Could terrorists pull off a coordinated series of suicide attacks in the US?

Question

In this season of "24," the US is under attack by a series of suicide bombings in every major city, culminating in the detonation of a suitcase nuke in suburban LA. Can that happen here? If not, what is stopping these psychos?

For those who keep referring to 9/11, please read the entire question. I specifically refer to suicide bombings, ie strapping a bomb to a human and detonating it in a crowded place. You know, like you see in Israel.

Answer 1

The types of attacks seen on "24" aren't very realistic. U.S. intelligence prevents them from doing it by uncovering cells within. Terrorists aren't beaten with guns, they're beaten with espionage and so far the FBI is doing a pretty da*n good job. Buying explosives now days, especially nuclear ones is a lot harder than some people think. There are many sting operations out there that stop people from getting them as well as commiting terrorism. Killing massive numbers of people isn't as easy as "24" makes it seem. If it were, there would be many more people dead now then there already are.

In other words, that type of attack wouldn't be very realistic because it requires alot of intelligence, money, logistics, people and skills. Those 5 things aren't easy to find. US intel' and FBI have made it very hard for people to commit terrorism. That requires alot of work and I don't see it happening any time soon.

With that being said, small unorganized attacks with firearms are likely but then again, that's an everyday thing whether a terrorist does it or your everyday Joe.

Answer 2

Couple of things, Unfortunately the suicide bombings could happen it will be much more difficult to detonate a nuke here with our detection methods, but a dirty bomb would not be as hard. If you were watching the news earlier you should have had the crap scared out of you, a russian was smuggling our enriched uranium, or plutonium i am sorry cannot remember which it was and they caught him in a sting operation. thank god And if we continue to allow countries who state openly they want to destroy U.S.A, Israel, Britian and a few others (I am reffering to Iran in paticular and North Korea also). They support terrorists and actively want to destroy us so do you think they would try and make it happen on our soil? I certainly do. The crime is not when bad men do bad things it is when good men do not stop it

Answer 3

Ahhhh...It already happened ...9 / 11....4 separate set of planes organized by multiple people.

Re: Nukes....only a matter of time before someone gives it a serious attempt. Hopefully the intelligence agencies do a better job than 9 / 11.

Am I worried, nope I am WAY more likely to get into a serious car accident then something that George Bush or the writers of 24 come up with.

George Bush is doing more to polorize the United States against other countries.

The participants of 9 / 11 were Saudi Arabians ...NOT ONE PERSON FROM IRAQ...NOT ONE.

Answer 4

Yes, it could happen. We live in an open society with very few restrictions on our citizens. Our borders are basically open with little or no control of who enters the country. There are thousands of people that entered this country with visa's, who's location is now not known. The security at our sea ports only allows a low percentage of actual inspections of containers entering the country. 9-1-1 wasn't an accident but a well planned and trained for event. The terrorist organization that accomplished 9-1-1 is surely motivated to achieve another attack.
The military, federal agents, local police, and airport security are providing the thin line that protects us from terrorists.
Wish them all good luck.

Answer 5

Perhaps that is why we are presently engaged in Iraq - in an effort to bring the battle to them and keep it out of our cities.
Such coordinated attacks take planning and organization - something we have seriously disrupted with the capture or killing of so many of alQaeda's leaders. You may not read about it everyday, but we have made some substantial progress in defeating this demented ideology.
It would not be in our best interest to resort back to our policies of inaction and no effective response as we did in the past - history has shown that these policies only lead to further terror attacks.

Answer 6

Yeah If anyboidy with the intellect to do it they will. Sure maybe terrorism will be stopped through planes, but don't think for one second something like the 9/11 incident nor the oklahoma city bombings can't happen- oh and Bush isn't that great of a president.

Answer 7

As long as you can't put a cop behind every citizen of a country, nothing can prevent from a terrorist attack.

As for a nuclear attack, there have already the case of this Russian secret agent killed by a radio-active product. So it is possible to get your hand on dangerous items as long as you have the money or the relations.

Everything is possible today.

Answer 8

Hell yes it could.Keep in mind,every time some foolish media outlet like The New York Times exposes a secret operation designed to catch terrorist,the possibility gets bigger and bigger.But of course bashing the Bush administration is far more important.Right?

Answer 9

What is stopping them is President Bush and his actions. We have not had an attack on American soil since 2001.

Hopefully, Democrats will not be able to destroy our defense.

Answer 10

Yes, They want to do the things that you speak of. George Bush is trying to keep it from happening. The Dumocrats want to surrender this country to the terrorists.