The bad news is that this attempt to create a mass casualty event was not "thwarted," despite claims by President Obama and Attorney General Holder - it simply failed. When a VBIED is parked in a crowded public place in the heart of New York City, the driver walks away and the bomb begins to detonate and then fails to explode, that is not thwarting, it is reacting.

Correct

Along that same line, it is not helpful when senior administration officials explain in detail what component of the explosive device failed. In the last several failed attempts, the weak link has been identified as the detonators. Thanks to these officials wanting to impress the media, the perpetrators now know they need to perfect their detonator design, or increase their training on that portion of the device.

Feh. It is obvious the detonation system didn't work.

What's more interesting is that a son-of-a-general was the vector. The underwear bomber was son-of-a-banker.

Now, Tim McVeigh and the Beltway Sniper were not so upper class, but they were properly trained by the US military.

Johnny Walker Lindh and Adam Ghadan/Perlman were also middle class or higher.

Unfortunately the author then goes on to declare war against yet another nation...

The Obama Administration needs to demand that the Pakistanis police their own house in both North Waziristan and South Waziristan. If they can't, then we should.