Two thoughts on the Christmas bombing attempt

Two things came to me today. Why blow up an airplane on landing? #1) - Landing and taking off are the two times when the airframe is under maximum stress. If you wanted to ensure the biggest bang for the buck, you would detonate at these times otherwise, you might just blow a big hole in the side and do nothing else. Why blow up an airplane on landing? #2) - Newton's First Law and basic airplane operation. #2a) - An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. Even if the object becomes a loose collection of formerly airplane-shaped objects, it is still subject to the First Law and will continue on its flightpath. #2b) - when taking off, you want the wind at your back so as to gain from the speed of the wind and to need less runway. When landing, you want to land into the wind so it slows you down (relative to the ground surface) and you need less runway. The upshot is that you have a bunch of planes stacked up at the windy end of the runway, waiting to take off in between airplanes coming in to land. If Abdulmutallab had been successful and if Flight 253 did explode, the debris would have flown toward the airplanes sitting there waiting to take off. This is war and Abdulmutallab needs to be pumped for whatever information he has and then be executed by a firing squad -- preferably with bullets dipped in pigs blood. The fact that he has a civil lawyer is a mockery of the Body of Laws this Nation was founded upon...