• The would-be jihadist? Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, a Saudi citizen attending community college in Texas, was arrested today on charges of attempting to build a bomb for terrorist purposes. He allegedly purchased bomb components, as well as chemical components, and kept a journal detailing his dedication to jihadist philosophy. He is accused of plotting to kill former President George W. Bush, as well as attack reservoirs and hydroelectric plants in Colorado and California. He’s also said to have collected names and addresses of three U.S. military officers who’d been stationed at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. source

• Inside this backpack was a bomb. Not just any kind of bomb. An incredibly sophisticated bomb the likes of which law enforcement officials haven’t seen, loaded with shrapnel that was designed to hurt people. Worse, the bomb was placed in a position that was designed to attack a parade route in Spokane, Wash. The bomb was designed to be remotely controlled. And wanna know what that parade route was for? That’s right, an MLK Day parade. So why is this story getting underplayed? By, well, everybody? A few examples:

Buried a little

• CNN: Buried in a listPerhaps it hasn’t caught the full attention of the network that this might perhaps have been a huge terror attack. Ricky Gervais is in the infamous features slot. Also, the story’s short.
• MSNBC: A video teaseNot a top news item, and further down the page than CNN. Considering the nature of the attack, doesn’t this seem like underplay? But at least they have a photo of the thing, right?

Further down the list …

• Washington Post: Also buriedEven lower on the page than MSNBC, the Post’s coverage of the incident is just a link to an AP story, rather than any unique coverage from a local angle.
• 
  Fox news: also buriedSo, according to this list here, domestic terrorism ranks at a similar level as “Drug-Smuggling Pigeon Caught in Colombia.” Check. Great job.

Basically nonexistent

• WSJ: Near the bottomBelow such stories as “Is the NFL Telegraphing Drug Tests” and “Pandas Can Stay in D.C. 5 More Years” is a story about the incident. It’s short, but written by WSJ staffers.
• 
  NY Times: Hah! Yeah, it’s not hereThe Times appears not to have given the story any play on its front page at all today. You have to go all the way to the bottom of the National page to even find it. It’s also from yesterday.

• » Why this might be: We think there are a few factors at play here. First of all, since the bomb was caught before anyone was hurt, it effectively dulled its “immediate danger” factor. But the firepower of the bomb suggests a much more sinister danger and motive that should increase the story’s play, but isn’t due to its lack of obvious eye-catching imagery and clear motive. There’s a motive suggested by the situation and the nature of the bomb, but few details to back this up. The lack of details make it hard to play it up. (Even the Spokane Spokesman-Review has played it down at this point.) Finally, there has simply been a lot of news in the last two days – the health care repeal, Giffords, Joe Lieberman, Steve Jobs, etc., and it’s the kind of thing that might get buried. None of these are excuses for underplaying it, but just a thought process as to why this happened. source

• It is very likely that a large (15-20 cm in diameter), irregularly-shaped, cm-thick pancake with beveled edges, taped to the abdomen, would be invisible to this technology, ironically, because of its large volume, since it is easily confused with normal anatomy.
• Leon Kaufman and Joseph W. Carlson • In a piece titled “An evaluation of airport x-ray backscatter units based on image characteristics,” which they wrote for the Journal of Transportation Security. To put it simply – if terrorists were smart enough to create pancake-shaped plastic explosives that look like someone’s belly on a full-body scanner, the technology would be defeated and we’d all be dead. Good to know.  source

• Two fatal blasts hit the Indonesian capital Friday. Local news stations are reporting that the Ritz-Carlton and Marriott Hotel were targeted in the two separate attacks, just two weeks after the country’s presidential election. source

• If the UN Security Council provokes us, our additional self-defense measures will be inevitable.
• The North Korean Foreign Ministry • In a message sent through official media. The country hasn’t been playing nice this week, so it’s bizarre that they’d look to self-defense mechanisms to stay safe, but whatever guys. Have fun playing with your toys. Hopefully they don’t hurt anyone. • source

• 19 people died in the incident, including eight police, three civilians and eight militants; 90 were wounded in the attacks source