If Al Qaeda really wanted to mess with us...

[suzzer99]

At one time it used to be a pretty controversial theory that Al Qaeda was leaving us alone on our own turf on purpose. I think by now you pretty much have to accept it as nothing has happened since 9/11 and possibly the anthrax scare. But signs seem to point to someone domestic on that.

I don't agree with the handling of the war in Iraq or the decision to invade. But I do worry that one of the administrations central tenets about needing to "fight an away game" will come true once we are out of Iraq. At that time I'm a little nervous Al Qaeda and other related groups might start focusing their efforts inside our borders or on our interests outside Iraq/Afghanistan.

Furthermore, I feel fairly safe that no one from Al Qaeda is going to get a brainstorm from this particular forum. So I thought it might be interesting/terrifying to think about the stuff they could be doing to us right now:

1) Forest fires in the west. These billion $ blazes are always being started by accident or by some local yahoo. Imagine what kind of damage a dedicated team could do.

2) DC-style sniper attacks. Again look at what those two losers were able to accomplish with a high-powered rifle and a car. I'm thinking of LA, where everyone is outside all the time. All it would take is to knock-off a few random people scattered around the metro area - including maybe a few kids at soccer games - to really bring down the quality of life for 12 million people. Many people will take the risks of getting shot themselves, but be reluctant to take even a ghost of a chance with their kids' lives. The key would be to make it clear kids aren't safe AND the whole metro area is at risk.

3) Dirty nukes. This has been discussed a lot, and I'm no expert on the subject. But I did have an interesting discussion with a guy who works at Los Alamos in NM about the feasibilty of a dirty nuke. He listed 5 incredibly simple ways you could basically make a 10-square block section of Manhattan uninhabitable. Some including off the shelf products. I won't go into any more detail on that.

Anyway, if this thread is dangerous somehow please delete it. But I feel relatively safe that from this forum we're not going to give anyone any ideas that they haven't already thought of, or I wouldn't post it.

BUT OBVIOUSLY NO FORMULAS OR SPECIFICS PLEASE!

[WLVRYN]

I have always thought that doing some small scale attacks in middle America would freak many people out: Blow up a mall in Iowa. Set fire to a movie theater in Michigan. Blow up a bus in Ohio. Attack a school anywhere. Just a bunch of little attacks in areas where people think they are safe (outside or in the suburbs of major cities). It also seems these would be easier to set off and less likely for law enforecement to foil with fewer people involved.

[goofball]

Well, like on 24 random suicide bombings. The reality is I don't think it would take much. This country has a culture of fear propagated by the media and sometimes the politicians.

I mean, how much fearmongering has been able to happen thanks to one incident that resulted in 5k deaths more then 5 years ago.

Also, I dunno how hard it would be to contaminate water supply but the resovoirs I've seen aren't guarded.

[NLSoldier]

Yikes i think this is an interesting topic but i dont wanna touch it.

[daryn]

the best thing they could do is just infect a ton of martyrs with smallpox and just put them on planes and fly them all over the country

[milliondollaz]

How hard is it to get a rocket launcher, you know, one of those shoulder mounted surface to air missiles? 60 minutes and BS like that tell me you just need to find the black market (locations everywhere!) in Russia and you're golden.

But I would guess that it would be possible to buy some in Mexico, and drive them back. Maybe live down there for a couple years, get involved with the Marijuana trade, go to Amazon and buy all the networking books you can, and put them into practice! Can't be too long till you find someone with weapons.

I see planes land all the time, and there are TONS of businesses, warehouses, and roads located by major runways.

I have also seen Air Force One land close up, but that's getting on the edge. (is it wrong that i'm scared of the government enough to not type more out about that??)

This is purely in theory, but I would probably mail a bunch of packages full of messages to all the major newspapers BEFORE any attacks, so they would be postmarked and have validity, but scheduled to arrive AFTER they have happened.

I would probably claim Israel, and the fundamentalist Jewish sect that is tired of "Christian Americans" trying to influence the world. Then we really all WOULD start to hate each other, PLUS Israel has nuclear weapons! BEAT!

Our society is soo vulnerable, that a bunch of really smart people could really do a lot.

[traz]

I think there's something to be said for the possibility that many terrorists really don't want mass hysteria. With enough people willing to sacrifice themselves, terrorists could obviously do all kinds of damage, but it's my thinking that it doesn't really serve a purpose for them.

What fuels terrorism? What causes it? A large part of it is a feeling of being disrespected and poorly treated, due to foreign policy etc. I think the acts of violence we see are the results of being pushed to the brink and simply not knowing how else to react. That's why they lash out occassionally. They don't want to decimate America, they want to just prove that they are not to be kicked around.

At least, that's what I think. I don't think terrorists are as "I WANT ALL AMERICANS TO DIE FOR THE SAKE OF IT" as things are being portrayed. Because as already outlined, it'd be relatively easy to kill mass amounts of Americans, and they don't seem to be trying all that hard.

[jgorham]

Smallpox is really hard to come by, luckily.

[ojc02]

[ QUOTE ]
If Al Qaeda really wanted to mess with us...

[/ QUOTE ]

They'd make aqua teen hunger force Mooninite LED art that actually are bombs.

[flatline]

They could get a water balloon launcher or something similar, some grenades, and lob a bunch of them into a big football stadium during a nationally televised game.

The attack middle america plan would also be really successful and easy. Shoot up/ blow up a few elementary schools and it would cause a decade of panic.