Hey. This was a MODEL plane.

And the nutcase was enabled by those Federal agents.

How many crimes would be committed if agents didn't somehow have to help these people?

Stand by for background checks and TSA strip searches for wanting to fly a model plane!

"Packed with explosives". My ass. The kid would be 'way better off with an RPG.

But he needs to take the lesson. Only the Feds can kill people they haven't identified positively with impunity.

Troll the right places, you catch fish. This used to be called common sense.

Now it's called discrimination. In my time, that was a good thing.

Rad, It's impossible to entrap someone who has no intention of committing a crime. This is how you catch terrorists, not by searching grandma's diaper at a TSA checkpoint.

MarkD,

Note several things about the articles?

In no particular order: First, they're sensationalized. Second, any retard can be encouraged to act out his rage. Third, this guy is yet another Arab. Fourth, the more imminent plan was for several others to join him in rifle attacks -- but somehow, he couldn't tell some were disabled?

Wow, did we catch an expert? Hell, no!

Yet this is an example of what I have said here many times: you cannot do just one thing and stop terrorism.

I wonder when somebody's going to notice what causes it, and then stop that!

Sorry, I'm just disgusted. This wasn't an example of ace detective work, and this fumbler is being used as a publicity piece.

The kid would be 'way better off with an RPG.

He would have gotten an RPG from the ATF if had simply claimed to be part of a Mexican drug cartel.

the "model" airplane this guy was planning to use was about a 1/20 scale carrier jet and could have done some damage, but not enough to do any mass harm.

OK, what causes terrorism? Besides the existence of the Great Satan, and Israel - neithr of which show signs of spontaneous disappearance.

In the interim, we'll just have the FBI give IQ tests to those dumb enough to fall into the trap and let the stupid ones go. After all, the odds are high that none of us will ever be injured by a terrorist.

Yeah, I noticed the connection between Islam and terrorists. Discriminatory of me, no doubt.

"the "model" airplane this guy was planning to use was about a 1/20 scale carrier jet and could have done some damage, but not enough to do any mass harm."

Yeah, I got a laugh out of that too. Even packed with as much C-4 as he could cram in, plus a detonator, at best it might have succeeded in blowing a hole in the side of the Capitol. At the Pentagon, it would have been doing good to break a window.

I think the guy figured that out, though, since he added the bit about the teams with the machine guns. Launch the first attack, draw a bunch of security people and onlookers out, and then have the shooters hit them. That could have been serious.

"How many crimes would be committed if agents didn't somehow have to help these people?"

Raddy, reports I've seen today indicate that the guy had been actively seeking al-Queda contacts, and that he had built and sold to an FBI agent a cell phone, converted into an IED trigger, that worked. He may not have known a lot about explosives, but he was not a tyro.

Cousin Dave...

...wanna see my disposable camera IED trigger?

These things are elementary.

People forget all the time that battlefield implements are simple things. An "IED trigger" is just a remote-control switch and medium-voltage power supply. You can get the parts at Lowe's.

Not saying you're doing this, but I think everyone should quit thinking that everybody's an idiot who cannot program their TiVo. A steady diet of bad news from mass media has some thinking that everyone is stupid.

Ain't so.

BTW, something smells about that. Who would you build an IED trigger for?

but I think everyone should quit thinking that everybody's an idiot who cannot program their TiVo.

Rad is right, you'd be amazed at how many people you could kill with a hundred dollars and a trip to HomeDepot if you really wanted to

This is an editorial, not an information source, but ask yourself what really happened on this topic.

Luj, I'll acknowledge the truth of what you said. However, the point remains (if the news reports are accurate, and I'll admit that's a big if), the guy was trying to contact Al Queda. As in the case of someone who goes looking for a contract murder, his intention was to commit a crime. There's plenty of law and court precedent on contract-murder stings that says the fact that he fell into a sting is not a defense. Remember the mens rea discussion we had in the other thread? The guilty mind very clearly exists here.

Annnd just how does one advertise for an audience with a terrorist group?

School paper? Facebook? MySpace? Twitter?

Post things on this blog and wait for the Echelon spider to find it?

"Dear Mr. Al Queda: As a representative of the President of Nigeria, I am authorized to seek your aid in order to implement a cooperative venture. Please click on the following link. I guarantee I am not being watched by the American police."

We excuse people for crimes of opportunity, and deflect blame for criminal action all the time. That's why we have to lock our doors, take our car keys and not leave a purse or wallet anywhere. That's why we use the terms, "the car ran off the road at that point" and "the gun discharged".