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How to respond to the 'stupid terrorists club'
It took only a few hours after reports emerged of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's failed attempt at blowing up a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day for Internet wags to start making light of the incident, calling Abdulmutallab the "crotchbomber," the "jockstrap jihadi," and a member of the terrorist "brotherhood of the travelling pants."
Soon after, U.S. officials hit upon what must count as one of the greatest innovations in public security in years: mockery. Would-be suicide bombers now know that if they try, but screw up, their scorched underwear will be paraded before cameras for all to laugh at. Add that to the indignity of having your sad I'm-so-lonesome-I-could-die online ramblings read aloud on air by attractive young news anchors, and it makes you wonder why anyone would sign up for this terror business in the first place.
Why, you'd have to be stupid. For aspiring terrorists though, it would appear that being remarkably stupid is something close to a job requirement. The classic case is the Fort Dix six"a group of Islamic radicals who plotted to attack the U.S. army base in New Jersey in 2007. But first they made a DVD of themselves firing weapons and yelling "Allah Akbar," and it all went sideways when they took the DVD in to Circuit City to be copied; they were promptly ratted out to the authorities by staff.