Nihilist Dunderheads

The press makes a lot of hay about the planning abilities of anyone who can destroy a building, like the one in Oklahoma, and especially like the Twin Towers in New York City. Their emphasis is largely on the part of the definition of Mastermind, which alludes to "A highly intelligent person, especially one who plans and directs a complex or difficult project: i.e.: the mastermind of a robbery."

Planning the destruction of buildings, bridges and other infrastructure is in great measure to a) secure the destruction of the target, and b) do so as safely as possible. For example, the controlled implosion of a building requires blasters to carefully map each charge ahead of time. By reading the blueprints of a building, they can select the correct structural support to target, what type of explosives to use and ultimately, time them to go off correctly. They may have to implode the building so it will spill over to an adjacent parking lot. They may have to pulverize the building so it will fall exclusively over its foundation, a feat requiring such skill that only a very few (count them on your fingers) demolition companies in the world that can accomplish such a feat. The demolition mastermind will pay attention to minute details, calculate accurate delays between blasts and ensure that the resulting pile of debris will sit exactly where it should.

Conversely, a "terrorist mastermind" to me is an oxymoron. In fact, I call them "Nihilist Dunderheads". Known Nihilist Dunderheads are Abu Musab Zarqawi and Bin-Laden. The Russians are a little more reserved when it comes to qualifying what their enemies are. For example, they refer to Shamil Basayev as a Chechen terrorist warlord. Saddam Hussein is not a Nihilist Dunderhead but he is surely a dunderhead.

A mastermind to me is a person with the ability to create and build huge skyscrapers and tall towers capable of holding thousands of people while withstanding strong winds, storms, and earthquakes. It surely takes a mastermind to build the complex, long and deep tunnels (French-English Channel); long, tall and sturdy bridges. It takes a mastermind to build a Space Station, keep it manned, and to keep it supplied. It takes a mastermind to fly robots to Mars, design them to work for 90 days, and have them working well past their original intent, while controlling them via radio from thousands of miles right here on Earth. It takes a mastermind to come up with vaccinations and cures to diseases and medical treatments for the suffering. I've always considered it more difficult to create than to destroy. I also consider it harder to destroy safely than to destroy carelessly and to purposefully kill people as a result.

The reason I believe the so-called terrorist mastermind are dunderheads is because they have no sense of timing, and most importantly, those who do some of the planning, believe in an irrational end result. They believe they can kill or threaten to kill so many, that a) Islam will be the only religion left, and b) that an Iranian-like theocracy will emerge from the ruins, dust and blood pools. Their failed ideology is guaranteed by the same principle that not one non-contradictory system of government can be held together for any length of time, if only by the sword or the gun. Barely, will such a world-unified body evolve democratically as per the will of the people. There are many reasons for this: a) diverse world opinion, b) natural resources, and c) political power and a few more.

Luckily for the world, their sense of timing is absolutely and hysterically ridiculous. For whatever reason Osama Bin-Laden chose September 11, 2001, he surely timed it wrong. I say this because American Liberalism believes in negotiations with any and all enemies, regardless of the nature of the enemy. Rush Limbaugh accurately states that "how can you negotiate with terrorists if their primary grievance is that they want all non-Muslims dead" (not his exact words). Where would you start the negotiation? Let them kill a certain group first, and only delay them killing the rest of us sometime later?

Furthermore, American Liberalism does not believe there is a "war" on terror per say. They consider this "war" to be an "aggressive police action", all the while they would intend to afford all and any found accused to be given "due process", as per the criminal justice system.

It stands to reason then, that the timing of the destruction of theTwin Towers, should have occurred during the Clinton administration, in his last year as President of the United States. The country would have united with the Democrats, to fight some kind of an oncoming battle with the fanatical terrorists. It would have helped the Lewinsky legacy to abate and George W. Bush would never have become President, knowing how close that election was. The Taliban would be in control in Afghanistan, Saddam would be surrounded as he was, but nevertheless in power.

Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait was also ill timed. American Conservatives in power typically do not like to talk with its enemies, until the enemy is sufficiently weakened and preferably destroyed. American Conservatives typically also mean what they say, when they say: "Saddam must pull out of Kuwait. This invasion will not stand", or "Saddam and his family has 48 hours to leave Iraq". Of course, in both cases, Saddam ignored the crazy Americans, and the results we already know. Had those threats been uttered by President Clinton, Saddam would have suffered more UN sanctions to profit from, and a few bombs would have been dropped on civilian manufacturing facilities, preferably Kurdish ones.

I fear that it is possible Bin-Laden has learned this timing lesson. Although various attempts at terrorizing Americans on US soil have been foiled (apparently 10 or more), none were as grand as 9-11 (that we know of). Lulled into a sense of security, America has voted back into power a Democratic Party headed by the ever-sensible Dr. Howard Dean, the straight-shooter John Kerry and the grandmother of all grandmothers, Nancy Pelosi. If Bin-Laden times it right, he will wait until after the 2008 elections, when Liberals can sweep to victory if they can claim credit for the US' "rebounding" economy as of 2006. They will claim $2.20/gallon gasoline, 4.4% unemployment, a sparkling Dow and no terrorist attack on US soil during their tenure. But I might be wrong.

However, if the Democrats do win the Presidency, and subsequently Bin-Laden successfully attacks the U.S. on U.S. soil again, I shall weep, and then point to this article. Only then could Bin-Laden be called a Terrorist Mastermind. I fear for Israel, because of the negotiations the Democrat President will undoubtedly undertake following such a disaster. After all, they will need to start somewhere, not too close to home.

Another reason why timing is so critical for the Dunderheads out there, is to consider what effect it would have had, had the other terrorist attacks been simultaneous: London, Madrid, Chechnyan School, Khobar Towers Bombing, Paris Subway Explosion, U.S. Embassy Bombings in East Africa, Tel-Aviv Nightclub Bombing, Attack on the Indian Parliament, Kidnapping of Daniel Pearl, Attack on a French Tanker, Car Bomb Explosion in Bali, Chechen Rebels Seize a Moscow Theater, Suicide Bomb Attacks in Morocco, Synagogue Bombings in Istanbul. The multiple surprise attacks would have enabled each other, because little anti-terrorism preparation would have been initiated. Obviously, the coordination of activities with hate-filled bloodthirsty groups is thankfully something near impossible. Their power could have been greater, and if timed correctly, they could have earned unknown Liberal concessions.

Honestly, if the objective of these Dunderheads is to cripple America, they surely have insane ideas bordering on the laughable. It would be like bombing the wallet of your enemy, rather than hitting what makes your enemy walk, talk, breath and otherwise allowing he or she to replace the wallet you destroyed (you mastermind you). Either you wish to destroy your enemy, or you want some kind of Hollywood and/or mass media attention. Sometimes, it seems like they simply want attention, but I'm not fooled.

There are but two elements, two resources the Dunderhead could attack, that could shut down and cripple America: a) fresh water (life blood of the empire) and b) electricity (its heart). Getting at the fresh water would require some very significant bio-terrorism, which would of course prevent the victorious Islamic Fundamentalist Whackos from colonizing US land (they may not care). The electrical grid is a significantly easier target. Just look at all those hydro polls, and those lovely transformers hanging everywhere. Anything looking like the pre-industrial revolution would be desirable.

Remember the massive power outage of Thursday, August 14, 2003 that occurred throughout parts of the northeastern United States and eastern Canada? It was the largest blackout in North American history, and affected an estimated 40 million people in 8 U.S. states and 11 million people in the Canadian province of Ontario, with related financial losses estimated at $5.9 billion USD. This covered an area roughly 9,250 square miles causing most interstate passenger rail transportation in the affected areas to be shut down, with a huge impact on international air transportation and financial markets. Most telephone and cellular communications were also disrupted. Transmission circuit protective devices at Sir Adam Beck Generating Station in Niagara Falls, and at switching stations in Cornwall, and in central New York State, prevented the collapse of a large portion of the northeastern grid. Just imagine, that something as common as a tree in Walton Hills Ohio, falling onto a power line having such disastrous consequences.

You may ask yourself, why is Guy Michaud telling them what to hit and how? Because you can give anyone a brick and some mortar, but it doesn't mean that person will be able to build anything. You can give anyone a bomb, but it doesn't mean that person will know its tactical usage to effect maximum damage. Lastly, the Nihilist Dunderhead cannot achieve the required timing to create cascading short-circuits to shut down the entire US grid. If they did, it would be game over for America. No one would be able to get cash from any bank or ATM; no one would be able to get fuel for cars and trucks; no air conditioning and no heating (except for burning wood and coal); no traffic lights; no airline could function; no taxable cash sales transactions; no lighting; no hospital and medical care; no truck, train or any kind of deliveries of supplies except by animal-drawn vehicles; and fearfully, no security checks anywhere, police on foot or animal only, resulting in chaos. Oh, and no filming of movies in Hollywood (for those in another world) or anywhere else in America, including Toronto (for those who don't know where Toronto is).

The Nihilist Dunderhead could then hit US cities with dirty bombs brought through Mexico and Canada and effectively neuter the last super-power. How would the US Navy react will all those nuclear submarines deployed throughout the seas in the world? Who would they bomb? All its enemies at once?

What's America to do? I would suggest that America bury all power cables, and prevent another innocent tree from causing a massive power failure again in the future. Besides, those cables and transformers hanging on poles everywhere are very ugly, in my opinion. Buried power cables, especially the main grid distribution cables would be harder for terrorists to find, and harder to hit. Sure it will cost a lot of money, but if you realize that eventually, they will target the grid, you couldn't start soon enough. The electrical grid is America's soft underbelly, after the US borders with Mexico and Canada. Now that the Democrats are in power, surely they will implement their policy on Iraq and the so-called "war on terror", and use those savings to start this important work.

It could be that because so few deaths were caused by the great blackout, the call to action has been rather minimal. No follow-up engineering event to secure the grid has been initiated that I know of, and no new Nuclear Power plant has been built. This, despite the growth in US population, which reached 300 million on October 17th, 2006.

One day, a true Terrorist Mastermind will appear, and the mass media will not even be able to report on it. Hollywood will not even be able to make a movie about it, because their headless bodies will anoint every synagogue, every church and every shopping mall. The last walking Democrat will seek the Mastermind, in an attempt to have a dialogue and resolve the issues behind the conflict. The last walking Republican conservative will continue to search for more weapons and bullets, knowing that dialogue is futile. The realization will be a bit late by then.

Let's hope they remain the Nihilist Dunderheads that they are.