2006-07-07

The Holland Tunnel is Safe... for Now!

ABC news is reporting:
Terror Plotters Planned to Bomb NYC's Holland Tunnel, Say Officials

The plotters, described as jihadists, wanted to atack the tunnel with high explosives, according to a report in the New York Daily News, quoting FBI sources.

A suspect has been arrested in Lebanon, officials told ABC News.

A Justice Department official confirmed to ABC News the basics of the alleged plot, but said the planning was in its initial phases and mostly overseas. Officials do not believe there are links to plotters or operatives inside the United States.

Of course, you'd need one hell of a truck-bomb to actually cause a breach in the tunnel. Don't get me wrong, it wouldn't be pleasant to be in the tunnel when the overpressure from the explosion arrived, but...
But an Army Corps of Engineers official told the newspaper the concept was badly flawed. The Holland Tunnel is not in the Hudson River, but in the bedrock beneath it. And the lowest part of downtown Manhattan is 10 feet above sea level.
Did the terrorists think we built the tunnel in the water? It'd be like one of those aquariums, where you walk through tunnels inside the fishtanks... of course, it would be an understatement to say that the view from the bottom of the Hudson wouldn't be as inspiring.

Is this another "development" like the Miami Seven, whose "plot was more aspirational that operational?"

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