Plotters sought to bomb NY tunnel: paper (Reuters)

[Up2Late]

(Note: This in NOT the same report as the FBI coaching the "Miami 7", this is even more recent)

Plotters sought to bomb NY tunnel: paper

Fri Jul 7, 2006 05:10 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A plot to bomb New York's Holland Tunnel in an effort to flood the Wall Street financial district has been uncovered by the FBI, with a suspect arrested in Lebanon, New York's Daily News reported on Friday.

The newspaper, quoting unidentified counterterrorism sources, said the investigation involved what officials considered a "serious plot" to detonate enough explosives inside the landmark tunnel to destroy it and send devastating floodwaters through lower Manhattan. The 79-year-old tunnel runs under the Hudson River between New Jersey and Manhattan and carried almost 34 million vehicles in 2005.

The Daily News said authorities in Beirut, at the request of U.S. officials, arrested one of the suspected conspirators, identified as Amir Andalousli, in recent months and that agents were seeking other suspects around the world. The newspaper said the FBI and New York police officials declined comment on the investigation, which it quoted a source as describing as "ongoing."

The Daily News quoted a counterterrorism source as saying officials were alarmed because the plotters allegedly got a pledge of financial and tactical support from Jordanian associates of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq before he was killed last month in a U.S. air strike. The paper said it was not clear if any cash or assistance was delivered.

(more at link) <http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=12770307&src=rss/domesticNews>

[Up2Late]

1. Here's the NY Daily News report the Reuters article refers to

(Does anyone else get the feeling this is "strategic leaking"? Or is the Friday News Dump just starting early?)

Bomb tunnel, flood city

Originally published on July 7, 2006

One man is busted in Beirut, others hunted across
globe and terrorists are seen linked to Zarqawi
BY ALLISON GENDAR in New York
and JAMES GORDON MEEK in Washington
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

The FBI has uncovered what officials consider a serious plot by jihadists to bomb the Holland Tunnel in hopes of causing a torrent of water to deluge lower Manhattan, the Daily News has learned.

The terrorists sought to drown the Financial District as New Orleans was by Hurricane Katrina, sources said. They also wanted to attack subways and other tunnels.

Counterterrorism officials are alarmed by the "lone wolf" terror plot because they allegedly got a pledge of financial and tactical support from Jordanian associates of top terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi before he was killed in Iraq, a counterterrorism source told The News....

(clip)

...The News has learned that at the request of U.S. officials, authorities in Beirut arrested one of the alleged conspirators, identified as Amir Andalousli, in recent months. Agents were scrambling yesterday to try to nab other suspects, sources said.

(more at link) <http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/433227p-364959c.html>

[Up2Late]

2. Related Story: Good plan, experts say, except it wouldn't work (NYDN)

Good plan, experts say, except it wouldn't work

Originally published on July 7, 2006

BY ADAM LISBERG
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Any plot to flood lower Manhattan by blowing up the Holland Tunnel is doomed to fail, experts say - because it would have to defy the laws of physics.

If the Hudson River surged into a ruptured tunnel, experts told the Daily News, the water would only rise to its own level - and might not even reach street level in the city.

"It might flood the Holland Tunnel, but that's all it's going to flood," said Allan McDuffie, an Army Corps of Engineers expert on New York flood patterns. "It's not going to get any higher than the level of the surrounding water."

The sidewalk at the entrance to the Jersey-bound Holland Tunnel is exactly 10 feet above sea level, federal maps show.

(more at link) <http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/433258p-364908c.html>

[truthisfreedom]

4. correct. some of these terrorists failed, like the ones trying to take

down the twin towers with planes. they needed assistance from previously-planted explosives.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

5. What about space-based lasers?

Aliens? Evil Jesus? Super karate monkey death cars?

[Richard Steele]

17. Soon, the super karate-monkey death car will park in OUR space.

Be AFRAID!!!!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

18. But Jimmy has fancy plans...

...and pants to match. The monkey clown horrible karate round and yummy like cute small baby chick would beat the donkey.

[Richard Steele]

19. I really have to start quoting that show more!

At times like this, it doesn't seem so CRAZY, does it?

[Up2Late]

26. What show is he/she quoting from?

It just sounds like gibberish to me, are those actual quotes?:shrug:

[Richard Steele]

30. "News Radio". Yes, that was GIBBERISH. Brilliant, inspired gibberish.

To explain the joke:
Self-made billionaire Jimmy James
had written an autobiography- which was a total FLOP.

However, the Japanese translation became a runaway bestseller in Japan.

So he had it translated BACK into English to re-release it
here in the States.
But he neglected to actually LOOK at it
until he was asked to read it at the press conference
kicking off his national book tour.

And then he was stuck reading that gibberish, and trying
to bluff his way through the reporters' questions.

"Mister James, what did you mean when you wrote, 'Donkey donkey donkey, donkey donkey'?"
"Er...that was a reference to the S.E.C deregulation. "

[xenu]

13. The WTC could easily be taken down with commercial jets alone

You shouldn't raise this subject on the front page unless you can supply the documentation to support your conspiracy theory.

[seriousstan]

34. Or the ones trying to bring them down with truck bombs.

I believe they were wrong about that also.

It must be tough to connect the dots when you don't believe there are any.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

6. Well, nobody ever said terrorists have to be smart. n/t

[DoYouEverWonder]

10. I was wondering

how the hell you could manage to flood lower Manhattan by blowing up a tunnel that's already underwater.

This guy is about as swift as the shoe bomber.

[drm604]

16. I thought this immediately.

Water seeks it's own level, so it wouldn't flood lower Manhattan. That said, flooding the Holland Tunnel would still be a disaster, certainly for anyone who's in the tunnel at the time.

[Ian David]

25. What about his plan to cut-down the Brooklyn Bridge with giant scisors...

and send the whole island of Manhattan falling to the center of the Earth?

[Richard Steele]

32. That evil plot is already thwarted. DHS has spent 5.2 billion dollars...

on a state-of-the-art giant rock.

And as we all know, giant rock breaks giant scissors.

However, we have solid intelligence that IRAN is only five years
away from developing giant paper- that's why we need to nuke them NOW!

[nealmhughes]

43. I laughed out loud when I heard this story on the news.

It's a tunnel, al Qaeda. It goes UNDER the water in NYC. The entrances and exits are above the water, as it is difficult to get air enough to breathe and operate gas engines below the water. Water seeks the lowest level, which is sea level on Manhattan. Bridges are above the water, for your future information. Have a blessed jihadi day.

[smirkymonkey]

51. Science is EVIL!

Don't you know?

[annabanana]

3. We'll get a better idea

of how much of a threat this is when we learn more of the detainee. This actually sounds more like the real deal than most of the hype-fed baloney we usually get.

Of course we will never be able to gauge anything by reports in the corpomedia, they have cried wolf so often.

[rman]

7. these stories have so much credibility, ever since

the Sears Tower bamboozle

[C_U_L8R]

8. Cough Cough

Bullshit !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More terror electioneering.... for goodness sake
there's barely a trickle of terra scares for the last two years
and now conveniently in the runup to mid-term elections
there's a flurry of half-baked plots ???????????????????????

I call bullshit and I dare any good reporter to get to the bottom
of all this fearmongerinng by the republicans !!

[rosesaylavee]

9. Exactly - everyone put on your seatbelts

its going to be a bumpy ride from here to November. Them terraists have waiting until now - just 4 months before the election to act! They are trying to take down the Sears tower, the Holland Tunnel and rushing steel doors on cockpits (http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2375801)... thank g*d our Gmen are there to thwart them!! Otherwise, this would be series!11!!!

Be afraid, be very afraid ... And of course, don't forget to vote for them repugs because they are the ONLY ones who can protect us from evil doers.

[KKKarl is an idiot]

35. Terrorists!!! Terrorists everywhere

I am waiting for them to find a terrorist that supposedly died before he could undertake his act to blow up some building or the other in the US. The report will show them digging up his body. Hannity will have have experts showing us how from the grave this guy can actually still bring terror.

[gkhouston]

45. maybe we should have a DU contest to invent

next week's terror story... :eyes:

[Up2Late]

27. I have a scoop in my DU Journal that I'm thinking about sending to...

...The New York Times to see if they would report it.

Here's the link: <http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2704451>

[allemand]

11. ABC News: "FBI uncovered the information in a jihadist online chatroom"

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=nation_world&id=4343177

I doubt that they would discuss a more developed plot in an online chatroom.

A Justice Department official confirmed to ABC News the basics of the alleged plot, but said the planning was in its initial phases and mostly overseas. Officials do not believe there are links to plotters or operatives inside the United States.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=2163524

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

12. Aww.

Now I wish I hadn't cancelled my JOL subscription.

[Stevious]

14. it must be an election year...

:wtf:

[onehandle]

15. Check out the nonsensical text on the CNN Homepage.

"Report: Holland Tunnel bomb plot uncovered

A plot to bomb New York's Holland Tunnel in an effort to flood the Wall Street financial district has been uncovered by the FBI, with a suspect arrested in Lebanon, New York's Daily News reported today. Counterrorism sources told CNN today that there was a plot to blow up tunnels in the New York City area, but the sources said the Holland Tunnel was not mentioned specifically as a target."

Well, Was it or Wasn't it!?

[Up2Late]

28. OH BROTHER! Good catch!

WTF CNN!?!?

Can you say Hedging? This is call a Non-report Report. :wtf: :argh:

[Roland99]

20. I'm no physics major but, uh, Manhattan Island is ABOVE the Hudson River.

right?

How would "floodwaters" exist? Wouldn't the tunnel just fill up and that's that?

[underpants]

23. After some research I can safely say

that islands tend to be above the surrounding water.

[Roland99]

24. Ah, that's just liberal media spin.

[goforit]

21. NEw York needs to develope its own inestigative team and

protective service. They can not depend on anything from
the federal gov't.

[DemReadingDU]

22. What doesn't Bush want us to know about?

I always wonder when terror plots are uncovered, what is the Bush adminsitration trying to cover up? Something else is going on that they don't want the media to talk about.

[Up2Late]

29. Maybe this! C.I.A. Closes Unit Focused on Capture of bin Laden (NYT)

(This little noticed item hit the New York Times during the 4 day, July 4th Holiday weekend, though people who still listen to NPR, like me, heard this on July 1st.)

C.I.A. Closes Unit Focused on Capture of bin Laden

By MARK MAZZETTI
Published: July 4, 2006

WASHINGTON, July 3 — The Central Intelligence Agency has closed a unit that for a decade had the mission of hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants, intelligence officials confirmed Monday. The decision is a milestone for the agency, which formed the unit before Osama bin Laden became a household name and bolstered its ranks after the Sept. 11 attacks, when President Bush pledged to bring Mr. bin Laden to justice "dead or alive."

The realignment reflects a view that Al Qaeda is no longer as hierarchical as it once was, intelligence officials said, and a growing concern about Qaeda-inspired groups that have begun carrying out attacks independent of Mr. bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Agency officials said that tracking Mr. bin Laden and his deputies remained a high priority, and that the decision to disband the unit was not a sign that the effort had slackened. Instead, the officials said, it reflects a belief that the agency can better deal with high-level threats by focusing on regional trends rather than on specific organizations or individuals.

"The efforts to find Osama bin Laden are as strong as ever," said Jennifer Millerwise Dyck, a C.I.A. spokeswoman. "This is an agile agency, and the decision was made to ensure greater reach and focus." The decision to close the unit was first reported Monday by National Public Radio.

(more at link) <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/04/washington/04intel.html?_r=1&hp&ex=1152072000&en=5ced05aa2a8d9b76&ei=5094&partner=homepage&oref=slogin>

[HuffleClaw]

31. bullshit

more 'thought crimes'?

[Vinca]

33. You know what I realized after hearing this report?

I don't believe a damn thing that comes out of this government anymore.

[Up2Late]

36. Me neither. And you know what, that is probably the biggest danger

...that we now face.:hide:

[leesa]

37. What a coinky-dinky..comes out right after his disastrous press conference

Another bogus terror plot on the anniversary of a bogus terror attack. The layers of dung are getting deep

[Marie26]

38. It's already falling apart

Counterterrorism sources told CNN that the Holland Tunnel -- the southernmost link between New Jersey and Manhattan -- was not mentioned specifically as a target. :eyes:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/07/07/tunnel.plot/index.html

[Up2Late]

39. Hummm, very convenient, the timing of this announcement. Check this!

"...Counterterrorism sources confirmed that a plot to blow up tunnels in lower Manhattan was uncovered several months ago when intelligence about the plan emerged in chat rooms on the Internet...."

I wonder how long they've already been holding this guy (and this story)?

Well, at least we are safe from the REALLY STUPID Terrorist and the crazy homeless people in Miami. :banghead::eyes:

[Marie26]

42. Who knows?

It's overseas, so they don't really need to tell us much about these "plotters". These guys sound even less organized than the Miami guys, if that's possible. Sounds like chat room chatter more than anything else. IMO, this probably wouldn't even merit an indictment in the US; but overseas threats can be hyped all they want. Wasn't there another threat against NYC subways that turned out to be bogus awhile back?

[yellowcanine]

40. That tunnel is in the Netherlands. Can't the CIA get anything right?

OBL told us to bomb a tunnel in Amsterdam, Holland. The one they are talking about is the Holland Tunnel in NEW Amsterdam. It is so damn confusing!

[Up2Late]

41. UPDATE: US says thwarts NY bomb plot; 3 held abroad (Reuters)

(NEWS FLASH! U.S. MSM Gets MOST of the Original Story WRONG! again. And how about that "...in custody abroad..." part, sounds like they are being held in some "Secret Prison" in some foreign country to me)

US says thwarts NY bomb plot; 3 held abroad

Fri Jul 7, 2006 02:35 PM ET

By Daniel Trotta

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. authorities thwarted a plot to stage a suicide bombing of a rail tunnel in New York later this year and three suspects are in custody abroad, one of them in Lebanon, U.S. officials said on Friday.

But they said the plot was still in the planning stages and that those involved had not done any reconnaissance or obtained materials to stage an attack. An FBI official said none of the suspects had ever been in the United States.

U.S. authorities worked with intelligence agencies in six foreign countries to crack the planned attack on the PATH rail system that links Manhattan and New Jersey under the Hudson River, said Mark Mershon, assistant director-in-charge of the FBI New York Field Office...

(clip)

...The FBI said a "terrorist network" was disrupted, and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said law enforcement acted early enough "so we were not at a point in which we were concerned that something might happen imminently." Mershon said: "We believe we have what I'll call eight principal players. And that we have them largely identified." He added: "Some are in custody, one of those has been charged formally in Lebanon."

(more at link) <http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=12776303&src=rss/topNews>

[gkhouston]

44. so, is this another lame-ass terror story that will come out on Friday

and evaporate by Monday, but they hope we'll spend the weekend believing that Terror Has Been Foiled? :shrug:

Do they not realize that every time one of these stories comes unraveled it's like holding up a big banner that says, "We're Lying to You," which begs the question of what else the government is lying about?

[Up2Late]

49. I hate to say it, but with this crowd, it's best to start with...

...the assumption that every thing they tell us is a Lie, until actual evidence is reveled or uncovered to prove otherwise.

These con-artists have gotten very good at leading the Cable "news" channels around by the nose-ring.

Usually, after a few hours, the non-US News Media and the few remaining U.S. Journalist who actual know how to dig up and cross-check facts, will get to the bottom of the real story.

And if that system fails, their are a lot of out of work, semi-retired, and amateur Internet Journalist out here who will get the story.

[Eugene]

46. Discussed in an online chatroom. NYC saved by internet spying.

These terrorists seem to know even less about security than
they know about topography or gravity.

From The Guardian:

FBI agents monitoring internet chatrooms used by extremists apparently
uncovered planning to destroy vital transport networks in New York city.

Never mind that cockamamie plot to flood Manhattan.
What terrorist with half a brain would discuss important
details of a secret plot on a public forum likely to
be monitored?

[Up2Late]

48. That's the really scary part, these "terrorists" could be just angery...

...Arab speaking people, blowing off steam on-line, like some do here or at DailyKos.

Anyone who was seriously planing something wouldn't do it in an "internet chat room," 99% of the the arrests would be bogus. But then again, according to Ron Suskind's new book, we have a maniac running this county who thinks 1% is reason to violate everyones civil liberties.



<http://www.ronsuskind.com/theonepercentdoctrine/>

[rosesaylavee]

47. Osama told him to do it

http://www.forbes.com/business/services/feeds/ap/2006/07/07/ap2864693.html
A Lebanese security official said Hammoud, a Beruit native, confessed to plotting to attack New York City tunnels in October or November of this year and said he was acting on Osama bin Laden's orders. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

Hammoud told investigators he was acting "on a religious order from bin Laden and said 'I am proud to carry out his orders'," the official said.

Too bad we're not looking for Osama anymore... :eyes:

[Roland99]

50. RawStory: Intel officials say hyped up fear on tunnel plot: Developing...

http://www.rawstory.com