Everything You Thought Was For Your Protection Actually Just Makes It Worse

Great, now you tell us:

The concrete and metal barriers put up outside buildings in Manhattan deemed possible terrorist targets after Sept. 11 are being removed.

Counterterrorism experts said the planters and traffic medians known as jersey barriers caused pedestrian traffic problems, were in some cases never really needed and could shatter into dangerous flying debris through an explosion in others.

Barriers have been removed at 30 of some 50 to 70 skyscrapers, office buildings and museums, a Transportation Department spokeswoman confirmed last night. [Emph. added because what the fuck!?]

Next you’ll tell us that Operation Hercules is a bad idea because it leaves vulnerable too many police officers in one place . . .

Shocking Undercover Operation Reveals That Safeguards Are In Place

Shock after NYPD counterterrorism agents able to construct a giant truck bomb! Relief that they were able to do it only after notifying the ATF that they were on an undercover operation:

Two undercover NYPD cops in a sting operation used $7,000 and the Internet to build a truck bomb big enough to blow up a skyscraper, officials revealed yesterday.

In what was dubbed “Operation Kaboom,” every purchase the cops made was legal — and aroused little suspicion — even driving their simulated truck bomb throughout the city.

Although the two cops had no specialized knowledge of bomb-making, they were able manufacture an explosive more powerful than the one used in the 1993 World Trade Center attack.

“We did it with no difficulty whatsoever,” said James Falkenrath, the NYPD’s top anti-terror cop, who testified at a congressional hearing yesterday and disclosed the making of the bomb.

No difficulty whatsoever — except for one small detail — the 2,450 pounds of ammonium nitrate:

After setting up a mail drop in Brooklyn, the agents went shopping. Their main purchase: 2,450 pounds of ammonium nitrate, bought from distributors upstate in Rensselaer County in the town of Schaghticoke and in Yardley, Pa., sources told The Post.

The bargain basement price: only $700. They rented a storage facility in The Bronx for $339 a month for a period of two months, and bought 129 pounds of fuel oil.

But the purchase of the ammonium nitrate in Rensselaer aroused some suspicion from the owner of the distribution plant, who contacted the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms following the purchase. The ATF launched an investigation, but the NYPD notified them that it was an undercover operation.

Huh?

When the operation was complete, the officers drove the simulated bomb around the city’s bridges and tunnels, sources said. They were not detected and the bomb was not functional.

Key components were intentionally left out to minimize danger. The bomb was put together and later detonated at the NYPD’s firing range at Rodman’s Neck in The Bronx, The Bronx, just to prove that it could have been deadly, police officials said.

. . .

Like terrorists Timothy McVeigh and Ramzi Yousef, the agents rented a Ryder truck. The bomb-making process took only about four months.

“Ammonium nitrate is the terrorist’s weapon of choice,” said Rep. Peter King (R-L.I.), chairman of the Homeland Security Committee. “It’s so easy to obtain, and it’s so lethal.”

“Why are these companies sending ammonium nitrate to Brooklyn?” asked an exasperated Falkenrath.

“We have done nothing — nothing — to improve the security of ammonium nitrate/fuel oil,” he added.

Are we missing something here?

But What If You’re The Dipshit Who Left An Unattended Bag In Penn Station On The Fifth Anniversary Of September 11?

Commuters, please please pay attention to where you leave stuff, especially on the fifth anniversary of Sept. 11:

Penn Station was evacuated yesterday morning when a suspicious package was discovered shortly before the first citywide moment of silence for 9/11.

The cause for concern turned out to be a harmless duffel bag, but the rush-hour scare was one of several that highlighted the increased security — and jitters — on the fifth anniversary of the terror attack.

“It’s the same sky as Sept. 11, the same feel to the air,” said Steven Billings, 41, who was barred from entering Penn Station by police.

“This kind of stuff — phony bomb scares, whatever — happens all the time. Today, though, I’m glad to hear it was nothing.”

Last year on Sept. 11, there were 31 reports of suspicious packages between midnight and 11:59 p.m.

From midnight to 4:30 p.m. yesterday, there were 71 reports of suspicious packages — three resulting in the NYPD bomb squad being dispatched. None involved actual devices.

Nicolai Bin Al-Ouroussoff Declares New Designs A Success

Al Qaeda architecture critics applaud the new designs for the World Trade Center site; towers deemed “beautiful”:

The dazzling new World Trade Center design got a rave review yesterday from some Al Qaeda terrorists — and a vow to knock down the new towers.

“Beautiful,” wrote a writer named Garib in a posting on the terrorist-friendly al-Hesbah Web site. “When they finish it . . . we will come again to destroy it on their heads.”

Noting that the three towers are expected to be completed by 2012, another e-mailer named Tabarak Allah wrote, “It is also expected to be completely destroyed, Allah willing, by September 2013.”

The postings were intercepted and translated by the Washington-based SITE Institute, which tracks terrorists.

Told of the Al Qaeda chatter, Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman said, “We’ve got no comment.”

Us Dithering About Fucking Conspiracy Theories Means That The Terrorists Really Have Won, And Good For Them Because They’ve Obviously Got Scoreboard On This Count

Hey, Idiot — I can’t believe our tax dollars are going to rebut your asinine conspiracy theories:

Faced with an angry minority of people who believe the Sept. 11 attacks were part of a shadowy and sprawling plot run by Americans, separate reports were published this week by the State Department and a federal science agency insisting that the catastrophes were caused by hijackers who used commercial airliners as weapons.

The official narrative of the attacks has been attacked as little more than a cover story by an assortment of radio hosts, academics, amateur filmmakers and others who have spread their arguments on the Internet and cable television in America and abroad. As a motive, they suggest that the Bush administration wanted to use the attacks to justify military action in the Middle East.

Most elaborately, they propose that the collapse of the World Trade Center was actually caused by explosive charges secretly planted in the buildings, rather than by the destructive force of the airliners that thundered into the towers and set them ablaze.

The government reports and officials say the demolition argument is utterly implausible on a number of grounds. Indeed, few proponents of the explosives theory are willing to venture explanations of how daunting logistical problems would be overcome, such as planting thousands of pounds of explosives in busy office towers.

Nevertheless, federal officials say they moved to affirm the conventional history of the day because of the persistence of what they call “alternative theories.” On Wednesday, the National Institute of Standards and Technology issued a seven-page study based on its earlier 10,000-page report on how and why the trade center collapsed. The full report, released a year ago, and the new study, in a question and answer format, are available online at http://wtc.nist.gov.

See also: Conspiracy Theory Underground And Nico, Pod Theory, Controlled Demolition And The Flash Is Not A Sunday Matinee Hardcore Bill At CBGB, Ed Begley, Jr.?.