Bombs in America: increased usage in crimes climbs

I'm disturbed by the increasing use of bombs in crimes stateside since the Iraqi war. No records have been kept (thus far) on the correlation between the use of bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan, and their use here in the states. All you have to do is follow the headlines from the right coast to the left coast and you can find stories like this one:

DATELINE Woodborn, Oregon - Dec. 13

A bomb blast outside the West Coast Bank Branch of Woodborn, has killed two men, and another is in critical condition. Employees of the bank got a call saying that a bomb had been planted there. Police responded. A state bomb technician and a local police officer where killed instantly when the bomb - which was located outside the bank in some bushes - went off unexpectedly. The town's police chief is in critical condition at a local hospital. Authorities say there are no suspects.

MY TAKE ON THIS - Someone wanted to kill cops. Why else would someone plant the bomb outside and no where near the bank's vault? I also suspect it was remote detonated, a trick that the bad guys in Iraq and Afghanistan use on a daily basis. The technology is out there.

MY MILITARY BACKROUND - I was a Combat Engineer (31st Eng.Battalion), and demolition was my primary MOS. I spent many grueling days sweeping mud roads for enemy bombs in Vietnam and Cambodia. I also searched many villages for hidden booby traps that ranged from holes filled with sharpened punji sticks and covered over, to "Bouncing Betties" carefully concealed near tunnel entrances.

If "Charlie" would have used remote detonation (after all the technology was there several decades ago) I wouldn't be writing this blog right now! My guardian angel was looking out for me back then. I once stepped on a weight detonated French landmine, out of sheer stupidity and exhaustion (I didn't spot the indentation).

My squad leader told me to freeze when I first stepped on it. We both knew at about the same time that I may have made a very bad mistake. He ordered the rest of the squad off the dirt road and pulled out his K-bar and started probing around my foot.

As the seconds ticked by I pissed my pants in terror, not yet aware I was too light to set it off. Finally, my squad leader looked at the partially exposed landmine and gave a sigh of relief. "It's a tank mine," he said. "You have to weigh over 500 pounds to set it off." He got up and told me to go ahead and jump when he did. The rest is history.

SUMMARY - The scary thing is how small bombs are these days - note the illustration of the shoe bomb - and how the ability to make them has become common knowledge. The Internet, with it's never-ending flow of knowledge, doesn't morally discern about such things as making bombs or making nasty birthday cakes.