...Choose Not To Blow People Up!
The original Reuters headline reads, "Iraqi girl aborts suicide bombing, surrenders," which struck me as one of the least-controversial uses of that verb that begins with "a." That's a kind we can all support!
Remember, kids: when they ask you to blow people up, fake 'em out! Think of the stories you'll be able to tell your grandchildren. The ones you wouldn't be around to have if you went along with the madmen.
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Swlep me, if people start an argument over the more-typical use of the word, I will pull the plug on commenting, just that fast. There's places for that. Here is not one of them.
She got lucky - many of the vests also have a remote detonator, so that if the vest wearer gets second thoughts...
ReplyDeleteYays! I love a happy ending.
ReplyDelete'Zackly, Phlegmmie!
ReplyDeletePer HTRN, perhaps we need to put tinfoil-overcoat dispensers in handy places around mad-bomber territory?
The downside to this is the possibility that a really determined (or remotely-detonated) ijit can use, "Oh, changed my mind," as a way to gather at least few cops (or local equivalent) before going boom. While the chance of a bad outcome can be minimized by proper procedure and it apears that's how things worked out in the linked story, it's a significant hazard.
Which means all involved in this case are heros.
Tip to young people, enlisted, unwillingling into the "Go Splodey" Club by terrists:
ReplyDeleteNote the location of improvised Farraday cages. When necessary, step inside when you do your wardrobe cage. After, skip away, whistling.
Open Source reporting indicates that The Good Guys are employing low power jammers that operate in cell phone frequency ranges. It is not impossible that she knew what to look for and gambled that any remote detonator operated in the freq range the jammer did.
ReplyDeleteI'd blog more about terrorism on my own site, but things like this tend to piss me off to the point where all I write is vitriol.
d.w., jammers also emit RF in the cell phone ranges. Depending on how well/poorly the detonator was designed, it could still go off when the jammer is turned on.
ReplyDeleteA jammer strong enough to desense the cell phone receiver and also induce it to trigger.
Most of the remote Detonators used by the Insurgs over in the sandbox are cannabalized cellphones - I could explain how to do it, but won't for obvious reasons(I betcha Roberta knows :) ), hence the cellphone jammers. The reason is cellphones are cheap, available everywhere over there, and easy to convert, vs. building a conventional radio detonator.
ReplyDeleteAs for the jammers themselves, I know they've been employed on military vehicles due to the threat of remotely detonated IEDs, but this is the first I'm hearing the police using them to deal with suicide vests.