Posted on 08/12/2006 3:11:03 PM PDT by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at mlive.com ...
Thought this deserved a thread- seems significant in light of all the cell phone news lately.
pflr
That's not too far from Dearbornistan.
ping
Wow...that's one heckuva span..thanks for the photo.
Kudos to that Walmart clerk. Store policy s no more than three one time cell phones per purchase. this clerk could have denied the purchase, leaving these guys to find other sources. Instead the clerk went ahead with the order and notified the constabulary. Very quick thinking.
It's all the way across the state, though.
As a Michigander by marriage and UM degrees, all I can say is OMG!
I wonder if Michiganders would finally wake up to the vipers down in Dearborn if the bridge had been blown up.
don't pick on these poor residents of Dearbornastan and graduates of Hexbolla High; dere good little MAZIs. < / sarc
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?
This was a set up, these men (boys) are harmless. CAIR said so!
For those of you who are not following this on the Daily Mideast thread.
This is a link that was posted by TexKat there:
http://www.youareworthmore.org/node/21435
It's an anti-Walmart site, but this thread has some very interesting discussion about this from apparent Wal-Mart employees. This has been going on for months.
Oh my!!! Isn't there usually a walk on the Mackinac Bridge on Labor Day?
Perhaps next time we have a Waco-type scenario, we should call Walmart...?
Of course, there is one such event coming up: the Annual Bridge Walk, which is scheduled for September 4.
It's pretty unbelievable to think of all these cell phones being sold out there to what wicked purpose- whether they were successful or not is almost beside the point. Terror is the point. Will any of the residents there drive across the bridge this week without wondering..
Mighty Mackinaw? In the drink?
"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?"
10,000 hacksaw blades?
Yup. See the link on #17. The picture shows the brige full of people.
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.
Glad you posted that link..
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?
Thanks. That site says that 65,000 people participate. That's a scary thought.
About 5 hours away.
RE: #17, Talk about the potential for a drive-by.
Indeed. All corporations need to teach their employees to react in a similar manner.
The lower part of the state. There is the UP ya' know :-) .
Lived there 12 years.
Thanks for posting it.
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.
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..
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
US citizens? -or illegal immigrants?
I've lived here for 30+ years, and that would have been one helluva feat had they pulled it off. Makes me wonder now if there is a target in every state.
So, were these sickos working with college students (dang, aren't they all) Osama Sabhi Abulhassan, 20, and Ali Houssaiky, 20, both homegrown terrorists of Dearborn, Mich who were also arrested for having $11k and buying up cell phones? Did ya'll see the thread about Osama whining back in January because other students were hassling him about his name? Poor widdle thing swore he didn't have any connection with OBL and just wanted to play b-ball and keep his GPA high. Between Michigan and Oklahoma homegrown college terrorist we don't need to import any more.
Yep, that would be the logical and optimum time to cause the most deaths and destruction.
The FBI can't be everywhere. There are nearly 300 million US citizens. Concerned citizens need to be vigilent and report suspicious activity. If there had been the same kind of wariness prior to 9-11, those attacks could have been thwarted. I don't think the strippers who danced for Atta and the other 9-11 terrorists would ignore the terrorist threats made by them nowadays.
They have weapons attached? Seems like the people that attacked us last time did not worry about their pictures being taken.... They even died performing the deed. What kind of deterrent is a camera for a person willing to die?
Revealing my age, I recall childhood vacations to the Upper Penninsula when the bridge was under construction and the ferry would go past the pilings and construciton boats. I never had the opportunity to actually see the completed bridge, or drive across it, which I have always wanted to do. Photo is beautiful.
Maybe another reason to homeschool.
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