[r9etb]

Why on earth were they dawdling around, traveling all over the Mediterranean, going from port to port like that, and increasing the chances of exposure?

How's about because they're stupid and ignorant? They probably thought they couldn't be seen if they were out of sight of land. By showing up in all these spots, they probably hoped to "confuse" people as to where they were going, and thus where the ship was at any given time.

Then when everybody was confused, they could show up at their target by surprise, and make a big mess.

That might even have worked 50 years ago. Alas, they appear to have neglected the fact that we've been tracking ships by satellite for a long, long time.

[El Laton Caliente]

How about the Islamofacists had not come up with the cash yet.

or

How about the islamofacists had missed the meeting site where they were supposed to take over for the marterdom operation.

[TexanToTheCore]

Lots of information flows in the shipping industry. This scenario may be somewhat less possible than most terrorists think.