If I were a terrrrrrrst ...
Following on from my post a few months ago on effective suicide bombing, here's what I would do if I wanted to cause widespread terror.
One quiet Sunday afternoon, a car blows up in an ordinary residential street like the one I live in. It would have been left there a week or more ago, and its presence wouldn't alarm anyone. Naturally, there would be no warning, and neither would there be a silly press release claiming responsibility. That, to my mind, puts a face on The Enemy, and a complete unknown is FAR more frightening.
A week later, the same happens again. It's even the same make, model and colour of car (stolen, naturally).
And again. At which point I've established a pattern, everyone's reporting their neighbour who doesn't drive very often, and I'll change patterns. If the aim of terrorism is to cause terror and to undermine social norms, this really does seem quite easy.
Please join in and play this fun what-if game in the comments.
Every now and then a nobody does something unexpected, and society over-reacts, but on the whole criminals/terrorists are not the brightest in the bunch...
Posted by Adam on Mon, 10 Jul 2006 at 22:13:52