Posted on 07/08/2006 1:46:55 PM PDT by SleekMaid
Federal law enforcement officials tell ABC News a plot designed to use 15 to 20 suicide bombers on one commuter train as close to Sept. 11 as possible was well underway.
The specific target was the PATH commuter trains that run in a tunnel under the Hudson River into New York City.
"This is a plot that would have involved martyrdom, explosives and certain of the tubes that connect New Jersey with lower Manhattan," said Mark Mershon, Assistant Director-in-Charge of the FBI New York Field Office. "We're not discussing the modality behind, beyond that."
But law enforcement officials say the plotters had already accessed detailed blueprints and drawings of the PATH tunnels, available on the internet.
And like the London bombers, the plan was to load backpacks with explosives.
All 15 to 20 bombers were to board one car and detonate when the train was under the river, according to officials.
"There's no question that they are vulnerable. With the right amount of explosives, the tunnel could be compromised," said Gerry Hauer, former Director of New York City's Office of Emergency Management and now an ABC News consultant.
The FBI identified the ringleader as 32-year-old Assem Hammoud of Lebanon.
Lebanese officials arrested him in April at the request of the FBI, and he reportedly has now admitted he was about to go to Pakistan for training at an al Qaeda camp. "We know that he has acknowledged pledging a bayat or allegiance to Osama bin Laden, and he proclaims himself to be a member of al Qaeda," said Mershon.
Security was stepped up today at the PATH tunnels.
Officials said today two other alleged plotters had also been arrested, but at least five of them remain at large.
"This shows we are able to disrupt terror plots such as this," said New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. "Secondly, it shows that New York remains in the terrorists' cross hairs."
Officials say the plot was uncovered more than a year ago by U.S. and Canadian intelligence agents watching a jihadist internet chat room.
Officials say the suspects communicated freely, thinking that no one could track them.
Similar chat rooms were used by the alleged terrorists arrested recently in Toronto and Miami.
"The chat rooms have literally exploded since 9/ll because we are now right in the midst of electronic jihad," said Jack Cloonan, former senior agent on the FBI's bin Laden squad in New York and now an ABC News consultant.
Officials say none of the plotters was in the United States but that several of them were nearby in Canada. Others had planned to travel to New York from Saudi Arabia.
Officials say even after their leader was arrested in April, the plotters continued to make plans, and officials say they can't be sure the plan is fully stopped, even now.
It ain't Colorado but it's home.
http://www.worldisround.com/articles/54892/
Don't hold your breath waiting for fellow Americans to be justifiably angry should another attack occur. Heck, we had huge jetliners crashing into our biggest cities and people are more concerned about American Idol each night. Our collective memories are pathetically short.
~ Blue Jays ~
p.s. A special FreeRepublic welcome to SleekMaid!
You are absolutely 100% correct. It irks me when people fail to understand the simple notion that we have an individual responsibility towards our security and the security of our families. Many fellow citizens have been defanged and have grown soft over the decades.
~ Blue Jays ~
......PATH stands for Port Authority Trans Hudson.
Don't know .... I just found the site today.
"Didn't Kerry say in 2004..that we need to get back to where terrorism is a "nuisance"??? Was that the term he used?"
Well if you asked me, he's the nuisance.
You are absolutely correct that people died in the PATH terminal during the 9/11 terrorist attack. The burning jet fuel poured down the elevator shafts and sent a vicious tongue of flame out through the bottom. An employee on my team was an eyewitness. She was on one of the last trains entering the station. She observed two men trying their best to help a third individual blackened with what were likely fatal burns. We must remain vigilant.
~ Blue Jays ~
Because liberal half-wits surmise that it is not our place to be God, but it is o.k. for muzzies to play the part.
Yes...and he will be, at least through the 2008 election. ugh
Let's see them try to do it. I for one would try to kill them before I die. After all, they are easy to spot aren't they? (Shaved head, smell like flowers, etc.)
Instead, the only thing we can do is have our retaliation plan ready.
Good luck with that.
~ Blue Jays ~
Let's not forget that the ACLU sought to ban backpack searches in the NY subway system. See: http://www.aclu.org/police/searchseizure/20054prs20050804.html
It is good that you have confidence. I travel a lot, and the TSA as well as the NY/NJ PA people do not give me a warm fuzzy feeling. Anyone remember which airports the hijackers used on 9/11? Until profiling is allowed at the federal level, it will be up to the individual. Unless we think that the Amish need to be rounded up to make the "numbers". Think about it. Radical islamics do these acts.
Are you mental? We did not build the greatest nation on earth to cower and be fatalistic. Vengeance belongs to the almighty. It is our duty to pre-empt. It is much better to ask forgiveness than beg permission to exterminate muzzies.
I don't know if they could have made it work, but their plan was and is anything but dumb.
some people do not forget , and some people are ready to roll if anything else should occur.
Keep your eyes open and stay safe. And pray to your Guardian Angel every day!
"it is not our place to be God"
white guilt ?
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