This talk about the Murrah Building reminds me of a passage in a 1996 novel where the characters briefly discussed the issue:
"Earl, before we get talking about other stuff, what's your read on this Oklahoma City thing? I've used more explosives than most people, and there's a lot of things that don't look right to me, but I'm no authority on blowing up urban targets with improvised charges. Everybody's been talking about it ever since it happened, but I haven't heard an opinion from a real expert. What do you think?" "It's interesting you should be skeptical, Henry," Earl Taylor-Edgarton said. "There are a number of things which don't sit right in my mind, as well. I can say this with authority: if Mr. McVeigh did in Europe what he is alleged to have done here, he would be hailed by every newspaper and magazine on the Continent as an absolute 'Master Bomber'." "Why?" Cindy asked. "For one, because of his faultless construction of an improvised shaped charge on such a grand scale. The blast in Oklahoma City was a directional one. A car bomb sitting in an open area normally radiates its force equally all 'round. However, in Oklahoma, the devastation directed towards the Federal building far exceeded the damage on the other side of the bomb. I saw a quick mention of the theory that the bomber used sandbags inside the vehicle to direct the blast, but I'll tell you straight, there's quite a bit more to it than that." Henry and Cindy both nodded in understanding. "The next troubling bit," Earl went on, "is the fertilizer issue. As you well know, ANFO is a low-grade explosive. It's good for shoving big heaps of earth aside when you put it in a series of holes in the ground, but to set it out in the open and expect it to shatter a structure meters and meters away with nothing but air between? No," he said simply. "Those vertical steel supports were sheared off by a high-level explosion, like Semtex." "That's why the news reports kept upping the amount of fertilizer that was in the van," Henry said immediately. "It started out as a one-thousand-pound bomb. Then fifteen hundred, then twenty-five. I think they've levelled off at five thousand pounds now." "And that provokes another major issue. The five thousand pounds had to be in a number of smaller containers. It wasn't two and a half tons poured into the van like so much oatmeal. Say our master bomber built compartments holding five hundred pounds each, which would be a feat in itself. It's not that bloody easy to get ten large quantities of fertilizer to detonate simultaneously. Last month I read a theory that the ANFO was in a hundred forty 5-gallon buckets. No. It's virtually impossible to get good simultaneous detonation on a hundred charges, without top-quality commercial detcord or other high-level detonators that are harder to get than high-level explosives themselves." "Could you...improvise a bomb that would shear off the steel girders?" Cindy asked. "Perhaps. And again, this is where it would indicate that a 'master bomber' had engineered this explosion. There are ingredients which can be added to the basic ANFO mixture to increase its shock, but I don't know if I could create such a result as we saw in Oklahoma. Not with ANFO as the base. If Mr. McVeigh accomplished such a feat, he is a genius with explosives." https://www.amazon.com/Unintended-Consequences-John-Ross/dp/1888118040 _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
