# Nyc Terror Attack Thwarted!!!!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-terror-attack-thwarted/363518
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [July 7, 2006, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-terror-attack-thwarted/363518 "2006-07-07T17:18:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2006, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-terror-attack-thwarted/363518/21 "2006-07-07T20:51:56Z")
> [@UncleBeer](#):
>
> … the first conclusion you jump right to is that the Bush administration either fucked up because it’s fantastically incompetent, or it’s diabolically clever.
The two are not necessarily mutually exclusive. I think that most liberals would agree that the Bush administration is diabolically clever at politics, and at the same time fantastically incompetent at running the government. In fact one of the things that makes them so incompetent is that their first priority is always getting the maximum political mileage out of any situaton rather than doing what’s best for the country.
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### Author:  [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2006, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-terror-attack-thwarted/363518/22 "2006-07-07T21:07:38Z")
> [@Uncle Beer](#):
>
> Well, that might explain the government holding the information for a couple days, but not an entire month. A much more logical reason for withholding the information, would be to protect the investigation - one that CNN has called “continuing.”
On the contrary, they had this in their pockets for an entire month waiting for the opportunity–or the need–to spring it. Today is the first anniversary of the London bombings, and [url=http://www.nbc17.com/military/9475368/detail.html]Stephen D. Green entered a not-guilty plea on the charge of raping an Iraqi girl and killing her and her entire family. That’s a big negative story for the administration that’s only going to get worse. Every time Green’s case or another major event in that war crime investivgation is set to hit the news, the admin will fire up the Mighty Whirlitzer and flood the media with noise in an attempt to drown it out. Case in point: The day the investigation was announced, the President went to Graceland with the PM of Japan.
> [@Uncle Beer](#):
>
> It all to often seems that the first conclusion you jump right to is that the Bush administration either fucked up because it’s fantastically incompetent, or it’s diabolically clever. And once you’ve arrived there at that point, all manner of logical thinking goes right out the damn window. You seem unable to rationally scrutinize your opinions when it comes to this administration.
On the contrary, I am merely applying the lessons of the last five years of Bush rule. You don’t want the early warning of Bush shenanigans to be a mushroom cloud, do you? For the record, I think the Bush team is diabolically clever at PR and information warfare, but totally incompetent at actually running a government. It’s like the marketing department of a major corporation went rouge and took over a country. They’re only good at spin. And that’s what this is: spin. Or more accurately, FUD–Fear Uncertainty and Doubt, a time-honored marketing technique.
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### Author:  [@Linty\_Fresh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linty_Fresh)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2006, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-terror-attack-thwarted/363518/23 "2006-07-07T21:28:15Z")
I’m still not seeing the rant. There _was_ a major plot against America in the planning stages. According to the Assistant Director of the FBI, it was no more than four months away, the FBI states that it believes these AQ elements were “the real deal”, the government didn’t break the news (It was leaked to the Daily News.), all indications in the story was that these people were caught because intelligence actually worked, and neither Saddam Hussein nor Iraq were mentioned once in the story. This _was_ going to be an attack. Against NYC. That was thwarted.
Far be it from me to blindly follow G. Chimpy or his merry band of fuck-ups, but what exactly is pissing you off about all of this?
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2006, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-terror-attack-thwarted/363518/24 "2006-07-07T22:41:56Z")
The press is overplaying the drama, not that you can really blame them - it’s the only way to get much mileage out of a plot that was broken up months ago. This does not appear to be 99.9% bullshit like the Sears Tower plot was.
I did get a chuckle out of this sentence in the New York Times.
> [@](#):
>
> Mr. Chertoff acknowledged that the plot did not pose an imminent threat.
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### Author:  [@Mince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mince)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2006, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-terror-attack-thwarted/363518/25 "2006-07-07T22:48:24Z")
Come on! Who organizes a terrorist plot on an internet chat board!?
## Welcome to AOL’s Ill Will \>\>Terrorist Ploys \>\> New York \>\> New York City chat network:
OsAmA\_b\_L has just entered chat room: Terrorists Over 50.
OsAmA\_b\_L: Sup peepz. A/S/L?
Kill\_da\_Infadelz: Sup Oz!
Doom\_2\_Zionist\_Pigz: HeY yAz Oz. WoOt!
Indy\_Girl\_Luv: 14/F/Indiana
B\_Head\_Dem\_Allz: 67/M/Afghanistan
OsAmA\_b\_L: Indy. i think ur in da wrong room
Allah\_Forevuh!: KilldaInfidelKilldaInfidelKilldaInfidelKilldaInfidelKilldaInfidelKilldaInfidelKilldaInfidelKilldaInfidelKilldaInfidel
Doom\_2\_Zionist\_Pigz: Damz Al, quit spammin’
Al\_Zarqawi\_Iz\_Da\_Bomb: So, who wantz to blow up da Holland Tunnel?
Kill\_da\_Infadelz: Da Holland Tunnel? Id hit it.
B\_Head\_Dem\_Allz: damn skippy
I\_am\_not\_an\_fbi\_narc\_2: Daaaaaaaang! Da holland tunel. dats no joke. i’m so like there dudez. hey tell us your whole plan in great detail so we no wats up
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### Author:  [@DxZero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DxZero)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2006, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-terror-attack-thwarted/363518/26 "2006-07-07T22:53:15Z")
Mince,
You just got many much chuckles out of me. Well done.
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### Author:  [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2006, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-terror-attack-thwarted/363518/27 "2006-07-07T23:04:25Z")
Why do I get the feeling that much the same sort of thing might have been said if we had arrested twenty presumably-innocent swarthy fellows simply because they had shown relatively little interest in learning how to land a plane in flight school, and happened to be carrying a couple of box cutters?
Regards,
Shodan
---
### Author:  [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2006, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-terror-attack-thwarted/363518/28 "2006-07-07T23:13:24Z")
> [@World Eater](#):
>
> From fox…
You’re still watching Fox News? That’s always a bad idea.
Just stop. Turn it off, block the channel.
Avoid CNN, too. And MSNBC. And the local news (except for sports & weather, that’s okay.)
And I wouldn’t trust CourtTV or PBS either. They’re all in on it.
And the Science Channel has been laughing at me lately.
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2006, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-terror-attack-thwarted/363518/29 "2006-07-08T00:04:23Z")
> [@Shodan](#):
>
> and happened to be carrying a couple of box cutters?
Those are Weapons of Mass Destruction you know. I hear our troops are still digging them up in the wastelands of Anbar province.
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### Author:  [@Linty\_Fresh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linty_Fresh)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2006, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-terror-attack-thwarted/363518/30 "2006-07-08T02:37:31Z")
**Mince** , your post was funny as hell, and I’m still laughing a little, but nevertheless:
> [@Mince](#):
>
> Come on! Who organizes a terrorist plot on an internet chat board!?
[These guys, for starters:](http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/09/12/alqaeda.911.claim/index.html)
> [@](#):
>
> One of the terrorists, Abu Abdul Rahman, pretended to send a love message via an Internet chat room to his German girlfriend, who was actually Binalshibh. It contained more code for the attacks:
>
> “The first semester commences in three weeks. Two high schools and two universities. … This summer will surely be hot …19 [the eventual number of hijackers] certificates for private education and four exams. Regards to the professor. Goodbye.”
There are also reports of the Iraqi insurgency using email and chatrooms to plan stuff.
On CNN’s video page, there is a short about how Jihad is going online with both a public propaganda front and a private planning angle as well.
Typing “Jihad Online” into any search engine will bring up disturbing results.
Bottom line? Using chatrooms for terrorism is very real.
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### Author:  [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2006, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-terror-attack-thwarted/363518/31 "2006-07-08T03:02:23Z")
> [@Linty Fresh](#):
>
> [These guys, for starters:](http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/09/12/alqaeda.911.claim/index.html)
> One of the terrorists, Abu Abdul Rahman, pretended to send a love message via an Internet chat room to his German girlfriend, who was actually Binalshibh. It contained more code for the attacks:
>
> “The first semester commences in three weeks. Two high schools and two universities. … This summer will surely be hot …19 [the eventual number of hijackers] certificates for private education and four exams. Regards to the professor. Goodbye.”
Great. Now every time I have cybersex, I’m going to imagine some fat, balding NSA guy trying to interpret the secret messages in my words…
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### Author:  [@Linty\_Fresh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linty_Fresh)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2006, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-terror-attack-thwarted/363518/32 "2006-07-08T03:17:05Z")
> [@KGS](#):
>
> Great. Now every time I have cybersex, I’m going to imagine some fat, balding NSA guy trying to interpret the secret messages in my words…
Man, you are going to have a _hell_ of a time trying to explain to your Taliban cellmate why you’re at Gitmo.
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### Author:  [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2006, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-terror-attack-thwarted/363518/33 "2006-07-08T03:55:31Z")
Here is the news they want to cover up
[Jack Abramoff visited the White House four more times in 2001 than previously revealed.](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060708/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_abramoff) Released on Friday night.
Fuck off, Shodan.
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2006, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-terror-attack-thwarted/363518/34 "2006-07-08T04:05:16Z")
> [@Pochacco](#):
>
> The “plot” was to blow up the Holland Tunnel and flood lower Manhattan.
[Apparently not:](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/07/nyregion/07tunnel.html?_r=1&ei=5094&en=db2f0b2dae7c5812&hp=&ex=1152331200&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print&adxnnlx=1152331307-5kQgr/wmQGlZWIX8IcWunA)
> [@](#):
>
> The plot was first reported by The Daily News, which said that Mr. Hammoud and an unknown number of other people were planning to detonate a bomb in the Holland Tunnel in the hope of flooding Lower Manhattan.
>
> Mr. Mershon said today that the Holland Tunnel was not, in fact, the plot’s target. He described it as plot involving “martyrdom, explosives and certain of the tubes connecting New Jersey and Lower Manhattan.”
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### Author:  [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2006, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-terror-attack-thwarted/363518/35 "2006-07-08T05:59:51Z")
**Mince,** you forgot
Born\_2\_B\_Dead: ((((((((OZ!!!))))))))
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2006, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-terror-attack-thwarted/363518/36 "2006-07-08T11:39:56Z")
> [@Shodan](#):
>
> Why do I get the feeling that much the same sort of thing might have been said if we had arrested twenty presumably-innocent swarthy fellows simply because they had shown relatively little interest in learning how to land a plane in flight school, and happened to be carrying a couple of box cutters?
So now you support a US policy to commence extreme rendition against every Muslim who threatens violence against America in an online chatroom? We’re going to need a bigger island than Gitmo.
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### Author:  [@THespos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/THespos)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2006, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-terror-attack-thwarted/363518/37 "2006-07-08T11:53:14Z")
Personally, I blame the mainstream media for the dynamic they’ve created, which emphasizes being first over being accurate in such situations. Thus, perspective is often a casualty when a juicy bit about a potential terror plot comes to light. If we’re lucky, in a couple months we’ll notice a little one-paragraph story on page 26D next to the car wash ad, which will essentially say “You remember that terror plot we talked about two months ago? Yeah, there was pretty much no connection with AQ.”
I think we would all be a bit naive to completely ignore the timing on this one. I personally believe it’s another weapon of mass distraction. I think the powers that be have a sort of “Terror Bank” where they make deposits of these little foiled plots, and they make withdrawals as needed in order to blunt the impact of certain other stories and revelations, some of which have been mentioned in this thread already. Call me paranoid, but it’s certainly not the first time an overblown story has emerged to take the spotlight away from a more important (but less interesting, for most) public affairs story.
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### Author:  [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2006, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-terror-attack-thwarted/363518/38 "2006-07-08T12:46:34Z")
What happened to those bozos in Miami? They were going to blow up the Sears tower? 🆒
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### Author:  [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2006, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-terror-attack-thwarted/363518/39 "2006-07-08T17:21:29Z")
> [@vibrotronica](#):
>
> Here is the news they want to cover up
>
> [Jack Abramoff visited the White House four more times in 2001 than previously revealed.](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060708/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_abramoff) Released on Friday night.
>
> Fuck off, Shodan.
My gosh, you **are** a moron, aren’t you?
Regards,
Shodan
---
### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2006, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-terror-attack-thwarted/363518/40 "2006-07-08T19:12:43Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Leaker Chastised
>
> Disclosure of the bomb plot coincided with the one-year anniversary of a terrorist bomb attack on London subways and a bus that killed 52 and injured about 700. Authorities said they hadn’t intended to release details about the plot this early and that whoever leaked the information had compromised the FBI’s relationship with some foreign intelligence services.
>
> The person who leaked the details is ``clearly someone who doesn’t understand the fragility of international relations,‘’ Mershon said. `We’ve had a number of uncomfortable questions and some upsetment with these foreign intelligence services that had been working with us on a daily basis.‘’
[Here](http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aVCQCiKZHEiM&refer=us)
Who will the righties call to be liquidated _this_ time?
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