London car bombing thwarted

Luck and alert London EMTs averted what could have been a truly horrific car bomb attack in central London very early this morning. A Mercedes loaded with gasoline, propane tanks, and nails was blown in a controlled explosion by police bomb experts after an ambulance crew, summoned to care for a sick person inside a nearby nightclub, spotted smoke inside and outside the car. That "smoke" was probably fumes and vapor from the explosives.

The car was parked in the middle of an area thick with clubs and club-goers, so an explosion would have been catastrophic, with God knows how many people injured and killed.

A second vehicle was found illegally parked near Piccadilly and was actually towed before explosives (or a similar nature - gasoline, propane, and nails) were found in it as well.

Once again, good luck and the hard-won experience of the Brits in dealing with this sort of stuff prevents disaster.

The Brits in general, and London specifically, are difficult targets for terrorists. The English have had people trying to blow them up since the Provos made a habit of it in the 70s and 80s, and are, thus, a bit more vigilant than most Westerners. In addition, the City of London is the most heavily CCTV-saturated spot on the planet. Tracking this car back to it's point of origin (or entry into the City), and capturing a picture of the contemptible a-hole who drove it, ought to be a fairly straightforward exercise in police work (meaning some poor sods are going to spend their weekend poring over countless hours of video from all over London).

I expect arrests to start Monday, if not sooner.

Given all this, and making the no-evidence-at-hand leap to assume AQ or one of their franchisees are behind the attempt, why do international terrorists keep focusing on Fortress London? A stunt of this nature would be a near-slam-dunk in almost any American city, where the passers-by probably wouldn't recognize an IED from shinola.

It's a good thing a lot of these morons are, in fact, morons.

Have we nabbed all the smart ones? Seems hard to believe, but the evidence seems to show a lack of imagination and good target IDs. Thank God.

There are many positives to be found here: The device did not go off, no one was hurt, another cell of terrorists will be identified and arrested (probably), and, not least, I've always wanted to use the word "thwarted" in headline.