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Originally posted by Hopechest
Terrorism actually has never let up.
We either catch most of them before they happen or the terrorists simply fail to execute for one reason or another.
Its not like there have been no terror attempts in the US since 9/11 you know.
Its actually quite an interesting study that I hope somebody conducts. Apparently terrorism is a lot harder to pull off than people, myself included, realized.
We know there are people actively trying to cause destruction but the times they are successful is very very low. This would indicate that either are security is effective or that our nation is protected by some other factors like being separated from the european continent and the middle east which makes it harder to transport people and weapons.
Maybe the laws on our books have had an impact. I don't know but it would make for a very interesting study.edit on 17-4-2013 by Hopechest because: (no reason given)
Originally posted by Hopechest
reply to post by FlyingTeacup
Wow, if you actually believe that I think there is little hope of an intelligent conversation here.
Time to go fire up the Xbox.
The Informants
Maqsood said he was an agent for the Pakistani terror group, tasked with assembling a team to wage jihad in the United States. He asked Cromitie what he would attack if he had the means. A bridge, Cromitie said.
"But bridges are too hard to be hit," Maqsood pleaded, "because they're made of steel."
"Of course they're made of steel," Cromitie replied. "But the same way they can be put up, they can be brought down."
Maqsood coaxed Cromitie toward a more realistic plan. The Mumbai attacks were all over the news, and he pointed out how those gunmen targeted hotels, cafés, and a Jewish community center.
"With your intelligence, I know you can manipulate someone," Cromitie told his friend. "But not me, because I'm intelligent." The pair settled on a plot to bomb synagogues in the Bronx, and then fire Stinger missiles at airplanes taking off from Stewart International Airport in the southern Hudson Valley. Maqsood would provide all the explosives and weapons, even the vehicles. "We have two missiles, okay?" he offered. "Two Stingers, rocket missiles."
Maqsood was an undercover operative; that much was true. But not for Jaish-e-Mohammad. His real name was Shahed Hussain, and he was a paid informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
- Nearly half the prosecutions involved the use of informants, many of them incentivized by money (operatives can be paid as much as $100,000 per assignment) or the need to work off criminal or immigration violations. (For more on the details of those 508 cases, see our charts page and searchable database.)
- Sting operations resulted in prosecutions against 158 defendants. Of that total, 49 defendants participated in plots led by an agent provocateur—an FBI operative instigating terrorist action.
- With three exceptions, all of the high-profile domestic terror plots of the last decade were actually FBI stings. (The exceptions are Najibullah Zazi, who came close to bombing the New York City subway system in September 2009; Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, an Egyptian who opened fire on the El-Al ticket counter at the Los Angeles airport; and failed Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad.)
- In many sting cases, key encounters between the informant and the target were not recorded—making it hard for defendants claiming entrapment to prove their case.
- Terrorism-related charges are so difficult to beat in court, even when the evidence is thin, that defendants often don't risk a trial.
Originally posted by Hopechest
Terrorism actually has never let up.
We either catch most of them before they happen or the terrorists simply fail to execute for one reason or another.
Its not like there have been no terror attempts in the US since 9/11 you know.
Its actually quite an interesting study that I hope somebody conducts. Apparently terrorism is a lot harder to pull off than people, myself included, realized.
We know there are people actively trying to cause destruction but the times they are successful is very very low. This would indicate that either are security is effective or that our nation is protected by some other factors like being separated from the european continent and the middle east which makes it harder to transport people and weapons.
Maybe the laws on our books have had an impact. I don't know but it would make for a very interesting study.edit on 17-4-2013 by Hopechest because: (no reason given)
Terrorism actually has never let up.