Suicide bus bombing in Bulgaria

[The Grim Squeaker]

BURGAS, Bulgaria (AP) – A lanky, long-haired man wearing a baseball cap and plaid
shorts with a fake Michigan driver's license carried out a deadly suicide attack on a bus full
of Israeli vacationers, Bulgarian officials said Thursday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed the
attack on Iranian-backed Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shiite
Muslim guerrilla group, and threatened retaliation. Seven
people — five Israelis, the Bulgarian driver and the
bomber — died in the blast Wednesday.
Although no group claimed responsibility, Israel has
attributed a series of attacks on its citizens around the
world in recent months to Iran and its Shiite proxies,
threatening to escalate a shadow war between the two
arch-enemies.
The attack occurred shortly after the Israelis boarded a
bus outside the airport in the Black Sea resort town of
Burgas, a popular destination for Israeli tourists —
particularly for high school graduates before they are
drafted into military service. Burgas is about 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of the
capital, Sofia.
Bulgarian television aired security camera footage Thursday showing the suspected
bomber wandering in and out of the terminal shortly before the blast. He was dressed as
a tourist himself, wearing a baseball cap, T-shirt, plaid shorts and sneakers with short
white socks. He carried a large backpack with wheels.
Officials said the bomb detonated in the luggage compartment of the bus as the attacker
mingled among his victims.
Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said the bomber was believed to have been about 36
years old and had been in the country between four and seven days.
"We cannot exclude the possibility that he had logistical support on Bulgarian territory,"

the minister said. He declined to elaborate.
Officials were using DNA samples to try to establish his identity. Bulgarian Prime Minister
Boiko Borisov told reporters that a Michigan driver's license was retrieved, but he said
U.S. officials reported that "there was no such person in their database." Michigan is
home to one of the largest Arab communities in the U.S.
The Israelis had just arrived on a charter flight from Tel Aviv carrying 154 people, including eight children. Some of them told Israeli television that they were just boarding
the white bus in the airport parking lot for a ride to their hotel when the blast occurred.
Officials reported overnight that an eighth person had died, but later said that was
incorrect.
Israel's military said a military plane carrying 33 Israelis injured in the bombing arrived
Thursday in Israeli. At least two critically injured Israelis were sent to Sofia for treatment,
according to the head of the Israeli military medical corps, Brig. Gen. Itzik Kreis.
A Bulgarian government plane will fly home 100 other Israelis who were not wounded, but
who want to cut short their vacation.
Bulgarian authorities Thursday dispatched 200 police to hotels where about 1,000
Israelis were staying just north of Burgas. A representative of the Ortanna tour company
said about 10,000 Israelis had booked vacations in Bulgaria through the firm this summer
and about half had canceled after the attack.
Israel blamed Iran and its Hezbollah proxies for the attack, saying they are waging a
campaign against Israeli targets everywhere. Hezbollah used suicide attackers against
Israeli troops during the occupation of Lebanon, but does not have a history of suicide
strikes abroad.
Speaking Thursday from his Jerusalem office, Netanyahu said Iran and Hezbollah "attack
and murder innocent citizens, families, young ones, children, people who went for an
innocent vacation and whose sin is to be Israeli and Jewish."
He said it was time for the world to accept that "Iran is behind the wave of terror" and was
the most "dangerous country in the world."
"A terror state cannot have a nuclear weapon," he said. "The most dangerous country in
the world cannot have the most dangerous weapons on earth."
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak described Hezbollah as the "director executors" and
vowed that Israel "will do all it can to find those responsible and punish them, both those
who carried it out directly and those who dispatched them."
Last week, Cypriot authorities said they had arrested a 24-year-old man on suspicion of
planning terror attacks. Cypriot radio said he was of Lebanese origin and carrying a
Swedish passport. Netanyahu blamed Iran for the alleged plot too.
On Thursday, Iran's state TV called Israel's claims that it was responsible for the
Bulgarian attack "ridiculous" and "sensational."
In Berlin, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle urged the Israelis to show restraint
until "the real perpetrators and backers" are found.
While Iran denied involvement in Wednesday's attack, it routinely makes accusations
against Israel that feed speculation that it could support attacks on Israeli targets. Iran
claims Israel's Mossad spy agency has been behind the slayings of at least five nuclear
scientists since 2010, as well as other clandestine operations such as planting powerful
computer viruses.
In April, computer malware known as Flame infiltrated key government networks in Iran
and forced a temporary shutdown of Internet links at the Oil Ministry and a key oil
shipment facility. In the most recent targeted killing of an Iranian scientist, a director of
the country's main uranium enrichment facility was killed in January when a magnetic
bomb attached to his car exploded in Tehran.
Israel has not directly replied to the Iranian charges. But Israeli leaders have repeatedly
said that "all options are on the table" in trying to disrupt Iran's nuclear program — a
phrase that is widely interpreted as meaning the possibility of a military strike and other
measures that could include cyberwarfare.

In Washington, the Obama administration condemned the blast "in the strongest possible
terms." White House press secretary Jay Carney said U.S. "commitment to Israel's
security remains unshakeable."
Israel dispatched a military medical and relief team to Bulgaria, a European Union nation
of 7.3 million that borders Greece and Turkey.
Bulgaria's government resisted Nazi demands to deport Jews to death camps in World
War II. Many of them migrated to Israel when the Communists seized power after the war.
Since the fall of Communism, Bulgaria and Israel have maintained friendly ties.
The Burgas airport was closed and traffic redirected. In Sofia, the capital, Mayor
Yordanka Fandakova ordered a stronger police presence at all public places linked to
the Jewish community. Some 5,000 Jews live in Bulgaria, most in Sofia.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/stor ... 56326174/1
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/ju ... sfeed=true

At least 7 dead, the survivors are being flown back to Israel.

[Sidewinder]

Suicide bombers in Eastern Europe- specifically, an Eastern European nation that's a NATO member (admittedly, one that sent troops to Iraq)? It's as if the Islamists are BEGGING that more nations join an American-led coalition to come and bitch slap them into the ground.

[weemadando]

Yes, which country will win the invasion lottery this time as you chase a bunch of non state actors around like the Keystone Cops with Carrier Battle Groups?

You fucking idiot.

[Julhelm]

Yes, which country will win the invasion lottery this time as you chase a bunch of non state actors around like the Keystone Cops with Carrier Battle Groups?

Ideally the right one, Saudi Arabia, followed by prompt carpet-nuking and salting of the scorched sands. But they're Good Guys (TM) so that'll be the day.

[Lord Relvenous]

Yes, which country will win the invasion lottery this time as you chase a bunch of non state actors around like the Keystone Cops with Carrier Battle Groups?

Ideally the right one, Saudi Arabia, followed by prompt carpet-nuking and salting of the scorched sands. But they're Good Guys (TM) so that'll be the day.

Oh hey, I found someone on the internet advocating murder of innocents on an unheard scale in response to other deaths! Do I get a prize?

Seriously, Julhelm? Your answer to an issue as complicated, nuanced, and murky as Islamic international terrorism is to nuke a sovereign country and kill more civilians than all previous Islamic terrorist attacks combined? Yeah, that'll get those damn dirty camel jockies to stop hating us.

[Thanas]

Yes, which country will win the invasion lottery this time as you chase a bunch of non state actors around like the Keystone Cops with Carrier Battle Groups?

Ideally the right one, Saudi Arabia, followed by prompt carpet-nuking and salting of the scorched sands. But they're Good Guys (TM) so that'll be the day.

You really are quite a brute, aren't you?

[Sidewinder]

Note to weemadando: How patient will you Australians be if the Islamists start suicide bombing AUSTRALIAN buses in an attempt to kill Jewish tourists? I doubt even the French have much tolerance for terrorists getting THEIR PEOPLE caught in the crossfire of an anti-Jewish pogrom. At some point, people will go: "Oh, it's sad that the Israelis and the Iranians hate each other, but that's really not our prob- What? The Iranians are launching terror attacks in OUR country, killing OUR people in an attempt to kill Israeli visitors? Oh, it is ON!"

[Julhelm]

Oh hey, I found someone on the internet advocating murder of innocents on an unheard scale in response to other deaths! Do I get a prize?

Seriously, Julhelm? Your answer to an issue as complicated, nuanced, and murky as Islamic international terrorism is to nuke a sovereign country and kill more civilians than all previous Islamic terrorist attacks combined? Yeah, that'll get those damn dirty camel jockies to stop hating us.

You know, it really is fucking annoying around here how you can't be even blatantly over-the-top ironic without some fucking idiot taking your words literally.

But to be more serious, Weemadando asked who should be invaded. I propose Saudi Arabia, since it is they who, through funding Wahabist religious schools worldwide, are actively supporting, funding and facilitating the kind of radical islamism that manifests itself as Al Quaida, the Taliban and Sharia law. I also posit that Iran is not and should not be seen as the primary antagonist of the West in the middle east. Sure they are waging a proxy war against Israel but the real enemy is Saudi Arabia.

*Edit: Damn quote tags

[Aaron MkII]

Note to weemadando: How patient will you Australians be if the Islamists start suicide bombing AUSTRALIAN buses in an attempt to kill Jewish tourists? I doubt even the French have much tolerance for terrorists getting THEIR PEOPLE caught in the crossfire of an anti-Jewish pogrom. At some point, people will go: "Oh, it's sad that the Israelis and the Iranians hate each other, but that's really not our prob- What? The Iranians are launching terror attacks in OUR country, killing OUR people in an attempt to kill Israeli visitors? Oh, it is ON!"

There are other means we can use, just because ten years ago you got a rude awakening to the the reality of terrorism doesn't mean the rest of us have to go full retard.

[Lord Revan]

Tbh due it's religious signifigance Saudi-Arabia should one of the if not the last country on the invasion planning list as it's one of the few places (if not the only one) on Earth attacking which you could construct being an direct attack against Islam in such a way that other people then some crackpots would belive in and you'd want to avoid that image as much as you can unless you're willing to start literally total annihilation of islam (aka genocide on scale that I hope anyone here isn't honestly compenplating).

[weemadando]

Note to weemadando: How patient will you Australians be if the Islamists start suicide bombing AUSTRALIAN buses in an attempt to kill Jewish tourists? I doubt even the French have much tolerance for terrorists getting THEIR PEOPLE caught in the crossfire of an anti-Jewish pogrom. At some point, people will go: "Oh, it's sad that the Israelis and the Iranians hate each other, but that's really not our prob- What? The Iranians are launching terror attacks in OUR country, killing OUR people in an attempt to kill Israeli visitors? Oh, it is ON!"

Well, let's see. We had 88 Australians killed in an attack in Indonesia aimed at us (among other filthy Westerners), by an Indonesian group. Somehow we managed to resist invading them and instead supported the Indonesian police in their investigations.

But hey, I guess we're not bloodthirsty retards. Mostly.

[Blayne]

The war on terror should never have been beyond Afghanistan a global military campaign, but a paramilitary police investigation where terror suspects get captured and then tried in the International Criminal Court. I don't think it would end particularly sooner or even be less violent but I feel it was an option never tried until Iraq failed.

[Aaron MkII]

The war on terror should never have been beyond Afghanistan a global military campaign, but a paramilitary police investigation where terror suspects get captured and then tried in the International Criminal Court. I don't think it would end particularly sooner or even be less violent but I feel it was an option never tried until Iraq failed.

America wanted them dead, this was never about justice or good vs evil, just revenge. That's something I can sympathise with but its bad foreign policy. Saddam for example probably should have been tried in the ICC, just for the fact that a fair trial at home would pretty much be a show trial.

[Pendleton]

Tbh due it's religious signifigance Saudi-Arabia should one of the if not the last country on the invasion planning list as it's one of the few places (if not the only one) on Earth attacking which you could construct being an direct attack against Islam in such a way that other people then some crackpots would belive in and you'd want to avoid that image as much as you can unless you're willing to start literally total annihilation of islam (aka genocide on scale that I hope anyone here isn't honestly compenplating).

The US had plans on taking Saudi oil fields by force in the '70s and late eighties. I can only wonder how that would have panned out.

[Sea Skimmer]

The US would have only done that if 1) the Soviets invade Iran 2) Iran or Iraq is invading Saudi, 3) Saudi is already in a state of civil war. In the first two cases it'd go over like the Gulf War did, Saudis are reluctant but have no damn choice. In the third case a US presence would hardly make things worse since the Saudi population was about a third of what it is today in 1980, a fifth in 1970, and most people don't live in or near oil fields or installations while already being busy fighting each other. The bulk of the population lives far away on the west coast around the holy cities, almost as far away from the oil as possible really, and would have been on the older side back then too. Saudi has had a huge population boom since the 1970s, alongside many other nations in the region, and many of the problems of recent years are directly related to this. Too many young people, not enough jobs and society just generally not used to the situation they are in.

[mr friendly guy]

Note to weemadando: How patient will you Australians be if the Islamists start suicide bombing AUSTRALIAN buses in an attempt to kill Jewish tourists? I doubt even the French have much tolerance for terrorists getting THEIR PEOPLE caught in the crossfire of an anti-Jewish pogrom. At some point, people will go: "Oh, it's sad that the Israelis and the Iranians hate each other, but that's really not our prob- What? The Iranians are launching terror attacks in OUR country, killing OUR people in an attempt to kill Israeli visitors? Oh, it is ON!"

Terrorists targeted Australian citizens in a popular tourist spot in Indonesia, twice. We didn't do stupid shit like invade Indonesia. We do however fund education in Indonesia which competes against the brainwashing of religious fundies.

That being said, we did suck George Bush's cock when he decided to invade Iraq because the AQ bogeyman was in bed with Saddam or some bullshit like that, so who knows. Maybe we will end up doing shit like that.

Edit - we may end up doing invasions of nations looking for non state actors in relation to Ando's original post... but only if Uncle Sam backs us up.