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View Full Version : Pressure-Cookers Bombs are a Terrorist Favorite - Used in Boston




Mani
04-17-2013, 12:41 AM
As the article points out. Terrorists use pressure cookers to make bombs. In fact they publicize online HOW to make pressure cooker bombs.

It seems to be a favorite weapon of terrorists.

I think it's an easy decision, to start regulating the sale of pressure cookers. Everyone who buys a pressure cooker must be registered and monitored. And they shouldn't be allowed to buy more than 1 pressure cooker. If someone is buying multiple pressure cookers, it probably means they are cooking up something dangerous...

I don't think we need to ban pressure cookers, people have a right to cook beef stew, but I don't think we need to argue why we need to regulate the sale of these devices that are commonly used by terrorists.

http://news.yahoo.com/pressure-cooker-bombs-suspected-boston-blast-214219990--spt.html

BOSTON (AP) — Federal agents zeroed in Tuesday on how the Boston Marathon bombing was carried out — with kitchen pressure cookers packed with explosives, nails and other lethal shrapnel — but said they still didn't know who did it and why.

An intelligence bulletin issued to law enforcement and released late Tuesday includes a picture of a mangled pressure cooker and a torn black bag the FBI says were part of a bomb.

The FBI and other law enforcement agencies repeatedly pleaded for members of the public to come forward with photos, videos or anything suspicious they might have seen or heard.

"The range of suspects and motives remains wide open," Richard DesLauriers, FBI agent in charge in Boston, said at a news conference. He vowed to "go to the ends of the Earth to identify the subject or subjects who are responsible for this despicable crime."

President Barack Obama branded the attack an act of terrorism but said officials don't know "whether it was planned and executed by a terrorist organization, foreign or domestic, or was the act of a malevolent individual."

Scores of victims of the Boston bombing remained in hospitals, many with grievous injuries, a day after the twin explosions near the marathon's finish line killed three people, wounded more than 170 and reawakened fears of terrorism. A 9-year-old girl and 10-year-old boy were among 17 victims listed in critical condition.

Heightening jitters in Washington, where security already had been tightened after the bombing, a letter addressed to a senator and poisoned with ricin or a similarly toxic substance was intercepted at a mail facility outside the capital, lawmakers said.

There was no immediate indication the episode was related to the Boston attack. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the letter was sent to Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi.

Officials found that the bombs in Boston consisted of explosives put in ordinary, 1.6-gallon pressure cookers, one with shards of metal and ball bearings, the other with nails, according to a person close to the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity because the probe was still going on.

Both bombs were stuffed into black duffel bags and left on the ground, the person said.

DesLauriers confirmed that investigators had found pieces of black nylon from a bag or backpack and fragments of BBs and nails, possibly contained in a pressure cooker. He said the items were sent to the FBI laboratory at Quantico, Va., for analysis.

The FBI said it is looking at what Boston television station WHDH said are photos sent by a viewer that show the scene right before and after the bombs went off. The photo shows something next to a mailbox that appears to be a bag, but it's unclear what the significance is.

"We're taking a look at hundreds of photos and that's one of them," said Jason Pack, FBI spokesman in Boston.

Investigators said they have not yet determined what was used to set off the explosives.

Pressure-cooker explosives have been used in international terrorism, and have been recommended for lone-wolf operatives by Al-Qaida's branch in Yemen.

But information on how to make the bombs is readily found online, and U.S. officials said Americans should not rush to judgment in linking the attack to overseas terrorists.

DesLauriers said there had been no claim of responsibility for the attack.

He urged people to come forward with anything suspicious, such as hearing someone express an interest in explosives or a desire to attack the marathon, seeing someone carrying a dark heavy bag at the race, or hearing mysterious explosions recently.

"Someone knows who did this," the FBI agent said.

The bombs exploded 10 or more seconds apart, tearing off victims' limbs and spattering streets with blood, instantly turning the festive race into a hellish scene of confusion, horror and heroics.

The blasts killed 8-year-old Martin Richard of Boston, 29-year-old Krystle Campbell of Medford, Mass., and a third victim, identified only as a graduate student at Boston University.

Doctors who treated the wounded corroborated reports that the bombs were packed with shrapnel intended to cause mayhem.

"We've removed BBs and we've removed nails from kids. One of the sickest things for me was just to see nails sticking out of a little girl's body," said Dr. David Mooney, director of the trauma center at Boston Children's Hospital.

At Massachusetts General Hospital, all four amputations performed there were above the knee, with no hope of saving more of the legs, said Dr. George Velmahos, chief of trauma surgery.

"It wasn't a hard decision to make," he said. "We just completed the ugly job that the bomb did."

Obama plans to visit Boston on Thursday to attend an interfaith service in honor of the victims. He has traveled four times to cities reeling from mass violence, most recently in December after the schoolhouse shooting in Newtown, Conn.

In the wake of the attack, security was stepped up around the White House and across the country. Police massed at federal buildings and transit centers in the nation's capital, critical response teams deployed in New York City, and security officers with bomb-sniffing dogs spread through Chicago's Union Station.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said that the stepped-up security was a precaution and that there was no evidence the bombings were part of a wider plot.

Pressure-cooker explosives have been used in Afghanistan, India, Nepal and Pakistan, according to a July 2010 intelligence report by the FBI and the Homeland Security Department. One of the three devices used in the May 2010 Times Square attempted bombing was a pressure cooker, the report said.

"Placed carefully, such devices provide little or no indication of an impending attack," the report said.

The Pakistani Taliban, which claimed responsibility for the 2010 attempt in Times Square, has denied any part in the Boston Marathon attack.

Al-Qaida's branch in Yemen gave a detailed description of how to make a bomb using a pressure cooker in a 2010 issue of Inspire, its English-language online publication aimed at would-be terrorists acting alone.

In a chapter titled "Make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom," it says "the pressurized cooker is the most effective method" for making a simple bomb, and it provides directions.

Naser Jason Abdo, a former U.S. soldier, was sentenced to life in prison last year after being convicted of planning to use a pair of bombs made from pressure cookers in an attack on a Texas restaurant frequented by soldiers from Fort Hood. He was found with the Inspire article.

Investigators in the Boston bombing are also combing surveillance tapes from businesses around the finish line and asking travelers at Logan Airport to share any photos or video that might help.

"This is probably one of the most photographed areas in the country yesterday," said Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis. He said two security sweeps of the marathon route had been conducted before the bombing.

Boston police and firefighter unions announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to arrests.

tangent4ronpaul
04-17-2013, 05:35 AM
A Short Recent History of Pressure-Cooker Bombs
http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/16/a-short-history-of-pressure-cooker-bombs/

(article has links)

Authorities are now saying the explosive devices used in the Boston attack were fashioned from pressure cookers. Yes, like the kitchen pot you might use to cook rice at home. As it happens, pressure cookers have a nefarious reputation in counterterrorism circles. In 2004, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was concerned enough about pressure-cooker bombs to issue an alert to federal and state security officials: “A technique commonly taught in Afghan terrorist training camps is the use/conversion of pressure cookers into [improvised explosive devices],” the bulletin warned.

That bulletin cited several plots from 2002 to 2004 to use pressure-cooker bombs in France, India and Nepal. But more recently there have been at least three other instances of would-be terrorists in the West, all of them Islamic radicals, in possession of pressure cookers for reasons that seemed not to involve having friends over for dinner. One was an Army private linked to the 2009 Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan, who had reportedly been taking bombmaking tips from al-Qaeda’s short-lived (literally) online magazine Inspire and had various weapons and explosives along with his cooking pot. (The magazine reportedly recommended pressure cookers as explosive devices.) A 2010 suicide bomber in Stockholm had rigged a pressure-cooker bomb that failed to detonate. And as a newer DHS warning about the kitchen devices noted, the failed 2010 SUV bomb in New York’s Times Square was a pressure-cooker device containing 120 firecrackers. The same DHS memo refers to a March 2010 bombing with a pressure cooker at a Western Christian aid agency in Pakistan that killed six people.

Counterterrorism officials are surely well aware of these facts and studying any related leads. But it’s important to bear in mind that the ability to make these bombs is hardly unique to al-Qaeda and its sympathizers. Members of at least one prominent white-supremacist website have shared terrorist tips from Inspire, which one called “highly recommended reading.” Pressure-cooker bombs are also discussed in detail on this anarchist site, which describes how to build what is “affectionately known as a HELLHOUND.”

Nor do these devices require much money or special training. As DHS put it in 2004:

Typically, these bombs are made by placing TNT or other explosives in a pressure cooker and attaching a blasting cap at the top of the pressure cooker. The size of the blast depends on the size of the pressure cooker and the amount of explosive placed inside.
Pressure-cooker bombs are made with readily available materials and can be as simple or as complex as the builder decides. These types of devices can be initiated using simple electronic components including, but not limited to, digital watches, garage-door openers, cell phones or pagers. As a common cooking utensil, the pressure cooker is often overlooked when searching vehicles, residences or merchandise crossing the U.S. borders

The identity of the Boston bomber or bombers remains very much unclear, and it would be foolish to jump to conclusions. It would also be foolish to ignore the twisted recent history of the pressure cooker as a method for killing innocent people.

-t

tangent4ronpaul
04-17-2013, 09:06 AM
FOX News intellignece "expert" Catherine somebody, displays her ignorance on explosives.

She stated that the explosive was black powder, and that it was set off with a blasting cap. uh, right...
She stated that black powder contains taggants - they don't.
She stated that since a small circuit board was included in the found remains that the trigger was a cell phone. Every one knows that call phones are the only thing that use circuit boards. Oh, and wouldn't putting one in a pressure cooker kinda act like a Faraday cage?
She stated that the devices had to be put together right before and close to the bombing site - uh, why?

anyway, here's another interesting article:

What Clues Do Explosions Leave Behind?
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2013/04/boston_marathon_bomb_forensics_what_clues_police_c an_gather_from_the_explosion.html

In the aftermath of yesterday’s bombing at the Boston Marathon, investigators are working a 12-block crime scene to determine what kind of bomb was used and what kind of bomber—domestic or international—planned the attack. What sort of forensic evidence do explosions leave behind?

Bomb fragments, residue from the explosive, bits of electronics, and sometimes even the bombers’ own fingerprints and DNA. One of the first things investigators do at a bombing site is determine what kind of explosive was used. There are a few ways to do this. For example, forensic scientists can use a handheld ion mobility spectrometer to sniff the air around the blast for traces of the explosives. (This is similar to what’s used by the Transportation Security Administration if they ask you to step into a puffer machine.) Some of these devices can identify the specific type of explosive in the air, which is named in a digital readout. Other investigators may run color tests, in which bomb residues are applied with solutions containing reagents that change color in response to specific explosives. Both of these tests are considered presumptive and can be confirmed with procedures like chromatography and mass spectrometry back at the lab.

If the explosive is unusual, investigators may be able to determine where it was purchased. For example, some explosives are tagged with chemical markers, called taggants, that identify where they came from. If the explosive, on the other hand, is TNT, you know it was probably stolen, and you can look over the mandatory theft reports filed to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which requires photo ID for all purchases. (These thefts are reported many times a year, but investigators may be able to incorporate evidence connected with the thefts into the bombing investigation.) Unfortunately, if the explosive is homemade from common ingredients, such as fertilizer or gun powder, then the chemicals are difficult to trace.

Investigators also collect bomb fragments from throughout the blast area—and in horrible cases like the Boston bombings, from the victims—in order to try to reassemble the bomb. Once they have an idea of what the device looked like, they can cross-reference it with the FBI’s Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center database, which collects all the improvised explosive devices used by terrorists abroad. Individual groups tend to have their own signature ways of making IEDs, using similar materials and designs, and the FBI may be able to match the device with a pre-existing series of devices in its database.

More-powerful bombs with softer casings tend to leave smaller fragments, while bombs with harder casings, such as pipe bombs made of steel, can leave fragments several inches long. If just the cap of the pipe bomb flies off, investigators may find the whole pipe. However, even small fragments on their own can be useful to investigators. For example, in the case of Pan Am Flight 103, a fragment of a circuit board that investigators say they found in a scorched shirt proved to be a crucial piece of evidence. Investigators may also try to determine the origins of individual components, such as by determining the model of watch used as a timer, or even the specific brand of glue or electrical tape used to hold them bomb together.

If investigators are able to collect large enough fragments, they are sometimes able to collect residual fingerprints or DNA evidence. One way to detect and preserve fingerprints is through “superglue fuming”: In this technique, you heat superglue in a closed container with the piece of evidence, and the superglue gathers around the fingerprint, highlighting and preserving it. This is because superglue bonds remarkably well to the sweat and residue on human fingers (which is also why it’s easy to get your fingers stuck together when handling superglue). On IEDs, however, fingerprints are usually burned off any fragments, so investigators will look for DNA. This may include “touch DNA”: just touching something can leave dead skin cells behind, especially if the surface is rough.

While these are most of the principal techniques investigators use to gather clues at the crime scene, they’re not the only ones. For example, if the bomber leaves a bag or backpack, an investigator might inspect it for trace elements such as pollen or pet hair. Pollen can be traced back to specific types of flowers, and forensic botanists can cross-reference these flowers against each other to determine where the bomber might have been. Pet hair can be used to determine, for example, whether the bomber owns a specific breed of dog. Once a suspect is identified, all of this evidence can be used to search his or her home for matches.

-t

tangent4ronpaul
04-17-2013, 09:23 AM
Some asshat just on FOX just said that pressure cookers were used by our parents and grandparents, but are rarely used today. So they are tracking pressure cooker purchases... If you bought one recently, expect a knock on your door or expect to get SWATed... :rolleyes:

-t

ronpaulfollower999
04-17-2013, 09:27 AM
The terrorist used a pressure cooker? So the suspect is a female?

















http://www.terrariaonline.com/attachments/small-trollface-jpg.9747/

tangent4ronpaul
04-17-2013, 09:29 AM
I'm waiting for the photoshop of cousin janet sneaking through the crowd with a pressure cooker in hand...

-t

donnay
04-17-2013, 09:30 AM
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?411461-BI-quot-Obnoxious-Troll-Asks-Massachusetts-Governor-If-Marathon-Attack-Was-A-False-Flag-quot&p=4979103#post4979103

angelatc
04-17-2013, 09:51 AM
Some asshat just on FOX just said that pressure cookers were used by our parents and grandparents, but are rarely used today. So they are tracking pressure cooker purchases... If you bought one recently, expect a knock on your door or expect to get SWATed... :rolleyes:

-t

I think they're still pretty popular with people who preserve their own food. ( But we already know survivalists are terrorists, so that fits. )

Anti Federalist
04-17-2013, 10:01 AM
Cookware control NOW!

ClydeCoulter
04-17-2013, 10:10 AM
I think they're still pretty popular with people who preserve their own food. ( But we already know survivalists are terrorists, so that fits. )

Don't need a pressure cooker for a big mac :)

donnay
04-17-2013, 10:25 AM
I think they're still pretty popular with people who preserve their own food. ( But we already know survivalists are terrorists, so that fits. )


That seems to be where this narrative is headed.

brushfire
04-17-2013, 10:31 AM
You've got to be fking kidding me... A Pressure Cooker Registry?

dannno
04-17-2013, 10:47 AM
That sucks, I've been on the market for a pressure cooker for a while. I guess I could buy one off craigslist, but it might be a federal agent selling it :confused:

I wonder if they will offer me a couple hundred thousand dollars to be apart of one of their patsy scams :D

heavenlyboy34
04-17-2013, 10:53 AM
Cookware control NOW!
SMH...it would be fucking hilarious if it weren't such a real possibility... :/

JK/SEA
04-17-2013, 10:58 AM
Some asshat just on FOX just said that pressure cookers were used by our parents and grandparents, but are rarely used today. So they are tracking pressure cooker purchases... If you bought one recently, expect a knock on your door or expect to get SWATed... :rolleyes:

-t

i gave mine to this asshole neighbor yesterday...

tangent4ronpaul
04-17-2013, 11:00 AM
i gave mine to this asshole neighbor yesterday...

Put a sign on your door with a BIG arrow pointing in the right direction.

They are really good at raiding the wrong house...

-t

LibertyRevolution
04-17-2013, 11:00 AM
I still use my pressure cooker... it makes the best pot roast...
I want to buy a new one soon, mine is old and not in the best shape.
Grandpa used to bang it with a hammer to release it, so it has seen better days.

I'm not to concerned about them telling everyone how to use one as an IED, it is just a pipebomb...

tangent4ronpaul
04-17-2013, 01:02 PM
Lets exercise out pressure cooker amendment rights!

I see Target has a clearance on a 5qt one for $20...

:D

-t

tangent4ronpaul
04-17-2013, 01:51 PM
They identified the maker of the pressure cooker. Apparently, they make tens of thousands of them every year, making trying to track them useless...

-t

georgiaboy
04-17-2013, 02:29 PM
the metaphor is astounding.