In a message dated 7/1/98 10:10:33 AM Eastern Daylight Time, asa@nada.kth.se writes:
<<
True. But today a moderately educated crazie can buy enough ammonium
nitrate to blow up a block or two. Tomorrow he might buy an assembler
kit and release industrial strength disassemblers in the watru
supply. The point is that off-the-shelf stuff can be dangerous. As
Eugene pointed out, terrorists doesn't seem to have the R&D mindset,
but they can borrow the products of other minds.
>>
I agree. However, terrorists can be sponsored or even run by foreign governments. Most of the terrorists who launched the highly publicized attacks during the 70s and 80s were trained by professional soldiers, usually coming from a special ops type unit. They had access to enormous resources. And so long as the United States tolerates foreign governments giving safe haven and training to terrorists, this will continue to be the case. But to tie this all back in to the original point, the idea that most terrorists will not have access to resources or training and that therefore we need not worry too much about terrorism is simply wrong.
Andrew