Bomb making network
B. Preston over at
Junk Yard Blog has an interesting analysis of the bits and pieces of the Global Bomb making network that the US is gradually rolling up.
The key issues are not surprising (a few designs used in bomb attacks in many countries indicating a traffiking in information and supplies) but the link to the 1995 Nichols/McVeigh Oklahoma bombing is:
bq. Rolling up terror networks is as much art as science. One fragment leads to a source, who leads to more fragments and perhaps a cell, which leads further up the chain to commanders and cash networks. The science is obvious: Investigators gather data and sort it, classify it, catalogue it and understand it. The art comes in play as agents sift clues to determine where and how terrorists plan to strike, who is bankrolling and leading them, and how the whole thing shapes up. Inferences play as great a role as hard data, because the hard data you gather never amounts to completing the picture in all its shades and hues.
And more:
bq. So Mr. Murad was found in possession of a notebook with a new thought about truck bombs--substitute nitromethane for fuel oil to make them more powerful--and his notebook can be dated to a time when Terry Nichols was known to be in the Philippines, which was where Murad was arrested. And that very design change showed up first in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995, just a few months later.
Interesting stuff with a couple links to additional resources... Go read...
Posted by DaveH at February 23, 2004 4:22 PM