The Terrorism Discussion Thread

How long before a lorry plows down Oxford Street? I'm amazed that the UK hasn't suffered a serious terrorist attack since 7/7, guess we have to put that down to our excellent intelligence services.

make fists with your toes wrote:How long before a lorry plows down Oxford Street? I'm amazed that the UK hasn't suffered a serious terrorist attack since 7/7, guess we have to put that down to our excellent intelligence services.

Agreed - but surely intelligence services couldn't stop a man from killing a lorry driver and ploughing into pedestrians? Which is possibly why it seems to be the on-trend method of committing mass casualties.

It wouldn't require any significant comms, planning or prep. If you were really of a mind to do it.

This is true, it's almost impossible to stop. In theory I could hitch a ride with a lorry driver, kill him and then drive wherever I wanted to in his lorry, and no-one would have a clue it was about to happen.

Pretty scary.

I imagine you will probably see some kind of advice to lorry drivers comes out soon, and possibly some kind of code system to stop the engine or something in the future.

make fists with your toes wrote:This is true, it's almost impossible to stop. In theory I could hitch a ride with a lorry driver, kill him and then drive wherever I wanted to in his lorry, and no-one would have a clue it was about to happen.

Pretty scary.

How easy is it to hire a lorry? I’d imagine it wouldn’t be too difficult to get hold of one without even having to resort to hijacking.

A transit van would cause a lot of deaths and you can hire one of those for £10 an hour.

This isn’t the sort of terrorism that can really be stopped by the intelligence agencies, it needs no real planning, no “team” or any real skill to carry out. All you need is the ability to drive and enough cash to hire a van/lorry.

Partridge Iciclebubbles wrote:

make fists with your toes wrote:This is true, it's almost impossible to stop. In theory I could hitch a ride with a lorry driver, kill him and then drive wherever I wanted to in his lorry, and no-one would have a clue it was about to happen.

Pretty scary.

How easy is it to hire a lorry? I’d imagine it wouldn’t be too difficult to get hold of one without even having to resort to hijacking.

A transit van would cause a lot of deaths and you can hire one of those for £10 an hour.

This isn’t the sort of terrorism that can really be stopped by the intelligence agencies, it needs no real planning, no “team” or any real skill to carry out. All you need is the ability to drive and enough cash to hire a van/lorry.

Yep and that's what makes this latest evolution of terrorism so scary. ISIS don't need to have an active member carry out these attacks. They can just inspire the type of people you see doing mass shootings in the US.

make fists with your toes wrote:This is true, it's almost impossible to stop. In theory I could hitch a ride with a lorry driver, kill him and then drive wherever I wanted to in his lorry, and no-one would have a clue it was about to happen.

Pretty scary.

Well yeah - that's why this type of attack is so hard to stop.

You could (for example) just use your car and drive full speed down the wrong way slip road on motorway, cause a pile up and kill many.

It's the "lone wolf" terrorist that is near enough impossible to counter. Someone like Jo Cox's murderer or the driver in the Nice attacks just need to be radicalised enough to want to carry out an attrocity by themselves. It'll be a simpler attack, but nonetheless devastating when it results in loss of life.

Ban everything, it's the only way to be safe.

make fists with your toes wrote:How long before a lorry plows down Oxford Street? I'm amazed that the UK hasn't suffered a serious terrorist attack since 7/7, guess we have to put that down to our excellent intelligence services.

People are rarely radicalised in a vacuum. It's sort of a big statement to make but it's highly unlikely that someone who would plan such an attack would do it completely on their own, with no input from figures at least known to the security services.

The act itself is difficult to stop. The planning that goes into it, not so much.

Rudolphin wrote:

make fists with your toes wrote:How long before a lorry plows down Oxford Street? I'm amazed that the UK hasn't suffered a serious terrorist attack since 7/7, guess we have to put that down to our excellent intelligence services.

People are rarely radicalised in a vacuum. It's sort of a big statement to make but it's highly unlikely that someone who would plan such an attack would do it completely on their own, with no input from figures at least known to the security services.

The act itself is difficult to stop. The planning that goes into it, not so much.

From what I gather the Nice attacker basically acted alone with very limited input from ISIS.

ISIS seem to claim responsibility for any attack with any hint of a Muslim being involved, them saying that they did it is as meaningless as Uri Geller claiming he slightly moved a football before a penalty.

Rudolphin wrote:

make fists with your toes wrote:How long before a lorry plows down Oxford Street? I'm amazed that the UK hasn't suffered a serious terrorist attack since 7/7, guess we have to put that down to our excellent intelligence services.

People are rarely radicalised in a vacuum. It's sort of a big statement to make but it's highly unlikely that someone who would plan such an attack would do it completely on their own, with no input from figures at least known to the security services.

Nah it's "fairly" common I think - people read about it on the internet etc and self-radacalise - and then attribute the crime to a group who they've never met or had direct contact with

The Ohio attacks were that IIRC

That ball definitely moved though, Moggy, you can't refute SCIENCE!

make fists with your toes wrote:That ball definitely moved though, Moggy, you can't refute SCIENCE!

URI CAN CONTROL THE WIND ITSELF!

twitter.com/RossalynWarren/status/811126964123734025

Absolutely spot on.

Garland Twinkleballs wrote:Absolutely spot on.

Farage is such a piece of gooseberry fool.

Gandalf wrote:They should take a good look at security, both Polish and German. If this lorry was reported stolen a few days ago, the haulage company couldn't locate the driver, then how come it was able to cross the border into Germany? That should've been red flagged there and then.

Thoughts are with the families of the dead and injured at, what should be, a joy filled time of the year......

Freedom of movement is to blame. Even worse is the fact that the person who carried this out was known to the police (according to the BBC). Had proper boarder controls been in place this could have been stopped.