• December 2001, Richard Reid: British citizen attempted to ignite shoe bomb on flight from Paris to Miami.
Richard Reid was too stupid to know that he was allowed to take a lighter on board, and was too incompetent to light a match. Please, some of these terror plots failed only because of their own stupidity.
That's actually quite true. The Bojinka plot was foiled in 1995 because that one dude lit his apartment on fire. Even 9/11 was poorly executed; the terrorists inadvertently informed the FAA of the attacks via radio and failed to confiscate cell phones allowing the passengers of United 93 to ascertain their plan...I dunno whether or not lists of foiled attacks such as this one exemplify terrorist's incompetence or law enforcement agencies being on top of their game.
