just saying that should suicide bombings start, I believe it is most likely going to be Arabs and when a large segment of America comes to fear an imminient threat from Arab terrorists, the majority of America is going to say the hell with their civil rights and the majority of America is going to crack down hard on Arabs regardless of their status or loyalty. It is easy for liberal America to talk about rights and compassion until their lives or their children's lives are at stake and suddenly they are going to get less friendly and have less compassion and understanding.

Now if you really want to look objectively at your list of terrorists.

John Walker Lindh. Hardly a good example of a successful international terrorist. I would list him under the white boy turned Muslim that even Muslims didn't care too much for. And that is why I am not too worried about white Muslim terrorists. I dont' think the Arab Muslims will be trusting any whtie people much.

Jose Padilla. What was he tried and convicted of again? Oh. We don't know. The government won't tell us or him.

Richard Reid. Another less than successful terrorist. He killed exactly zero people.

Radical Black Muslims. What have they been up to lately? Killing themselves for Allah? No. They enjoy fighting whitey too much to be martyrs for their cause.

 

[gc70]

Okay, El Rojo, you caught me on my less-than-sterling list of home-grown terrorists. But Al-Qaeda has reportedly been trying to recruit from the native populations in a number of areas where the people do not look different from the average American.

I don't give Al-Qaeda credit for showing a huge amount of insight into fighting America. If they would recruit people who looked like average Americans, they could probably execute a lot of tactically successful suicide bombings in the US. However, Al-Qaeda will probably end up trying to use Arab suicide bombers in our country. Unfortunately, as you point out, that may be the more strategically successful approach. Arabs might not be tactically successful in exploding a lot of bombs where they intended, but they could still be strategically successful in causing Americans to turn against each other.

 

[Andrew Rothman]

"A great deal of disguises are used: pregnant women, police, military security uniforms, disguised as surfers, disguised as musicians wearing guitars," said Morten.

While profiling is typically discouraged in the U.S., police say recognizing nervousness or inconsistent characteristics could mean saving lives.

"We don't have a tradition of automatically profiling people in the street by the way they look, or the way they behave, but this is something that can be taught," said Dr. Ariel Cohen (search), a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation (search).

Cops don't profile on behavior? On what planet? They do (and should do) that ALL the time.

That "research fellow" fella needs to get out of the office and start watching street cops. The ability to detect "acting hinky" is a necessary skill in American policing, and from what I've seen, they do it well.

And why exactly does he think that cops should be taught to profile based on what someone looks like, right after acknowledging they can look like anyone?

If these are the experts, God save us!

 

[Cosmoline]

I'm sure that the terrorists have been trying to recruit homicide bombers. But it's exceedingly difficult to do in the US. There is no tradition of blowing yourself up to kill other people here, and there's no pool of jobless, dirt poor Arabs wanting to murder in the name of religion. Suicide bombers must be imported, and if they manage to get them here they aren't going to be wasted on some small time nightclub attack. They'll wait until they have enough and then try for another 9/11.

 

[Andrew Rothman]

They'll wait until they have enough and then try for another 9/11.

No, I'm pretty sure that's the one thing they won't try again.

We've locked that barn door fairly tight now that the horse has escaped, and they know now that passengers will fight them.

Unfortunately, that leaves 999,999 other ways they can terrorize us.

The only way to try and stop it is to institute a police state, and that ain't worth the cost.

 

[2nd Amendment]

OK, let me clarify a few things...

I don't think getting suicide bombers would be an easy task. OTOH in a nation of 300 million I believe you could find a few dozen. Just a matter of the right people coming together.

I don't see any value in profiling because the only thing these people will necessarily have in come is their religion. Race won't matter...probably.

I don't see the effect of a dozen or three suicide bombers being equatable to 9/11. On 9/11 the rest of America knew(assumed, anyway) that any more terrorist attacks would be aimed at other high-profile targets. Thus nobody had to worry about direct effects if they were't in any of several potentially likely areas.

Our government was caught with its' pants down and the response did indeed directly target our freedom, but in a generalized way that could be expanded later.

OK, on those last two: A dozen different attacks spread over a few weeks mostly in the heartland, even if the death toll isn't too high(and I'd have to say it appears easy to me for at least the first few bombers to take out huge numbers), would take it home to people. Would you let your daughters go to the mall? Would you want to go to that game? How do you now feel about being in the middle of that local crowded grocery store or the busy sidewalks of Gatlinburg?

Would you want to be one of those several thousand Sunday parishioners in the Crystal Cathedral?

I am convinced it would make a powerfully damaging dent in our economy and social patterns. We're talking the little cuts that get close to where people call home, instead of a huge event people only vaguely even relate to, and then largely in the abstract of "They hurt my country".

Now, what would our beloved government do? Profiling? Maybe. And are the nice officers going to want to have to sort the legal weapons carriers out from the potential bad guys(when everybody is a potential killer)? Nah, much easier to ban CCW's. And while we're at it, if we just banned everything above obvious hunting weapons it would make things A LOT more simple.

And of course the majority of Americans would go for it because CCW isn't an important issue to most. It's not even on the scope, for most. A smaller majority would love a limited gun ban. Especially a gun ban with such "good" justifications. And, of course, we've already got REAL ID and the PA and PAII coming, with people wanting internal checkpoints and such as well...

If the real purpose of terrorism, as we've been told and I do believe, is to alter our American way of life and if a major attack of a nuclear or biological nature is beyond them then this is the way to go.

 

[NeverAgain26]

What I find interesting is that only Suicide Bombers are being discussed here. Incidentally, I prefer the term Shaun Hannity uses, Homicide Bombers.

However, none of these Homicide Bombers are necessary to create a panic and cause damage. Car Bombs will do the job just as well. A car parked near where crowds congregate (in parks, at stadium entrances, movie crowds getting out, etc). A bunch of those would be a lot easier to stage than having enough people blow themselves up to cause great loss of life and mass panic. If I were any P.D., that's where I would put my resources to work.

Of course, car bombs are a lot easier to defend against, but as a lot of folk in this discussion have mentioned, getting enough bombers to blow themselves up here would be problematic, unless the borders are more porous than we know.

I would not venture a guess as to what would happen to the Arab populace in the U.S. if this stuff started happening. I am sure not all of them are in favor of this kind of stuff and I would hate to see innocent people, some of them good Americans suffer as a result of some of their bad apples.

Saul Levy

 

[geekWithA.45]

Incidentally...

The lack of pipe and other bombs going off on 9/11 was how I knew Al-Q had blown their wad and was finished.

Had they really had their act together, they'd simply light up a smallish bomb in a random place somewhere in America every 12-72 hours for weeks and months on end. Perhaps they'd take a break every couple of months, and send Chief Moose on a Merry Chase after a shoot and scoot sniper, who strikes a half a dozen times before retiring, uncaught, just to mix things up a bit.


Without a doubt, keeping their hands busy Over There so they'd be up to less mischief Over Here was, and continues to be, the Right Call.

 

[R.H. Lee]

heh. I couldn't tell a middleastern al queda member from an illegal Mexican until I heard them speak. It wouldn't suprise me to learn that the Mexican language is being taught in the madrassas.

 

[Aguila Blanca]

I haven't seen Bladerunner. Sure there is diversity here, but as soon as Arabs start blowing themselves up in the United States, every Arab will be under suspicion.

You don't get it, do you? It isn't "Arabs" we need to worry about, it's Muslim fanatics. Race/ethnicity has virtually nothing to do with it.

A friend of mine is married to a Turkish woman. She is (surprise!) Muslim. She looks western European, and the first time I met her I knew that she had an accent, but I pegged it as German. (Oops!) Almost all Turks are Muslim, and a great many have blond or light brown hair. They don't look "Arab" (possibly because they aren't?).

That U.S. Army sergeant who went on a tear a year or so ago, fragged a bunch of his comrades-in-arms and killed two field-grade officers? If I remember correctly, he was a black American. He was also a Muslim, and his stated motive/justification for his attack was that he was upset that his fellow soldiers were going to kill Muslims. A lot of American blacks are Muslims.

It is not news that this is coming, and any of you who choose to believe that it can't/won't happen here are dreaming.

 

[Pilgrim]

Oddly enough, I predict the opposite effect. If terrorists start attacking, more people will get CCWs, just like what happened during the carjacking days, etc.

Not in Los Angeles.

Pilgrim

 

[El Rojo]

You don't get it, do you? It isn't "Arabs" we need to worry about, it's Muslim fanatics. Race/ethnicity has virtually nothing to do with it. A friend of mine is married to a Turkish woman.

How many Turkish suicide bombers have there been lately? You see I get it. What I get is that there are some Arab Muslims that like to blow themselves up. What I don't get is why Turkish Muslims seem quite content not blowing themselves up. Or Nation of Islam blacks, why aren't they blowing up the white man left and right? Sure Indonesia has had its share of bombings, but they have decreased recently after tremendous pressure was brought down by the Indonesian government after the Bali bombing. We had one US soldier frag two of his officers and it turned out he was Muslim. Wow.

The sky is falling, the sky is falling.

If suicide bombing was as great as so many here seem to make it out to be, why not use it more? If it is this great terror weapon just waiting to be unleashed on the American public, why not use it? It will not work in America. That is why.

Car bombs? Sounds better. You can detonate those and still get away to fight another day. Just ask John Doe #2.

 

[Joejojoba111]

"It's not about the number of people that they kill, it's about inflicting terror. If the LAPD is preparing for suicide bombers, the terrorists have already won."

If the LAPD are preparing to institute the massive pervasive and invasive security measures that are required to counter suicidide bombers, the LAPD (and by proxy all other forces) has already won. If people are really going to be ok with what has to be done to prevent this threat, then the game is already over. It's not trading a little liberty for a little more security, it's trading all current notions of what it means to be in public.

 

[ravinraven]

Oh-oh!

"They'll just tell us to watch out for the quiet overworked single white guy that keeps to himself, and is probably a gun nut too."

Whew. Close one. Just re-read it. It says "overworked." That lets me off the hook.

rr

 

[Vernal45]

You don't get it, do you? It isn't "Arabs" we need to worry about, it's Muslim fanatics. Race/ethnicity has virtually nothing to do with it.

Last time I checked, read about recent bombings in other countries, you are right, Muslim Fanatics, that happen to be Arab or Persian. But you are right, it is Muslim Fanatics. Being Arab or Persian does not matter.

 

[Crosshair]

I have a friend who is Malaysian. He looks arab and has the head scarf thingie on his head (religious purposes). Remember those crap explosive detectors that every airport was buying after 9/11. Before they figured out that laundry detergent set them off he had to take a flight out of town. This is a two gate airport and his bag shows positive for TNT. They where about to tackle the poor guy. They searched his bags and everything but found nothing. (There was never anything there to begin with.) I don't think they use it anymore since they realise that it is a POS and doesn't work.

 

[Optical Serenity]

I have a lot of respect for everyone in the LAPD and LA Sheriff's Office. Keep up the good work guys.

 

[IZinterrogator]

It is the job of the police to be concerned about public safety. It is the job of the public to celebrate Independence Day. As long as one does not conflict with the other in a significant way (i.e. canceling fireworks displays to prevent large public gatherings), I say good job, LAPD. Being prepared doesn't mean that the terrorists have won, it means that someone is taking their job seriously and recognizing their duty to the public.

 

[Joejojoba111]

I think it's the perogative of the public to care about public safety. Period. If the public wants to vote on new measures for their safety, that's good too.

If the police desire to implement radical new policies, policies that are contrary to every notionc of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness, without any semblance of a nod to the democratic process, then those police are NOT working in the interests of the public. Simple as that, they're actually enemies of the democratic process, and hence enemies of the public, and thus enemies of the state.

What do you get when those that conspire to destroy a state are in control of it? Look around in 10 years, you'll see.

 

[GEM]

I've heard several presentations on this issue and folks are concerned that we will see small actions in the USA - like the DC snipe on a more organized basis or suicide bombers. I am surprised that if do have so many agents in the USA, we haven't seen such yet. As 2nd Amend points out, a few small actions with the right timing would paralyze the country. The DC area was certainly disrupted by the sniper.

As far as profiling, the Israelis go to extreme measures at their malls, etc. as they are on a more intense footing than we are, they have metal detectors, peripheral defenses and checkpoints, etc. The expense and manpower here to do that would be enormous and simply switch the bombers to other places.

I live in San Antonio, 65% of the population is Hispanic. I also know several people of Midle Eastern or South Asian origin. You cannot tell them apart. No profiling scheme based on some pseudo-ethnic appearance metric is possible.

Perhaps a better policy is to deal with the source of fundamentalist terror but as one professional prestation pointed out, as long as we want their oil and our government is run by folks who are incapable of dealing with this energy crisis, we will accept a reasonable amount of terror if the profit spreadsheet looks OK.

 

[Werewolf]

Why do people keep saying this?

Maybe if they had a huge plan with over a 100 bombers, sure. The only problem is coordinating such a large scale attack in a country on edge about terrorism and with a handy Patriot act at their disposal would probably be rather difficult without tipping your hand.

It ain't rocket science folks.

Even assuming there aren't 100 terrorists already placed in the US planning and coordinating a 100 suicide bomber attack is easy.

1. Get map of USA and 100 darts.
2. Throw darts. Write down name of nearest large town or city.
3. Pick 100 nutjobs who speak English fairly well and are willing to die in a bomb attack. They must be new volunteers and not currently on any governmental intelligence unit's radar - i.e new guys. Keep 'em seperate from each other and tell each he's the 1st guy who will be striking a blow for Islam against the great satan in the evil American's back yards - in other words none of them know of the others and each thinks he's alone.
4. Assign each to one of the named cities.
5. Over a period of 3 to 6 months smuggle them into the USA (does anyone really believe that can't be done? if you do there's some prize river crossing real estate in NY that I think would be perfect for you - AND I'll sell it at a fire sale price).
6. Tell 'em that once they get to their assigned city to maintain a low profile, stay off the phones and off the internet, pick a mall and at 2PM on mm/dd/yy be there and blow yourself up.

Living expenses for bombers: pre-set up credit card accounts.

The only possible gotcha is getting the explosives to make the bombs once the terrorists get here but I imagine that problem would be rather easily solved by an experienced organization like Al-Queda.

Would the FBI catch a few - I doubt it but they might. So what - each terrorist is unaware of the other's existence.

This is REAL LIFE not a Tom Clancy novel and neither the cops, the FBI, the CIA, the NSA or any other alphabet agency is 1/10th as good in real life as they are in the movies and books.

If Al-Queda wanted to kill Americans in Malls they could do it quite easily in my opinion. The fact that they haven't done it yet indicates to me that they won't. What would it accomplish? How would it achieve they're strategic goals. The bombers maybe moronic fanatics willing to die for the cause but the leaders are far from stupid and the actions they take it seems to me are taken for good reason with some goal (maybe unfathomable to us) in mind.

 

[R.H. Lee]

You make some good obervations, Werewolf. It could also be that the sponsoring nations (Iran, Syria…) understanding that American military power is right next door in Iraq, are doing everything in their power to prevent attacks on American soil, lest they pay the price.

 

[Master Blaster]

You Folks are amazing, Suicide bombers are easy to spot, and easy to defend against, Car bombs are easy to spot and defend against?????

Really?????? The Israelis who have had 20 years of practice and man numerous checkpoints inside their own country, with bombsniffing dogs, and who conduct detailed searches of folks everywhere cant do it 100%

And you think it will be easy here?????????

What did you all drink and smoke this weekend??????????

Its a miracle we haven't had them here, it would be easy for them to do this undetected.

How many malls yoou shop at search everyone who enters and have a bomb sniffing dog manning the security gate in the parking lot????

 

[buzz_knox]

Not to mention as soon as Arab men or women start blowing themselves up, what do you think this country is going to do to this minority group? We interned the Japanese in WWII and I think as soon as you have a few Arabs blow themselves up, there is going to be some serious civil rights violations against Arabs and the vast majority of this country will condone and/or support it

And those actions will lead to more violence, more hatred against the US, and thus more terrorist actions, more reprisals, etc. That same cycle of violence has been used successfully around the world throughout history to undermine nations. Remember that AQ does not care what happens to Arabs in the US or any other nation; the terrorists are concerned solely with sowing terror and undermining civilization.

 

[longeyes]

L.A. has a lot more obvious concerns than Muslim terrorists--not that it would matter to the new Mayor, who sees no difference between those who came here via Ellis Island and those who walk across the border in defiance of U.S. law. V'gosa doesn't care about Special Order 40 either. His priorities are bad schools and traffic congestion--now I wonder how those problems came about...?

The whole thing's a grim joke.

And the bigger joke is that V'gosa is being groomed by the leftwing elites for Bigger Things. Maybe VP on a Hillary ticket?