Posted on 08/14/2006 5:55:09 AM PDT by goldstategop
By now, you've probably read the news that the three Palestinians caught in Caro, Michigan with 1,000 TracFone cellphones are involved in a plot to blow up Michigan's Mackinac Bridge (it connects both Michigan peninsulas). Mackinac Bridge site here.
But here's what you didn't read:
Sources tell DebbieSchlussel.com that the men are from Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the group that works in concert with HAMAS in performing homicide bombings in Israel. The group once even considered merging with HAMAS, at the time that it was headed by University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian, a founder of the group. Maybe now sleepy Americans will awaken to note that Palestinian terrorism is not just Israel's problem. It's America's.
Sources say the plot was uncovered because law enforcement personnel observed two or more other men videotaping the Mackinac Bridge.
Mackinac Bridge (Peninsulas Bridge, Michigan)
Sources also say that it is very unlikely the men could have succeeded in blowing up the Mackinac Bridge--even with the chips from 1,000 phones for 1,000 bombs--as it is several miles long (it's the world's third longest suspension bridge). At a total length of 26,372 feet, the steel structure can support 38,486 tons of weight and is very, very strong and fortified. The sources say that, likely, the plan would have succeeded in bombing cars driving on the bridge, but not bringing the structure down
Nah, he's got almost 100 miles between his joint and the Bridge. And, since there are load limits in force, he doesn't have to worry about crossing the bridge!
But using the alarm feature all could go off at once.
huh? with a call bank, something you'd find at a telemarketers office, and some auto-dial units and enough trunks - you'd need just a few minutes.
True, but then why go to the trouble of using cell phones? A cheap digital watch would do the trick, and be less likely to be traced.
I think that is the plan. A huge number of small IEDs across the country simultaneously triggered would cause a great deal of panic.
Just saw this in another thread - "Page said the young men can speak English, Spanish and Arabic. One young man reported he was born in Texas. The other two said they were born in Jerusalem and Puerto Rico." - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1683493/posts
Given . . . how thick headed he is . . . perhaps his fat rear could be used to shield HumVee's.
But if I were a soldier, I wouldn't want that near the stench of the traitorous dolt.
I am no engineer, nor am I educated with regard to explosives, bombs, etc. It's just that those losers seem to get lucky sometimes. Bottom line is a lot of people could die, even if the bridge isn't totally destroyed.
That was my point exactly.
Interesting. Thanks.
Well, yeah.... and as I discovered for myself the other day, Debbie could have figured that out with about 30 seconds of google searching.
I've never found Ms. Schlussel's stuff to be very enlightening, because her analyses tend to be superficial at best ... and this is just another example.
The problem with this article is that Ms. Schlussel simply assumes that "bringing down the bridge" would have been these guys' goal. Clearly not possible ... and also clearly not the typical MO for a terrorist. A terrorist wants to maximize the human toll, which is why the Bridge Walk is such an obvious place to focus.
Poor Ms. Schlussel apparently did no research, and thus did not come up with the obvious target; her terrorists must be content with "bombing cars driving on the bridge, but not bringing the structure down." Pretty pathetic for a professional pundit.
And with tens of thousands of people on the bridge, that would be a terrorist's dream. You could start at both ends and work to the middle.
Actually, though, there are more practical barriers to having more than a few of these things on the bridge: putting them there in a manner that can't be detected by authorities with dogs.
So even if the intent is not to bring down the bridge, a few detonations at various points on the bridge while it is filled with 60,000 or so people will kill a few hundred people outright, BUT, it will create a stampede of panic in a semi-confined area that would cause at least 10 times the deaths and injury. In a large crowd like the picture posted elsewhere in this thread even 10 explosions spread across the bridge would cause the herd mentality to kick in and the people trampled to death, pushed off of the bridge and injured in the confusion of which way to run would be substantial.
The best thing a person could do in the event of multiple suicide bombers in the crowd, would be to get near the rail on the edge, stay low and stay there.
"Pretty pathetic for a professional pundit."
Even worse now that it appears that they don't have any terrorist ties ...
I guess that makes me wrong, too.
Just like Larry Johnson saying it was no more than a GOP conspiracy a couple of weeks or so before 9/11.
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