Terror plot to blow up Holland Tunnel foiled

[Soldier4Christ]

Despite the work of the New York Times to expose all of our secrets to the enemy, our government is still getting the job done.

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Terror plot to blow up Holland Tunnel foiled
Feds have made 1 arrest and are searching for other conspirators

A plot to blow up explosives inside the Holland Tunnel and trigger a flood in Lower Manhattan's Financial District has been unearthed by the FBI.

Subways and other tunnels also were in the terrorists' sights.

 They used the Internet to discuss their goal -- maiming the U.S. economy -- counterterrorism officials said.

It isn't known how many people were involved, but one alleged conspirator has been arrested by authorities in Beirut and an intense search is on for others suspected in the plot, according to a published report.

The conspiracy to blow a hole in the tunnel wall, sending a devastating flood into city streets, is being taken seriously because those involved may have received technical expertise and funding from contacts of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Jordan, a counterterrorism source told the Daily News.

Officials believe the plotters would have filled vehicles with large amounts of explosives -- in effect, creating mobile bombs -- to blow up the tunnel.

FDNY and FBI officials were tight-lipped yesterday about the plot and the investigation, although the arrested suspect, identified as Amir Andalousli, was reported to have been captured at the request of the United States and questioned by U.S. agents.

Some experts, however, doubted the plan could work. The Holland Tunnel, which crosses the Hudson River under the river bed, is surrounded by bedrock and constructed of concrete and cast metal, they noted.

Even if it were badly damaged or destroyed by huge amounts of explosives, water rushing into the tunnel would only rise to the level of the river -- which is 10 feet below the streets of Lower Manhattan.

"There's nothing in Lower Manhattan that's below sea level," Office of Emergency Management spokesman Jarrod Bernstein told the News. "It would flood the Holland Tunnel and that's it."

[Soldier4Christ]

Now it's the New York Daily News.


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NYC plot
'real deal'
FBI busts planned al-Qaida attack,
blasts media for disclosing probe

An al-Qaida plan to attack New York City's underground link with New Jersey was "the real deal," says the FBI, which broke up the plot after agents monitored Internet chat rooms.

The attack, still in the planning stages, was scheduled to take place in October or November, according to officials.

"We're here today to discuss what we believe is the real deal," Mark Mershon, former assistant FBI director in New York, told reporters today. "We believe we intercepted this group early in their plotting and in fact, the plan has largely been disrupted."

The terrorists planned to bring explosives into New York City's transit tunnels, possibly flooding the Wall Street Financial District.

Mershon said three suspects are in custody. Assem Hammoud is in Lebanon facing criminal charges. He would not elaborate on the location of the other two.

Officials said the primary target was the underground PATH train system connecting lower Manhattan and New Jersey's suburban communities – a system that carries more than 215,000 commuters a day.

Hammoud is a native of Lebanon and a self-professed al-Qaida operative, according to Fox News. He admitted to planning the terror attack on New York City after his arrest April 27.

According to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity, Hammoud claimed his orders came from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

"I am proud to carry out his orders," Hammoud said, according to the official.

At the press conference today, Mershon took aim at a leak of the ongoing investigation published by the New York Daily News.

The person who leaked the investigation is "clearly someone who doesn't understand the fragility of international relations," Mershon said.

"The release makes the investigation more difficult for us; it has greatly complicated what otherwise would be a very smooth relationship, a very smooth partnership, with a number of overseas allied agencies," the spokesman stated.

Lebanese police issued a statement saying Hammoud was tracked down through monitoring of a website used by Islamic extremists in coordination with the FBI.

The statement said Hammoud had been ordered to live a life of fun and indulgence in Beirut to hide his Islamic militancy.

Nearly three years ago, WorldNetDaily first reported al-Qaida terrorists had developed a crude device designed to spread deadly cyanide gas through the ventilation systems of crowded indoor facilities such as subways. Last month, Time magazine featured a report from Ron Suskinds' "The One Percent Doctrine" that claimed al-Qaida came within 45 days of attacking the New York subway system with a lethal gas similar to that used in Nazi death camps.

[airIam2worship]

FBI Thwarts Terrorist Plot Against NYC

Published: 7/8/06, 5:25 AM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) - The terrorist plot, in the words of one FBI official, involved "martyrdom and explosives": suicide bombers who would attack train tunnels used by tens of thousands of commuters in an effort to bring death and flooding to lower Manhattan.

Eight suspects had hoped to pull off the attack in October or November, federal officials said. But federal investigators working with their counterparts in six other countries intervened before the suspects could travel to the United States and become a more serious threat, officials said Friday.

Initial reports said the suspects - including an al-Qaida loyalist arrested in Lebanon and two others in custody elsewhere - wanted to attack the Holland Tunnel, a major thoroughfare that carries cars beneath the Hudson River and into Manhattan.

But officials said the group, with five suspects still at large, had specifically mentioned only the Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corporation train tunnels, which carry more than 215,000 passengers each weekday between New York and New Jersey.

"This is a plot that involved martyrdom and explosives," said FBI Assistant Director Mark J. Mershon.

Officials cited the arrest of the Lebanese suspect - described as the scheme's mastermind - as a significant break in the investigation. A Lebanese official said the Beirut man confessed to plotting to attack the tunnels later this year, and that he was acting on Osama bin Laden's orders.

Police arrested the operative on April 27, acting on information from the FBI, a senior security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. The 31-year-old suspect uses the alias Amir Andalousli, but his real name is Assem Hammoud.

The suspect told investigators he had already undergone training in light weapons in Ein El-Hilweh, a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon that is notorious for lawlessness and violence among rival Palestinian factions.

His family, however, denied any al-Qaida links.

His mother, Nabila Qotob, told The Associated Press she's visited him regularly at a police station where he's being held.

"His morale is high because he is confident he is innocent," she said. "Don't make up accusations. My son is innocent. What al-Qaida? He never left his father's side. He loves life and fun."

New York Police Department Commissioner Ray Kelly said the men believed that bombing the train tunnels under the Hudson River would unleash massive flooding in lower Manhattan, home to Wall Street and the World Trade Center site.

FBI agents monitoring Internet chat rooms that extremists use determined that tunnels were possibly being targeted after they pieced together code words from the conversations, a federal official said.

A federal law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the probe is ongoing, said the suspects hoped it would inflict damage on the U.S. economy.

"They were about to go to a phase where they would attempt to surveil targets, establish a regimen of attack and acquire the resources necessary to effectuate the attacks," Mershon said.

Details of the plot - first reported by the Daily News - emerged on the one-year anniversary of the attacks on the London transportation system that killed 52 people. Officials said the timing of Friday's report was coincidental.

New York's transportation system has emerged as a potential terrorist threat several times over the years. A June book by journalist Ron Suskind highlighted a reported plot by al-Qaida to kill thousands by spreading cyanide gas in the subway. In May, a man was convicted of plotting to blow up a bustling subway station.

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Associated Press writers Pat Milton in New York; Lara Jakes Jordan, Katherine Shrader and Mark Sherman in Washington, D.C.; and Sam F. Ghattas in Beirut, Lebanon, contributed to this report.

[Soldier4Christ]

3 Held Overseas in Plan to Bomb New York Target

Authorities overseas have arrested one man and have taken two others into custody on suspicion of planning suicide bombings in train tunnels beneath the Hudson River between Manhattan and New Jersey, officials said yesterday.

 Five other men are being sought in connection with the plan, which law enforcement authorities said presented a genuine threat even though it was in its earliest stages and no attack was imminent.

The F.B.I. and New York City police officials have been aware of the group and its discussions for about a year, said Mark J. Mershon, the special agent in charge of the agency's New York office. Police presence at the tunnels in Manhattan that could have been targets has been increased in recent weeks in response to the investigation.

"The planning or the plotting for this attack had matured to the point where it appeared the individuals were about to move forward," Mr. Mershon said.

"They were about to go to a phase where they would attempt to surveil targets, establish a regimen of attack and acquire the resources necessary to effectuate the attacks, and at that point I think it's entirely appropriate to take it down."

Federal and local law enforcement authorities identified the main subject of the investigation as Assem Hammoud, 31, a Lebanese man who was arrested on April 27 in Beirut and was still being held there. The locations of the other two men in custody were not revealed. The eight "principal players" planning the attack, the authorities said, had secured no financing, had gathered no explosives and had not visited New York — or even the United States — to conduct surveillance. At least one of the planners has been in Canada, the authorities said.

Officials said Mr. Hammoud would likely be tried in Lebanon and that no charges were pending against him in the United States.

Monitoring of Internet chat rooms used by Islamic extremists led to the arrest of Mr. Hammoud, according to Lebanese authorities. At least one American official said the members of the group had never even met one another.

"There was a lot of discussion, there was planning being done; but there was no indication that there was any movement toward these facilities," Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said yesterday. "There is no indication that materials were secured or that specific reconnaissance was done."

One counterterrorism expert who had been briefed on the plan, and who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk to the news media, said, "These are bad guys in Canada and a bad guy in Lebanon talking, but it never advanced beyond that."

"Like most plots that you get before they develop, it doesn't look that serious, but you never know," he said. "It's busted up; I think it's another good success."

He added: "They never were in New York, they never were in the States, they never got materials together. So in that regard, it's less serious than some of the others. Until you get materials together, it's not that serious; it's still in the speculative stage."

Mr. Mershon said an attack was to have been carried out in October or November; Lebanese authorities confirmed that timing. Mr. Mershon said Mr. Hammoud told Lebanese interrogators that he had pledged "allegiance to Osama bin Laden and he proclaims himself to be a member of Al Qaeda." But it was not clear the suspect had ever interacted with Mr. bin Laden or his top deputies.

In a statement, the Lebanese Internal Security Directorate said that under questioning Mr. Hammoud had said he was a member of an extremist organization and had been planning a major bombing in the United States.

Separately, a senior security official in Beirut said Mr. Hammoud's arrest in April came under an Interpol order. Lebanese authorities wanted to publicize his arrest at the time, the official said, but American authorities sought to keep the issue quiet, believing the investigation would lead to other information.

Officials in Lebanon said Mr. Hammoud is from a religious family, lives with his mother and teaches at a private university.

The arrest and the bombing plan were first reported yesterday in The Daily News. It reported that the would-be suicide bombers had intended to blow a hole in the wall of the Holland Tunnel, allowing the Hudson River to flood the tunnel and Lower Manhattan.

But authorities said yesterday that the focus appeared to have been on two PATH railroad tunnels between Manhattan and New Jersey. Those tunnels exit Manhattan at the World Trade Center site and just south of Christopher Street.

Mr. Hammoud told his interrogators that one of the plans discussed was to put suicide bombers with explosives in backpacks on a PATH train to destroy the tunnel, said a law enforcement official who was granted anonymity because the investigation is continuing. Another official said the planners wanted to use seven or eight bombers.

The first official said, "There was discussion about where to do it, how to do it, what it would take, what effect it would have in different gradations, that a key player was getting ready to depart to a country where we know was an Al Qaeda presence." He noted, however, that Mr. Hammoud was not known to be "a major Al Qaeda player."

Last night, Mr. Kelly said during an appearance on "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer" that the attackers "looked to, in some way, shape or form, open up the water — walls holding the water back — that would then go into the PATH tunnels that go under the Hudson River." Mr. Kelly suggested the plan involved the two tunnels and the PATH station near Pennsylvania Station. He said that way the water would enter the subway system as well.

Representative Peter T. King, a Long Island Republican and the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said he had been briefed on the investigation for nine months. He said his understanding was that the target was not the Holland or Lincoln Tunnels, which carry cars and trucks, but one of the two PATH tunnels.

Six foreign governments are assisting in the investigation, federal officials said, though they declined to identify them. Of the five suspects still being sought, Mr. Kelly said, "Their whereabouts are known, and they're being observed."

The authorities seemed to have moved in very early in the plot, as with the recent arrests of terror suspects in Florida.

"We did not wait, and we do not wait, until the fuse is lit; we swoop in as early as possible," Secretary Michael Chertoff of the Department of Homeland Security said of the matter yesterday at a news conference in Boston. "We were not at a point where we were concerned that something might happen imminently."

He said, "There was never a concern that this would actually be executed."

Still, in recent weeks, the New York Police Department has increased its presence in Lower Manhattan, Mr. Kelly said. Officers focused on access points to the PATH system. Security on the subway system was also beefed up yesterday, the first anniversary of transit bombings in London in which four bombers killed 52 other people, Mr. Kelly added.

The Lebanese Internal Security Directorate said Mr. Hammoud, going by the nom de guerre Ameer Andalusi, was initially noticed on an Islamist Web site used to recruit jihadis.

The Lebanese authorities located him based on the Internet Protocol address imbedded in his postings, which showed him to be in Beirut, the statement said. The authorities said Mr. Hammoud had sent out maps and plans for an operation to other members of his group over the Internet and said he had been planning to travel to Pakistan for a four-month training mission.