On March 17th, 1992, a pickup truck loaded with plastic explosive drove up to the front of the embassy and exploded.

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Plenty of warning signs also preceded Nigerian Umar Farouq Abdulmutallab's attempt to blow up Northwest flight 253 over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009 with an underwear bomb made with PETN, a plastic explosive that was not detected by airport security.

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Could steps Team Obama has taken - such as the closure of Guantanamo Bay, the release of some hardened terrorists held there to Yemen (where Abdulmuttalab claims he got his plastic explosive device), granting others access to civilian courts and constitutional rights, etc.

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We were lucky that the "shoe bomber" failed to ignite the plastic explosive in his sneakers, lucky that the "underwear bomber" similarly botched his crotch bomb, and lucky that the "Times Square bomber" bollixed up the timer for his car full of explosives.

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Reid's shoes allegedly contained several bomb-related materials including the explosive PETN, plastic chemicals to gel and mold the explosives and TATP, a highly sensitive material needed to detonate the shoe bombs, sources told CNN.

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Using a thin film of polyfluorene, a light-emitting plastic, they have created a laser which reacts with explosive vapour.

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