Posted by
Political Fan on Friday, July 07, 2006 10:17:53 AM
From the Daily News:
“The FBI has uncovered what officials consider a serious plot by jihadists to bomb the Holland Tunnel in hopes of causing a torrent of water to deluge lower Manhattan, the Daily News has learned.
The terrorists sought to drown the Financial District as New Orleans was by Hurricane Katrina, sources said. They also wanted to attack subways and other tunnels.
Counterterrorism officials are alarmed by the "lone wolf" terror plot because they allegedly got a pledge of financial and tactical support from Jordanian associates of top terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi before he was killed in Iraq, a counterterrorism source told The News.”
Was the discovery of this plot related in any way to the now publicly disclosed NSA intercept or SWIFT programs? The article leads one away from this thought and states, “The FBI discovered the plot by monitoring Internet chat rooms, where the aspiring terrorists discussed striking the U.S. economy, rather than causing mass casualties.” Perhaps there was some indication of a plot that was noted in this way, but it is highly unlikely that the chat room was the source of all their information as “they allegedly got a pledge of financial and tactical support from Jordanian associates of top terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi before he was killed in Iraq.”
The terrorists are still a danger and planning harm, as the Miami arrest of seven plotters and this tunnel bombing plot now prove. "They're hell-bent on destroying the economy in the U.S.," a counterterrorism source said. Al Qaeda founder Bin Laden has often urged his followers to "bleed" America financially." Such stories continues to underscore the harm the NY Times does by revealing methods of collecting information on terrorism.