Do real terrorists take pictures first? Like, ever?

I agree that the government catches the stupid ones easily. These ones might even be the ones that are paraded to the media as well. I would suspect that terrorist organizations across the world have attempted to attack the United States in a major way since 2001 though. If I recall correctly no such attacks have actually been carried out. I would attribute this to the people at the top and their work, not just the fact that all of the perpetrators are morons (which might be true but more than likely is not). I suppose I have a little more faith? Dunno. Either way I think we both have good points.

Regardless, I sincerely respect your service as a cop. That **** is hard to do I am sure.
 
hans voralberg said:
Sanmich lives in Israel :p
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exact, but for the last year I'm in the US, so I haven't the slightest clue about who predicted what.
Generally I would say that in Israel, terrorism prevention have demonstrated to be mostly based on inteligence of all sorts, and certainly not on high profile activity around the target.
A bomb can be quite easily intercepted in the stages of preparations. When ready on the carrier, the only thing that can be done is limiting the casualties by some kind of last defense line (check point on the roads, at a mall entrance, etc)
The price at this stage is usually in human lives, but even when we had cases of specific information about a bomb making its way to a certain area and by chance "they" intercepted it through this last line with no casualties, this results in a huge mess on the roads for hours.

when you don't have this last defense line, like in buses or on the streets, well, 99% of the time it's too late...

From my very limited experience, the massive, heavy high profile activity has only a very small contribution to the small and hopefully really important intelligence and prevention activity.
 
George S. said:
Mr rphenning,

Yes, I am in the police ranks and I can tell you that your sense that the government stops all these attempts through their smarts is hogwash. They generally only catch the stupid criminals, and thank goodness most of these guys have made many mistakes which has allowed them to be caught.

The Israeli statement I quoted was from a show possibly broadcast on CNN, IIRC. I don't get my information from internet rumors.
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I think it is relevant to point out that anyone with access to data about the number of terror incidents thwarted by intelligence and security agencies almost certainly is subject to a security agreement and cannot talk about it.

Re: Israeli security, etc.: CNN and the internet are just vehicles for dissemination. What counts is how the story is sourced, not where it is published.
 
from this afternoon's AP wire feed re last year's Mumbai attacks:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091207/ap_on_re_us/us_chicago_terrorism_charges

"Prosecutors said Headley changed his name from Daood Gilani in 2006 so that he could pass in India for an American who was neither Muslim nor Pakistani. They said he later made five extended trips to Mumbai from September 2006 through July 2008, taking pictures of various targets."
 
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