Forums

Posted: 04-11-2008 12:25 Post subject:

Are you convinced by this hardsell?

Posted: 05-01-2009 10:36 Post subject:

Terrorists could use 'insect-based' biological weapon
Terrorists would find it "relatively easy" to launch a devastating attack using swarms of insects to spread a deadly disease, an academic has warned.
By Stephen Adams
Last Updated: 8:12AM GMT 05 Jan 2009

Jeffrey Lockwood, professor of entomology at Wyoming University and author of Six-legged Soldiers: Using Insects as Weapons of War, said such Rift Valley Fever or other diseases could be transported into a country by a terrorist with a suitcase.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think a small terrorist cell could very easily develop an insect-based weapon."

He said it would "probably be much easier" than developing a nuclear or chemical weapon, arguing: "The raw material is in the back yard."

He continued: "It would be a relatively easy and simple process.

"A few hundred dollars and a plane ticket and you could have a pretty good stab at it."

Governments, he advised, needed to have robust "pest management infrastructure that's able to absorb and respond to an introduction" of infected insects, he said.

Trying to stop everything coming in at the border would not work, he said.

Rift Valley Fever is an east African disease which "can cause severe disease in both animals and humans, leading to high rates of disease and death" according to the World Health Organisation.

However, WHO says that "the vast majority of human infections result from direct or indirect contact with the blood or organs of infected animals."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/4123782/Terrorists-could-use-insect-based-biological-weapon.html

Does this plonker have to go about giving terrorists new ideas? Evil or Very Mad

(Of course, it could be a double-bluff, hoping that would-be terrorists might try this, but end up infecting themselves instead! Cool

)

Posted: 18-01-2010 18:43 Post subject:

Posted: 23-01-2010 11:11 Post subject:

UK terror level raised to 'severe'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8476238.stm

From the story...

"The new alert level means a terrorist attack is considered "highly likely"."

However...

"The home secretary stressed there was no intelligence to suggest a terrorist attack was imminent."

Shocked

If there is no intel then why...

Posted: 23-01-2010 11:16 Post subject:

Posted: 23-01-2010 12:10 Post subject:

Clearly we are in the gray area between 'highly likely' and 'imminent'.

If the situation deteriorates, we will be between 'very highly likely' and 'not quite imminent' instead.

Posted: 24-01-2010 20:01 Post subject:

According to today's Observer the raising of the threat level is partially due to the forthcoming appearance of Tony Blair before Chilcott.

Posted: 25-01-2010 14:46 Post subject:

It would seem more likely to me that the recent Delta Air 253 "attack", the US statements regarding the state of Yemeni security and the Somalian piracy issue are all linked.

It won't be long before a carrier battle group or 2 are parked in Aden or Hodeidah, at the 'request' of the yemeni government. From there, and working to their own timescale, they can mount operations against the somalian pirate threat, or more usefully, have another theatre for the upcoming Iran conflict.

Bin Laden died years ago, so who is this character that keeps sending tapes to the west?

Posted: 25-01-2010 17:23 Post subject:

I've often thought that the "terror levels" were more of a handy guide for terrorists.

The level is increased not because of intel but based on what's happening in the country at any given time. So if someone high official is making a public appearance or a visit, the level is raised suggesting that an attack is "highly likely". It may as well say "Now would be a great time".

Days which are "low" could equally read "not worth the effort".

Posted: 25-01-2010 19:29 Post subject:

Am I being cynical or is the threat level rise not rather good news for Brown?

The issue of anti-terrorism is an area where Brown can steal a march on Cameron. It benefits him in two particular ways. Brown gets a boost in the polls when he's appearing on our TV screens as an international statesman alongside presidential figures like Obama, Sarkozy et al. Remember that the upcoming London conference on the Yemen and terrorism which has helped raise the threat level came about at Brown's instigation. Likewise the Afghanistan conference the following day.

Also, not only does Cameron lack the opportunity to rub shoulders with the big players on the world stage but he's also notoriously weak on foreign policy. The more Brown can present himself as a jet-setting confidante of the world's powerbrokers in contrast to Cameron's fumbling novice the better it'll serve him electorally.

Posted: 25-01-2010 21:09 Post subject:

A few small explosions and the swift arrest of the "guilty" parties would do wonders for Brown.

Posted: 26-01-2010 01:21 Post subject:

It's quite simple. After a man set his penis on fire in a plane recently, the government felt the need to switch to Terrordetectorisator 'Arthur' with set of balls 3.
'Severe' is the default setting.

Posted: 26-01-2010 11:37 Post subject:

The papers this morning report that the reason for the elevation of the threat was the arrest of a terrorist suspect in India, who was apparently the ringleader of a plot to crash Air India jets into UK cities to coincide with a major anti-terrorism conference in London.

Posted: 01-02-2010 01:13 Post subject:

I'd just like to make clear that this is not my newspaper of choice!

"Britain is facing a new Al Qaeda terror threat from suicide ‘body bombers’ with explosives surgically inserted inside them.
Until now, terrorists have attacked airlines, Underground trains and buses by secreting bombs in bags, shoes or underwear to avoid detection.
But an operation by MI5 has uncovered evidence that Al Qaeda is planning a new stage in its terror campaign by inserting ‘surgical bombs’ inside people for the first time."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1247338/Terrorists-plan-attack-Britain-bombs-INSIDE-bodies-foil-new-airport-scanners.html[/quote]