I vividly recall a conversation about two or three days prior to the news of a plot being uncovered to blow up civilian airliners with liquid explosives. I was walking to a lunch with an 18C. He was noting how surprised he was that nobody had attempted to create such a bomb. After the news broke, he marveled at how stupid you'd have to be to not be able to pull it off. How difficult is it to purchase the ingredients, buy a plane ticket, and then go into the restroom and do a jihadist imitation of Dr. Wizard?
Likewise, I've been wondering for years why nobody has attempted these "swarming" techniques here in the US or - even scarier, in my opinion - why just one or two individuals have not attempted some kind of mass casualty attack. I can think of about a dozen completely different ways that a lone individual, with a fairly short planning and preparation time and some fairly inexpensive purchases that would not likely raise any eyebrows, could slaughter hundreds of people and it would be virtually undetectable until the moment of execution. Granted, a SWAT team would eventually gun him down, but not until the entire country is freaking out, the markets crash further, and the country is pushed to the brink of turning into something resembling New Orleans during the flood.
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