American student caught with bomb on plane. FBI: no terrorism!

I don't think this was posted here.
summary of this CNN article.

Apparently, a college student from Connecticut flying from Buenos Aires to Boston, was caught with bomb making components in his luggage ("a Coca-Cola bottle with mud, and inside it was a tube with ammonium nitrate, a little bit of dynamite and a detonator", other source: "blasting cap, a homemade fuse and a quarter-pound of ammonium nitrate, in addition to the dynamite").

The student claimed the dynamite was a souvenir from Bolivia. He was taken into custody and is not charged yet. The incident caused only minimal disruption in a small area of the airport.
The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force responded and determined that this is not an act ot terrorism (is it terrorism after he blows up his home made bomb, or even accidentaly detonates?)...

I'm just wondering why the Feds are so cool about this. They know for a fact that American students would never detonate a bomb on a plane? Imagine this stuff was found on an arab looking guy. Wouldn't it be spattered all over the media worldwide? Why the hyperfuzz about toothpaste when bringing dynamite on a plane isn't really regarded as terrorism?

i find this whole incident very bizarre, any thoughts?

Yes, thoughts are nitrate and TNT the TNT would make the Nitrates high ordnance because of the shock required to set it up. Never heard of coca cola and mud before, that is a new one to me.

They may not be calling it terrorism because the "act of" wasn't commited, and they would need to show intent. Also thoughts are that he may not have been a terrorist for us....just a thought but what if he was going to blow up some foreigners?


Sounds awfully fishy, I would have used a huge soup can instead of coca cola, that would not even be enough material to really hurt soem one seriously. The explosive combination was probably in the can for transport. That mixture would be more of a loud flash and bang that it would be lethal. Of course within the immeadiate area it would be easily lethal, because of the blast area. But out side of a 5 meter radius it would be less than deadly, not even dangerious as a grenade.

More info will be need but the details are enough for a idea of the situation.

Originally posted by ADVISOR
They may not be calling it terrorism because the "act of" wasn't commited, and they would need to show intent.

i thought that was the whole clou of this WOT? To get them before they actually do real damage?

In today's climate of fear, bringing explosives anywhere near a plane is taken EXTREMELY seriously, everyone knows that. Planes het diverted almost daily because someome looks suspicious. Yet this is just a unfortunate misunderstanding... He simply forgot that dynamite and detonators are not allowed on a plane?

Seriously, if this was a middle eastern/asian guy (even without links to terrorism), would't it have caused a slighty bigger disruption? Another mediastorm perhaps?

After checking some other sources, it seems that the real issue is overseas security - Argentina in this case. It is still possible to check in luggage containing explosives undetected & fly back to the US.

Funny that the guy claims to be working in the mining business (hence the interest in explosives), yet is also studying psychology in Easton, Pa. He clearly didn't know that dynamite can get unstable in a pressurized environment and could have detonated, leaving a nice hole in the plane, causing it to crash (quoting William D. Waldock, aviation safety). Now, would that have been considered terrorism?

Or it was just a student experiment to test security on planes for which he might be paying a big price in the future (10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine).

gulp
mister Jones

Could be one of those things you never hear about again. Akin to the secret detainee camps supposedly throughout Europe.

The other mentionings at the bottom of the CNN article concerning other incidents seems to indicate that the heat is turning up.

I would speculate there's new funding somewhere for this terrorism, and it's allowing for more travel and everything because let's face it: Your average terrorists is not considered very high up (expendible) and they tend not to draw much of a check, yet they dedicate a lot of their time for the cause.

[Edit once again due to kbd scanner I can't get rid of. Starting to get mad...]

[edit on 26-8-2006 by bothered]

The FBI are lying. Its blindingly obvious he's a terrorist. A stick of dynamite as a souvenir? lol come on! I suppose the detonator was a souvenir too

Originally posted by TG
The FBI are lying. Its blindingly obvious he's a terrorist. A stick of dynamite as a souvenir? lol come on! I suppose the detonator was a souvenir too

He should be locked up either for his own safety as hes a potential Darwin award candidate or the publics safety if he intended to detonate it.

I agree if he was Arab the news would be all over this. They were all over that lady who left a can or whatever that was and it turned out to be nothing. The picture is becoming so disturbingly clear that its almost painful to watch.
In order for something to be shown on the news as "Terror" it has to:

1.)Include Arabs
2.)Somehow tie in to Al Queda
3.)Link back to WOT and somehow Iraq
4.)Link to Iran and why we should be tough on them

If it cant do that, or have the possibility of, then its not newsworthy. I mean, how many times have we heard about the Oklahoma city bombing even though it was the 2nd worst attack? Not much. Why? mmm because Tim was white?
Just the way I see it

[edit on 26-8-2006 by xEphon]

www.abovetopsecret.com...

the story is faked, just like yahoo did..

Even if it turned out to be true, I wouldn't be surprised if he DID forget he had it. I used to be amazed at the things people forgot they put in their bag. The head of Ion Track Instruments, before they were bought by GE, put a small strip of PETN in his bag, as a demonstration (they make explosives detectors) and 10 trips later was reorganizing his bag and found it in there. Completely forgot about it. I've seen dummy grenades, bullets, all kinds of things in bags that people forgot they had in there.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
Even if it turned out to be true, I wouldn't be surprised if he DID forget he had it. I used to be amazed at the things people forgot they put in their bag. The head of Ion Track Instruments, before they were bought by GE, put a small strip of PETN in his bag, as a demonstration (they make explosives detectors) and 10 trips later was reorganizing his bag and found it in there. Completely forgot about it. I've seen dummy grenades, bullets, all kinds of things in bags that people forgot they had in there.

My shooting instructor (The area one covering both scotland and northern england) forgot he had several .22 rounds until he got to the edinburgh terminal security station lol....the armed police officer was a bit shocked when he pulled out several live rounds lol.

Fear, Fear, protect me, protect me, take my rights away, protect me, fear, fear.....

They do it every time.

[edit on 27-8-2006 by AscendedMaster]

I agree that fear is a motivator. But an even greater one is Apathy.
This news might just interfere with someone's Prime Time TV viewing, or the latest in what does make life worthwhile.