British Terror Attacks: Amateurish by Design ?

The recent London and Glasgow foiled terror attacks bear some disturbingly contradictory fingerprints. Was the apparent amateurism of the attacks intentional, and if so, what would be the goal ?

Here are some thoughts what actually happened, and what it may have been designed to achieve.

1. Attacks carried out by affluent foreigners. These are not two-bit home-grown jihadis. One may be excused for thinking that there is an AQ angle here, even though:
2. The attacks ALL failed, and were prepared with rather rudimentary armament: petrol bombs, not fertiliser bombs or high explosive. It is notable however that the jihadis themselves were from the privileged, foreign born demographic that is identified with the international AQ hard core. Indeed, the VBIEDs in this case were Mercs [Manny - albeit a shitty old model. The Cherokee probably was more expensive]. This is not terror on the cheap.
3. Now surely if the IRA can get high explosive into the UK then so can AQ. Indeed, this is precisely what did happen on 7/7, and that was a proper AQ operation. AQ also has no shortage of willing suicide bombers. The fact that this operation was carried out without a suicide component is puzzling. The unusual non-suicide nature of the operation increased operational complexity dramatically. It is a puzzle that affluent, established professionals (two doctors captured) would sacrifice their careers and freedoms, but not, as religion and the overwhelming majority of comparable cases would have it, their lives.
4. Further evidence that this was a well prepared operation is the fact that the attacks were all under the radar of British security services. While the explosives themselves bore the hallmarks of amateurism, operational security did not. Indeed, the Glasgow attack was operationally well executed: had the VBIED been full of Semtex rather than flammable liquid there could have been a rather different story.
5. One may be excused for thinking that:
   • The amateurish armament and absence of carnage was by design and therefore that
   • AQ is lulling the Brits into a false sense of security regarding the armament, organisation and coordination within AQ and the broader militant jihadi movement in Britain
   • This may be because they know that the British establishment is full of moonbats grasping for any excuse to justify not seeing the elephant in the room. These attacks have served to trivialise the jihadi threat, and arguably defuse the post 7/7 climate, lending Britis h jihadis a less malevolent, Keystone Kop-esqe air.
   • and that far more professional and well executed operations are on the way.

Perhaps this is why the US is expecting a "spectacular" attack this summer.

Why would AQ need a successful spectacular attack this summer in particular ?

Looks like they want the Summer War in the Middle East.

Update - ed: Walid Phares @ CT Blog has some excellent observations.

Comments

[endorendil]

Summer war in the Middle East? I think that's the US that wants that. Hence the surge and the announced review of the situation in September. These guys in Britain sound like rank amateurs. But so do most British and American politicians when they talk about Middle Eastern problems.