Prosecutor: Mackinac Bridge was target (plan for cell phones)

The Saginaw News ^ | JUSTIN ENGEL08/12/06

[SE Mom]

Tuscola County prosecutors filed terrorism-related charges Saturday against three men who they say bought dozens of cell phones Friday in Caro in a globally coordinated plot involving the Mackinac Bridge.

They charged brothers Adham Abdelhamid Othman, 21, and Louai Abdelhamied Othman, 23, along with their cousin, Maruan Awad Muhareb, 18, with identical counts of collecting material to support terrorist acts and surveillance of a vulnerable target with intent to committ terrorism.

[RunningWolf]

Well then I think there is a large gap between what your concept of one of these suicide vehicles would be and what mine is.

In any event I did not rule out some sort of covert govt. support for them.

In any event I am not going to flesh out my arguments/theories any more than I have, lest I spark the imagination of abdul in jihad land out there somewhere.

W.

[Centurion2000]

Having worked with demolitions for many years msny years I can tell you it would take far more than 10 tons of high explosives to bring down the Mackinac Bridge.

But with a good concrete bitted drill, climbing gear and a lot less explosives you could cripple and drop two or four pylons and drop a span ... or if you miscalculate, you will still cripple the bridge beyond engineering safety requirements for load.

[Centurion2000]

I think all unregistered prepaid cell phones should be immediately disabled. It is crazy to allow any anonymously owned cell phone to operate anywhere in the world. After all them are disabled, they should only be reenabled after the owners personally go to a cell phone store or service outlet and present valid photo ID, verified addresses, bank accounts and submit a thumb print.

Are you going to ban battery powered watches, alarm clocks, cigarettes and clothespins, muriatic acid, strike anywhere matches, blackpowder and magnifying glasses, digital weight scales, lightbulbs and acetone/gasoline as well?

Cellphones are not nearly the only way to reliably make something go boom.

[Centurion2000]

I am sick of people whining about their rights while we are in a battle with people who want to kill all of us .... We suspended some civil rights during WWII ....

You just revealed the problem. There is no Declaration of War on file .... when there is, I'm sure a LOT of people will be in for rude awakenings and a lot of people would agree with you about restrictions. Until then, we're right, you're wrong. (Personally I think we should have declared war 9/12/2001 and started rounding up muslims)

[Paleo Conservative]

Cellphones are not nearly the only way to reliably make something go boom.

But they are probably the most flexible way. Cell phones could not only be programmed to detonate explosives but also to be reprogrammed remotely.

[Centurion2000]

But they are probably the most flexible way. Cell phones could not only be programmed to detonate explosives but also to be reprogrammed remotely.

So can a battery powered Wireless hub .... take a laptop from shore and something else (that I'm not mentioning) and run pings out to it .... you can imagine the rest.

Cellphones, flexible ... absolutely and it uses the public infrastructure against us ... but the internet could also be used to detonate one as well. Laptops, firewalls and 802.11 could be a detonator as well.

[RunningWolf]

It should have been 1993.., but yes by 9/12/2001 we should have got the message and declared war. And I think GWB did so as much as he could.

Unfortunately for us, fickle & short sighted short term memory Americans have not stuck with him thruout the conflict.

W.

[RunningWolf]

And eventually all those avenues will be exploited by him at the costs to our freedoms and liberties.

In war (which we are unfortunately) ultimately we will have to temporarily suspend some of those liberties to defeat him, for he has/and is operating on our own soil.

UNLESS We can defeat him abroad and get him out the USA. This is still possible if we have the will to do it.

Agree?

W.

[Centurion2000]

agreed

[GarySpFc]

But with a good concrete bitted drill, climbing gear and a lot less explosives you could cripple and drop two or four pylons and drop a span ... or if you miscalculate, you will still cripple the bridge beyond engineering safety requirements for load.

I presume you are referring to dropping one of the sections leading up to the main span. I will give you an A for coming up with the best solution. That said, taking out a couple of pylons would be a bigger job than you imagine, and not one a crew could achieve without several hours work. Also, you could not do this without attracting lots of attention, which would give the authorities time to react. That said, you can actually drop one or more of these spans without drilling into the concrete. Placing a few hundred pounds of C-4 on the girders for each span will cut it. You are also talking about several hours needed to carefully place the explosives, but this could probably be done without being seen. While this is the best solution, it is only a temporary one, because these spans can be replaced in a couple of months.

[Centurion2000]

more pictures for reference

More pictures here

[sit-rep]

Do you have any idea what it would take to blow that bridge? Take a look at the stanchions in that pic you posted... You have to fly a 757 into it, and then maybe it would weaken it. Or, you would need a tremendous amount of explosives to bring it down.

I honestly think someone other than the terrorists are suffering from delusions of grandeur here...

[sit-rep]

But with a good concrete bitted drill

And how would they do this undetected?

[sit-rep]

But with a good concrete bitted drill

BTW...Those stanchions are steel.

[Centurion2000]

BTW...Those stanchions are steel.

The base of those pillars aren't.

[Centurion2000]

And how would they do this undetected?

No idea, but them I'm not planning to blow a bridge up .... there might be ways ... there might not.

Perhaps a counterfeited police boat in the dead of the night.

[Peter Libra]

My post #33 indicated that I thought that there was some credibility to terrorist intent. I would still not put it past them.

I took my usual trip over to Michigan yesterday. I have SAULT SUNDAY of the Evening News. It is probably very old news by now to all.(laughs) Nonetheless I will repeat it.

To paraphrase. Two "Texas" men remain jailed. A judge set bail at $10.000 each. They will try to obtain it today. It appears that they were removing an integral part of the phones. This was to allow users to phone for no payment. They removed Trackphones software.

I would conclude the good judge has it that they are allegedly guilty of old fashioned entrepenurial fraud. (Conspiracy to commit fraud by traficking counterfeit goods and money laundering)-up to five years and up to twenty years.

I still say the use of non -trackable phones should ring alarm bells. Just the ticket to protect would be terrorists.

[Peter Libra]

Whoops, my bad. THREE "Texas" men, not two.

Adham Othman,Loui Othman and Maruan Mahareb. They must wear electronic tether and FIND EMPLOYMENT, if they are released.

[oceanview]

using remote methods, with publicly available networks and uniquely addressable devices (the phones) - its the easiest way.