TERRORIST MISSILES AND AIRLINERS: Jim Dunnigan reports:

Some 29 commercial aircraft have been shot down by such missiles. However, the downed aircraft have been small, and most of these tragedies have taken place in Africa. The wars in Africa are the worst on the planet, so violent that most journalists avoid them. For three decades, this has kept the use of portable missiles against civilian aircraft off the front page.

Poor Africa. Meanwhile, James Lileks has some thoughts on the subject, too.

UPDATE: Bruce Rolston says that Dunnigan’s wrong about the numbers of missile attacks in Africa.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Here’s a piece on low-tech threats from Ralph Kinney Bennett that’s worth reading.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: Here’s more from Mitch Berg.