Word: bombe
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Much of the speculation during the last five years over how al-Qaeda might construct a sequel to 9/11 has centered on unconventional weapons: Could Bin Laden's men acquire a nuclear weapon, or even more easily, build a radioactive "dirty bomb"? Or might they seek to use poison gases or anthrax to kill thousands of Americans? But the plot revealed by British security services on Thursday suggests that al-Qaeda - prime suspects, according to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff - still sees plenty of mileage to be gained from using conventional explosives, which are far more accessible...
...Explosives remain a primary concern of those guarding U.S. flights. The several thousand U.S. Federal Air Marshals who fly on scores of domestic and international flights each day routinely search the aircraft's lavatories for bomb-making components - although the marshals tend to sit in only one section of the aircraft. Although these security agents are armed, and there are also now more armed pilots authorized to use deadly force to stop an attack than there are marshals in American skies, their weapons may be of no use against explosives...
...latest plot seems to have validated the assumption that terrorists would be more likely to try and confound airport security measures by smuggling a bomb on board in pieces and assembling it in mid-flight. The particularly devious innovation of the London plotters was their alleged use of liquid explosives or explosive components, which are easily concealed in many of the items found in most travelers' hand luggage - perfume, hair gel, deodorant, medicines, drinks, toothpaste, lotions, and so on - and are extremely difficult to detect. Metal detectors will obviously miss them. While there have been some "puffer" explosive-detection machines...
...before he had gone to trial, and it did so by playing off the language of racial stereotype. Hajj's manipulations are gratuitous and almost pointless: whichever side you take in the war, the devastation in Lebanon and Israel is real and well-documented, faked photos or not. A bomb leaves you just as dead, however dark a cloud it kicks up over your remains...
...every time a straight-news journalist alters a fact - even something as picayune as the color of a bomb blast or the number of flares fired from a plane - it convinces people that the media must lie about big things as well. All facts become suspect, all information becomes relative, and you might as well believe whatever your gut tells you, because the news is invariably driven by its own bias, which is, invariably, against you. We become a nation of Stephen Colberts, believing that facts are sketchy and overrated and should never be allowed...