Author Topic: al-Qaeda vs Black Death (Read 11335 times)

Manedwolf · « **Reply #25 on:** January 20, 2009, 09:05:34 AM »

Quote from: PTK on January 20, 2009, 02:22:46 AM

The manual for my PLR-16 has no such language in it.

I was thinking of the PLR-16. The foldup one. And I believe it was 6000 rounds.

The PLR-16 is a fun toy, but it's obnoxiously loud, and therefore, I think, useless for defense. You'd probably blow your eardrums indoors before hitting the bad guy. I tried one, and even with plugs and muffs, it was still painful. Even moreso than a short M4, I don't know what the deal is with it, but it is.

I love the 2000, but I'm not that impressed with their rifle caliber offerings.

MechAg94 · « **Reply #26 on:** January 20, 2009, 10:43:56 AM »

So how does the Sub 2000 do against black plague? :)

I'll have to keep an eye out for those. A sub gun might match up with a pistol pretty well.

Manedwolf · « **Reply #27 on:** January 20, 2009, 02:43:12 PM »

Quote from: MechAg94 on January 20, 2009, 10:43:56 AM

So how does the Sub 2000 do against black plague? :)

I'll have to keep an eye out for those. A sub gun might match up with a pistol pretty well.

Well, it is a sort of EBR. Might be useless against the Red Death, though. You'd need something Soviet to fight that.

And AFAIK, the Sub can be had in S&W 59, Glock, or Beretta flavor.

PTK · « **Reply #28 on:** January 20, 2009, 05:48:08 PM »

Quote from: Manedwolf on January 20, 2009, 09:05:34 AM

The PLR-16 is a fun toy, but it's obnoxiously loud, and therefore, I think, useless for defense. You'd probably blow your eardrums indoors before hitting the bad guy. I tried one, and even with plugs and muffs, it was still painful. Even moreso than a short M4, I don't know what the deal is with it, but it is.

Yep. That's why mine is silenced...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGj6Kdmz-5U&feature=channel_page

RocketMan · « **Reply #29 on:** January 21, 2009, 12:20:25 AM »

Hmmm...it looks like they were playing with something that got away from them. The article says it wasn't plague. I wonder what it was, then?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,480864,00.html

Report: Al Qaeda Group Bungled Test of Unconventional Weapon
Tuesday, January 20, 2009

By Eli Lake, Washington Times

An Al Qaeda affiliate in Algeria closed a base earlier this month after an experiment with unconventional weapons went awry, a senior U.S. intelligence official said Monday.

The official, who spoke on the condition he not be named because of the sensitive nature of the issue, said he could not confirm press reports that the accident killed at least 40 Al Qaeda operatives, but he said the mishap led the militant group to shut down a base in the mountains of Tizi Ouzou province in eastern Algeria.

He said authorities in the first week of January intercepted an urgent communication between the leadership of Al Qaeda in the Land of the Maghreb (AQIM) and Al Qaeda's leadership in the tribal region of Pakistan on the border with Afghanistan. The communication suggested that an area sealed to prevent leakage of a biological or chemical substance had been breached, according to the official.

"We don't know if this is biological or chemical," the official said.

The story was first reported by the British tabloid the Sun, which said the Al Qaeda operatives died after being infected with a strain of bubonic plague, the disease that killed a third of Europe's population in the 14th century. But the intelligence official dismissed that claim.

MicroBalrog · « **Reply #30 on:** January 21, 2009, 12:58:51 AM »

I sure am afraid of them now.

Bogie · « **Reply #31 on:** January 21, 2009, 02:24:43 AM »

Well, I am...

Consider this... An hour before they get on airplanes to the United States, or Israel, a group of martyrs are infected with smallpox, ebola, or something equally nasty. All they have to do when they get to their destinations is hang out in public places, ride mass transit, etc., etc...

That scares the hell out of me.

Manedwolf · « **Reply #32 on:** January 21, 2009, 02:30:26 AM »

Quote from: Bogie on January 21, 2009, 02:24:43 AM

Well, I am...

Consider this... An hour before they get on airplanes to the United States, or Israel, a group of martyrs are infected with smallpox, ebola, or something equally nasty. All they have to do when they get to their destinations is hang out in public places, ride mass transit, etc., etc...

That scares the hell out of me.

If one person gets onto a transcontinental flight with ebola, everyone on the airplane has ebola.

MicroBalrog · « **Reply #33 on:** January 21, 2009, 05:42:57 AM »

Quote from: Bogie on January 21, 2009, 02:24:43 AM

Well, I am...

Consider this... An hour before they get on airplanes to the United States, or Israel, a group of martyrs are infected with smallpox, ebola, or something equally nasty. All they have to do when they get to their destinations is hang out in public places, ride mass transit, etc., etc...

That scares the hell out of me.

Look.

Time and time again the Scary Weapons programs of various jihadis fail spectacularly, with them dying in horrible suffering. Recently (a year ago) we saw a chemical weapons facility in Syria become contaminated because they were attaching an Iranian-made warhead to a rocket and accidentally triggered it. About three years back the Palestinians had built a large, explosives-laden UAV. It took off, spun in the air, and guided itself accurately to the location of its radio controller.

That's what these people are like. Even now they have something of 10% of their Grad rockets miss Israel. This is actually an improvement in their marksmanship.

That's what these people are like, ALL THE TIME. They fail so often, so hard, and so spectacularly, it's difficult for anybody who watches their activities to respect them as enemies.

Manedwolf · « **Reply #34 on:** January 21, 2009, 11:09:39 AM »

Quote from: MicroBalrog on January 21, 2009, 05:42:57 AM

Look.

Time and time again the Scary Weapons programs of various jihadis fail spectacularly, with them dying in horrible suffering. Recently (a year ago) we saw a chemical weapons facility in Syria become contaminated because they were attaching an Iranian-made warhead to a rocket and accidentally triggered it. About three years back the Palestinians had built a large, explosives-laden UAV. It took off, spun in the air, and guided itself accurately to the location of its radio controller.

That's what these people are like. Even now they have something of 10% of their Grad rockets miss Israel. This is actually an improvement in their marksmanship.

That's what these people are like, ALL THE TIME. They fail so often, so hard, and so spectacularly, it's difficult for anybody who watches their activities to respect them as enemies.

They managed to destroy two very large buildings with airliners.

They only have to succeed once.

slugcatcher · « **Reply #35 on:** January 21, 2009, 11:15:58 AM »

Quote from: MicroBalrog on January 21, 2009, 05:42:57 AM

That's what these people are like, ALL THE TIME. They fail so often, so hard, and so spectacularly, it's difficult for anybody who watches their activities to respect them as enemies.

They only have to do it right once. 9/11 is an example and that was a 75% success rate on the 1st try. Even then the one plane that didn't hit a building succeeded in killing people so it was still a victory to them. Given the opportunity to kill hundreds of thousands or millions of infidels means they won't stop because they lost 40 terrorists. Do not underestimate their determination. Their hatred knows no limits.

MicroBalrog · « **Reply #36 on:** January 21, 2009, 11:23:22 AM »

Quote from: Manedwolf on January 21, 2009, 11:09:39 AM

They managed to destroy two very large buildings with airliners.

They only have to succeed once.

I'm sorry, I refuse to base my life and political views on the fear of people whose military doctrine consists of tying their own children together with ropes and ordering them to run towards enemy artillery.

I understand building fallout shelters because you're afraid of the Soviets. Basing your entire foreign policy on fear of these idiots ? Compromising with the welfare state because 'right now the threat is too great?' All of Al-Quaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah and so forth, combined, cannot pose as much of a threat to Western civilization as Soviet Communism - or, to that matter, Western welfare-statism.

These people are just not that scary.

Talk to me when they learn to, I don't know, hit the country they're aiming at with mortars.

Manedwolf · « **Reply #37 on:** January 21, 2009, 11:28:36 AM »

MB, they can fail ten thousand times.

They only have to succeed once with a bioweapon to cause mass casualties and panic. Once.

Likewise with a nuke.

MicroBalrog · « **Reply #38 on:** January 21, 2009, 11:30:31 AM »

Quote from: Manedwolf on January 21, 2009, 11:28:36 AM

MB, they can fail ten thousand times.

They only have to succeed once with a bioweapon to cause mass casualties and panic. Once.

Likewise with a nuke.

And the likelihood of such a threat should not be brought into account? And the costs, political, social, and economic, of protecting against an unlikely threat?

This is like taping a second trauma plate to your chest.

K Frame · « **Reply #39 on:** January 21, 2009, 11:38:39 AM »

At one point the coordinated hijacking of four civilian airlines, which would then be used as guided missiles to kill several thousand people in the United States, was considered to be an unlikely threat.

Calls for increased screening were likened to "taping a second trauma plate to one's chest."

Guess we know how that one turned out. No problem at all, right?

slugcatcher · « **Reply #40 on:** January 21, 2009, 12:12:27 PM »

Quote from: MicroBalrog on January 21, 2009, 11:23:22 AM

These people are just not that scary.

Then why is Israel in Gaza?

MicroBalrog · « **Reply #41 on:** January 21, 2009, 12:16:06 PM »

Quote from: slugcatcher on January 21, 2009, 12:12:27 PM

Then why is Israel in Gaza?

Israel is not in Gaza.

slugcatcher · « **Reply #42 on:** January 21, 2009, 12:37:30 PM »

I'm referring to Israel's military. I have been avoiding news of any kind the past few days and now I see they left. Why were they there to begin with?

MicroBalrog · « **Reply #43 on:** January 21, 2009, 12:52:49 PM »

Quote from: slugcatcher on January 21, 2009, 12:37:30 PM

I'm referring to Israel's military. I have been avoiding news of any kind the past few days and now I see they left. Why were they there to begin with?

Because the idiots kept firing rockets at us.

You are missing my point. I don't say we should do nothing against terrorism. But there is such a thing as doing too much.

slugcatcher · « **Reply #44 on:** January 21, 2009, 01:37:43 PM »

Quote from: MicroBalrog on January 21, 2009, 12:52:49 PM

Because the idiots kept firing rockets at us.

You are missing my point. I don't say we should do nothing against terrorism. But there is such a thing as doing too much.

Those little, inaccurate rockets built in a muffler shop bother you but biological terrorism that can kill thousands to hundreds of thousands doesn't because you view these guys as the keystone cops? That doesn't make sense to me at all.

What is "doing too much"?

MicroBalrog · « **Reply #45 on:** January 21, 2009, 01:40:23 PM »

"Bother me"?

What do you mean "bother me"?

I don't even go down to the bomb shelter when I hear the air raid alarm.

Let me continue the analogy:

There are people in my neighborhood who refused to come out of their homes for the duration of the conflict, reducing themselves to living in their bomb shelters 24/7.

THAT is doing too much. Being so concerned about an unlikely threat that you're unable to attend to your more pressing problems (your job, for instance).

K Frame · « **Reply #46 on:** January 21, 2009, 01:42:03 PM »

"Those little, inaccurate rockets built in a muffler shop bother you but biological terrorism that can kill thousands to hundreds of thousands doesn't because you view these guys as the keystone cops? That doesn't make sense to me at all."

Phew. Thank God I'm not the only one who sees a huge disconnect there.

The rockets have proven to be less dangerous than walking across the street, so why the incredibly overactive response?

Then there's the concept of Israel handing out gas masks to virtually the entire population.

What's up with that massive over reaction?

Bogie · « **Reply #47 on:** January 21, 2009, 02:02:12 PM »

If you have a sufficient supply of martyrs, cooking up a supply of smallpox and disseminating it would not be all that hard, provided they got a good seed stock.

Anthrax is an area denial weapon, akin to a minefield. Smallpox is more like a neutron bomb - it'll kill most of the population...

They do NOT have to do this in a high-tech fashion. They didn't build four cruise missiles. They stole four airplanes.

I'm thinking that you want to think that they are incompetent, because that comforts you somewhat. Step back from that, and look at the situation dispassionately. All they have to do is have something hold together enough ONCE. That's the scary part.

slugcatcher · « **Reply #48 on:** January 21, 2009, 02:44:59 PM »

"This was uncomfortably close [A rocket fell a block away from me]"

Perhaps "uncomfortable" would have been better than "bother".

We're not in a fetal position under our desks because terrorist are cooking up biological weapons.

Physics · « **Reply #49 on:** January 21, 2009, 04:22:09 PM »

Micro, I think the point here is that even being that they are so stupid, and fail miserably all the time, it only takes 1 time for them to succeed, even with just blind luck. This whole situation could even be the start of it. All it would take is for one "martyr" to think, "Hey, all my buddies are dying of this sickness that's really nasty. (Light bulb goes on above head) How about I infect myself and fly to America!" Or Israel, or Germany, or anywhere.

They could use this mishap to their advantage. They likely won't, but all it takes is 1 person to have an idea, and the effect is catastrophic. It's like the fear of your airline crashing, you don't fear it because it is likely to happen. You fear it because if it does happen, you're screwed (I'm not referring to any specific person FYI). It's the result that people fear, not the chances of it happening, same thing with people afraid of sharks.

News:

Author Topic: al-Qaeda vs Black Death (Read 11335 times)