Israel Matzav

If that car bomb had gone off...

This is a description of what would have happened had that car bomb gone off in Times Square last week. For those of you who have never been around a bombing or a terror attack (God forbid), please read this carefully, because this is what it's really like and this is what we're up against.

If the bomb planted in a green 1993 Nissan Pathfinder SUV on the evening of May 1 had exploded, here's what would have happened, according to retired New York police department bomb-squad detective Kevin Barry. The car would have turned into a "boiling liquid explosive." The propane tanks that the bomb comprised would have overheated and ignited into "huge blowtorches" that could have been ejected from the vehicle. The explosion, lasting only a few seconds, would have created a thermal ball wide enough to swallow up most of the intersection. A blast wave would have rocketed out in all directions at speeds of 12,000 to 14,000 ft. per sec. (3,700 to 4,300 m per sec.); hitting the surrounding buildings, the wave would have bounced off and kept going, as much as nine times faster than before. Anyone standing within 1,400 ft. (430 m) — about five city blocks — of the explosion would have been at risk of being hit by shrapnel and millions of shards of flying glass. The many who died would not die prettily. A TIME reporter familiar with the ravages of car bombs in Baghdad describes how victims appeared to be naked because a fireball melted their clothing onto the surface of their skin.

...

In the immediate aftermath, there was a reasonable desire to concentrate on the amateurish nature of the bomb attempt allegedly carried out by Faisal Shahzad, 30, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Pakistan. A gun locker inside the SUV, for example, contained fertilizer that was incapable of exploding. But skill is one thing, intentions another. Given the mayhem that could have resulted from his actions, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that Shahzad's aims were consistent with those of the global jihadi movement. The bomb in Times Square, it looks pretty clear, was not the work of some addlebrained nut job. It was terrorism: an attempt, for political reasons, to kill Americans. Lots of them.

If people internalize these kinds of results, maybe they'll be more willing to do what has to be done to fight terror. Unfortunately, this sort of thing happened in Israel many times between 2000 and 2004. When the bomb is on a person rather than in a car, they can often get the timing 'better' to kill more people.

Isn't it time to recognize the fact that we're all fighting a war?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:58 AM