Did Abdulmutallab Want to Fail? Eh, No
The terrorist on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 did successfully sneak through both a functional detonator and a sufficient quantity of explosives. Put bluntly, Sullivan’s correspondent is wrong again. But his misunderstanding of the goals of terrorism, explosives technology, and security devices isn’t the most laughable part of the post; the claim that a “real” terrorist would have used the plane’s lavatory as the perfect location to detonate a bomb takes the cake:
If you wanted to blow up a plane, would you attempt it from your seat, where somebody could quite possibly stop you? No, you would go to the washroom where you could set off the bomb without disruption.
Abdulmutallab did not attempt to detonate his bomb in the washroom, even though he did go there to assemble it. He returned to his seat, 19A, for a very good reason.
If you look at the diagram of the Airbus A330-300 used by Northwest on Christmas Day, you’ll note that the lavatories available to him as a coach passenger are located behind row 27. While the 80-gram device he assembled could have caused significant damage to nearby passengers and perhaps blown a hole in the fuselage if detonated there, the restrooms are not in close enough proximity to any key structural elements of the plane to cause major damage. In addition, the lowered altitude and air pressure of the plane on final approach would mean that the chance of an explosive decompression would be lower.
If you look at that same diagram again, however, you might begin to understand why the successful detonation of his bomb could have very well sent the plane careening into Detroit as a fireball.
Seat 19A is located on the port (left) side of the Airbus A330-300, directly over the port wing and the partially depleted fuel tanks in that wing. As any firefighter or explosives expert will tell you, a nearly empty fuel tank is more likely to explode than a full tank because the “empty” space in the tank is actually filled with highly volatile gas fumes. A bomb detonating in that position could conceivably send burning shrapnel into that tank, detonating the fumes in a secondary explosion that would likely compromise the structural integrity of the entire port wing, bringing the plane down.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab bested airport security. He assembled a deadly bomb and brought it to a location of the plane where he had the best chance of causing catastrophic damage. Abdulmutallab covered himself with a blanket, and no one laid a finger on him as he did his part to set off the bomb.
It appears that the only reason the passengers didn’t face the explosive power of a PETN blast on Christmas Day is because the syringe of acid melted before it was able to cause the chemical reaction that would have set off the main charge. How close was it? Close enough that the PETN caught fire, but it didn’t have quite enough chemical energy to detonate.
Despite the widespread dissemination of this poppycock by a blogger perhaps best known for obsessive rants both reproductive and anti-Semitic, there is no substance to this claim. But don’t blame Andrew Sullivan.
He’s not endorsing the theory, just airing it.
If we all stop talking about Sullivan, he’ll disappear.
Did Andrew Sullivan actually intend to destroy his remaining credibility with that article, or simply scare his remaining readership?
When he’s busy crawling around Sarah Palin’s uterus, he’s busy entertaining every crazy, crack-pot conspiracy that passes by he and his team of sockpuppet bloggers. Andrew Sullivan is the Alex Jones of the Atlantic and it is an embarrassment to that one fine publication.
Hey, it’s this kind of garbage that gets him his TV and guest columnist gigs. It’s a living, I guess.
Just observing my dog scratching his head with his left hind leg, and despite the difficulty of the exercise, he appears pretty content with the result – Wottie, Andrew Sullivan is thy name from now on -
Yes I’m sure he deliberately set his genitals on fire with the intent to survive to be ridiculed for the rest of his life. You mean you’ve never been tempted to do that?
I thought that the goal of the bomb was to punch a big hole in the fuselage that would cause both decompression and secondary damage due to the wind acting on the hole. If it is your assertion that he needed to create a fuel-air explosion to down the aircraft then I think it follows that a small bomb cannot down an aircraft by itself and would imply that inerting the fuel tanks would be a useful method to defend against terrorism.
Either way, Sullivan is an idiot.
I agree with you assessment except for one thing. Terror is a strategy used just like that idiot blogger (hey broken cloak and all that) said, to cause psychological reaction. It is meant to instill fear, over-reaction etc.. into the enemy. Kinda like a sniper, who can’t kill an army but can sure seed major doubt/fear in it (not to mention hurt a key target). that army will be spending a lot of its energy hunting the sniper even though comparable damage that he can cause is minimal in a grand scheme of things.
Terrorists (i.e. people who employ Terror) have goals, and in this case the goal is our destructions. With the bleeding heart liberals being the first target, which I find amusing since they are the ones supporting the Terrorists the most.
The guy did succeed, perhaps not quite how he wanted it but non-the-less he did. We are going to be spending countless of dollars on a silly ideas (like can’t go to a bathroom crap), and people will be afraid.
Will it cause the kind of change that he wanted? No it will not, but it has weakened us.
Of course the reason we are over-reacting is because Obama and his ilk will not admit what is plainly in front of their faces, i.e. that we are at WAR. Until that happens, and we start doing sane thing, like profiling etc.. every attack that succeeds or fails will be a victory for the Terrorist.
Re: Headline.
“Prominent?” Didn’t you mean “psychotic?” Given that the incredibly shrinking Sullivan continues to attract a small audience to his politically correct freak show, to label him as “prominent” is to inflate his worth beyond reason.
Put this column up with Sullivan’s recent request for the UN to invade the Holy Land and tell me whether these are a) insane, b)ignorant, or c) both. I personally am through trashing this man because it is all he has left, a handful of detractors who bring a modicum of attention to him. Otherwise, he is nothing but an on-line Cindy Sheehan.
In order to fight terrorism, we must cause it, says Donald Rumsfeld.
According to a classified document prepared for Rumsfeld by his Defense Science Board, the new organization–the “Proactive, Preemptive Operations Group (P2OG)”–will carry out secret missions designed to “stimulate reactions” among terrorist groups, provoking them into committing violent acts which would then expose them to “counterattack” by U.S. forces.
In other words–and let’s say this plainly, clearly and soberly, so that no one can mistake the intention of Rumsfeld’s plan–the United States government is planning to use “cover and deception” and secret military operations to provoke murderous terrorist attacks on innocent people. Let’s say it again: Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, George W. Bush and the other members of the unelected regime in Washington plan to deliberately foment the murder of innocent people–your family, your friends, your lovers, you–in order to further their geopolitical ambitions.
For P2OG is not designed solely to flush out terrorists and bring them to justice–a laudable goal in itself, although the Rumsfeld way of combating terrorism by causing it is pure moral lunacy. (Or should we use the Regime’s own preferred terminology and just call it “evil”?) No, it seems the Pee-Twos have bigger fish to fry. Once they have sparked terrorists into action–by killing their family members? luring them with loot? fueling them with drugs? plying them with jihad propaganda? messing with their mamas? or with agents provocateurs, perhaps, who infiltrate groups then plan and direct the attacks themselves?–they can then take measures against the “states/sub-state actors accountable” for “harboring” the Rumsfeld-roused gangs. What kind of measures exactly? Well, the classified Pentagon program puts it this way: “Their sovereignty will be at risk.”
With all the terrorists in the news, perhaps America should send terror to Al-Qieda.
It is as follows: Whereever the Department of Defense know there is a terror group larger than say 20, we send a Battalion of Marines in Sea Stallions with face paint, light packs, and extra ammo. A Battalion rates a certain amount of support, so that goes too. Like Cobra gunships.
As the Marines are fanning out, and the Sea Stallions are departing, film is made of the moon god worshipers wetting their panties right before they are slaughtered. No prisoners please, just dead terrorists.
The film of such an action is played world wide on you tube as a lesson to all would be bombers for allah.
How do you know it would not work? I say we try it. At least, it would make me happy, and on Saturday night I could drink a nice bottle of wine to the screams of terrorists being sent to allah by the Marine Corp dating service.
Have a nice Marine Corp day.
RE #6/jvon:
[...] Yes I’m sure he deliberately set his genitals on fire with the intent to survive to be ridiculed for the rest of his life. You mean you’ve never been tempted to do that? [...]
On the other hand I can Sullivan thinking that “anyway, this is business – why people take it personal I don’t understand.”
I smell a sock puppet. Sullivan is cagey, if crazy.
koch: Dude you are tripping! You are the reason the left despite all its criminal endeavors and often psychotic behavior will never truly run the nation and O will be defeated.
You live in an alternate reality.
Nut droppings on aisle 10!
There’s another reason that this was probably an attack on the plane, with an intent to bring it down and kill lots of people–the fact that it didn’t work doesn’t necessarily have to be deliberate, and chances are pretty good that it was accidental. There’s an old rule of mine: never ascribe to malice or intentional behavior something that can be put down first to incompetence or accident.
As for kochevnik: yeah, the terrorists are only attacking us because Donald Rumsfeld manufactured them. No one on the left in any place of prominence (that I’m aware of) tries to make that one fly. Not even Obama or Biden, Pelosi or Reid. I’m not even sure one of the wack-jobs, Bernie Sanders or Sheila Jackson-Lee, whoever, would try and make that one fly. Rumsfeld’s been gone for five years, and a different party is running the government now. You really think the Pentagon is still following his directives, even assuming you’re quoting a genuine document, have left the context intact, and are interpreting it correctly (all of which I would consider highly questionable). And your comment has pretty much nothing to do with the article either, it’s just a distraction (which I suspect is the intent).
It is quite possible (in fact I think probable) that the people who regularly agree with Andy’s blog, and use their brains as seat cushions, were aware that due to inherent and overwhelming bias in place, there was no way they could actually get a modicum of sanity through the editorial process that would actually stick. The detritus would have been undetected.
Or as they say in South Jersey, Detroitus.
In fact, I don’t think that the purpose of any of Andy’s columns is to inform readers any longer, it is to attract the bat sh-t crazies. Isn’t that the purpose of writing bat sh-t crazy stuff in the first place? If it wasn’t, Andy would be writing things about Maureen Dowd’s uterus from his bathroom, instead of wasting valuable office space at the Atlantic.
10 kochevnik:thanks champ.your paranoid rant not only furnished me with a grin,but allowed me to reminisce on a not to distant past…when competent people were in charge.
ah memories.
kochevnik, you need to read that wikipedia article a little more closely, and not leap to conclusions about equivalence.
In general, when anyone, left, right, green, libertarian uses a phrase like “…let’s say this plainly, clearly and soberly, so that no one can mistake the intention…” 9 out of 10 times they have misunderstood their opponent and are making an exaggerated claim. Just a strong tendency, not an infallible rule, but it’s worth being alert for it in your reading.
“Andrew Sullivan airs a nonsensical theory”
The story pretty much begins and ends there.
well, besides those excellent points, i would say two other things.
First, we may call AQ a terrorist organization but i truly believe their real motivation is murder, not terror.
Second, do you think AQ is entirely happy with this guy’s success? the whole world is laughing at him, calling him the knickerbomber, the pantybomber, and the eunichbomber. maybe the laughter is not justified, but it suggests that AQ is not getting what it wanted out of this.
Isn’t Sullivan the guy who wants us to invade Israel, and thinks he can read Sarah Palin’s mind?
Man’s a loon.
Andrew Sullivan is a mentally-ill left-liberal who masqueraded for a time as a conservative. Genuine, sincere conservatives need know nothing else about him.
14@blotto
>You live in an alternate reality.
I’m glad you don’t let little pesky things like ‘facts’ bog down your “reality”, Blotto:
In order to fight terrorism, we must cause it, says Donald Rumsfeld.
Can someone please explain to me why Andrew Sullivan is important in any way? He has proven himself to be a complete idiot over and over again. I don’t think anyone listens to him anymore and most of the attention he is getting is from those who criticize him. He should be ignored. It is like complaining about Chris Matthews and then it is revealed he has less than 100,000 viewers. He is non-entity and has virtually no influence in the public discourse. The people that do listen and read what these morons have to say are hopeless dead-enders that are not worth convincing, the rest of us have better and more important issues to discuss.
Kochevnik: When has the left ever based any of their beliefs on “facts”. It’s all about “feelings”. Your earlier rant is just a bunch knuckleheaded conspiracy tripe. The “fact” that you believe it, doesn’t prove it to be “fact”.
Andrew Sullivan is a joke. He is SO yesterday, he will say stupider and stupider things just to get attention. Not unlike some young punks when we were growing up.May we please forget this boor?
Anyway, let us please focus on some real dangers …. like Hugo Chavez knowing that Obama is an imbicile and sending his F-16′s to escort American aircraft just to toy with him. Knowing, of course, that he will do nothing but say “let me make this perfectly clear …. this will not be tolerated …. mmmm mmmm mmmm.
Some people are over-thinking this a bit.
You have to see it from Andy’s perspective. He’s probably had more powerful explosive devices in his underwear than what the bomber was wearing. What Andy doesn’t realize is that it takes less explosives to blow up an airplane than it is to blow Andy, um, blow up Andy’s sex doll.
Beats defending the plummeting poll numbers and failed regimes of his heroes Arnold and Barrack.
Does he think we’re fighting the Joker? Nobody but a fictional villian gets themselves killed just to scare people.
Anyone know what a “binary” bomb is? You might want to read up on the subject. A mixed portion the size of a matchhead can blow up a human being in an instant. Enough can destroy a sizeable section of an airplane. The bomber had enough to destroy the plane, ignite the near empty fuel tank(s) and as described, send a fireball into Detroit. And, the materials for a “binary” bomb can easily be smuggled onto an airplane with an undetectable fuse or detonator. The “failed” bomber apparently was not given enough proper training. What they did prove was that somewhere in the near future, someone will be successful with a bomb of this type.
Ignorance by some is amazing and frightening. The idiot who wrote the piece for Sullivan fits right in to Sullivan’s fantasy world of leftism. The man was NEVER a conservative. Neither was Huffington.
Man, I thought the lefties were loopy when they were out of power, but as Kochevnik proves, they’re become even more deranged now that the One is in the WH. That’s the battiest load of BS I’ve seen in a while and just proves what desperate lengths they will go to to continue screaming “It’s Bush’s fault! It’s Rumsfeld’s fault! Look over, there! A squirrel!”
Kochevnik: Nobody believes you. Nobody cares what you and your pitiful ilk say anymore. (Some of us never did.) You’re mad as a hatter and profoundly uninteresting. Seek help.
donna v:they’re become even more deranged now that the One is in the WH”
of course.they project all their fervent fantasies on him and then he pimps them for cash,votes and legwork…all the while continuing the policies they despise(in some cases escalating them)and then lies about it…blatantly.
heh.it makes me smile.
the funniest thing is they will be back in full force come 2012 begging to be punked….again.
suckers.
I call the bomber the “Jackson’s Bomber”. He was grabbing his crotch a lot and had a wardrobe malfunction.
Forget Sullivan. He is nothing. But stop and think what Holder and Obama did after this event. They Mirandized him and put him in jail. And then the Mensa Brennan said that they would offer him a plea bargain to talk! This to a man that just burned his willy off! He thought he was going to blow himself up along with 290 innocent fellow fliers. But these idiots think that he will cop a plea? I say start with a surf board and work up to a water board and see what he has to say.
I agree with all but one point. Since WWII, many/most modern US planes have had collapsible fuel “bags” within their tanks which reduce, if not eliminate, the gas vapors which are so apt to explode. This is one of the reasons the Japanese Zero was such a deathtrap (besides its lack of armor) compared to US planes – it had rigid fuel tanks which would remain filled with vapor after the liquid fuel was expended. A bomb over the wing could very well bring the plane down, but most likely not because of the reason you suggest. Otherwise, you’re spot-on.
You know, for years, I’ve told high school students to “never let the words think for you”. It is a question of semantics. Some people are so dumb that they let the vocabulary frame reality. If we call it “terrorism” then all he wanted was “terror”.
I guess we have to call it “smoldering crater of twisted metal and body parts-ism” before some people will get a clue.
Don’t worry, the system worked. Which is why will now include Dutch tourists on all trans-Atlantic flights.
P.S. Inspector Rudy. Did he actually burn his genitals off? Was that somewhere in the news and I missed it? It would be a great poetic justice. 72 virgins and nothing he can do about it.
Minor quibble, the IRA wasn’t a terror group in 1916. They were more like a militia or paramilitary group. I don’t think they started with the bombing crap until the 70′s or so.
I see that the hall monitor didn’t appreciate my post yesterday. Either he didn’t catch Jomo Kenyata’s use of irony because he didn’t know who Kenyata was or their are some conservatives who are as humorless as the Air America crowd.
(Kenyata once said that Idi Amin proved the white man right about the African’s ability to govern himself…He was being sarcastic and cutting. I simply used Kenyata’s formulation to ridicule Sullivan.)
Contrary to what Mr. Owen says, Abdulmutallab did not have a functional detonator. PETN is a military grade explosive that requires a initiating explosive (detonator) to set it off. These detonators are very sensitive to shock and are usually carried in a container to prevent premature explosion from external shock. Instead, Abdulmutallab tried to explode his underwear bomb by injecting it with a liquid (supposedly nitroglycerin) resulting in a small explosion and fire. According to people who have used PETN, when you try to detonate it chemically (which is what Abdulmutallab did) all it does is burn; that’s what happened on Flight 253.
Now, whether the terrorists who organized this attack were away of this or not, is unknown at this time. if they did then they knew there would be no explosion, but remember terrorism does not necessary mean you have to kill someone, just scaring them is sufficient.
An incompetent terrorist wanna-be screwed up in his effort to blow up a plane or at least knock it out of the air over a heavily populated city. He instilled terror whether he succeeded or not. “THAT” was the goal. Success would have only precipitated dancing in the streets of nations harboring terrorists or who subscribe to the global Islamic Caliphate bunk. To say he did not want to succeed, is, is, is, moronic. That this jerk did not know what would happen w/ the materials he had w/ him, only exposes one truth. These clowns will try anything if they think they can get away w/ it. After all, even if they fail, they have instilled terror in the masses.
Do folks on the left actually think the only group terrorists are mad at are conservatives? Really? I mean, come on now folks!
Lets look at what the terrorists have said. They hate the promiscuous lifestyles of the west including women in business & running around half clothed. They hate homosexuals. They hate democracy. They hate our Constitution.
So, if one thinks about what all terrorists hate, it looks more like they hate the left in the west than conservatives. And if anyone thinks only conservatives caused terrorism, then they obviously are living in a basement w/ Mom paying the bills, as they play hand games looking at internet porn!
More about Sullivan -
“Dismissed marijuana charge raises judge’s ire/ US attorney gave blogger a reprieve/By Jonathan Saltzman/Globe Staff / September 12, 2009 –
Andrew M. Sullivan, the British author, editor, and political commentator, is one of the best-known figures in the new-media elite, and his blog, The Daily Dish, is among the most popular on the Web. But a federal judge says Sullivan did not deserve preferential treatment from prosecutors who dropped a marijuana possession charge after the journalist was recently caught smoking a joint on a federally owned beach on Cape Cod. [...]
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/09/12/dismissed_marijuana_charge_raises_judges_ire/
————————-* ———————–
Whatever Sully’s views on smoking marijuana are, he broke the law – yet the interesting thing here is that the break he got in this situation was designed exactly to PROTECT HIS NATURALIZATION APPLICATION STATUS/ PROCESS –
Smoking marijuana on a federal property is a midemeanor which would have heavily counted against Sullivan during the naturalization procedures (incidentaly, the place in cause is a gay cruising place, so Sullivan is actually lucky for not having been caught pants down like his British fellow & friend Michael George who was caught naked & at stand-by in the BH public restroom just across the BH police station) -
Why should Sullivan get the American citizenship?