A flaming SUV crashed into the main terminal of Glasgow airport, MSNBC says.
In Glasgow, the green SUV barreled toward the building at full speed shortly after 3 p.m., hitting security barriers before crashing into the glass doors and exploding, witnesses said. Two men jumped out of the burning vehicle, one of them engulfed in flames, they said.
“The car came speeding past at about 30 mph. It was approaching the building quickly,†said Scott Leeson, who was nearby at the time. “Then the driver swerved the car around so he could ram straight in to the door. He must have been trying to smash straight through.†…
… Passengers fled running and screaming from the busy terminal, Margaret Hughes told the British Broadcasting Corp. “There was black smoke gushing out where the car had obviously been driven into the airport,†she said.
Flames and black smoke rose from the vehicle outside the main entrance. Police said it was unclear if anyone was injured. Other passengers were stranded, with at least one airplane grounded on the runway, the BBC said. …
… “The jeep is completely on fire and it exploded not long after. It exploded at the entrance to the terminal,†witness Stephen Clarkson told the BBC. “It may have been an explosion of petrol in the tank because it was not a massive explosion.â€
Two men—one of them engulfed in flames—were in the SUV, witnesses told BBC News executive Helen Boaden, who was at the airport at time. She described the men as South Asian.
Preliminary, unconfirmed reports indicate a nuclear blast has occurred at Glasgow’s international airport. No one has seen the mushroom cloud or heard the blast, but something by God is happening and it must be terrible. There is smoke and fire. In fact, a car is on fire. It must be Al Qaeda. Only Al Qaeda knows how to set themselves on fire inside a car. Please. Flee to the hills (leave you doors unlocked). Oh the humanity!
As events unfold I’m simply asking that folks take a big deep breath and try to keep things in perspective. Are there jihadist extremists in the world who are willing to kill innocents? Absolutely. Are they amenable to negotiation? No. I am not in the, “have you hugged a terrorist today” camp. However, we need to stop equating their hatred with actual capability.
If today’s events at Glasgow prove to be linked to the two non-events yesterday in London, then we should heave a sigh of relief. We may be witnessing the implosion of takfiri jihadists–religious fanatics who are incredibly inept. While I am not an explosives expert I am good friends with one of the world’s foremost explosives experts. Propane tanks and petrol (gas for us Americans) can produce a dandy flame and a mighty boom but these are not the tools for making a car bomb long the lines of what we see detonating on a daily basis in Iraq.
My main beef remains that much of the cable news media reacts to this nonsense like a fifty year old guy on Viagra or Cialis–they pop major wood. And the same warnings are appropriate–an erection lasting more than four hours may be harmful. Amen.
Thursday a single explosion killed five U.S. soldiers in Baghdad, and I don’t see the media or the wingnuts flame about that.
I do take terrorist attacks seriously, even inept ones. I live in New York, remember. Episodes like this are what make me crazy about people who still support the Iraq war — the “why don’t you want to fight al Qaeda?” whackjobs. If that’s who we were fighting in Iraq they might have an argument. But most of al Qaeda is sitting safe and sound in Pakistan, or elsewhere, just watching us shoot ourselves in the foot in Iraq. The bulk of the violence there is between Sunni and Shi’ia militants, not al Qaeda, and both those groups are getting very good at playing the U.S. to do some of their fighting for them. Makes me crazy.
I don’t even have to look at the rightie blogs to know what they’re saying. The evil terrorists are evil, and liberals don’t understand that, which is why they don’t want to fight in Iraq. The reality that our fighting in Iraq isn’t stopping terrorist attempts in Britain doesn’t sink in.
Did you notice not one word from HLS. It’s every man/woman for themselves. You got your duct tape and bottled water?
So-called terrorists rely on reaction and renown to guarantee their continuing existence. Without those they have a rat’s ass chance of getting people to join their ’cause.’ No operatives, no clout. Between Mr. Bush and the MSM, their needs are being met.
Between Mr. Bush, a very ‘small’ man, and the MSM needing to fill their air, any ‘car fire’ any place will morph into a terrorist attack if they can figure out how to spin it into a terrorist attack.
Too bad pirates, road robbers and train thiefs aren’t around these days to fill MSM air – although they’ve managed to milk long-suffering Paris to the point of absurdity.
So how come our terror alert level hasn’t gone up… unless its use was only political and the Bushies don’t care anymore (if they ever did) about security.
If the terrorist attacks are jihadists, I wonder if Blair’s involvment in being Bush’s lapdog has anything to do with the attacks. “As ye sow, so shall ye reap”?
The AP story I saw in the LA Times this AM originally had this quote at the very end.
“Grey said the car did not explode. “There were a few pops and bangs that seemed to be the tires and the petrol.”
The current version has expanded somewhat but the quote is still on page 2 and I have not seen it picked up in any other version or by any other news organization.
“Full speed” is “30mph”…
How old was that freakin’ Jeep?
Well, I hate to be a party pooper, but if this is what happens in the jolly old UK when Blair steps down, just imagine what evil awaits when “Pinky and The Brain” leave office.( if that indeed happens)
Perhaps this is the message, but that would make me one of those “crazy conspiracy types”……….