Power to the People

Terrorists leapt ahead of military tacticians in creating sophisticated small explosive devices that used dynamite.20

Confederate soldiers stretched out sheets of fabric over trenches and earthworks so the Ketchum grenades would have a soft landing, fail to explode, and could then be thrown back even harder.22

Innovation Was Not Driven by the Military

Underscoring the fact that dynamite was seen as an exciting new invention, rather than as a dangerous tool to be cautiously used or controlled, is that innovation with dynamite as a weapon was driven not by military organizations, but from below.

Following the 1967 Six Day War, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) analyzed the performance of their main battle rifle, the Fusil Automatique Léger (FAL) and found it wanting. It did not perform well in the dusty desert environment in which the IDF primarily fought. Examination and testing of Egyptian and Syrian AK-47s and AKMs recovered by the IDF f

In the US Civil War, while both armies used grenades, they were ad hoc and ineffective. In the North, Ketchum grenades, which were patented by William Ketchum in 1861, were shaped like big darts, or iron mangoes sporting four fins, with cylindrical plungers at the nose designed to jab into the tamped gunpowder within.

As we saw in the last chapter, gunpowder-filled military grenades had not become a major element of military combat.

When thrown in an arc, these explosive darts had to hit something hard, square on the nose where the percussion cap was, if they were to explode.

From 2013, American policymakers argued that armed UAVs (“drones”), along with Special Operations, could destroy al-Qaeda’s leadership and effectively end the war on terrorism.57