TERRORISTS TARGET CA BRIDGES!

KFBK Radio | 11-1-01 | self

[evilsmoker]

Talk show host Tom Sullivan just reported that during a press conference Gov. Davis said he was notified that there is evidence that terrorists plan to target the Coronado Bridge (San Diego), the Golden Gate & Bay Bridges (San Francisco) and an LA Bridge (didn't catch the name) tomorrow, Friday, Nov. 2nd.

[firebrand]

That's what I thought too! I guess they must have weighed the possibility that they could fail to thwart the attack and have everybody up in arms because they weren't told about it, against actually catching the guys and making them talk. That's the problem with terrorism: crowd control becomes more important than catching the f)ckers.

[Neanderthal]

"I think that if the terrorists were picking a high-value target on the West Coast, there is really only one choice.

The Golden Gate Bridge.

The Bay Bridge carries five times as much traffic - the busiest bridge in the country. It's also more vulnerable from an engineering standpoint - bomb on lower deck (outbound from SF) would reflect blast energy up and down while explosion on surface of GG would expend most energy into the sky.

[John Jamieson]

9/11/1990 was the day that GHW Bush told a joint session of congress, broadcast around the world, that we had to attack Iraq.

[Dog Gone]

Davis says bridges threatened Dow Jones News Service		Thursday, November 1, 2001 Breaking News Sections

SACRAMENTO (Dow Jones) -- California Governor Gray Davis confirmed "there's a credible threat" that terrorists might try to destroy one or more of the state's suspension bridges.

Davis said the state has "taken elaborate precautions" to prevent an attack, said to be planned for between Nov. 2 and Nov. 7.

Potential targets are said to include San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge, Vincent Thomas Bridge in Los Angeles and Coronado Bridge in San Diego.

California Highway Patrol Commissioner Dwight "Spike" Helmick said "the bridges are safe."

Davis says he's also directed Major Gen. Paul Monroe, adjutant general of the California National Guard, to assign additional military personnel to the bridges "in whatever numbers he feels appropriate."

And he said it was important to make a public statement about the threat. "The best preparation," he said, "is to let the terrorists know, 'We know what you're up to. We're ready. It's not going to succeed.' "

The governor said that the state had already been on heightened alert at the bridges starting about two weeks ago, when CHP officers found some suitcases near the Golden Gate Bridge, which connects San Francisco and Marin counties in Northern California. The suitcases "turned out to be not anything particularly worrisome," the governor said. "But the fact that the suitcases could be there was worrisome."

After the discovery of the suitcases, the governor said, law enforcement officials received information "from several different sources" that between Nov. 2 and Nov. 7, "there would be an effort to blow up one of those bridges."

The governor said the state has "taken every step as humanely possible to tighten security." He said he wanted Californians to know that "if they feel they're going to cross the bridges, we've done everything possible to ensure their safety."

[Oldeconomybuyer]

I can't speak for the SoCal bridges, but the economic impact of taking out either the GG or Bay Bridge would be devastating to the Bay Area. I live in Kansas now, but lived there a few years back. Suggest you lighten up on the sarcasm. This is war.

[HardStarboard]

"Signiture" bridge or just an overpass, I seem to remember that the dropping of the Santa Clarita highway bridge in the earthquake caused a whole bunch of disruption for at least 3 or 4 months.

I remember a posting some years back about a guy on a sightseeing tour in Arizona - bus stopped at some historical monument and he noticed two Chinese looking types weren't interested in history - they had wandered over to a railroad bridge that went over a major east-west interstate - and were photographing the supports and under-structure.

We have lots of enemys - and we're vulnerable. Eagles Up!!

[be-baw]

Can you say cancel the Emmys...again!

Bwaaahahaha...no doubt they're aching for another excuse!

[phasma proeliator]

HOOYA!

DAMN Straight - silent but DEADLY (no comments on that)...

[Joe Hadenuf]

I thought L.A. had no harbor or port,

What? FYI, LA has one of the largest ports in the world. And its helped make California the 5th largest economy on the globe.

Minor details.

[hoot2]

"We have a bridge in LA? News to me!"

sure we do; it comes out in tiajuana....
del norte express bridge...

[.38sw]

Well, yeah, scary. During peak commute hours, blowing up one of these bridges, like the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge or the Golden Gate bridge would result in a lot of dead people. I can't even estimate how many cars could be on either bridge at any given time, but there are a lot of vehicles on those bridges, and in bumper to bumper traffic, the death toll would be quite large if the bridge were to go down.

[rolling_stone]

Coronado Bridge from coronado...http://www.vrviews.com/prucal/corv01.htm
http://www.sdboats.com/corbridg.htm

pic of bridge from north looking south coronado on right side of Pic silver Strand is the white streak on the right...http://www.io.com/~gilmer/bridge/coronado/panorama4.jpg

[Stefan Stackhouse]

This story just now (17:48 EST) being reported on FNC

[Dog Gone]

The Bay Bridge carries five times as much traffic - the busiest bridge in the country. It's also more vulnerable from an engineering standpoint - bomb on lower deck (outbound from SF) would reflect blast energy up and down while explosion on surface of GG would expend most energy into the sky.

True, but if you're looking for symbolism, and a landmark that is known around the world, it's hard to beat the Golden Gate Bridge.

I'm no engineer, but I would agree that it would be a more difficult target to collapse, however.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Posted: 02:41 PM PST Thursday, November 01, 2001 .

Calif. Gov. Says 'Credible' Threat to Bridges

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California Gov. Gray Davis said on Thursday he had received ``credible'' information indicating that the state's major suspension bridges -- including the Golden Gate Bridge -- could be targeted for attack between Nov. 2 and Nov. 7.

``We've received from several different sources threats that the law enforcement community in general believes are credible that between Nov. 2 and Nov. 7 at rush hour there will be an effort to blow up one of those bridges,'' Davis told a news conference.

Davis listed the bridges under threat as the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges in San Francisco, the Vincent Thomas Bridge in Los Angeles, and the Coronado Bridge in San Diego.

Davis said it would be up to commuters to decide whether or not they wanted to cross the bridges during the period in question.

``The best preparation is to let the terrorists know we know what you're up to, we're ready, it's not going to succeed,'' Davis said.

[classygreeneyedblonde]

That's their whole idea is to distrup this whole country...

[truth_seeker]

For example, IS there a major bridge in Los Angeles? I thought L.A. had no harbor or port, no major ravines, hence no place for a "signature bridge" (as we call it in the bridge business).

In your process of "scolding" the fellow for posting this, you reveal your own lack of facts. Los Angeles/Long Beach is the busiest commercial harbor in the country. There is a large bridge, in the harbor area--the Vincent Thomas bridge.

There are also a heap of middle-eastern types in the LA area. I believe it has the largest concentration of Iranians in the US. The largest mossque in the US is scheduled to be built, in Garden Grove (Orange County, the 2.8 million pop. suburb of LA).

[John Jamieson]

That would really hurt Chinese shipments, hum.

[stayout]

The Coronado Bridge does not have to be dismantled to allow carriers to pass. First of all, all the Navy's big carriers moor at North Island N.A.S., before you get to the Coronado Bridge. Second, the largest ships that do need to moor beyond the Coronado Bridge are the LHAs (i.e. Tarawa-class) amphibious assault carriers at 32nd Street N.A.S. They pass under the Coronado Bridge with no difficulty at all.

The Coronado Bridge indeed was built modularly (I saw it being built), but it is not disassembled for any ship.

[ChowChowFace]

So this is what they are going to do....a BRIDGE? Oh, how scary. /sarcasm

It is VERY scary!!! Thousands of men, women and children cross those bridges everyday.