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.

[r9etb]

Oh my!!! Isn't there usually a walk on the Mackinac Bridge on Labor Day?

Yup. See the link on #17. The picture shows the brige full of people.

[gaijin]

I'm prepared to believe that bridge was ONE of their targets, but the ONLY one? No way:

They were traveling all over the country, yet when it comes to the critical question of a TARGET, they confine their scope to their own backyard?

Unlikely.

They Feds are "protecting" us by holding something back.

[SE Mom]

Glad you posted that link..

[Diva]

Holy Moly my kids just went over the Mackinac bridge early this morning!! They are due to come home (Detroit area) tomorrow evening which means they ahve to cross it again. Why the Mackinac bridge?

[good old days]

Thanks. That site says that 65,000 people participate. That's a scary thought.

[Diva]

About 5 hours away.

[Rb ver. 2.0]

RE: #17, Talk about the potential for a drive-by.

[EdReform]

Indeed. All corporations need to teach their employees to react in a similar manner.

[PeteB570]

The lower part of the state. There is the UP ya' know :-) .

Lived there 12 years.

[nopardons]

Thanks for posting it.

[dinasour]

Were they planning to make a big bomb by daisy chaining the lithium ion batteries

Jokes aside, can they be doing something with these phones that we have not thought of.

The conventional wisdom is that they are going to be used as detonators. Where are they going to get the 10 tons (or so) of high explosives to attach to all these detonators.

Why so many? They only need 20 or 30 to get a Fox News Alert.

[SE Mom]

You know- even without a tinfoil hat- I think you may have a point. Considering the numbers of these that have been bought recently by unfriendly sorts..you have to at least wonder what OTHER targets may be on various lists..

[Peter Libra]

A pang of the deja vu went through me on your post. It was just a month after 9/11 when the gateway to the United States,was involved. Three Dearborn men were taking videos of the St Mary's International Bridge. It lies about 55 miles north of the Mighty Mac.

Customs employees alerted the FBI. Just tourists, the men said. The names, of course reeked of the Casbah, or whatever. Officialy no crime was committed according to the law books.

Many, many times have I crossed this great monument to a human endeavour, known as the Mighty Mac. A thing of beauty and yet utility. It is walked across by thousands on Labour Day. I carried my three year old daughter across it on my shoulders.

I am in awe yet, as I pay my fee and drive across to Mackinac City. My exclaimation pushes the limit.

Bloody swines.

[magslinger]

Here is a more recent pic from a different angle

[Mark was here]

I wonder if Michiganders would finally wake up to the vipers down in Dearborn if the bridge had been blown up.

The Mitch Al-bums of the Freep and News are all ready busy scribbling that we cant stereotype against anyone (except for when it comest to affirmative action), so if they got the bridge, they will be ready.

You can walk under it, but if you look up there are brand new cameras and motion sensors, anyone who tried anything would be toast.

[GarySpFc]

Village and state police found one of the men discarding the packaging and battery chargers for the phones. The men apparently had separated the batteries from the other phones in the van.

Let's see, these men are from Dallas in Michigan purchasing cell phones for resale, but discarding the battery chargers. That makes good Islamic sense.

[MarkL]

Hmm. Were they planning to make a big bomb by daisy chaining the lithium ion batteries or, multiple smaller "cutting charges" to sever the mail cables?

Well, the #1 way of detonating IEDs in Iraq is with a cell phone wired into the detonator. And since the Treason Times announced that the NSA was listening in on calls going outside the country, what better way to call phone numbers that might be on the watch list than with a cell phone with no way to trace the call back... Or if there's a roaming wiretap that's been approved, just how will it be implemented if the people that are being "watched" keep changing their cell phones with different phone numbers every call or two...

Mark

[SE Mom]

Your guess is as good as mine. My guess? Because it's there (like Mt Everest) ..and it's symbolic.

As for time and date when they were planning- who knows- but if I lived there it would be already be having the desired effect on me- even if only temporarily- fear.

[Steel Wolf]

They were traveling all over the country, yet when it comes to the critical question of a TARGET, they confine their scope to their own backyard?

Terrorism, like politics, is local.

If you're a novice terrorist, it's probably smarter to swing at some low hanging fruit first. A target that you're familiar with, in terrain you're familiar with, would be the best way to go.

Getting the supplies for the attack doesn't need to be done nearby, though, and in fact it was prudent of them to spread out their purchases like they did. As to the target, I think that it's a very normal thing to attack something close to home. The only major event where that wasn't the case was 9/11.

[tioga]

US citizens? -or illegal immigrants?