One comment on the story that has occupied our day, and forced us to do no fewer than five special reports on the television network: While we are expected to pass along stern Government warnings--delivered by officials with stern expressions, from the President on down, and including terms like "credible terrorist threat"--it's a bit tough to get past the fact that these appear to be copy machine toner cartriges with white powder on them. One of them has what appears to be the back of an AM pocket radio circuit board attached with three screws and some would-be fasteners.
While it caused an international air cargo scare today, and while there is certainly a lot more we don't know, this story looks strange on the face of it. Our own Richard Engel, who knows Yemen and the region well, late today called this "an attempt to discombobulate." All day, Richard has been saying this reminds him of some fake IEDs he's seen planted by the side of the road in Iraq just to test the U.S. military response...in order to launch an attack the next time.
# posted by Confidential Reporter @ 1:14 PM
