Nine months ago Eli Lake wrote about testimony given to the House Homeland Security Committee in which Lt. Gen. Michael Barbero, head of the military’s Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, said IED’s common in Afghanistan and Iraq were on their way to our shores.
Yesterday may be evidence that the testimony given was correct: (h/t Mark Levin)
In Iraq and Afghanistan, homemade, low-tech bombs, often hidden along roadsides, have been some of the deadliest threats to United States soldiers. In Afghanistan alone, these improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, were responsible for 1,290 of the 2,477 U.S. and coalition casualties since 2001, according to iCasualties.org, which tracks troop deaths.
Now, IEDs could be coming to U.S. shores.
According to Lt. Gen. Michael Barbero, head of the military’s Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, some of the same terrorists who amassed the know-how on building IEDs are setting their sights on the U.S.
“Today’s IEDs are relatively simple, low-tech devices, which routinely use command wire, pressure plates, or radio-controlled triggers,” Barbero wrote in written testimony released Thursday ahead of a closed hearing of a subcommittee of the House Homeland Security Committee. “Many readily available components such as cellphones, agricultural fertilizers and simple electronic transmitters and receivers have legitimate commercial uses, but are easily and increasingly adapted for illicit purposes in manufacturing IEDs.”
Barbero cited the case of an Iraqi named Waad Ramadan Alwan who moved to Kentucky in 2009 after winning a visa as a political refugee. According to a December 16, 2011, plea agreement, Alwan was an Iraqi insurgent working between 2003 and 2006 to plant IEDs on roads traveled by U.S. troops. In 2010, in Bowling Green, Ken., Alwan began to train another man in how to make them, making diagrams of the bombs and giving oral instructions on how to assemble the devices, according to the document.
Eli Lake today:
A key component of the bombs used yesterday in the attacks on the Boston Marathon resemble the kind of homemade bomb al Qaeda has encouraged English-speaking terrorists to use.
The Daily Beast has confirmed with U.S. counter-terrorism officials that the bombs placed Monday at the marathon were made from pressure cookers, a crude kind of explosive favored by insurgents in Pakistan and Afghanistan. A recipe for a bomb that uses the pressure cooker was part of the debut issue of Inspire, the English-language online magazine of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
While the pressure cooker component is far from definitive proof that Monday’s attack was committed associates of al Qaeda, experts inside and outside of the government say it is nonetheless an important lead for investigators.
“The fact that the pressure cooker was used is a curious and suspicious detail which I have no doubt this will lead investigators to look at whether this was inspired, or motivated by an al Qaeda affiliate,” said Evan Kohlmann, senior partner at Flashpoint Global Partners, a New York based security firm. An article in the summer, 2010 issue of Inspire magazine called “Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom,” describes the pressurized cooker as the most effective method for bomb-making. “Glue the shrapnel to the inside of the pressurized cooker then fill in the cooker with the inflammable material,” the article instructs.
If these things are indeed that easy to make intelligence is going to be that much more important to stop these kind of attacks before they happen. Of course we’ve seen how important intelligence gathering is to the Obama administration…..yeeeeeah.
Dangerous times ahead.
Meanwhile Obama asks why:
“We still do not know who did this or why,” he said from the Brady Press Briefing Room, cautioning people against jumping to conclusions. “But make no mistake, we will get to the bottom of this, and we will find out who did this, we’ll find out why they did this.”
You know what….I could give a flying f*** why. For those assigned to find out who was behind this attack I can understand why they want to know the “why,” but I don’t recall Bush saying we needed to find out “why” they flew those planes into our towers. No, he said we will find you and we will destroy you.
But our President says its important to understand why these terrorists, whether domestic or foreign, feel the need to attack us.
Give me a break.
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So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss.
If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose.
If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.
– Sun Tzu
One thing we do know already: whoever did this, should he get all of the ”justice” Obama promises will, at most, be behind bars for life.
If he turns out to be a crazy lone wolf he might be put in a mental hospital.
But under no circumstances will he be put to death.
That’s Mass.
@Tom: Pretty hard to get to know your enemy when your commander-in-chief orders them killed by drone before anyone has a chance to talk to them…
So Curt’s response is pretty accurate.
@Scott in Oklahoma:
Accurate how? You’re telling me Obama is killing all the terrorists before we can talk to them, meanwhile Curt is complaining that Obama is not “destroying” terrorists fast enough, no-questions-asked. Thinking Obama is wrong for opposite reasons is not agreeing.
@Tom: Sun TZU didn’t say anything about the why. He said know your enemy. That means understand the strategies, the organization and doctrine. When you kill all of the leaders without interrogation, you will never know your enemy except by their actions and that will be too late. One thing we know about our enemy is they respect strength and exploit weakness. Continuously trying to pacify the radical Moslems is considered weakness by them and emboldens them. If the Democrats who voted for the war would have continued their support instead of bailing to position themselves for the next election, our effort would have been viewed as a position of strength and would have made the radicals think before they acted. Kaddafi even moved away from the radical side when President Bush started the retaliatory war against the Islamic terrorists. and the countries that supported and harbored them. Tom, you need to read more than romance novels in your spare time. They are full of the why!
Sun Tsu’s admonition to ”know your enemy,” in never helped by pretending our enemy does not exist, a la Obama’s never-say-Islam policy.
This particular bombing in Boston (and the ricin to an elected official) might not be the work of Islamic terrorists, but how often do we see people who romanticize Islam as if it is all about spiced chicken and hummus.
Only vast ignorance of how Islam produces jihadis* can explain this elitist romanticism.
*Learn the difference between Fard Ayn and Fard Kifaya.
TOM
why the need to know this enemy,
you just have to find them and kill them,
if the MILITARY in AFGHANISTAN would have had their way, this war would be behind us far behind,
but OBAMA want to know the ENEMY and then he try to make a deal and restrain the MILITARY
because he feel sorry for the ENEMY, the more he know the more he treat them as human,
which they ain’t
they are scum of the EARTH to be exterminated,
and damn who prevented that extermination , he is responsible for those deaths and injury
from the first day he took his assignment as commander,
this place was to be level and the soldiers to be back victorious, that is a plan of end of WAR,
nevermind KARZEI interference making deal with OBAMA and discrediting the VALIANT military,
changing the rules of WAR to protect CIVILIANS who serve the ENEMIES under cover,
hell their WIVES CHILDREN are in the games for money which the TALIBAN and ALQAEDA
have lots of in an international multi businesses from drugs and anything dirty and corrupt,
they travel easy they have access to all their communication,
they collect from anyone who work for them in a global
scope,
yes the GENERAL is right, they can come in from borders
wide open, money is their open door from all four sides of the USA, and OBAMA set them free, for not being dangerous,
or is it that they send him money to win his ELECTION,
of course you will never know, and you continue to cover him,
because you’re a dam ignorant,
1290 casualtys from IED 2477 from other,those braves died
they where AMERICANS,
we can’t afford anymore deaths and mutilations of THE BRAVEST this NATION is getting weaken by those lost.
and OBAMA want to take our guns in this UNSECURE MORE AND MORE AMERICA, dam you.
@Randy:
How is knowing why an enemy does something, their motivation, not important information? Please enlighten me.
And what does that that have to do with this situation? I am aware of no credible evidence that “radical Moslems” were the perpetrators. Are you?
@Nan G:
It’s interesting you make that qualification now, Nan, when less than three hours after the bombing on Monday you were already shouting about Saudi nationals and this alleged favoritism you see toward Muslims everywhere. But listen, I would never tell a person like you to let facts get in the way of habitual conspiratorial rantings against an entire religion. That would truly be pointless.
@Nan G:
obama will do the same as he did with major hassad who killed 13 soldiers and injured 33 – call it workplace violence. ‘funny’ how obama would gladly take out a US citizen with a drone, but will bring a terrorist to trial – and drag it on for years, just like with the Ft. Hood shooting.
Enchanted
hi, that’s a very good point, a new one
and very true,
bye
Some TV station sent department store CCTV footage to the FBI and CNN got the breaking news: they have a potential breakthrough in this investigation.
Apparently someone was caught on store CCTV approaching the site, leaving the package and leaving the site.
The face of the suspect is clear enough for ID’ing.
It is not unusual for a store CCTV camera to focus on right outside a store exit as part of their chain of evidence when arresting a shoplifter.
Perhaps this will not drag out for years.
@Tom: Read the book Tom, then maybe you will understand. Maybe!
@Tom: By the way Tom, with all of your superior knowledge of Sun Tzu, you may want to share it with the US Army War College. This should get you there: usarmy.carlisle.awc.mbx.atwc-cpa@mail.mil I am sure your intrepretations of Sun Tzu and hie philosophy of war will be most enlightening to the military instructors!
@Randy:
Well, hopefully I don’t understand it as well as you do.
Nice strawman. Not that I expected a direct answer, but this is pretty sad. So you’re telling me the US Army War College would endorse your concept that ignorance about an enemies’ motives is superior to knowledge regarding them? I guess I don’t know much about this stuff.
@Tom: No Tom, they teach it! Sun Tzu is part of our military education along with
Clausewitz: Principles of War. Been there, done that!
I’m with Curt on this. Speaking on a personal level (as Curt was), I don’t care why the bomber did this. And I have no interest in any attempt to blame my nation’s supposed past actions for the evil acts of today.
If it was my responsibility to find the bomber or to prevent future attacks, I would certainly want to know as much as possible about the bomber, including the “why”, as knowing that will help predict their future actions.
But that’s not my responsibility, so I, personally, don’t care why. I just want them properly dealt with.
The first thing that I noticed in the bombing videos was how many people ran towards the explosions.
One evil man… many more good people… Yeah, we’re in pretty good shape.
CURT
TEXAS IS IN FIRE
my GOD, we better start to pray,and ask HIM to take away the ANATHEMA from AMERICA
100 injured and a number unkown dead,
explosion
YES the GENERAL BARBERO, is right on the dot, he said it
and now the conclusion is showing exactly what he predict, and they where here
to do exactly that, kill as many as they can, they choose the time all planned,
while they where treated in free education free revenues, access to everything AMERICAN,
with weak minds ready to sell their souls to ALQAEDA style terrorist organisation,
they even convince other like a girlfriend to their religion,
they come in AMERICA to kill AMERICA and they are help by the WHITE HOUSE,
now there is an ARAB LEAGUE active in politic ,
they have shown they have a voice in the DEMOCRAT CONVENTION, when ask if they
want GOD out of the discussion, they where loud and clear, It did remind me of the denial of PETER
because they where ask 3 times, and got louder,
now they have establish they feel solid enough to impose on the good AMERICANS,
they influence the children in school now of all ages, we get to learn of it between the hush hush,
while no one at the top say anything to shut them up, they are solid in the UNIONS, they get the jobs
from AMERICANS who should get it first,
oh by the way, we also learned the BIGGEST PROVIDER OF JOBS, has the most criminals background
it was given in detail of all the crimes background and it’s the OBAMA GOVERNMENT, public jobs,
how’s that, for a feeling of security,
the good law abiding citizens better stick to the gun owning
according to the second AMENDMENT,
shall not be infringe,