Killing Terrorists (Julian Sanchez & Eli Lake)

[T.G.G.P]

One can certainly make a very plausible argument about blowback from supporting the Pakistani regime (not that it makes more contemporary blowback-causing events less plausible), but I could also argue that the regime has never been terribly stable. It was fighting an insurgency in Balochistan when it was first created, and doing so again now. It lost its eastern half in a major war involving what many regard as genocide perpetrated against bengalis. The pushtun tribal area bordering Afghanistan has never been very governable. However, the "Pakistani Taliban" didn't really exist before 9/11. There was just the Afghan Taliban that the Pakistanis found useful against India.

Most al Qaeda wannabe terrorists are tremendously incompetent, but it isn't always because they're uneducated cretins. There was a British "doctor's plot" that was quite laughable. They wanted to blow up their cars but ended up just setting themselves aflame and trying to punch (while on fire) security guards at the airport.

I don't think the scenario of shooting people coming out of a building is so Matrix-fantastical. Middle school kids did that in Georgia after pulling a fire alarm back in the 90s.