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.

[Panzerlied]

We are in a TOTAL WAR against the Islamofascists and cannot rely on the FBI or any other government agency to be our only line of defense. Thank God we had heads up work by that Walmart clerk. Vigilance is required of all of us.

[RFC_Gal]

Very clever. Is internet access used to detonate explosives? No.

I can think of at least 3 ways that Internet access can be used to trip a circuit. I you would like the list please mail me.

[AnimalLover]

Thanks Mom - being a former Michigander (California now)
I thought we had all the "big" targets out here but, I forgot about Mighty Mac!

[GarySpFc]

"how long do you think it would take for acid to cut through 24.5 inches "
using 100% nitric, it would eat thru enough corrosion and wire rope to make it separate due to the tension on it very quickly.....wire rope has lots and lots of surface and wonderful capillary action to distribute liquid. It is nothing at all like a single strand 24 1/2" diameter. My WAG would be a few minutes, max.

Firstly, I never claimed to be a chemist, rather I was a demolitions expert. That said, look at the cables on the Mackanic Bridge and you will see each of the wire ropes are individually set in the anchor. You would have to apply the acid to each one, and they are protected against corrosion. To what degree I am not certain. The wires do not join together until higher up, and at that point they are covered by a heavy looking metal pipe, and so at that point you cannot attack individual cables.

"How many terrorists have you ever heard of obtaining a daisy cutter?"
I wrote that a daisy cutter contains only 7 1/2 tons HE (which, btw, is less than the "way more than 10 tons" you pontificated on in your claim. You changed the subj and avoided addressing the ACTUAL point.

No, you're full of it. I am not backing off of this statement for one second. A daisy cutter would knock out the deck and some of the secondary cables, but not one of the Mackanic towers or cables. This point shows your lack of knowledge regarding the effect of explosives and the critical need for placement.

"Thermite explosives will cut the cable, but even so there are problems, which I shall not detail."

Thats because you're full of it. I said "genuine incendiaries".

It would take one hell of an incendiary to attack the cables and towers, and there may be some. However, outside of thermites we were not trained in special operations on any incendiaries usable against suspension bridges.

I concede I am not an engineer, and on two of the points you may be right, but I think there is far more to the problem than you envision. On the daisy cutter you are dead wrong.

[eleni121]

Maybe it's time to unleash the good old Michigan boys on these spacey aliens...

[stayathomemom]

My husband and I lived in the UP for eight years. When we moved up there, I was behind the wheel as we approached the bridge to drive the U-haul truck across. It's a good thing it was 6 o'clock in the morning, because I was straddling the lanes! I don't know which scared me more, the low railings, the road grating in the mid span, or the fact that the truck's steering had about 1/4 turn play in the wheel. You can bet it was a white knuckle drive.

[GarySpFc]

It doesn't take ten tons. They can make the same stuff that was going to be used on the aircraft quite easily in a few hours if they have the right material and I am sure they could have obtained it.

I had previously read Ricahrd Reid used RDX with a fuse, but no detonator. At the time I thought that was insane, and it was obvious to me why he failed. Having never heard of TATP I looked it up on the web, and discovered it is a new unstable explosive used by terrorists. That said, an explosive capable of cutting steel has to have an extremely fast burn (detonation) rate. Most of the plastics such as Semtex and C-4 can handle the job. I am not familar with TATF, but I question if it has a burn rate sufficent to cut steel. Maybe you can answer that question?

[GarySpFc]

Can you tell me if the main cables are coated near the cable? Doesn't the two main cables have a thick protective metal cover after they join together?

[johniegrad]

Flamed for what?

[tommix2]

I agree with you on the practical impossibility of parting the main cables. I don't remember the exact numbers of wires. The 24.5 dia cable is made up of wires anout #9 siae. that is about 1/8 " dia. I think we made 24 strands each about 3" dia and we coated each strand with red lead paste which would probably resist the acid you are talking about. Then we had a machine we called the compacter to compress all the strandstightly together and then we smeared more red lead paste on the 24.5 " compacted cable and then we hada machine to wrap the whole thing round with wire wound around it and painted it. the individual wires are galvanized hard steel like spring steel. This dense 24.5" dia cable would resist most anything like acid or thermite or explosive. Andeven if half the cross section were cut it would still hold the span up unless a solid line of heavy trucks were on the roadway. So I agree it would be very unlikely to demolish the bridge /

[calex59]

TATP has 5/8 the explosive power of TNT, some say a little more. It achieves it in a different way, I believe. It can be set off by heating it with spark or flame, also a ultrasound device can trigger it. Not to mention after about 7 days it gets really unstable.

[GarySpFc]

Thank you very much. Enough said.

[Sir Gawain]

Yeah they're telling the truth, just gonna make money selling them to their terrorist buddies in Dearbornistan.

[DTogo]

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

We certainly can't count on Bush/DHS for border security. :(

[Sir Gawain]

Yep. We have to strike back somehow.

[kpbrady]

I just crossed the bridge an hour ago. The main cables are coated.

[GarySpFc]

Thanks. TATP would be doom an airplane, but for cutting steel it would fail.

[PA-RIVER]

They could hook them up to propane cans, detonate them.
I knew a fire fighter and he said one can of propane can take out a city block, no problem. The blast and then the burn.

Im sure there are other items. They may have dynamite from construction jobs.

I think we will find out soon. I bet a lot more Muslims are being arrested as we speak.

I think the peaceful Muslims may use propane canisters, and the radical Muslims may try the dynamite. Just my guess.

[tommix2]

Can you tell me if the main cables are coated near the cable? See my previous post. Main cables are coated all the way to the anchorage saddle and then they diverge to numerous eye bars embedded in the concrete anchorage block. The saboteurs could not get to the diverging strands below the saddle. I don't remember we might have filled it all up with concrete.

[Diva]

So I agree it would be very unlikely to demolish the bridge

The more I learn the more impressed I am and really really looking forward to the trip. Its neat getting to read the posts of someone who was involved in building the Mackinac Bridge.