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Anatomy of a Yemen Bomb Scare

Apparently Just Another Hoax

Sana'a in Yemen. Looks like a nice place.
The recent scare about packages from Yemen being sent by UPS to Jewish Synagogues in the USA is a scam if I ever saw one, with a story has changed a dozen times overnight.

At first, it was a 'dry run', just a toner cartridge with 'a couple of wires sticking out'. Then it had 'white powder' on it, which was later identified as PETN, but later 'not actually confirmed' as anything.

First, a photo of just a black toner cartridge, with - wait for it - a couple of wires sticking out. Then, a toner cartridge with - you guessed it - white powder on it.

Soon after, a toner cartridge with a printed circuit board - unconnected to anything - and which everyone knows any Yemeni could make into a bomb. And then, lo and behold, a toner cartridge with a mobile phone and lots of other additional pieces. I think we call this a 'work in progress'.
First, no bomb, just a 'suspicious package' - and NO explosives. But soon after, well, there was this 'white powder' which could (maybe) be used to 'detonate' something unspecified.

Soon after, we have 'explosives', then 'a bomb', then more explosives, then 'really powerful' explosives. Then we have the 'really powerful explosives' connected to a mobile phone, produced by someone who "clearly has a fair amount of training and experience."

Really? I think anybody with a fair amount of 'training and experience' would know that the mobile phone is the detonator, and you need to keep that with you so that you can use it to trigger the bomb. Terrorists, so far as I know, aren't sleepy enough to pack the phone with the bomb and mail it.

And then we have this 'really powerful explosive' that was going to 'destroy the aircraft in flight'. Well, maybe, but there aren't many mobile phone signals at 35,000 feet. And besides, the stupid terrorist packed the phone with the 'really dangerous bomb'. I can just hear him (or her) saying, "Ah, sh**. I just wasn't thinking."

She can make H-P Laserprinter ink cartridge bombs with circuit boards, triggered by a mobile phone, and then mailed to "Jewish synagogues" that don't exist. How come you can't do that?
First we have the 'really dangerous bombs' flying out of Yemen on a UPS flight - confirmed by Obama himself.

But then the President of Yemen says that's not true because UPS has no flights out of Yemen and hasn't had for a long time.

So then, the 'really dangerous bomb' left Yemen by bus for Germany - where it boarded a UPS flight.

And then we have UPS solemnly telling us they have cancelled all flights from Yemen - no great hardship, since they have no flights.

First we have this 22 year old medical student, caught by her ID card, and arrested along with her mother.

Confirmed by everybody, including the "Yemen and Dubai police", and, of course, President Obama himself.
But then the President of the country says they questioned the person referred to them and let her go because there was no evidence to connect her to anything. And then from the US, President Obama tells us: "officials in Yemen discovered that Ms. Samawi’s identity had apparently been stolen, and that she was not the same woman who dropped off the packages."

Those identity-stealing crooks seem to be active just everywhere - even in Yemen - getting all those Social Security numbers so they can illegally apply for house mortgages, and the VISA and Mastercard PIN numbers so they can buy HP printers and mobile phones online. Clever. Free bomb material and your tracks covered at the same time.

First, we have the 'non-bombs' addressed to "Jewish Synagogues" in Chicago - anti-Jewish plot, but then we discover that the packages couldn't have been delivered because the addresses didn't exist. So, no anti-Jewish plot after all - but a good way to permit Jews to be a "victim" of something one more time. Just covering all the bases.

Then we have a French official telling us they found the 'bomb' when it was only 17 minutes from 'being detonated'. But then from the other side of the Atlantic, US officials said there was no confirmation of a detonation time, nor that the 'bomb' could have been detonated at all. Then we have claims from the European side that the bomb could have detonated over the Eastern US, and then claims from the US that the bomb could have detonated over Canada.

My first thought was that this 'false flag' episode had Israeli fingerprints all over it, but they don't usually bungle a job as badly as this one. And that leaves us only with the CIA.

And then, "no reason to assume we have the whole plot", so we must institute more security inspections. And continue being afraid of - nothing but the CIA and FBI.

And only two weeks earlier, we had the British, French and Germans seriously angry with the Americans for initiating an international "terror alert", apparently for no cause, but just to get the Europeans' attention so the US could more easily impose additional 'screening techniques' and information gathering from Europe.

And on, and on, and on. WMDs, anyone? This is what the CIA calls "background noise" - to raise the fear level in order to justify the curtailment of yet more freedoms and to continue the all-important "WAR ON TERROR!!!"