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They're screwing with us (or spending off their own money.) Taking out a ferry or bridge is way too difficult. The force required for that could better be used on a public event to kill or on a multitude of power lines to disrupt. Those tapes won't have much value.

They're in total disarray if they're resorting to this.

Taking out a ferry or bridge is way too difficult

Thinking back a few weeks--taking out the I-40 bridge in eastern Oklahoma wasn't real difficult. Of course, that one seems to be an accident, but still has a lot of unanswered questions. Like,

Why didn't a crew of 6 notice the tug being way off course (outside the shipping channel) for 20+ minutes before the impact?

[One I'd ask is--Has anyone checked the tugboat's captain/crew to see if any of them had a recent significant increase of wealth in their bank accounts.]

Taking out a ferry or bridge is way too difficult

Taking over a ferry on the Seattle-Bremerton run is an excellent method for taking out one of our aircraft carriers. The Bremerton Naval Shipyards are just a short distance from the Bremerton Ferry Dock.

Terrorists could load a semi with a huge truck bomb. By timing their arrival at the Seattle Ferry Terminal, they could assure that they would be loaded to the front of the ferry, and semis are loaded in the center lanes of the ferry. As neither individuals or vehicles are searched when boarding the ferry, it would be no problem to put heavily armed terrorists on board. If they seized control of the ferry as it neared Bremerton, they could steer it down the inlet to where the carriers dock. The carrier would have insufficient time to react, and would not likely fire on a ferry full of passengers anyway. A semi-sized truck bomb, exploded as the ferry rammed the carrier might not sink it, but would certainly damage it, and would be the type coup that al Queda loves.

"Taking out a ferry or bridge is way too difficult."

Well, taking out a bridge "is" way too difficult--but taking out a ferry is as simple as driving a van or several car-trunks full of explosives on board and setting them off. I'm sure it is possible to disguise sufficient explosive material so as to not be detectable in a cursory search.

Taking out a ferry or bridge is way too difficult. The force required for that could better be used on a public event to kill or on a multitude of power lines to disrupt. Those tapes won't have much value.

These people were filming in the passanger compartment of the ferry. At the 5:00 o'clock rush hour or after a Mariner's baseball game let's out, the Bainbridge ferry is packed with hundreds of people in a very confined area that is totally isolated from help except for a seaborne or helicopter SWAT assault that would take quite a while to get together on a moment's notice.

The Bainbridge ferry is a public event that is loaded stem to stern with civilian targets at certain scheduled times. It is a prime terrorist target. It is also an extremely soft target.

The tapes have great value in training a terrorist where to stand and shoot or where and when to set off a timed backpack bomb on the ferry in order to inflict maximum civilian casualties. I am completely familiar with those ferries and know what to do in order to inflict that maximum degree of casualties if I were a terrorist. Any Seattle area resident that regularly rides the ferry has that same knowledge. Someone from outside the Seattle area would need those tapes to know what we locals know.

The Politically Correct authorities here is the Seattle area need to start doing less "reporting" and more "holding for questioning" before the Seattle Times and the Seattle PI start asking, "What Did They Know And When Did The Know It" in regards to a future Puget Sound Ferry Massacre.

>>> The force required for that could better be used on a public event to kill or on a multitude of power lines to disrupt<<<

Either you have a dimished appreciation of what a fine target a ferry boat is, or you have never ridden a Washington State ferry. Or, perhaps both!

The ferry boats on Puget Sound regularly carry upwards of 2500 passangers and 330 cars, each! Pretty rich target I'd say! You could get almost as many folks as the WTC if all drowned. While all drowning is unlikely, it is still a tempting target!

Eagles UP!

Beg to disagree...Taking out a Washington State Ferry would be ridiculously easy. Bainbridge Ferry, which I take, carries over 1000 passengers to the city during rush hours and Mariners game times plus 250 cars. All some terrorist would have to do is drive on with a trunkload of explosives. Ferry docks were being patrolled by security fellows since 911 until a couple of weeks ago when the locals complained of "inconvenience" and patrols were stopped. I don't have to tell you that the locals are almost 100% stupid liberals.

The millenium bomber, Ahmed Ressam, was stopped by a young INS fellow coming off ferry from Victoria, B.C. back in 1999 with enough explosives in his car to blow the ferry to smithereens. Had they not caught him, his route would necessarily have taken him past my door and onto the Bainbridge ferry to Seattle, where he had a motel reservation that night...then on to LA where he planned to blow up the airline terminal.

Blowing up 1000+ people on a ferry would be much easier than taking down the WTC...less planning, less risk, fewer terrorists commiting suicide. Big bang for the buck, so to speak. I put nothing past them.

"... Taking out a ferry or bridge is way too difficult. The force required for that could better be used on a public event to kill or on a multitude of power lines to disrupt. Those tapes won't have much value."

I'm not sure what to think of these ongoing reports about 'suspicious Middle-Eastern men with videocameras filming passenger ferries', but it should be pretty obvious by now what they intend to do assuming these reports are true.

They'd want to be able to hijack a ferry full of innocent people after rolling a car on board that has a bomb in the trunk.

Then, they could just stop out in the middle of the bay far away from SWAT snipers and hold their hostages until their demands are met -- if they have any demands at all. If any Navy SEAL frogmen attempt to board the ship to take them out, they could just detonate the bomb.

The US government would be at a complete loss as how to respond.

It doesn't take Tom Clancy to figure this out.