Al-Qaida Scuba Attack Force?

[DA Aquamaster]

Personally, I was amazed it took as long as it did for a 767 to bring down a building. The kinetic energy in a 300,000 pound airplane traveling at 300-400 mph is quite high. When I saw it on TV, I was amazed the buildings had not collapsed right away.

The WTC was actually designed to survive the energy involved in a 707 sized aircraft strike. An airliner had previously hit a skyscraper in crappy weather so while a terrorist attack was not envisioned, an aircraft crashing into the WTC was an anticipated event.

The engineers had the impact forces figured properly, but were they got it wrong was that they did not take into account the jet fuel on board the aircraft and the effects of the heat of the resulting fire on the structure. This oversight was due in part to failing to consider the possibility of the fire mains being severed in the impact allowing the fire to burn more or less unabated. Grouping all the elevators, ducts and pipes in the center was space efficient but it put all the eggs in one basket so to speak.

 

[JimHar99]

The Chicago Sun Times is about as well trusted and respected for its accuracy and in-depth reporting as the National Enquirer.

I would imagine that for an extra $200, PADI would take you for your "Underwater Munitions" certification.

Do you think that you can go straight from AOW to the Underwater Munitions, or should you try to get about 50 dives in first?

 

[SeanQ]

Hmm. I can imagine being accosted by Homeland Security after a "suspicious" dive with a DPV.

"Honestly sir, It's not a torpedo. It's just a DPV. Could you get that light out of my eyes? What exactly do you mean by 'detained'?"

 

[SeaHound]

I am not concerned about "underwater terrorists." I am more concerned about the SAFETY precautions authorities will take against them. Generally it means all ethnic minorities (especially those of Middle Eastern/South Asian/North African descent) will be treated as potential "terrorists." I have had this done to me once. I had a diving knife packed in my luggage which the metal detector picked. The airport authorities confiscated the knife and detained me for an hour. It was not even in my hand luggage. It was a TUSA rustproof, a very expensive one packed along with other dive gear. I later found out that divers from other nationalities didnt have problems bringing in their knives. I just find it unfair that they can just SNATCH your property and disgrace you at the airport cuz your were born different.

 

[lissette]

You know... we could always make use of the great white sharks that seem to have developed a taste for Australian flesh over the last few months..... surely we could submit them to some intensive training, clockwork orange style, with the Americas Most Wanted terrorist list and let them develop the taste for terrorist flesh instead.....

 

[jbd]

that was a boat full of explosives, though... i doubt a diver could carry that much explosives to the side of a ship

even with a scooter or two, i'm pretty sure it'd be hard to get as
much of a wallop as the amount of explosives you can carry with a boat.

remember, the attack on the USS Sullivans, which was a trial-run for
the Cole, failed when the boat attacking sank because it was so loaded
with explosives...

so you're talking A LOT of explosives to be able to cause that sort of damage.

Italian divers(frogmen) did quite abit of damage to the British Navy during WWII.

 

[jbd]

it doesnt take a large scale attack to cause the media to blow it out of proportion. even a small attack, in the right place, can cause a very big panic.

This is exactly the point of terrorism. Since 9/11 has us psychologically primed, all it takes now is for something small to happen that can be directly linked to terrosrist activity to create some level of panic. There doesn't need to be any dramatic loss of life, just a dramatic event that causes disruption of daily life for awhile.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

also, don't forget Al Quaeda has been recruiting non-Middle Eastern operatives
to make it easier for them (less suspicion) to operate in the west.

so while Al Quaeda's origins and leadership remain Arabic, their ranks are now
made up of Uzbeks, Pakistanis, Egyptians, Georgians, you name it...

I don't worry about the Georgians ... Texans, on the other hand, worry me quite a bit ...

Oh ... and where did Tim McVeigh come from?

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Mako Mark]

This is exactly the point of terrorism. Since 9/11 has us psychologically primed, all it takes now is for something small to happen that can be directly linked to terrosrist activity to create some level of panic. There doesn't need to be any dramatic loss of life, just a dramatic event that causes disruption of daily life for awhile.

That is why it is called "terrorism"

not "a little bit scary-ism"

.

 

[Firebrand]

BTW - can we stop the generalisations of those from the Middle East necessarily being terrorists? There are plenty from all over the place, lets not discriminate

No offense taken, but nowhere in my post did I even mention Middle Easterners. As I recall, there was one terrorist in Oklahoma who wasn't a Middle Easterner...