(And you'd better pay attention, because if I've figured this out, you can bet that somebody else has as well.)
T-00:05:00 The assault team leader makes his final equipment checks. The three other members of his cell are doing the same. He wonders how the other teams are faring, and how many of them will succeed today. OpSec doesn't allow him to know how many other teams there are, or where they will strike, but from loose talk in the training camps, he knows there are other teams like his, scattered throughout the country, working just as he was to blend in, build trust, and prepare.
T-00:04:00 The final checks are completed. The team marks their readiness with a silent prayer, then leaves the house. The four men get into their minivan and head towards the target. Ever since he downloaded the activation command 12 hours ago, the leader has been in an almost dreamlike state. Everything seems too real, too vibrant. Sounds are crisper, colors are brighter. He feels truly alive for the first time since entering this country. No more hiding; today he can achieve glory for his god and his people.
T-00:02:00 The minivan approaches the target, a middle class high school in a suburban location. The target was chosen from a list of area schools based on location, distance from emergency services, multiple escape routes, and lack of security, although the latter turned out to be a minor factor. Armed security was virtually non existent at all of the targets, usually consisting of one or two police officers, usually approaching retirement, sent to the schools to deal with troublesome teenagers. They provided almost no obstacle to a trained and motivated team like the one nearing the school.
T-00:01:00 The driver parked the minivan in the drop-off circle for ease of escape, and the four men exited with no conversation. Dressed like everyone else, they looked like a family group, coming to school for an activity. An alert observer might have noticed that the weather was a bit warm for the jackets they were wearing, but it was springtime, and the weather could change quickly around here, a factor the team was counting on. They moved unhurriedly towards the school entrance, noting that the parking space reserved for the security officer was empty, just as they had expected.
T-00:00:30 The four men entered the school through the front doors. It was in the middle of lunchtime, and since the lunchroom was right off of the main entrance, the area was packed with students. The men made their way through the milling students towards the office area.
T-00:00:10 The leader entered the office while the other members of his team took their positions just outside the door.
T 00:00:00 As the leader pulled the silenced pistol from his jacket, shooting the receptionist, the intercom, and the phone switchboard before beginning to target students, the three men outside pulled a grenade from underneath their jackets and threw them down each hallway and into the lunchroom.
T+00:00:10 The grenades exploded in dense clusters of students, sending blood and body parts everywhere. The chaos was immediate as students tried to escape the carnage. The three men pulled machine pistols from their jackets and opened fire. The leader left the office and joined his team; there was no-one left alive in the office to call in the emergency.
T+00:00:30 The four men broke up into two teams and worked their way down opposing hallways, shooting anyone who presented a target. As they came to a classroom, just as they'd practiced, one man opened the door, while his partner tossed in a grenade. As their research had told them, the students were trained to hide under their desks in their classrooms, making them perfect, unresisting targets. They moved quickly from classroom to classroom.
T+00:02:00 Each man carried a total of 8 grenades. At the two minute mark, they had blown up 10 classrooms filled with teachers and students, the office, the cafeteria, and the assembly hall. Out of grenades, all four men switched to their guns to complete the mission.
T+00:02:30 Moving back down the hallways towards the front entrance, they encountered their first and only resistance. A group of football players attacked one of the gunmen from behind and dragged him down. He triggered his vest and ended the threat.
T+00:02:45 911 receives their first calls from student cell phones detailing the attacks.
T+00:03:00 The three remaining members reached the front entrance. The attack had come so quickly and suddenly that it was still quiet and peaceful outside the school. Smoke was just beginning to rise from the fires they had started, but it was probable that emergency services hadn't even been notified yet, although that would change shortly in this age of cell phones.
T+00:3:15 The leader and his men got back into the minivan and left the school. Behind them, students were starting to climb out of windows, disobeying the teachers who were still trying to get them to follow the approved plan of hiding in the classroom. The team left the area calmly, and vanished into the spring afternoon.
T+00:05:00 The first police cars arrive on the scene. They begin helping the wounded.
T+00:05:45 The first ambulances and fire trucks arrive.
T+00:15:00 The first news reports go out. The police chiefs says only that there has been a "disturbance" at the high school.
T+00:18:00 Members of the press, listening to police scanners, determine that there is more than a "disturbance", and begin live coverage of the massacre. City officials immediately deny any evidence of terrorism.
T+00:20:00 The police issue an APB on a brown SUV, based on a report from one of the school groundskeepers.
T+00:20:15 The assault team, listening in on their scanner in their blue minivan, share a laugh.
T+00:25:00 The scene commander calls for more ambulances and body bags. The metro area diverts all resources to the high school. It isn't enough.
T+00:30:00 The national news picks up the story,except they have the location wrong. The local station calls the national bureau to tell them that not only did they get the name of the school wrong, they put it in the wrong state!
T+00:32:00 The national news bureau chief verifies the information,and realizes that there is more than one massacre and vomits on his desk as he realizes what is happening.
T+00:35:00 The first casualty estimates are out. 5 dead, 30 wounded.
T+00:45:00 The national news reports at least 15 schools were hit simultaneously. Nobody is denying terrorist links anymore.
T+00:55:00 The casualty estimate from our school has increased. 50-60 dead, 200 or more wounded. Casualty estimates from other schools are beginning to trickle in, but everybody involved in the rescue knows it will be much much worse.
T+01:00:00 The assault teams reach their respective safe houses, where they split up, taking different cars. They move along predetermined paths, going to ground in homes of those sympathetic to their cause. Out of 25 teams totaling 120 men, 85 have escaped, and none have been captured. All 35 suicided.
T+2 days. The final numbers are staggering. In our school, 287 students and faculty dead, another 652 wounded out of a total student population of 1200. Nationwide, 25 schools were hit, 15 high schools, and 10 elementary or middle schools. Total dead, just over 8,000. Wounded just under 20,000.
1 hour. 120 men. No nukes, bio-weapons or chemical agents, just a few hundred grenades and a few thousand rounds of ammunition and our world is changed forever.
And there are no local measures we can take to stop it. Heck, we can't stop a pissed off 9th grader from shooting up his school, how are we going to stop a trained professional assault squad? Look at the above scenario and see what you could devise to stop it that wouldn't require several army regiments to implement.
You can't do it, folks. The only way to stop something like this is to never let it get started in the first place. And that means listening in on phone conversations. It means wire tapping. It means tracking money. It means securing our borders. It means doing all those things that so many people have been crying about ever since 9/11.
You can call me an alarmist if you want, but every time I see a stupid kid who got his heart broken because his girlfriend dumped him walk into a school and kill a few dozen people, it scares the crap out of me because I know what will happen if a band of motivated professionals do the same thing.
It won't be a few dozen dead kids; it will be a few hundred. Or worse.
Posted by Rich at April 16, 2007 3:38 PM | TrackBack