At 01:37 PM 03/19/2003 -0500, Tyler Durden wrote:But as it the only terrorist attack (from non-US citizens, that is), was on 9/11/01. Were there ANY others?
Sure. Besides the earlier truck-bombing of the WTC,
there were Waco and Ruby Ridge. (Or do you only count terrorism if it's
done by enemies of the state?)
WTC #1 was a critical example. Yeah, it semi-fizzled and did limited damage, but mainly because of luck. I'm not a building engineer, but those who are have said that had the van filled with high explosives parked where the van owners had planned to park it, it probably would have toppled the tower into the other tower and then both would have toppled. With no chance for evacuation, and with a one-fifth of a mile high building toppling sideways, fatalities might have reached 30,000 or more.
Also:
-- the attempted simultaneous bombing of a bunch of American airliners, mostly flying between the Far East and the West Coast. (This was thwarted, but was actively planned and might have happened. Anyone saying "Were there ANY others?" must count this as a credible attempt. Apparently the plan even back then, mid-90s, was to fly a hijacked plane into a target.)
-- the truck bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon in 1983...about 300 Marines killed. ("Tyler Durden" will probably claim that this was not on U.S. soil, but it's a distinction without a difference.)
-- the Gander, Newfoundland mid-air explosion of an aircraft carrying U.S. troops ( Arrow Air, DC-8).
Much evidence of connections with U.S. troops having been in the Mideast beforehand, Islamic Jihad claiming credit, and other cases where explosives and detcord were found on troop transports. Cf. this site for details:
<http://www.sandford.org/gandercrash/investigations/minority_report/ html/_5.shtml>
-- Kobar Towers in Saudi Arabia. "U.S.S. Cole" attack. Etc. (It is unclear to me from the section Bill quoted whether "Tyler Durden" was referring to terrorist attacks in general or only those on U.S. soil. If he meant to exclude European, Canadian, Far Easternor Middle Eastern attacks
-- the arrest of the guy at the U.S. border near Vancouver with explosives in his trunk, supposed to use during the Millennium celebrations in L.A.
And so on.
Tim talked about people driving gasoline trucks into malls. A couple of years ago, somebody drove one into the California state capitol building and got killed; the early reports suggest that he was a parolee with a grudge against the governor.
And he also did it at night. And he drove into a doorway, but bounced off a couple of walls. Compared to the average shopping mall with a "glass curtain" entrance, the California State Capitol Building is a "hard target."
(BTW, many office buildings are already somewhat hardened against vans loaded with gasoline or explosives. For example, Intel's main building in Santa Clara, the Robert Noyce Building, has extensive barrier blocking a suicide bomber from getting through the glass curtain wall...though there are other places a van or truck could get through.)
A movie which I recommend for various reasons is "Arlington Road." It's about vengeance, about truck bombs, about conspiracies. Tim Robbins and Jeff Bridges star. It was held back because of one of the terrorist events which that other actor, Tyler Durden, tells us don't happen here in America. And the movie has not been widely publicized. But I recommend it, despite a few flaws. It has a climax which put a huge grin on my face. Short of filming Clancy's "Debt of Honor," with its Sato Solution, this is a pretty good substitute. Those who have seen "Arlington Road" will know what I am talking about. Please, don't give anything away here.
Tim also commented on the traffic issues of commuting into DC from the burbs.
The Washington Metro takes care of that problem very well;
it can get crowded, but it sure beats the Beltway and it has its own parking downtown.
And it's high up on the list of soft targets, though the Pentagon Metro station
is probably at higher risk than the downtown stations (2600 kiddies take note :-)
Yes, they build all of this after I left. I guess the main construction was in the 70s. I rode it once or twice when I visited D.C. in 1991.
Two of the outlying stops are near my old high school and near where I used to live. A stop at the Springfield Mall, a couple of miles from high school, Edison, and a stop out on Telegraph Road, not far from where I actually lived. (I later learned that the "Coast Guard Station" out next to where I lived was actually a SIGINT facility and that a small government Army station was actually the first office of the National Reconnaissance Office, the NRO. And earlier I went to Langley High School, just over the fence and through some woods from the CIA headquarters.
I think if I had to work in D.C. I'd probably live somewhere down around Pohick or Woodbridge and then drive up to the Metro station. Or out west near Leesburg.
(My cousin lives in Fredericksburg and carpools each day up to Arlington...he gets up at 5 a.m.!)
--Tim May, Occupied America
"They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin, 1759.
