Pillow Bombs Feared on Planes

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21509-2003Oct13.html

Pillow Bombs Feared on Planes
U.S. Says Al Qaeda Explosives Could Also Be Stuffed Into Coats, Toys
By John Mintz and Sara Kehaulani Goo
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, October 14, 2003; Page A05

Airport screeners in this country and overseas are on the lookout for suspicious pillows, coats and even stuffed animals after U.S. intelligence concluded that al Qaeda operatives are being trained to apply special chemicals to the material inside to transform them into bombs.

American intelligence officials have picked up several indications that al Qaeda is attempting to create a chemical called nitrocellulose to fashion explosive devices that could be smuggled aboard jetliners, according to a warning the Department of Homeland Security sent in August to airlines and airport security officials around the world.

"We judge this type of threat to be real and continuing," the department said in the Aug. 8 warning. It noted there has been "persistence line of reports from several credible, independent sources" that al Qaeda is training to build such bombs. Among other things, confiscated al Qaeda training manuals show the sophistication of its preparations, the document said.

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And I suppose Shrub C-4 Action figures are allowed on board.

It is so funny it's almost pitiful.

Whistleass won't be able to take his "pilly" on Air-force-1 anymore?

. . Blew the heck outta Afghanistan, then Iraq, killing and maiming 10's of thousands of civilians, lost civil liberties and privacy, and now we have worry about our PILLOWS ?

. . Can't be,

. . I'll wake up sooner or later ?

But I keep having BAAAD dreams

Is your Ruler Really



King George II
? ? ? ? ?

Notice this memo was issued August 8.

Lots of info on the internet on nitrocellulose. Here's a link that's kind of fun Clownbarf: multicolor nitrocellulose plastic that is very beautiful.

I'm waiting for the Washington Post headline: Wig Bombs Feared in House GOP Caucus.

When cotton is treated so that nearly all of the hydroxyl groups of the cellulose molecule are esterified, but with little or no degradation of the molecular structure, the nitrocellulose formed is called guncotton. Guncotton resembles cotton in its appearance. Extremely flammable, it explodes when detonated and is used in the manufacture of explosives.
http://www.1upinfo.com/encyclopedia/N/nitrocel.html

What I want to know is how are they going to detonate it? Sure you may be able to sneak guncotton onto a plane disguised as teddy bear or pillow stuffing, but what about the detonator?

Nitrocellulose ignites readily at low temperatures, that's why the stuff is dangerous to handle.

However, the problem is to make it explode. It just burns with a big flash, and that's it. For a detonation, you have to pack it densely and put a containment around it. Hard to do this with a teddy bear ...

If nitrocellulose can be turned into guncotton, then what could happen this winter to all the lovely stuffed animals that our babies may get as gifts? Are stores, homes, children going to start exploding?

Just an O8) playing :evilfrown:'s advocate

rugs like Trent Lott's.

rather than burning really hot and really fast, and going *poof*. it would singe some eyebrows, i'm sure. at least, that's what happened when i, as a kid, tried to make homemade firecrackers out of my dad's reloading supplies. (see, nitrocellulose is what makes the bullet part come out of the gun part, basically) what they're trying to describe is some juvenile deliquent's pipe-bomb dream, except without the pipe. instead, it's wrapped in plush fabric.

yeah. be very afraid. it might set your hair on fire, but it probably won't.

I'm cancelling my cross-country visit today!

-- Allen

only thing that's worked before is selling fear, so they're selling more fear.

what is nitrocellulose? a kind of plastic that was used to make movie film for many many years. it's flammable, yes, but not a very good explosive. this is just about the fear, it's not about the threat.

the tobacco industry lobbied to make it possible for people to carry matches, lighters, and cigarettes onto planes so that that industry wouldn't suffer as a result of the events of the eleventh of september, 2001. so we have hundreds of ignition devices scattered inside every single plane flying over american soil all day long, and now they're worried about something flammable in a pillow or a teddybear? i bet those silly blankets they hand out on planes are flammable too. and i bet the fumes when they burn are toxic.

contact your congresspeople, and demand that matches and lighters be removed from planes, and see how far you get. airborne matches and lighters are the greatest threat to national security, at this moment, besides the inevitable return of the inflammatory RxUSH LIMBAUGH to the airwaves.

Hurry! Hurry!

Bright Orange they be and gilded in silver duct tape!

Get your Wolf Ticket today!

to come up with this shit? They really need to stop using comedy writeres and find some people who really know about terrorism. Then again, if someone really knows anything about terrorism, then they would know that the ringleaders are working out of the WH.

"American intelligence officials have picked up several indications that al Qaeda is attempting to create a chemical called nitrocellulose to fashion explosive devices that could be smuggled aboard jetliners, according to a warning the Department of Homeland Security sent in August to airlines and airport security officials around the world."

So they've got these labs up and running trying to make this innovative chemical huh? Why bother making it when they can get it from a number of sources, including the aforementioned "Clownbarf" site?

Why is it that these reports read more like instructions than warnings? "Unnamed intelligence sources that may or may not be close to the investigation have learned that terraists may be trying to produce an obscure compound whose only known chemical formula can be found on page 130 of the 1823 book, "Arming Thine Family and Next of Kin For Present Times". The compound, known as "gunpowder", was once used to propel buckshot out of rifles. However, unnamed intelligence sources have confirmed that if this stuff falls into the wrong hands, individuals may be able to fashion the compound into weak incendiary devices such as Bang Snaps and Smoking Ground Snakes." </sarcasm>

People scoffed. Oh yes, they did. "Scoff, scoff," they said, as we were envisioning the ultimate form of airline travel for the 21st Century and beyond. No Clothes, No Problem (tm), we replied, as we outfitted our fleet with no seats, no silverware, nothing but an empty cabin with a few bean bag chairs and lots of Naugahide. Our passenger screening is the quickest in the Free World (tm): You bend over and we stick a 3" length of cannon fuse in your butt. We light it. If you don't explode, you're OK in our book.

Nekkid Airlines: We Have Nothing To Hide! (tm)

And I have seen it ignite in a pretty puff of smoke, like a magician's trick.

I cannot imagine how it could have any destructive capability without a tight container and a lot of shrapnel.

Potentially both could be made from high-density plastics but they would show up in an airport screen as unusual.

All this talk of nitrocellulose and its flammable capabilities leaves me with the question: Does it have an odor? Everything I handle that is flammable (gasoline, barbecue starter, lighter fluid, etc.) has a distinctive odor. Well, I guess butane doesn't have much of a smell, but it has to be in an airtight container with a controlled stream to ignite, otherwise it dissipates in the air that it becomes non-flammable very quickly.

Naturally, we couldn't possibly train airport screeners to be alert to any unusual smells, so we're back at the mercy of the terrorists. We should probably send more Treasury money to Halliburton and Bechtel so we'll be safer again.

When it burns, there is almost no ash at all either.

Sometimes there are trace solvents involved in its production, so perhaps a good electronic sniffer can pick it up. But it acts like thin paper (at least the stuff I see).

I appreciate the info. :hi:

They originally contained champagne.

Atlant

> al Qaeda is attempting to create a chemical called nitrocellulose

The way they wrote this, they make it sound like it's tough.
Didn't EVERYBODY who ever took chemistry crank some of
this stuff out?

I know we had an "unfortunate incident" where some paper
towels "accidentally" got soaked in (IIRC) sulfuric and
nitric acid, and dang, if they didn't "accidentally" burst
into quite a flash when they dried out again.

I think the teacher (who had quite a mercurial temperament)
is still fulminating over that!

Atlant

The terrorists are HARBORING AMBITIONS again!! Damn them!!

This is all silly-season stuff.

--bkl

A friend and I bought a firecracker how-to book and he made about 1 cubic foot of nitrocellulose. He had it in the glove compartment of his car when he showed it to me. I was smoking......big flash, some heat, damn near no ash or anything. No damage to the glove compartment or us.

It has no odor before or after, it looks just like cotton.

It needs to be in a container to create enough pressure for an explosion. However, the container doesn't have to be hard, it merely needs to be strong. We have made "soft" pipe bombs out of strapping tape and black powder. They make one hell of a loud noise and left a smoking hole in the ground, about the same size and effect as the old M-80s or Silver Salutes ( I dated myself with that reference :)).

I have no idea what shows up on the airport scanners, but I thought all explosives were highlighted. I certainly hope the Feds have thought about this.

this stuff "intelligence" without wetting their pants laughing?