Whose Woods These Are I Think I BLAAAAMMMM!!!!!!
Andrew Johnson in the Independent says that the Taliban is now making anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines out of wood. It’s an intriguing development as reported: you can just imagine the kinds of TSA comedy Thoreau could spin out of the prospect of a panic about wooden things. But the details and substantiation are sketchy. The lede adduces "military experts," but the body of the article relies on named consultant, likely with a financial interest in such matters, for all its wood-related quotes. An unnamed brigade commander allows that his troops are "IED-shy," but that doesn’t speak to the existence or effectiveness of specifically wooden bombs one way or the other. Nobody says X number of this specific type of IED have been found or identifies Y victims of it.
There is, though, a countervailing virtue to the article: nobody "suspects" that the Taliban must need help from the Iranians to make wooden bombs.
Comment by the talking dog —
January 11, 2010 @ 11:58 pm
In this crazy, mixed up world of aluminum baseball bats, titanium golf clubs and graphite tennis rackets, at least someone still respects the integrity of wood (and other natural materials). One can never accuse the Taliban of not being “old school.”
Comment by Jackmormon —
January 12, 2010 @ 12:01 am
The TSA was recently *very* interested in a little wooden sculpture I had in my carry-on. And in a hand-held glass citrus juicer the likes of which they’d apparently never seen–but that’s neither here nor there.
Comment by Dave Trowbridge —
January 12, 2010 @ 12:45 am
No veteran of the wooden ship warfare of the 18th and early 19th century would have laughed at wooden IEDs. The major cause of death in ship to ship action was splinters. The impact of an iron cannonball moving near the speed of sound on an oaken hull had an effect inside the ship much like a claymore mine. Watch the opening scene of Master and Commander if you want to get a sense of how deadly a wooden IED might be.
Comment by Thoreau —
January 12, 2010 @ 2:15 am
Hehe, he said “wood.”
Wait till they discover that paper is made from wood, and books are made from paper.
OK, we could get books made from hemp paper, but they’d totally bogart that shit in a heartbeat.
Comment by ajay —
January 12, 2010 @ 6:34 am
The Germans used plywood in 1944 – saves metal and reduces the magnetic signature. IIRC they also used ceramic.
You wouldn’t get many splinters, though, because the casing’s fairly thin – you’re not talking about smashing up three-inch-thick oak planks.
From “Lessons in Imperial Policing,” published in the 1920s: “The Pathans have also been collecting our ‘blind’ shells and aircraft bombs, extracting the explosive and manufacturing cocoa-tin bombs to place along the roads. These should be treated with extreme respect.”
Comment by No Nym —
January 12, 2010 @ 10:12 am
Could be that someone mangled a report on home brew nitrocellulose.
Comment by Happy Jack —
January 12, 2010 @ 1:47 pm
Hey, Mr. Smartypants. Where the hell do you think the Taliban gets their axes to cut that wood? Yeah, a Persian forge, my friend.
Comment by Barry —
January 13, 2010 @ 11:46 am
Or even worse, enhanced axes made from Damascus steel!!!!!!11!!11!!!!!
Comment by Jim Henley —
January 13, 2010 @ 12:11 pm
Wow. I didn’t even consider that angle.
Comment by Noumenon —
January 13, 2010 @ 6:52 pm
nobody “suspects” that the Taliban must need help from the Iranians to make wooden bombs.
Have you posted on this before, Jim? Because I just ran into this “how can Iraqi farmers make this stuff without help, you couldn’t” argument six months ago and I don’t think I ever read a prebuttal to it.
Comment by bad Jim —
January 16, 2010 @ 3:55 am
I hate to bring this up on a thread which has gone quiet, but the Mythbusters did a creditable attempt at a simulation of 18th Century naval warfare and wound up unconvinced that splintered wood presented a credible threat to naval personnel.
Note that, although other plausible clubs, like hockey sticks, are banned from airplanes, canes are still permitted. Recall that canes used to be carried less for support than assault. Consider how easy it would be to pack an explosive in the body of a cane, an organic chemical approximating the density of wood, and conceal the metallic control circuitry underneath the ornate knob.
Okay, as a bomb it’s a wimp. But so is a cane as a club from a guy in a window seat.