Updated: More terrorist scares Saturday. If it is confirmed that the Glasgow car firebomb was similar to those found in London, the inviability of the devices as explosives could be considered proven. Great fire starters and definitely very dangerous, but not very good at exploding and definitely nowhere near capable of killing 1700 people in a blast.
Original post: There was a terrorist scare in London today. The city centre ground to a halt for the best part of the day as 2 cars loaded with petrol-and-gas-canister homemade bombs were found around the city centre. After the bombs were made safe, figureheads from a government just one day old took over the airwaves to reassure people that they were now safe from the terrorist threat.
But was there really such a threat? No terrorist threat, according to The Register‘s Thomas C Greene. Mr. Greene makes a convincing point about the flaws surrounding the threat assesment -think Buncefield, how big that was and how it really didn’t explode. He goes on to wave the concerted conspiracy flag to explain the disconnect.
I am more inclined to blame the exaggeration of the threat on ignorance and precipitation among a few key people on the UK’s one-day-old government. The same ignorance that afflicted the newly appointed government of Spain during the Madrid bombings investigation, leading them to discard in advance the most plausible theory: that of ETA having had a role, probably as supplier, maybe even as instigator.
In both cases government leaders’ naivety may have allowed some of their trusted friends to push their secret agendas with impunity. Conspiracy theories? Maybe. But maybe not.
