The cost of being a terrorist has dropped dramatically since 9/11 but it hit a new low when a free Twitter account was used to ground two planes with bomb threats. Both planes were “escorted” by F-16 fighters to safe landings. No bombs were found.
The @KingZortic twitter account, as of last Saturday, is reported to have eleven (11) tweets, ten of which were threats.
You can find more details at: F-16s Scrambled to Escort Jets After Twitter Bomb Threat. You can find the same account with varying verbage at any number of media outlets. I just happened upon that one first.
Does ten tweets being “credible evidence” tell you something about the confidence of government officials in their airport security systems?
Being a tweet literate terrorist allows you to avoid the unpleasantness of terrorism camps, being traced by to such camps, travel expenses, the camp fees and extra charges for ammunition, food, etc.
No, under no circumstances should you become a tweeting terrorist, but on the other hand, you should not become a terrorist that uses cruise missiles to attack wedding parties either.
How such activities will be treated depends on your national government and who you are terrorizing.
Because of the very low bar to being a terrorist, Atlanta a free Twitter account, Paris easy to obtain automatic weapons, or being declared a terrorist, everyone should back away from terrorism as an instrument of state or near-state policy.
That includes Western powers that are even now conducting terrorist campaigns in the Middle East. What else would you call it when a cruise missile or bomb kills? It is no less terrorizing than a car bomb or an AK-47. The trite line about trying to avoid civilian casualties is further evidence of Western moral arrogance, deciding who will live and who will die.
Terrorism and the war on terrorism are equally wasteful of resources, lives and the economies of nations. What other priorities should replace terrorism and the war on terrorism I don’t know. What I do know is that the current efforts for and against terrorism are waste, waste pure and simple.