The World Trade Center bombing in February, 1993, became a landmark in the new wave of terrorism, with civilians involved into the tragedy. The World Trade Center served as the target of the bombing. As a result of the terrorist act, six people were killed and more than thousand were injured. But taking into account the fact, that there used to be about 20,000 people usually working at the Center simultaneously, and more than 80,000 people visited or traveled along the complex, the consequences could have been much more serious. (U.S. Senate, 1998) The WTC was the intentional choice of terrorists, because it has always served as the symbol of the American financial power.
But the choice was not based only on this fact. The thing is that terrorists believed they could explode the whole building, through getting beneath it, into a large underground garage, which are common to the most of New York buildings. The preparation of the act started right in 1992. The terrorists needed about two months to find the chemicals necessary for preparing the bomb. They also needed to transport it to the site. The whole work was accomplished by Ramzi Yousef and Sheik Omar.
The first made up the part dealing with explosive, and the latter was occupied with chemistry. (Dwyer, 1994, p. 62) On the 26th of February, 1993, a yellow Ford Econoline was driven to the underground garage of the WTC, and the timer for detonation was set by the terrorists. The massive blast created a cavernous crater 200 feet by 100 feet wide and seven stories deep, and caused an acrid smoke to rise to the 46th floor. (Mylroie, 1995, p. 3) As a result, the damage caused by the explosion, equaled $300 million.
The Term Paper on United States Terrorism Terrorist People
... commits a major act of violence against your people, the terrorist win and become stronger. A war is always ... and is what justifies from their perspective, terrorist attacks on America. Many people believe that terrorism became global in ... on the planes but also in the World Trade Center and Pentagon will live in our hearts forever... ... CNN. com Washington Post ABCnews.com Terrorism Research Center.
There are the suspicions, that there was also planned another smaller attack with the use of some toxic chemical, as there have been discovered the contacts of terrorists with chemical suppliers. The main forensic aspect of this case investigation concerns forensic chemistry, and the question is, if there had been any cyanide in the bomb? Forensics is presented by the wide range of different subdivisions, starting from ontology, to trace evidence. In our case we speak about forensic chemistry, which deals with the analysis of the bomb fragments in particular. To speak in general, the objects of the trace evidence analysis are the fragments of explosives, and the main tasks of this procedure are to define the kind and the type of explosive, relating the device to the explosive type and defining the means of explosive constructing. (Koppl, 2005, p. 26) So, what were the evidences, which supported the statement of the Judge Duffy, that there had been cyanide in the WTC bomb? The main question to be solved here lied in the following: what could be the consequences of mixing cyanide with nitric or sulfuric acids, both of which had been found in the bomb fragments? The FBI chemist Steven Burgmeister was the main person to be inquired about the results of the forensic chemical analysis. The thing is, that Burgmeister never made it clear, that he had come to any positive conclusions as for cyanide presence in the explosive. (Dwyer, 1994, p.
237) This is an abstract from the Burgmeisters interview by one of the prosecutors during the trial: Prosecutor: What happens, when sodium cyanide is mixed with nitric or sulfuric acid? Burmeister: There is formed hydrogen cyanide, which is a gas, and which is extremely toxic. Prosecutor: When you say, that hydrogen cyanide is very toxic, could you give an idea of how toxic it is? Burmeister: Very toxic, if you breathe, you are dead (Burgmeister, 1994, p. 6911) One of the proofs for FBI agents was the discovery of the bottle with sodium cyanide at the place, where the terrorists were preparing their explosive. But it is clear, that this does not directly prove there was any cyanide in the bomb. The fact is that sodium cyanide may be used for different purposes, for example, for photography. Its cost is very low, and it is sold in tons for industrial use. There have been also carried out technical analysis as for how much cyanide would be needed to create such an explosive, and how it is possible to create hydrogen cyanide and the assertions of the Judge Duffy were not confirmed by the FBI. (Dwyer, 1994, p.
The Essay on Applying The Daubert Standard To Forensic Evidence
Overview In this lab, you acted as a forensic specialist assisting the lead forensics investigator at the Cyber Crimes Division (CCD) for the Fremont Police Department. You were given a hard drive image taken from a seized computer suspected of containing stolen credit card numbers. You reviewed the search warrant and completed the Chain of Custody form that accompanied the evidence drive. You ...
240) It was stated by the former FBI official, that according to the chemical forensic analysis, there was no forensic evidence as for the presence of sodium cyanide at the bomb site. (Hoffman, 1998, p. 179) It should be said, that not much information could be acquired from the explosion site, because of the huge mass of physical and liquid debris around. The explosion was so powerful, that it had broken all the inner structure of the twin towers, and due to this fact the underground was full of water, sewage and constructing materials. The cars and their fragments were scattered around. The only evidence of the possible presence of cyanide in the bomb was the terrorist telephone talks and the chemicals, which had been found at the place of terrorist residence. So, there has been carried out a backward forensic analysis, starting from discovering of cyanide as possible proofs, to the ultimate investigation of the bomb fragments. (U.S.
Senate, 1998) The prosecution would not have hesitated to add the attempted mass killing with a chemical weapon to make the case more compelling. But FBI had not found any definite evidence at the bomb site to prove the presence of sodium hydrate. (Dwyer, 1994, p. 50) So, there has been found no forensic evidence as for the presence of cyanide in the explosive. There has been left only some remote suggestions that it could have been so, or that the FBI specialists had not found the concealed capsule with cyanide, or that the cyanide had been totally destroyed by the explosion. Still there is no evidence to prove any of the assertions. In any case, it was impossible for the prosecution to charge the defendants with using a chemical weapon if there were no forensic evidence to support the charge. (Hoffman, 1998, p. 190) So, the main aspect of the WTC bombing investigation was the forensic chemical analysis of the explosive, or rather, of its fragments. There have been found no evidence of the terrorist intent to use chemical weapon, though there still exists a possibility that the investigation can be repeated.
The Term Paper on Terrorist Use Of Chemical Weapons
Introduction It was another calm early morning on the subway train. Many of the passengers were napping on their way to work. The train slowed to a stop to allow more passengers on, then sped along to its destination, the central government dist rich in Tokyo. Many of the passengers found it strange that a man who got on at the last stop was wearing sunglasses, but soon dismissed it remembering ...
According to the latest reports, many inaccuracies were found in FBI lab examiners testimonies. One of the principal findings of investigators was that, concerning the World Trade Center bombing in terms of scientifically flawed testimony. (Mylroie, 1995, p. 9) There have been found inaccurate testimonies by an explosive-units examiner in case with the WTC bombing of 1993. The improper preparation of test results and insufficient documentation of test results have also been noted as considerable flaws of the FBI laboratories work. (Mylroie, 1995, p.
8) The forensic trace evidence analysis is a decisive factor in any terrorist case. In case with the WTC bombing of 1993, it proved itself to be insufficient and unreliable. It is still unknown if there had been any traces of cyanide at the explosion site, despite the existence of so many modern means of forensic analysis. In the described case, either it has been a mistake, or just a flaw of the FBI work, the absence of cyanide evidence played an important role in sentencing terrorists, creating more opportunities for political and racial arguments. It has proved the fact that terrorists may consider themselves genius, setting the highest goals to achieve in his actions. (Koppl, 2005, p.
32) The incapability of defining the real situation through the use of traditional methods of forensic chemistry led to the uncertainty in terms of making the verdict, though it was still harsh, having sentenced the terrorists to 240 years of prison in the most severe regime. It often appears, that even through the use of modern forensic analysis means, the results happen to be dubious. (Koppl, 2005, p. 32) The WTC bombing of 1993 is a bright example, showing the urgent necessity to improve the work of FBI explosive laboratories and the methods of forensic investigation relating to any terrorist acts connected with probable use of dangerous chemicals. References (1) Burgmeister, Steven. United States of America v Mohammad A. Salameh et al.
The Research paper on Boston Bombing Case Analysis
On April 15, 2013, during the Boston Marathon, homemade explosions were detonated near the finish line taking the life of 3 Americans and injuring more than 260. The explosive devices were determined to be two pressure cookers strategically set to detonate 210 yards apart at 13 second intervals. The investigation lead was taken over by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) who released ...
S593CR.180 (KTD), January, 24, 1994, p. 6911. (2) Dwyer, Jim, Murphy, Deidre, & Tyre, Peg. Two Seconds Under the World: Terror Comes to America The Conspiracy Behind the World Trade Center Bombing. New York: Crown Publishers, 1994, 50-62, 237-240. (3) Hoffman, Bruce. Inside Terrorism.
New York: Columbia University Press, 1998, 177-190. (4) Koppl, Roger. How to improve a forensic science. European Journal of Law and Economics, 14, 2005, 24-32. (5) Mylroie, Laurie. The world trade center bomb: Who is Ramzi Yousef? And why it matters. The National Interest 42 (1995): 3-10. (6) U.S.
Senate, Committee on Judiciary, Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism and Government Information. Foreign Terrorists in America: Five Years after the World Trade Center, 24, February, 1998. .
