Sneaker bomber, temple bomber, Sears bomber, shorts bomber, firecracker bomber: for a worldwide cabal of highly trained killers, the terrorists sure are schmucks. But they’re the reason that the US had to invade and murder the Iraqis, the Afghanis, and the Pakistanis—not to speak of the Somalis, Yemenis, maybe the Iranians, and who knows who else. Could bombing, predator-droning, and marauding through other people’s countries cause resentment? Could the mass destruction of property and the mass killing of innocents—that collateral damage states specialize in—cause any blowback, even by the gang that couldn’t bomb straight? Or are all these incidents the result of agents provocateurs? Certainly the state has a long and bloody record of fomenting incidents to justify its wars. And empires are always surprised and outraged that other peoples do not want to be run by uniformed illegal aliens.
UPDATE Kifyat Ali, a cousin of the alleged fireworks bomber, told the AP: “This is a conspiracy so the (Americans) can bomb more Pashtuns,” Ali said, referring to a major ethnic group in Peshawar and the nearby tribal areas of Pakistan and southwest Afghanistan. “He was never linked to any political or religious party here.”
8:09 am on May 6, 2010
