Plot To Bomb New York Tunnels Thwarted
Hmm...
This quick reaction to downplay these terror arrests by the media and left-leaning politicians makes me a little queasy. This was clearly a legitimate threat, and downplaying it is dangerous.
So experts think that a bomb wouldn't have done enough damage in the tunnel to cause flooding. So what? The Trade Center towers were designed to not fall down if a plane hit them, yet that didn't stop them from crumbling when planes hit them on 9/11. Plus, even if a bomb in the tunnel didn't result in flooding the financial district...there still would have been a bomb going off in the middle of a tunnel crowded with traffic. How many would have been killed from that alone?
I think some people need to be a little less quick in downplaying the threat here and a little more thankful that we got these jerks before they hurt some people.
Also, anyone else wondering how authorities managed to connect this cell of terrorists in New York with a guy all the way over in Beirut, Lebanon? Could this be the NSA "wiretapping" program/Treasury financial tracking program at work? We don't know for sure, but I'd be willing to bet that it is. And if that's true, how much damage has the outing of those programs done to our ability to locate and neutralize threats like the one above (in addition to the terror cell down in Miami that was recently taken into custody)?
We don't know that either, but that there is a chance that any harm as been done to our anti-terror efforts should be more than enough to shame the unprincipled louts at the New York Times and L.A. Times.
Update:
Turns out the thwarting of this plot to blow up a New York tunnel came on the anniversary of the London Underground bombings.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A plot to bomb New York's Holland Tunnel in an effort to flood the Wall Street financial district has been uncovered by the FBI, with a suspect arrested in Lebanon, New York's Daily News reported on Friday.
Lebanon confirmed on Friday it had arrested a suspect in connection with a plot to bomb a tunnel in New York, a government source said. . . .
The newspaper, quoting unidentified counterterrorism sources, said the investigation involved what officials considered a "serious plot" to detonate enough explosives inside the landmark tunnel to destroy it and send devastating floodwaters through lower Manhattan.
The 79-year-old tunnel runs under the Hudson River between New Jersey and Manhattan and carried almost 34 million vehicles in 2005. The newspaper quoted experts as saying the idea of flooding the Financial District was unfeasible. . . .
The Daily News said authorities in Beirut, at the request of U.S. officials, arrested one of the suspected conspirators, identified as Amir Andalousli, in recent months and that agents were seeking other suspects around the world.
Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York told CNN: "This is one instance where intelligence was on the ball."
Commenting on the arrest in Beirut, Schumer said: "They should find out everything he knows, who he's connected to, etc. You have to take every one of these plots seriously. But you don't want to say every time they caught someone, 'Oh, within a week, had they not caught them, something terrible would have happened."'
The Daily News quoted a counterterrorism source as saying officials were alarmed because the plotters allegedly got a pledge of financial and tactical support from Jordanian associates of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq before he was killed last month. The paper said it was not clear if any cash or assistance was delivered.
The Daily News said New York officials, according to sources, believed the plan could conceivably work with enough explosives placed in the middle of the tunnel.
But it said some experts did not consider the plan feasible because the tunnel was protected by concrete and cast-iron steel and even if the tunnel cracked, the Wall Street district would not flood because it was above the level of the river.
"These don't seem to be the brightest bulbs in the terrorist lot. Their plan made no sense," Schumer said.
This quick reaction to downplay these terror arrests by the media and left-leaning politicians makes me a little queasy. This was clearly a legitimate threat, and downplaying it is dangerous.
So experts think that a bomb wouldn't have done enough damage in the tunnel to cause flooding. So what? The Trade Center towers were designed to not fall down if a plane hit them, yet that didn't stop them from crumbling when planes hit them on 9/11. Plus, even if a bomb in the tunnel didn't result in flooding the financial district...there still would have been a bomb going off in the middle of a tunnel crowded with traffic. How many would have been killed from that alone?
I think some people need to be a little less quick in downplaying the threat here and a little more thankful that we got these jerks before they hurt some people.
Also, anyone else wondering how authorities managed to connect this cell of terrorists in New York with a guy all the way over in Beirut, Lebanon? Could this be the NSA "wiretapping" program/Treasury financial tracking program at work? We don't know for sure, but I'd be willing to bet that it is. And if that's true, how much damage has the outing of those programs done to our ability to locate and neutralize threats like the one above (in addition to the terror cell down in Miami that was recently taken into custody)?
We don't know that either, but that there is a chance that any harm as been done to our anti-terror efforts should be more than enough to shame the unprincipled louts at the New York Times and L.A. Times.
Update:
Turns out the thwarting of this plot to blow up a New York tunnel came on the anniversary of the London Underground bombings.
