{"id":7876,"date":"2006-07-07T12:29:44","date_gmt":"2006-07-07T16:29:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/7876.html"},"modified":"2006-07-07T12:29:44","modified_gmt":"2006-07-07T16:29:44","slug":"ny-tunnel-terror-plot-uncovered-maybe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/ny-tunnel-terror-plot-uncovered-maybe\/","title":{"rendered":"N.Y. tunnel terror plot uncovered — maybe"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s a shame when current events make one cynical, and it’s tempting to see stories like this one<\/a> as nothing but a big win for the United States, but there’s that gnawing skepticism that comes from a series of similar announcements that weren’t what they appeared to be.<\/p>\n

U.S. and Lebanese agents have foiled terrorist plans to attack New York’s transportation system, U.S. authorities said Friday.<\/p>\n

Counterrorism sources confirmed that a plot to blow up tunnels in lower Manhattan was uncovered several months ago when intelligence about the plan emerged in chat rooms on the Internet.<\/p>\n

A Lebanese official told CNN that a man suspected of planning to blow up the Holland Tunnel and a New York bridge is in detention in Beirut. But there is “no indication of any imminent threat to the New York transportation system or anywhere else in the U.S.,” FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko said in a statement.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The CNN report follows an article in the New York Daily News, which reported that the FBI had revealed a plot to bomb New York’s Holland Tunnel and flood the financial district in lower Manhattan.<\/p>\n

How far along was the “plot”? It’s hard to say; Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said no evidence existed that “in any way anything was done, either purchase of explosives or sending of money” and it “was caught” when investigators discovered “terrorists talking to one another.”<\/p>\n

If this was a successful intervention against would-be terrorists who had crafted a serious terrorist plot, intelligence officials and law enforcement deserve major kudos.<\/p>\n

But then there’s Abu Zubaydah<\/a>, the Brooklyn Bridge “plot,”<\/a> Jose Padilla<\/a>, Hemant Lakhani<\/a>, and the “Miami 7,”<\/a> all of which were touted as key victories, and none of which were as serious a threat as administration officials claimed.<\/p>\n

Is today’s announcement more legitimate than these recent examples? We’ll see, but given the administration’s track record, caveat emptor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s a shame when current events make one cynical, and it’s tempting to see stories like this one as nothing but a big win for the United States, but there’s that gnawing skepticism that comes from a series of similar announcements that weren’t what they appeared to be. U.S. and Lebanese agents have foiled terrorist […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7876\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}