So are you telling me that bin Laden has not been sitting in a safe haven cave a free man laughing at the inability of the mighty Americans to find him and capture him for precipitating the worst mass murder on Americans ever?

And they have about the same intellectual limitations.

Operational security is the main reason why criminals get caught. They either brag about it before or after the fact and that leads to capture, same for terrorists.

Bingo. You nailed it in one. So why are we having a "War on Terror"? Why are we invading foreign nations? Why aren't we using police methods and gathering up the perps?

Come to think of it, maybe we are doing just that now, and have, so far, had a 100% success rate. Something to think about, eh?

Actually Steve Coll's blog might be able to shed some light on the level of training for these terrorists operating in the US ...

Last week, before the Times Square incident, I was talking with a former U.S. intelligence officer who worked extensively on jihadi cases during several overseas tours. He said that when a singleton of Shahzad’s profile—especially a U.S. citizen—turns up in a place like Peshawar, local jihadi groups are much more likely to assess him as a probable U.S. spy than as a genuine volunteer. At best, the jihadi groups might conclude that a particular U.S.-originated individual’s case is uncertain. They might then encourage the person to go home and carry out an attack—without giving him any training or access to higher-up specialists that might compromise their local operations. They would see such a U.S.-based volunteer as a “freebie,” the former officer said—if he returns home to attack, great, but if he merely goes off to report back to his C.I.A. case officer, no harm done. source

Even though the bomb didn't go off ... it should still worry the security folks as next time the terrorists might be luckier than the law enforcement guys ...

Of course its worriesome! But our guys are good, darned good, when properly focused and with a clear objective.

Will a terrorist get through someday? Probably. But for now, we are batting 100% and the large risks are lessening.

I think it would be dangerous to underestimate their capabilities or competency. I think the examples you cite were very loosely coordinated and maybe not representative of the larger threat.

One thing that's makes it difficult for terrorists to make bombs is the availability of materials/components. High explosives are regulated and explosive components that are available are now either regulated or tracked when they're bought in the large quantities needed.

However, it's still far from impossible to make a functional detonator/bomb that can be highly explosive. Actually, all it would have taken is a different ignition methodology and the components that were in that SUV could have wreaked major havoc.

Experience, as Thorhammer mentioned, is also an important factor that was missing from the last few domestic attempts. In Iraq/Pakistan insurgents became pretty adept at making IED's with practice and the ability to freely meet up and share/learn/teach/plant/detonate. They are very low tech, simple devices, but some experience with tweaking/designing probably produces much more effective devices.

For my answer to the original question, it depends if you are talking about an organization or a single terrorist. Terrorist that act by themselves generally are acting on an impulse against the United States(and in some cases government) and this makes their acts more incompetent.

However, terrorist organizations are some of the most tightly wired, well-thought out, well-organized, "smart" organizations in the world. For example, Hamas has television stations that are shown in Palestine to show the cruelties that Israelis execute upon non-Jews, and guess what, Hamas has gained more members because of this. The way these organizations(mainly Al-quada, sub-set Taliban, Hamas, and Hezbollah) are run, are more efficient then our own government. That is a scary thought. So are they incompetent, to some level yes all terrorist and terrorist organizations are, but do they deserve to be? My answer is yes.

bin Ladin is "pissed off" at the collapse of the Ottoman Empire nearly 100 years ago and the expulsion of Islamo invaders from Spain 600 years ago.

You wanna go back and change history?

Who said anything about bin Laden?

I just did. D'oh.

I know you did. I was just wondering if your reply to my post was actually a reply to what I wrote. I suppose not. I think you can just post without quoting me if you're not going to reply to what I wrote.

Unsurprisingly, the substance of my post went right over your head. Whoosh!

We're not batting 100%. The terrorists are making dumb mistakes. We're just lucky. There but for the grace of God...

Well, the only way for your post to be relevant to what I said is for you to assume that Osama bin Laden is the only person on the planet capable of becoming pissed off and becoming a terrorist, or for you to assume that every terrorist who is pissed off is pissed off for the exact, same reasons as OBL is supposedly pissed off. Of course, this is inexcusably stupid, but I have come to expect that as the norm from you.

"We're not batting 100%" ?? OK. talk to me. Show me why we are not batting 100%. What terrorist has been successful lately?

My point was, and remains, maybe it isn't just dumb luck when someone bats 100%.

I'd add this thought, although it may get me another warning. http://www.uspoliticsonline.net/imag...lies/frown.gif (I can't start a new thread for a couple more weeks. )

Has anyone noticed how the Right was ramping up the rhetoric to demand we torture this guy to get information? And then suddenly the ramp-up stopped? lmao. Apparently America's legal system in fact Mirandized this guy and did all the right things, Oh my, oh my. Imagine the Right's dismay and shock when this guy started talking. Apparently they can't get the perp to shut up. But how can that be, you ask?

It's not entirely dumb luck. Terrorism just isn't a very serious threat in the US even considering how much Bush likely exacerbated hatred against the US.
I'd add this thought, although it may get me another warning. http://www.uspoliticsonline.net/imag...lies/frown.gif (I can't start a new thread for a couple more weeks. )

Has anyone noticed how the Right was ramping up the rhetoric to demand we torture this guy to get information? And then suddenly the ramp-up stopped? lmao. Apparently America's legal system in fact Mirandized this guy and did all the right things, Oh my, oh my. Imagine the Right's dismay and shock when this guy started talking. Apparently they can't get the perp to shut up. But how can that be, you ask? The "left" and "right" are both lying to the people and splitting wedge issues (read: hairs). At least that's the impression I get. They both try to paint themselves as different, but really they differ on a few wedge issues and do not care about addressing real problems. Some wedge issues are bigger than others, but the two sides don't really try to make themselves different where it counts in my book.

Quigley was right. We want two more or less identical parties with two completely different sets of scoundrels, vying to take & hold power. Thats good for America,

The problem at the moment is that the Republican Party has allowed itself to be taken over by an extremist faction who is in the process of throwing out the moderates and progressives. Its a real shame and will probably take 12 to 20 years to fix. In the meantime, Democrats will run the country, by default.

Its too bad.

If this were a movie, it could be possible that the bomber didn't want the bomb to explode, because the bomber was a CIA plant. Sent to Pakistan to infiltrate terrorist organizations to gather intelligence, including their bomb making capabilities. He carried out the bombing attempt to complete the rouse. He fits the profile for someone we need to infiltrate such organizations. Ah, if this were only a movie, a black ops team would be only minutes away from eliminating that terrorist organization for good.

That's just dumb.

Islamic terrorists are pissed off because the Quran tells these robotic losers to be pissed off. Islam is a cult of pissed off people.