French Things That Go - B*A*N*G! (France's own new terror target) (w/pic)

WMCA - New York ^ | 12.15.2004

[KMC1]

SAW THIS ON SHEP SMITH LAST NIGHT: Maybe I'm the only one who thought this the moment this picture popped onto the screen, but I'm pretty sure I'm not...

How much you wanna bet that France's new pride and joy... (THIS)
 
...becomes the new "talk of the town" in the Al Jazeera "what should we blow up next" section of the classifieds?

What is extremely interesting is that Chirac and all the French leadership are probably delusional enough after the 24 month scolding they have been giving the U.S. to think that they are completely immune to the terrorists that are out there...

[finnman69]

duplicate
see this thread:

Chirac launches highest bridge

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1301082/posts

[2banana]

It is extremely tough to destroy a bridge - thousands of pounds of explosives in a car bomb would only scratch the paint..it is not a soft target unless terrorists have unrestricted access to interior section for many, many hours...

[Ralph the Hun]

That's what I use to say about wanting to take down the World Trade Center.

We should never underestimate these animals.

[atomicpossum]

It is extremely tough to destroy a bridge

It's also extremely tough to bring down two major office buildings.

[elbucko]

Is this bridge what the French did with their cut of Iraq's "Oil for Food" booty? I thought so. Though I still prefer the Eiffel Tower as Al Qaeda's primo Franco target.

[Allegra]

They just "blowed somthing up" outside the wire here a few minutes ago.

But they're always doing that in this neighborhood.

[elbucko]

Are those white support towers symbolic of the French raising their collective arms to the sky in their traditional act of surrender? C`est la vie.

[gridlock]

Just so long as the Germans remember how to broken step march. Resonance can be a bitch on a structure this long...

[Stashiu]

Keep your head down!

Thank you for your service.

[Kelly_2000]

What is extremely interesting is that Chirac and all the French leadership are probably delusional enough after the 24 month scolding they have been giving the U.S. to think that they are completely immune to the terrorists that are out there...

No the DGSE are better capable than any other country combating Islam terrorist scum as they have faced the African Islamic fundamentalists for decades now. It is just a shame the USA and France are not united against terrorism as this only benefits the terrorists in the long run

[bra]

The placement and type of charges are the important part. This bridge could be disabled very easily with the right know how.

[JusticeTalion]

Not going to happen, friend. Mythbusters on the Discovery channel proved it. 10 pairs of boots, a helmet and pneumatic legs marched all over a 50 foot model bridge. It sagged and swayed a bit but no resonance was created at all. Myth Busted! I love that show. :-)

God bless our troops wherever they may be.

[Abathar]

""It is extremely tough to destroy a bridge - thousands of pounds of explosives in a car bomb would only scratch the paint..it is not a soft target unless terrorists have unrestricted access to interior section for many, many hours...""

Actually it depends on the type of bridge and how it was designed. A cable bridge has one big flaw, the cables. This bridge could be taken down easily with a few shaped charges placed at deck level on the cables, drive up, attach a magnetic slice charge to the cable covers and drive off. These cables have to be tensioned at both ends at the same time to keep the upright supports strait, building this kind of bridge is a balancing act more than anything. Detonate the charges between two towers on a windy day, drop the roadway and I doubt that the support towers will stand the unbalanced load from one side only. It would be a terrible thing though, I don't like giving the French credit for anything but this bridge is one of the most beautiful things they have done in a long, long time.

[Darksheare]

But it was built by the French.
They built an aircraft carrier that had opaque windows on the flight ops bridge, dropped it's props on the sea floor, had a dangerously undershielded reactor, and whose flight deck was too short.

How hard could it be to undo the twine, duct tape, and bubblegum holding that thing togetehr?
/ joke.

[rjsimmons]

Ever hear of the Tacoma Narrows?

[SolutionsOnly]

Actually, It'a pretty cool bridge.

Lots of concrete. It would be hard to bring down. There are softer, easier targets.

[NCC-1701]

Galloping Gertie was one wild ride. But a short one.

[aynrandfreak]

Don't get me wrong, I've hated the French since before hating the French was cool, but just as humanity we can't stop building big things because they may become a target of the terrorists.

[Thermalseeker]

But it was built by the French.

Not to worry, though. Fox News also reported that this new source of "French pride" was designed by a British engineering firm........