I'm far from convinced about that. They *might* have killed a lot of
people in the terminal, maybe. But, I'm not convinced the gas
canisters would have exploded, even with no intervention.
Um they do just ask the local fire brigade, its a favourite of arsonists stick one in the middle of a fire the resulting gaseous explosion will spew an accelerated fireball across the room.
If they did explode, I'm far from convinced that it would go through a
5" concrete wall - explosions have very poor armour-penetrating
performance (except in the special case of HEAT/HESH rounds, which are
far from simple explosions). Consider that a flak jacket (light enough
to be worn) is generally proof against shrapnel, and that's a lot
thinner & lighter than a 5" thick wall.
I've seen a couple of H&S training films where they've demonstrated it but hey maybe they was Spielberg's movies?
And yes, fires can spread very fast. But, on the other hand, every
airport has fire crews on site, and I don't think it would have caused
a huge fire. The IRA exploded a 3,300 lb bomb in Manchester in 1996,
which caused a lot of damage, but I don't remember any reports of huge
fires, and I can't find any mention of fires in the reports.
I was living in Woolwich when the IRA bombed there I still remember the sound when it went off in the pub across the road from the barracks.
There is a difference you know, the Glasgow attempt was not a bomb in the sense you are thinking of this was just petrol and gas cylinders while there would have been an explosive sound and some residual percussion damage the main emphasise was fire. True you have a point regarding the fire services however as always happens in these types of things you'll probably find they are geared up for runway stuff rather than terminal buildings which in turn would/might create a delay giving the fire more chance to take hold.
> Oh and I'm not convinced about Al-Qaeda either its easier to just tell
> people it was them than say "It was the Judean Peoples Popular Front" or
> "The Surrey and Lambeth Ferreters Association".
>
> Al-Qaeda is now the bogey man for 2007 I wonder who it will be in 2008/9?
Well, Al-Qaeda have been around for a long time. I remember them being
implicated in attacks in Clinton's day. But yes, they are a handy
bogeyman.
:-) I remember the likes of Bada Minhoff (Probably spelt wrong) although they we're not very international.