New York Times Blogger Solicits Ideas for Terror Attacks

Show of hands how many people are shocked this comes out of the NYT?

"If you were a terrorist, how would you attack?

That's the question a New York Times blogger posed Wednesday on the newspaper's Web site.

Steven D. Levitt, in a controversial posting on the paper's Freakonomics blog, has invited fellow blogger's to submit their worst-case scenarios for a terrorist attack."

This son of a bitch's post reads like a virtual terrorist training HOW TO guide.

"Hearing about these rules got me thinking about what I would do to maximize terror if I were a terrorist with limited resources. I’d start by thinking about what really inspires fear. One thing that scares people is the thought that they could be a victim of an attack. With that in mind, I’d want to do something that everybody thinks might be directed at them, even if the individual probability of harm is very low."

He goes on to describe in detail how to bring fear to the masses. Then solicits advice from his readers.

"I’m sure many readers have far better ideas. I would love to hear them. Consider that posting them could be a form of public service: I presume that a lot more folks who oppose and fight terror read this blog than actual terrorists."

Saying I am disgusted hardly covers my feelings for this man and the paper who he writes for.

In the comments these two stood out for me and summed up my thoughts very well indeed.

"18.August 8th,2007 11:58 am - Thanks for the tip! I’ll pass your idea along to the rest in my cell. Twit.
— Posted by terrorist"

"27.August 8th,200712:04 pm - Please, please remove this how-to guide for terrorists from the Web. Of course there’s all sorts of information already out there, but suggesting more ideas to terrorists is extremely irresponsible. Stupid, in fact. Why on earth would you think this is a good thing to do? What purpose does it serve?
— Posted by J. Foster"