The Myth of Terrorist "Sophistication"

[abncougar]

http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=18818

[coverteye]

The busbomber was on the bus because on the day of the bombings the underground line North of Kings Cross was not running properly.

The other devices were carried to the South , east, and west of this location on a normal underground service. It is commonly thought that the busbomber was meant to go north. I would agree with that.

[JoaMei]

There are thousands of things they could have done to do more damage, the world should be lucky they are not very creative.

But its a strange way of thinking, they are eager to blow theselve up but not to cause the maximum damage and death toll.

[Mailman]

Good read that article.

Regards

Mailman

[Drunkensquid]

Interesting read

[xRx]

Sorry but whenh it comes down to it, getting on a bus/tube with a backpack isn't really that hard.

I gurantee you the IRA could kick the ass of Al Q if there was some kind of "com[petition"

[Flagg]

With all due respect to his experience, I don't agree with his assessment.

"Sophistication" is relative and potentially counterproductive.

Keep
It
Simple
Stupid

One doesn't need to be a Six Sigma expert to understand that the more sophisticated(which is synonomous with complex) a plan/operation/device/etc is, can exponetially increase opportunities for error and lead to operational failure.

Sophistication can actually be planned, engineered, and premeditated simplicity.

Why endanger losing your best and brightest personnel on high risk operations if personnel of lesser value or investment can be utilised?

An operation that requires high value/high skill individuals participating in operations will result in their loss or likely loss. Sustained losses of high value personnel is a guarantee of that organization's effective demise.

Just my amateur opinion.....

My initial impression as a TV news viewer was that I believed the bus bombing was intentional.

The tube bombing were catastrophic, but failed to provide an adequate mass media visual(it's hard to get film/video of the London Underground in the middle of a crime scene) that the bus bombing provided.

I assumed the bus bombing was intentional to attempt to create as much perceived damage in the media as caused by the actual explosives themselves.

[PigSnake]

With all due respect to his experience, I don't agree with his assessment.

"Sophistication" is relative and potentially counterproductive.

Keep
It
Simple
Stupid

One doesn't need to be a Six Sigma expert to understand that the more sophisticated(which is synonomous with complex) a plan/operation/device/etc is, can exponetially increase opportunities for error and lead to operational failure.

Sophistication can actually be planned, engineered, and premeditated simplicity.

Why endanger losing your best and brightest personnel on high risk operations if personnel of lesser value or investment can be utilised?

An operation that requires high value/high skill individuals participating in operations will result in their loss or likely loss. Sustained losses of high value personnel is a guarantee of that organization's effective demise.

Just my amateur opinion.....

My initial impression as a TV news viewer was that I believed the bus bombing was intentional.

The tube bombing were catastrophic, but failed to provide an adequate mass media visual(it's hard to get film/video of the London Underground in the middle of a crime scene) that the bus bombing provided.

I assumed the bus bombing was intentional to attempt to create as much perceived damage in the media as caused by the actual explosives themselves.

i tend to agree with you on the KISS paradigm, but the author was also challenging the media's portrayal of a highly sophisitcated enemy adn the consequent lack of hope that the west has as targets of their attacks.
But, on the other hand, equating low sophistication with a decline in terrorists' effectiveness or power sounds more like a morale boost and a delusion.
International Jihadi Terror, or whatever you want to call it, has always managed to surprise us with their tactics. I'm thinking 9-11 here....who would ever have thought such a thing possible? (i'm talking lay-persons here, not spymasters)

regarding the London bombings i still haven't made up my mind regarding the speculation on whether they were suicide bombers or not and whether the bus bombing was intentional:
although the idea that they may have been unaware that they were carrying out a suicide mission seems very plausible to me - they were young and essentially british IMHO, therefore the may have chicked-out - their backpacks were too big to be effectively hidden on the tube without causing suspicion.

regarding the bus bombing i tend to agree with you regarding the fact that it would have had much more resonance with the media since it was visible, the tube bombings would have generated many more casualties. The question here is whether it is more important for terrorists to achieve maximum media resonance rather than a high number of casualties.

[Argyll]

The London Bombers lacked sophistication..........they're very sophisticated in Iraq and AFG.....!!!

and as Flagg stated KISS..........nothing sophisticated needed!!