Err… right.

I can understand the concern even if the actions taken were a bit off.

I mean if this thing did happen to be a chemical weapon or IED of some sort, wouldn’t detonating it be quite the wrong thing to do?

.~.

If I were a terrorist, I’d just start leaving dozens of “suspicious packages” all over the place, then sit back and watch the chaos ensue. I’d make sure that the “suspicious packages” themselves were cheap and harmless; and that they looked more-or-less innocuous, but just suspicious enough to trigger the paranoia of the public and the authorities. I guarantee that, if the bomb squad had to be called in to blow up a dozen or more backpacks, suitcases, parcels, crates, tied up bundles of rags, etc. all in the same city and on the same day, the resulting media circus would be a fearmonger’s wet dream.

It’s a lose-lose situation for the authorities, who are under pressure from the public to take these potential threats seriously, yet end up looking like they’re overreacting when the threats turn out to be false alarms. But it’s a win-win situation for the terrorists, who get to spread fear, force the authorities to waste their resources on wild goose chases, and make the authorities look bad, but without the terrorists ever having to take major risks or incur major costs, and without really making themselves look all that bad (since actually killing people is bad PR).

But, I don’t think that real terrorists would ever follow this strategy. They’re simply too wedded to their “kill the infidel” mindset to ever consider exploring new methods that don’t have the potential of producing a significant body count.

Why does a podunk town like this have a bomb squad, anyway?

I grew up in a pretty sleepy college town. The last time I remember hearing about the bomb squad detonating a “suspicious package” it turned out to be a bag of pills delivered from the local pharmacy to the front porch of the intended recipient, an elderly woman who had apparently forgotten she’d ordered them.

I like to think the pills were for treatment of paranoia.

http://boingboing.net/2008/09/30/mark-jenkins-homeles.html

For some reason it wouldn’t have been as funny if it were one of those fugly, cheap, pink giant teddy bears you get from shooting booths at the fair. The fact that it was a *pony*… it really has a je ne sait quoi about it. I mean The lockdown was lifted after the pony was blown up HAS to become a T-shirt or bumper sticker, stats.

“Someone hates this pony! Stay away from the pony! Oh no, more ponys!”

Is it just me, or does the tag “FurReal” make this pony sound like some kind of, you know . . .

* * *
The lockdown was lifted after the pony was blown up.

Oh, Brave New World . . .

I can hear the conversations in the police stations now, “Hey Tom lets use the robot we got with the terrorism money the feds gave us. It’s just been gathering dust for years. We’ll blow stuff up too, this is going to be awesome!”

Reminds me of the aliens in the Fallout 3 addon Mothership Zeta, who were apparently planning to conquer the earth with robotic toy ponies.

I can see how stuff like this happens though. We give police departments all this cool anti-terrorism gear and training but they rarely get a chance to use it. Give a guy a hammer and everything starts to look like a nail.