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Success of lone gunmen may shift al-Qaida strategy
AP ^ | 03/11/10 | LOLITA C. BALDOR

Posted on 03/11/2010 5:09:19 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster

Success of lone gunmen may shift al-Qaida strategy

By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – On Christmas Day, a passenger on a Northwest Airlines flight bound for Detroit tried to blow up the plane with plastic explosives in his underwear. He failed, yet the very attempt shook the U.S. government, set federal agencies against each other and triggered months of political second-guessing.

In fact, short of mass casualties, the attack allegedly attempted by Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had exactly the kind of reaction that al-Qaida is after. And, it appears, that lesson is resonating with the terror network's leadership.

For the first time, the group that carried out the Sept. 11 attacks and has prided itself on its ideological purism seems to be eyeing a more pragmatic and arguably more dangerous shift in tactics. The emerging message appears to be: Big successes are great, but sometimes simply trying can be just as good.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: alqaeda; christmasbombing; forthood; lonegunmen
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1 posted on 03/11/2010 5:09:21 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Look for an islamic jihad mass shooter in the USA.

Look for his gun to be traced to the so-called “gun show loophole,” and a crackdown on buying adn selling guns that leads to virtual registration.


2 posted on 03/11/2010 5:12:27 AM PST by Travis McGee (---www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com---)
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To: Travis McGee

Surprised that hasn’t happened already.


3 posted on 03/11/2010 5:13:56 AM PST by TADSLOS (Tea Party. We are the party of NO! NO to more government! NO to more spending! NO to more taxation!)
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To: TADSLOS

Me too.


4 posted on 03/11/2010 5:17:44 AM PST by Travis McGee (---www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com---)
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To: TigerLikesRooster
Success of lone gunmen may shift al-Qaida strategy

Whatever we do, we can't overreact by allowing citizens to carry weapons or allowing military members to be armed while on base. If people are allowed to defend themselves, who knows what problems it would cause. Trust the government to protect us. They know what's best. They'll take care of us.

5 posted on 03/11/2010 5:21:12 AM PST by mbynack (Retired USAF SMSgt)
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To: TADSLOS
Surprised that hasn’t happened already.

Malvo was close. So was Hasan.

6 posted on 03/11/2010 5:22:31 AM PST by Pearls Before Swine
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To: Pearls Before Swine

True.


7 posted on 03/11/2010 5:26:30 AM PST by TADSLOS (Tea Party. We are the party of NO! NO to more government! NO to more spending! NO to more taxation!)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Gee, I don’t have a degree from Harvard or Yale, I have never worked a day in Washington, I don’t belong to any Think Tanks...and yet I was able to figure this one out after Ft. Hood.

I still think we will see an episode like what happened in the hotel in India or something in a Mall. Probably not in a state with CC though.


8 posted on 03/11/2010 5:27:18 AM PST by panthermom
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To: Travis McGee
Look for his gun to be traced to the so-called “gun show loophole,”

i thought the whole issue of the "gun show loophole" was that it made guns more or less "untraceable"?
9 posted on 03/11/2010 5:27:30 AM PST by absolootezer0 (2x divorced, tattooed, pierced, harley hatin, meghan mccain luvin', smoker and pit bull owner..what?)
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To: Travis McGee
Look for an islamic jihad mass shooter in the USA.

A citizens "Rules of Engagement" are much different than the military's.

10 posted on 03/11/2010 5:29:14 AM PST by Puppage (You may disagree with what I have to say, but I shall defend to your death my right to say it)
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To: mbynack

The Soviets saw our gun owning society as a real problem for a potential invader.


11 posted on 03/11/2010 5:29:27 AM PST by cripplecreek (Remember the River Raisin!)
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To: TigerLikesRooster
She makes a pretty good case, and I'm shocked to read intellectual coherence coming from the AP, but there's one crucial thing she doesn't note: in both cases, there were red flags aplenty. They were ignored due to the malignant political correctness in the West combined with PC's symbiote, chronic CYA.

Abdulmutallab's own father sent a warning that his son was like to commit a terrosist attack and it was ignore lest he suffer from profiling. Since it was his own father that turned him in, they myst have been protecting the poor boy from parental profiling.

The number of blatant warning signs noticed from Hasan over a period of YEARS, ignored due to the military policy of PC has been toroughly documented.

BOTH of these cases could have been prevented. The information was there. It was just deemed more expedient to ignore it. Sure, al Qaeda types will try more small, high profile attacks, but if we just concentrate on what we KNOW, rather than creating MORE miltibillion dollar levels of Government wasteland, we stand a much better chance of catching the bad guys.

12 posted on 03/11/2010 5:29:50 AM PST by cake_crumb (RR on ObieCare: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRdLpem-AAs&feature=player_embedded#)
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To: Travis McGee; TADSLOS

I keep looking for something like this to happen at a major Christian holiday, in an enclosed space, so the body count is really racked up. Their best scenario would be in a state that limits or prohibits concealed carry, which by definition makes the shooter safer, as well as being a less gun friendly environment. The ball for gun control would start rolling more easily in a state like that.


13 posted on 03/11/2010 5:30:35 AM PST by Hardastarboard (Note to self: Never post in a thread about religion again.)
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To: Hardastarboard
"The ball for gun control would start rolling more easily in a state like that."

Maybe from the governments viewpoint. However, if a terrorist went on a shooting spree here in the U.S. I think you would see the people start conceal carrying more and more of an outcry in states that don't have CC to get it. Possibly a push to make open carry more socially acceptable also.
14 posted on 03/11/2010 5:35:21 AM PST by Old Teufel Hunden
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Keep some bacon in your pocket in case you’re the one who guns him down. Make sure the newspapers take a picture of him with a big slab of unclean meat in his mouth.


15 posted on 03/11/2010 5:47:49 AM PST by struggle ((The struggle continues))
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To: struggle
Keep some bacon in your pocket in case you’re the one who guns him down. Make sure the newspapers take a picture of him with a big slab of unclean meat in his mouth.

Until the PC police deem it not nice and demand everyone give up pork.

16 posted on 03/11/2010 6:26:40 AM PST by bgill (The framers of the US Constitution established an entire federal government in 18 pages.)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Bump.


17 posted on 03/11/2010 6:28:49 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny ( garden/survival/cooking/storage- http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2299939/posts?page=5555)
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To: struggle

I carry a packet of real bacon bits whenever I fly.


18 posted on 03/11/2010 6:35:39 AM PST by null and void (We are now in day 412 of our national holiday from reality. - 0bama really isn't one of US.)
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To: TADSLOS

What frightens me is another Breslin right here in America... It would be so easy for a small group of terrorist to pull it off.. Schools are gun free zones.. It really scares me..


19 posted on 03/11/2010 8:01:37 AM PST by crazydad (What)
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To: crazydad

A Day Care Center would be more vulnerable.


20 posted on 03/11/2010 8:04:16 AM PST by verity (Obama Lies)
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