[...] Stupid people can do a lot of damage. The fact that Richard Reid was a pretty dim bulb would have been small comfort to his fellow passengers if he had somehow managed to set his shoes alight. Not every Islamikaze who blows himself up in a public place is an Einstein; I'd wager that few of them are geniuses. That doesn't stop the IDF from trying to get them before they strike. Nor should it. ( And don't forget that many of them have help. Did Padilla have associates like that?)

The question of whether or not Padilla's bomb would have been sufficiently "dirty" isn't the most important thing here. I'm more interested in the fact that this might be an indication of bin Ladenite networks and structures in the US. We always hear about "terrorist cells" and so forth, but very little of it comes to surface. Why haven't the FBI managed to root out and identify more people like Padilla? Is al Qaeda's continuing presence in the US a scare-mongering fabrication as well (as some have charged)? Padilla is one example to the contrary, at least. You want an angle from which to attack Bush's management of "homeland security?" Don't complain about Ashcroft's timing or downplay Padilla's significance or speculate about his low IQ. Focus on why they haven't nabbed more like him.