It's been a bit since I've dropped a post around here, so I thought I would end the year with a "bang". A DHS bulletin that crossed my desk recently had something on it that those working the political side of rocketry might be interested in. It is unclass/FOUO, so I can only give a vague and general overview of the info to a public forum. Some of the Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Devices (VBIED) being used over in Iraq are being enhanced with Ammonium Perchlorate (AP). Basically, they are using artillery projectiles for the HE. To make a better bomb, the villians are packing the cargo areas around these explosives with loose AP (hundreds of pounds of it), most likely salvaged from other large missiles that CNN claims didn't exist in Iraq (ooh, did I say too much?). The resulting combination gives the simultaneous detonation of numerous artillery rounds accompanied by the massive fireball of the AP powder.
The fact that they are finding AP used in this manner over there may be one of the reasons why we are seeing the push from the BATFE(iou) to regulate AP in the US. As we all know, reservation and common sense has never been a defining trait of such government agencies, especially those with both regulatory and police powers under the same roof.
Happy New Year (from an undisclosed location), Scott