A CHILLING POSSIBILITY – AT 9:28 A.M. ET:   Has the Islamic State acquired surface-to-air, shoulder-launched missiles?  If so, it is a new danger that must be faced all over the world, including the United States.  These things can be broken down and transmitted easily in parts.  From Powerline:

While our government dithers, ISIL is rampaging around the Middle East. In northern Syria, the terrorists routed a Syrian army detachment and captured an air base in Tabqa. Reportedly, the base yielded surface to air missiles suitable for bringing down airplanes along with other weaponry:

The seizure of Tabqa air base, while not the first installation of its type to fall to militants, highlights the Islamic State’s gains in the region and the group’s continued pilfering of advanced military equipment, particularly the surface-to-air missile systems known as MANPADS, short for Man Portable Air Defense Systems.

Matt Schroeder, a senior researcher at the Switzerland-based research group Small Arms Survey and author of a recent report on MANPADS in Syria, believes that the takeover of Tabqa airbase could mark a “significant proliferation” of the weapons across the region.

The Washington Post article linked above cautions that MANPADs are not as simple as they look, have a limited shelf life, and require some skill to use. The problem with Islamic terrorists, however, is that they aren’t stupid. A disproportionate number of them are engineers, doctors and so on. Mastering battery technology likely won’t be an obstacle for long.

COMMENT:  How many years have we been reading about this threat?  It is a true nightmare.  A few successful attacks on airliners on a single day – mimicking our 9-11 attacks – will thoroughly disrupt the international air system and do enormous economic damage.  Needless to say, they would also produce many human tragedies.  And if such attacks occurred, how many people would want to fly again, especially soon after the attacks.

There are anti-missile systems available for airliners, but I believe only the Israelis are installing them. 

There have also been a number of reports that shoulder-launched missiles are missing from Libyan arsenals.

August 26, 2014