COPENHAGEN, DENMARK – Luckily for all of us, most terrorists are not the sharpest pencils in the box and end up hurting (or killing) only themselves.
A lot of people see terrorism as a much bigger threat than it really is. As a consequence, some terrorists are accorded far too much importance, which in a sense magnifies their acts and makes them seem like giants.
What is closer to the truth is that the vast, vast majority of terrorists are nothing like the images created about them. Most are hugely incompetent and nowhere near capable of carrying out significant acts of violence. As I always like to say, most violent extremists couldn’t organise a piss-up in a bar. The perpetrators of 9/11 were an obvious exception, but they WERE an exception.
Today’s featured attack is a good example.
On this day in 2010
A man set off a small explosion in the Jorgensen Hotel in Copenhagen, injuring only himself. The individual was likely trying to target the HQ of Jyllands-Posten’s headquarters in the city of Aarhus (he had circled the building on a map): Jyllands-Posten’s publication in 2005 of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad provoked protests in the Middle East, Africa and Asia in which at least 50 people died.
There are circumstances that point in the direction of an unsuccessful terror attack.
Jakob Scharf, head of the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET)
In this instance the terrorist was anything but successful. Let’s be thankful for that.
Read More Today in Terrorism
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On May 31, 1906 a Spanish anarchist threw a bomb hoping to hit King Alfonso XIII, killing 24 and wounding more than 100.
May 30, 2009: Anti-government group bombs TV station in Ecuador
On May 30, 2009 two pamphlet-bombs exploded outside an Ecuadorian TV station and ministry: no victims or significant damage ensued.
May 29, 2016: ISIS uses chlorine gas in terrorist attack
On May 29, 2016 35 civilians were wounded in an ISIS attack using rockets containing chlorine gas in Iraq’s Nineveh Province.
