I’m not one of those guys who writes letters to national newspapers complaining about the literacy of the nation. I have a life and there are more important issues. But as a long-time systematic news chaser on terrorist incidents I monitor pretty closely news reports on terrorism fairly constantly. Frankly I’m astounded how sloppy and idle some journalists can be when reporting on terrorism and incidents associated with it.  Two short examples to illustrate my point.

1. Bombs or explosions ” rip through ” things. Always. If you google “bomb” or “explosion” and “rip through”, you’ll get a million results.  Surely the english language has more ways than that of describing the effects of an explosion. Yesterday there was an explosion in a Minsk metro station. 8,840 news sites describe the explosion as “ripping through” the metro station. I think journalists just operate on autopilot sometimes.

2. Bombs are frequently reported as being “diffused”.  Not defused, or even defuzed.  But diffused. Really. Come on guys, sort your language out. Did the bomb just fade away?

Mind, I saw a documentary last night about an extortioner’s bombing campaign in Dorset, UK… and the dramatic reconstruction of the bomb disposal scene included the operator holding the x-ray generator as he x rayed the IED, and also, amusingly wearing a flash proof balaclava as he drove towards Dorset in a van to deal with the device. I wonder why?  It doesn’t matter, but the highly professional operator who was actually interviewed elsewhere in the program will be (incorrectly) blamed for the inaccuracy and its going to cost him lots of beers. I won’t say which EOD equipment company provided the hardware for the shoot!

Journalists… Hah!

The Colombian narco terrorists FARC have used submarines or at least semi-submersibles before…. but this is pretty amazing and may be a step further. This appears to be a pretty big, full blown submarine. According to reports this was recovered by the Colombian military in Timbiqui on the Pacific coast, and is believed to have been designed to smuggle narcotics up the Pacific coast to Mexico. Colombian sources estimate it cost over $2Million to build. but could carry up to 8 tons of illegal narcotics…. simple ROI.

I’m no submariner but it looks to me that this is designed to run, probably, on a snorkel – I would guess it is powered entirely by conventional air breathing engines, meaning the tip of the mast has to be above the surface at all times. I would wager it doesn’t have battery powered motors (but that’s a guess).  I wonder how they managed to maintain trim?

In terms of context this report from a year ago here, gives some useful context on modus operandi and operational issues. Note the reference in the report to a system for cooling exhaust gases to prevent IR surveillance. Note too that by February 2010, the Colombian authorities has already seized over fifty submersibles. That’s quite a fleet. Note too that in Ecuador a 30ft fully submersible submarines with electric motors and capable of a 20m dive was recovered in July 2009.

Here’s an interesting video with more background, from a couple of years ago.  Here’s a link to another big sub picked up in Ecuador.

because his eyes are too close together….

Credit to Laughing Squid

An interesting article from the Washington Post here

In essence there are 6,600 gun shops open to the public north of the US-Mexican border and just one south of the border.  Criminal activity enforced by firearms is now endemic in Mexico to a remarkable degree. Some stats: 

1. Mexican government forces have seized 93,000 weapons since 1996. 90% have come south.

2. However that’s a tiny fraction of the 14 million firearms sold in the US last year. In Mexico the average official sale of weapons (from the one, government-run gun shop) amounted to 6,490 per year.

3. In cities like Chicago 90% of the cocaine, heroin and marijuana come from Mexico.

4. Death tolls from crime related violence are way above Iraqi levels.

5. The US estimates that only 2% of those detained for organised crime activities are prosecuted

Scary stuff.