Terror plot at JFK - Just coming in: "4 Charged In Plot To Blow Up Jet Fuel At JFK"
Update - This is some diabolical stuff here: "Federal authorities announced Saturday they had broken up a suspected Muslim terrorist cell planning a "chilling" attack to destroy John F. Kennedy International Airport, kill thousands of people and trigger an economic catastrophe by blowing up a jet fuel artery that runs through populous residential neighborhoods."
6 comments:
Was this imminent attack as devastating as the 6 pizza guys who were almost practically just about to storm a full army base? Or the Florida terror cell that was plotting to hijack planes and recreate 9/11... as soon as they got around to learning how to fly?
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/06/03/2007-06-03_horrific_yes_but_just_how_deadly.html
"If it worked, it would have been a conflagration," warned Pete King, ranking Republican on the Homeland Security Committee. "It could have wiped out the airport and devastated neighborhoods."
But the owner of the pipeline and other experts disagreed.
Richard Kuprewicz, president of Accufacts Inc., an energy consulting firm, said the explosion would be "restricted" by safety checks and would not travel up and down the line.
And the force of the explosion would also depend on the pressure of the fuel flow.
"That doesn't mean wackos out there can't do damage and cause a fire, but those explosions and fires are going to be fairly restricted," he said.
Roy Haase, a spokesman for the Buckeye Pipe Line Co., agreed, but wouldn't reveal what precautions are in place.
"There was a time when we would brag about our safety and security features, but we would not do that now, for fear we would be undermining them," said the official.
Yeah, the next thing you know, a buncha untrained idiots will try to commandeer some jet liners and fly the into buildings. AS IF!!
We should never, ever, under any circumstances attempt to stop plots until they're fully possible of success. In fact, we shouldn't do anything about plots unless and until it is successful. Then we should immediately blame our opponents (and US culture generally) for: a) allowing the attack to happen when we could have prevented it (yeah, yeah I know I just said we shouldn't do that, but work with me, it'll hurt our political opponents); and b) blame our culture for being the root cause.
We can then proceed to: c) demand that anyone we manage to arrest in connection with the plot be given every benefit of our legal system and sent to his home country without getting any dessert.
Dept. of Leftist Idiocy Continuance
Golly, that reply was unexpected. And to the point. And without the usual "satiric" cliches that still seem to crack up the loyal 28%.
Not that you're honestly interested, but yes, these investigations are good. Very good.
However. What we shouldn't do is inflate every cockamamie wannabe scheme into the anti-terror coup of the year. i.e. a guy who's been planning to "explode Kennedy Airport" since before 9/11, in his words, "if I could get a rocket." Or six guys who were going to take down Fort Dix, like Arab Transformers.
You keep taking the word of the government fearmongers, if you need that unending buzzing tension to feel patriotic. Just to be contrary, I'll go with the OWNER OF THE F'N PIPELINE WHO SAID THE DESTRUCTION DESCRIBED BY PROSECUTORS CANNOT OCCUR.
Plot Was Unlikely to Work, Experts Say, Citing Safeguards and Pipeline Structure
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/nyregion/03pipe.html
Federal authorities said that four men were hoping to blow up Kennedy International Airport and a large swath of Queens by detonating a fuel pipeline and storage tanks, but oil industry executives and local officials said yesterday that such a plot was probably not feasible.
“It’s not like the pipeline is a stick of dynamite and the whole thing would blow up,” Mr. [Roy] Haase said. He said it was more likely that the damage from an exploding tank would be limited to the immediate area around the tank.
Each of the fuel tanks at Kennedy “is its own self-contained unit” 200 to 300 feet from the nearest road, said Stephen Sigmund, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport.
At a news conference yesterday, Mr. [Anthony] Shorris said, “There are Port Authority police patrols that are regularly in place around all of them.” He said the tanks were also equipped with alarm systems and firefighting equipment.
Mr. Haase said that Buckeye employees inspected the pipeline every day, on foot and in cars. They are not usually looking for terrorists, he said, but for contractors digging too close to the pipes.
Thomas O. Miesner, a former president of Conoco Pipe Line in Houston, said, “The reason the explosion wouldn’t travel along the pipeline is that there’s not enough oxygen present inside the pipeline to allow ignition.
“It would have caused a big fire, no question about that,” Mr. Miesner said. “And the fire would have burned until it was either put out or the jet fuel fueling the fire was all consumed or burned up.”
But even the psychological impact and the limited damage from such a rocket attack would... what's that? No rockets? None? This week's fiend was thinking about getting rockets for eight years? A law enforcement source admits off the record that "they didn't have the money and they didn't have the bombs"? And calls the mastermind "a sad sack"?
Well, no matter; this is yet another death blow to the jihadist threat (which will never die)!
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-fuel3jun03,1,754605.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&ctrack=1&cset=true
Alleged plot's damage would have been limited
Jet fuel doesn't explode easily, experts say, and fire would not have spread along airport pipelines
The premise is right out of a disaster movie: Ignite the massive fuel tanks required to keep an international airport up and running each day, stand back, and watch a chain reaction of explosions throughout the labyrinth of pipelines running underneath the tarmac.
But aviation experts cautioned Saturday that the alleged plot targeting John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York would have faced many hurdles, not least of which is the fact that jet fuel does not easily explode.
"The level of catastrophe that may be created is much more limited than most people would expect," said Rafi Ron, former head of security at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport. "The fuel that we are talking about is mostly jet fuel, which, unlike the gasoline most people put into their cars, is not that susceptible to explosion."
...aviation security experts said fire would not have spread through the pressurized pipelines that bring fuel out to airplanes parked at gates.
"The probability that an explosion would travel through the pipeline and destroy targets along the tarmac is almost nil," said Ron, now president of New Age Security Solutions in Rockville, Md. "The exception would be pipelines that are not in use and contain vapor."
Jet fuel is similar to kerosene and, unlike gasoline, requires very high temperatures to burn. Unless it is in vapor or mist form — which can occur in a plane crash — jet fuel does not explode. Additives raise the flashpoint of jet fuel, further reducing the likelihood that it will burn, experts said.
So what about those facts, Dave? Dave?
Dave?
Dave's not here, man.
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