The Boston Herald July 01, 2007
Experts: Botched attacks often just warmup acts
By Jessica Van Sack
Experts differ over whether backers of three attempted terror attacks in the United Kingdom were feeble or formidable foes, but they do agree on this: Terrorist plots that don’t work usually precede those that do.
“We keep forgetting that in 1993 there was a first attack on the World Trade Center, the purpose of which was the same as 9/11,” said Jerry Cohen, an American Studies professor at Brandeis University.
Following Friday’s botched bombing attempts in central London, two men on Saturday drove a flaming Jeep Cherokee into Glasgow’s main airport terminal, one of them managing to set himself on fire, prompting an airport official to extinguish him. One airport bystander injured a leg.
“If they were guilty of anything, it certainly is stupidity,” said John Pike, director of the Virginia-based military research organization GlobalSecurity.org. “These are not ambitious attacks; they’re just not hard to do.”
Pike said recently foiled attacks in the United States, like the plot to attack Fort Dix, have been similarly unimpressive.
But Neil Livingstone, CEO of security consultant ExecutiveAction , called the United Kingdom attempts “a near-miss.”
“It’s very hard to make explosive devices work,” he said. “To get all the components to work the first time isn’t easy.”
Livingstone said the would-be terrorists in Glasgow did one thing right: “They’re getting smart about their selection of targets,” he said, referring to the secondary airport in Glasgow as more vulnerable than larger travel hubs.
At least one British official told the Associated Press that a loose organization of al-Qaeda wannabes was behind the three attacks. But their level of training was unclear.
“It looks as though they’re home-grown, having had no proper training in Afghanistan and probably got their information off the Internet,” British military analyst Maj. Charles Heyman told the Herald, calling the attackers “feeble.”
Heyman said the plot is believed to have involved “a lot” of people, far more than the five arrested by British officials as of last night.
Britain’s ability to scoop up suspects quickly is aided by its installation of one of the most sophisticated surveillance networks in the world, something that Cohen said might not be far off for the United States.
© Copyright 2007, Boston Herald
