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.

[silent_jonny]

depressing to think we are in fact relying more on Walmart clerks than on the freaking FBI for our national security.

No.

The clerk had his/her eyes open and alerted authorities when something unusual happened. That's how it's supposed to work.

[dakine]

Folks need to be aware of CREW, the military/FedGov is not standing around...

[Miss Marple]

After reading the links in post #14, I have come to the conclusion that they should be disabled immediately, as an emergency order.

Since these have been bought up by suspicious people since mid-March, we have a real security threat. The government could temporarily disable them and offer refunds. I am not willing to take the risk.

Read the link in post #14 and tell me that something shouldn't be done. Those people on that site are primarily interested in griping about Wal Mart and don't have any reason to make those stories up.

[no dems]

Oh yeah it is; it's about 9 hours from Dearborn to Macinac Bridge.

[dc27]

I saw an episode on History Channel about this bridge. It was an amazing engineering feat considering the harsh winters.

[fanfan]

Ping and bump.

[Calpernia]

ping

[Las Vegas Dave]

All they need to take the bridge down is to sever the 2 end ties on the cables.

Some muzzie structural engineer knows exactly where the "weakest link" is!

[CindyDawg]

Yeah. My point was that blowing up water bridges can cause serious financial impact.

[Mr. Lucky]

Five hours, straight up I-75.

[fanfan]

Did you know that there will be 65,000 people walking across that bridge on Sept. 4th? What about 70,000 plus people at a U of M football game?

Considering there have been cell phone arrests in many states, this is part of a larger plot. As I said above, it wouldn't surprise me at all if they had a list of targets in every single state in order to maximize terror- and throw our emergency response into a state of chaos.

Ping!

[CindyDawg]

I have never thought they were.

[SE Mom]

We'll see what happens next week. It's always possible this is much ado about a little money laundering.

But in the opening paragraph it states this was a globally coordinated plot involving the Mackinac Bridge.

Time will tell.

[ARealMothersSonForever]

FRS is "uniquely addressable" within some constraints. I am quite familiar with cellular, PCS, satellite and wireless technologies. Suffice that countermeasures are in place. One would need to be suicidal to connect any wireless device to an incendiary or explosive device. Someone could in theory create a Nextel group, via a legitimate business, and detonate things. Sheesh. We can not shut down all communications because the Boogeyman might use them. Has it occurred to anyone that prepaid wireless gets tracked?

[delacoert]

Wonder how many Islamic plants we have reading this board

I don't know if "plants" is the word I'd use, but I've noticed a few posters with conspicuously conservative sounding monikers posting unashamed defenses of Islam. IMO, they are just the arrogant fringe - thinking they can disguise their true motives with "clever" rhetoric - many, many more are just lurking.

[Azzurri]

Here's another photo that demonstrates how truly big the Mackinac Bridge is: 5 miles long with 8,614 feet suspended - the longest suspension in the Americas and third longest in the world - not sure if these stats still hold.

Big Mac at Night

[DManA]

Throw 'em off it.

[GarySpFc]

nonsense.
good thing you didn't claim to be an engineer, too......

No, I am not a professional engineer. However, I did serve for many years as a demolitions expert on a Special Forces A-Team. I will say that suspension bridges are the toughest demolitions problem I have ever encountered. The main cables on the bridge are huge, and extremely difficult to secure effective charges to cut them. I shall not go into detail with the problem of dropping a tower, but it is a problem. You might recall the terrorists gave up on the Brooklyn Bridge, and I have no doubt that cutting the cable was the problem. Granted, one might be able to drop another section of the bridge, but unless one of the main cables is cut or one of the towers dropped the best you can hope for is a partial demolition.

[SE Mom]

CREW?

[stayathomemom]

Hey, I think I'm in that picture!