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Anatomy of a Suicide Attack
February 28, 2007 6:22 PM
A propaganda tape recently posted on a militant Islamist Web site provides a rare look at who the enemy is for U.S. troops and how simple it seems to be for them to mount a deadly attack.
The tape shows a suicide bomber, a young man, in a beat-up Toyota loaded with explosives.
The ease with which his bomb was prepared is documented on the tape, released on the Internet by al Qaeda's propaganda arm this week.
Click Here for Photos from the Alleged Suicide Attack.
The tape shows a room full of old Russian mortars and land mines being rigged with detonation cords stuck in plastic explosives.
Retired U.S. Army General William Nash, now an ABC News consultant, says Afghanistan and Iraq are awash in such old shells.
"That probably wouldn't work very well in the way they were intended to be used because they're so old, but by packing them with plastic explosive, putting in that det[onation] cord, then they are very lethal when exploded together," Gen. Nash explained as he watched the video.
The tape shows the suicide bomber building his own bomb, arranging the mortars and land mines in a decorative metal chest.
Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.
"This is a very compelling statement for how simple it is for the Taliban to hurt us in Afghanistan," Alexis Debat, a senior fellow at the Nixon Center and now an ABC News consultant, said. "The child is making the bomb, the explosive that is about to kill him, and yet he has such an amazing peaceful look on his face."
The chest is shown in the back of the Toyota, wired to a set of switches on the console next to the driver's seat.
The suicide bomber is shown driving away from a compound of mud buildings.
"There are hundreds if not thousands of people like this, not just in Afghanistan, but in Pakistan, Iraq and Yemen," Debat said of the suicide bomber on the tape. "This is what al Qaeda wants us to know."
Then the video cuts to a coalition military convoy, with vehicles spaced at a distance so only one vehicle at a time is vulnerable to such attacks.
And then a huge explosion is seen on the screen, an attack allegedly carried out in the Argon district of Afghanistan late last year.
"And that's why we've lost so many soldiers in both Afghanistan and Iraq to this technique," said Gen. Nash said of the intensity of the explosive device. "That's an overwhelming amount of explosive."
The number of such attacks in Afghanistan is up almost fivefold.
While the Army says no one attack means much strategically, the cumulative impact is enormous and growing.
February 28, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (25)
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Oklahoma City proved that it is just as easy to do this kind of thing right here in America. It is amazing that it hasn't happened again and probably just a matter of time until it does.
Posted by: Russ | Feb 28, 2007 6:55:12 PM
Actually it's not that easy here. You not only have a conspicuous lack of det cord, plastic explosives, old russian mortars and mines, but also have a strong police force and society that keeps an eye open. Sure It'll happen again, but it is in no way "just as easy" here as it is in a country with no real police, military, or binding social structure.
Posted by: Alan | Feb 28, 2007 7:24:03 PM
al-Qaeda are masters of propaganda. Convincing young men and women to murder their own countrymen, especially women and children, with suicide bombs is what makes al Qaeda and their followers so powerful. Where is the coalition propaganda machine? Why can't we convince these people to work with us toward peace and the rebuilding of Iraq and all of the war torn middle east?
Posted by: Dan | Feb 28, 2007 8:05:46 PM
Any idea why suicide bombers (except 9/11) havent struck here?
Posted by: Jim Stark | Feb 28, 2007 8:22:43 PM
get better news and real news
Posted by: fgf | Feb 28, 2007 9:26:09 PM
So now we make it sound like these idiots are heroes. Well they are individuals no differnet than the Japanese fanatics in WWII and we beat them. The problem with today is we ae so weak willed and materialistic - our country will only resond when we are attack again - but it will only gain our attention for a few moments - then we are all back to our selfishness - good old USA. My dad, a survivor of Pearl Harbor rolls over in his grave every day - God rest him and he rest of the brave men who saved our country - I curse the liveral Democrats who want to jsut pull out - they think they are reliving the 1960's.
Posted by: Mike | Feb 28, 2007 10:14:01 PM
Why is this a good idea? What makes people do this? We need to find out why this is believed to work and fix it. Maybe if we all (Christians, Muslims, Fanatics and the rest) learn to accept one another and allow each other to have an opinion that may not agree with our own we can actually start to bring some peace. Elephant, donkey, black, white, green; we are all members of this planet and need to get that right. Otherwise we are doomed. Or more importantly, our childrens' children are doomed.
Posted by: Erich | Mar 1, 2007 12:08:41 AM
We will never see an end to the horrors of war. There will always be an aggressor nation somewhere that is lead by aggressive and sick people. We will not see the end to the war in the middle east ever. The religious sects that live there will never be at peace. Their own doctorine commands revenge and they have always taken it one way or another on other nations and on each other. The United Nations was formed to keep deceived and confused people from following such animals, like Adolf Hitler. I suggest that there are a lot of very deceived people in the middle east that have no place to turn but to violence and hatred. It is a shame, and it is shameful that we have such an useless system in the world to keep them in check.
Posted by: Matthew Schaetzle | Mar 1, 2007 12:20:28 AM
fire to fire only ashes left, we don't know what he is thinking when he commit the bomb, but we see lots people died.
Posted by: eric jia | Mar 1, 2007 12:33:54 AM
If you curse the liberals, perhaps you better curse G.W. Bush also. He stated after 9/11 no need to sacrifice. He told us to just keep on buying things. He said, the volunteer Military will handle it - no need for a draft so ALL classes of America will have a chance at going to Iraq. I am a proud Vietnam (volunteered to serve) veteran, liberal Democrat.
Posted by: David Sprecker | Mar 1, 2007 12:38:39 AM
Until our leaders start leveling with the american people, the war on terror will not end.
It not our freedom that makes them into terrorists, its our foreign policies. Otherwise we will just continue to play "Wack-a-Mole".
Its been how many years, and Osama is still walking the earth?!?!
This whole "war on terror" has been one big failure after the other.
Posted by: Jaco | Mar 1, 2007 12:47:07 AM
Where are the non-extremist Islamists to declare that this behavior makes murderers, not martyrs? Other Islamists are the only people who can make a difference and turn around this extremist thinking.
Posted by: Nancy | Mar 1, 2007 1:06:45 AM
Isn't human race trying deceive themselves? Muslims deceive them by trying to wage jihad claiming that they will become martyrs, while USA is trying to deceive their people by enforcing their might on other nations. Where it will end? Only god knows, I suppose
that only when the people understand that when they kill another human being,that they are killing one of their own.
Posted by: wasantha | Mar 1, 2007 3:49:15 AM
Where can I see the full version of this video? Give me some youtube link, pls.
Posted by: yon_brover | Mar 1, 2007 5:21:25 AM
I agree with some of my countryman about how soft we have gotten thru the years. We need to wake up and smell the roses. I served in the first gulf war, and I know how these fanatics think and operate. They do not have the same beliefs that we have and they are brainwashed by these selfish so called mullahs. We as Americans need to rise up as one and change our laws to make english as the official language of this great United States of America, no ifs or buts. That should be the first order of business, they want to come here than they have to abide by our rules and laws. America wake up we cannot go there and push our will on them. They will kill you either you like it or not.
May America bless God...
Posted by: Jitjlt | Mar 1, 2007 9:10:38 AM
"Maybe if we all (Christians, Muslims, Fanatics and the rest) learn to accept one another and allow each other to have an opinion that may not agree with our own we can actually start to bring some peace."
Sounds great in theory, but that isn't the way these people think. They want western interests OUT OF MUSLIM LANDS. Singing "Kumbaya" will not work. Pulling out of the ME probably is not going to happen soon, as the world is dependent on petroleum (wonderful 19th century discovery).
Posted by: Jazz | Mar 1, 2007 10:06:04 AM
Sorry, but most of you are analyzing this with very self centered values and emotions and that in my opinion is the root of our problem trying to wage war with al Qaeda. These people are only "wacko" from your point of view. They come from a culture very different from ours. From their perspective, they are the "normal" people and we are the lunatics that want to rule/dominate the world. We have high tech multi-million dollar weapons and equipment. They are fighting back the only way they can against their well outfitted enemy.
I'm not condoning what they do, I'm just pointing out that it is not so unusual, unless you are French (kidding), to fight for your own way of life by any means possible on your own soil (Middle East). Let's not pretend it isn't effective. We are just frustrated that no amount of money gives us the capability to fight back. i. e., They won't fight by our rules!
Posted by: Keith | Mar 1, 2007 10:50:06 AM
Suicide bombers are unfortunately, poor, uneducated, and misguided brainwashed individuals who kill themselves not for principals that are worthy of dying for, but for people that would not strap bombs on themselves to carry out the task that they would have these "dumb pawns" to carry out their bidding. Ignorance is bliss.... so the saying goes. How stupid these people are, and what's more the people that send them to do it.
Posted by: kevin | Mar 1, 2007 12:29:44 PM
Please, please please read "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson! Here is the answer - education and empowerment of children and women in the villages and mountains of Pakistan and Afganistan. Mr. Mortenson is building schools where none exist and the people are ripe for extremist jihad schools and propaganda. This is where the children learn hate and killing. GMA - will you please do a special on Greg's organization and his non-political and non- religious mission in these hotbeds of terror. The book is currently on best seller lists. It changed and challenged me.
Posted by: Joyce | Mar 1, 2007 1:02:54 PM
How idealistic we can all be. The fact is that most of you are wrong. People will NEVER just ALL get along. It's not the so called liberals or the conservatives that are to blame. They ALL do what they do for political and financial gain and personal ambitions. What we're seeing in the world today is good old human nature at its finest. Furthermore, I'm tired of people saying we're at war. IRAQ nor Afganistan can be considered wars.
We're trying police those areas for societal elements that WE don't like. We're trying to change a part of the world that has been around for thousands of years before our vain and pompous nation ever existed. An actual war would require that our military go to those regions and devistate them WITHOUT worry or concern over civilian casualties or how it will look to the international community. Nobody during WW1 or 2 ever concerned themselves with civilian casualties during a bombing raid. We did not warn Berlin or Bombholder or Bremen or any other German city you can name. Those were WARS. What we're doing now is utter stupidity.
Why are we in IRAQ when most of the 9/11 bombers were Egyptian or Saudi? Stupid people and naive citizenry. AND, I won't even comment on "Homeland Security". I work for them. BUT, let's just say that PERCEPTION (what we can make you believe) and NOT reality is the rule of law in Govt work. Live your lives, love your loved ones, or tuck your heads between your legs and cry waiting for the big one to hit again. What does it all matter? Just history repeating itself over and over and us continuously forgetting.
Posted by: Eric High | Mar 1, 2007 1:38:48 PM
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