Possible Terror attack avoided?

[Guest]

 

[Problem Child]

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- A 20-mile stretch of "Alligator Alley," south Florida's primary cross-state connector, has been closed Friday while bomb squad investigators search two cars and authorities detain three suspects who authorities believe may have been plotting a terror attack in Miami.

Florida law enforcement authorities issued an alert Thursday night after receiving a report that a woman in a Calhoun, Georgia, restaurant overheard three men discussing explosives and saying that Americans would "cry on 9/13," a law enforcement official told CNN. The men left the restaurant in two vehicles and headed south on I-75.



story on CNN.com

 

[Guest]

 

[penguindance]

 

[lovetoread]

I get the feeling they were just trying to freak out the rednecks.

At least that was my first thought.

 

[RhumbRunner13]

Wow. Look what we have turned into.

Not sure I understand your comment, PLS. You aren't thinking we should have waited until they blew up Turkey Point or a building or two in downtown Miami, are you?

Rhumb

 

[Bob Waters]

Most recent is that they blew up a backpack they got from these guys in a 'controlled explosion"

Which means that they were certian enought there was something explosive in there to have the bomb squad take it out to a field and detonate it with some C4.

Now whether or not these were home grown crazies or the imported brand is another question.

 

[penguindance]

 

[Guest]

 

[JazzManJim]

Yeah, they blew open a backpack and are searching the cars with a robot.

Tasty Washington Post Linkage Here

 

[Guest]

 

[JazzManJim]

Yet, they havent found any explosives?

Not that they've said.

Based on what the suspects allegedly said, it'd be a toss-up wiether they themselves were up to anything, or if they knew about something going to happen that they weren't directly doing.

 

[CoolidgEffect]

Did these guys want to get caught?

The converstation they had in public.

Driving through a toll booth without paying.

 

[Hotred911]

Okay, from what I've heard they were traveling west when they were caught. That would mean anything they had planned for Miami was probably already set/dropped off/etc.

*keeping my fingers crossed* If anything bad does come out of this, I think I'll be moving.

 

[brokenbrainwave]

interesting, now it is being reported these persons have not shown up on any terror list and the dogs may have simply reacted to some medical equipment.

Ok, I am going to play devils advocate for a moment. What if this women in Georgia made up this story over what, if true, were celebrations over 9/11?

 

[RhumbRunner13]

interesting, now it is being reported these persons have not shown up on any terror list and the dogs may have simply reacted to some medical equipment.

Ok, I am going to play devils advocate for a moment. What if this women in Georgia made up this story over what, if true, were celebrations over 9/11?

Then she and her son were pretty convincing, both were reported as "credible witnesses".

If her story was made up, why did the other three run the toll booth, the rear vehicle stopping to pay for the front that ran the booth, and then say "Don't call the cops"? Why did the dogs alert to "explosives". I don't think they are trained to alert to "medical equipment". Why were the three reported as being "uncooperative?"

If this is, by anyones thought, a joke, I think someone is going to have hell to pay. I'm more concerned that this was a deversion...hope everyone in Miami is on high alert.

Rhumb

 

[brokenbrainwave]

They are now being reported as cooperative, and it seems, at this moment, their medical student story is checking out just fine (in addition to what the dogs thought might be explosives being medical equipment). I will agree the toll both thing is very odd though.

Plus keep in mind I was merely playing the advocate role, I was not saying I thought she made this up over her third trip to the breakfast buffet bar.

 

[RhumbRunner13]

They are now being reported as cooperative, and it seems, at this moment, their medical student story is checking out just fine (in addition to what the dogs thought might be explosives being medical equipment). I will agree the toll both thing is very odd though.

Plus keep in mind I was merely playing the advocate role, I was not saying I thought she made this up over her third trip to the breakfast buffet bar.

I know, BBW, I wasn't jumping on you...just trying to solve the "mystery" as well. I have a funny feeling that when it gets all sorted out, they will be nice guys, going to medical school but not smart enough to resist making a very bad joke in front of someone they thought might be "eavsdropping".

Rhumb

 

[brokenbrainwave]

I know, BBW, I wasn't jumping on you...just trying to solve the "mystery" as well. I have a funny feeling that when it gets all sorted out, they will be nice guys, going to medical school but not smart enough to resist making a very bad joke in front of someone they thought might be "eavsdropping".

Rhumb

thats generally my take on it.

 

[CoolidgEffect]

I don't find the don't call the cops statement as odd at all.

If you are traveling with family or friends and the lead car pulled through a toll and you were paying for it, you might say the same thing. Why would you want to get pulled over by the cops?

 

[RhumbRunner13]

I don't find the don't call the cops statement as odd at all.

If you are traveling with family or friends and the lead car pulled through a toll and you were paying for it, you might say the same thing. Why would you want to get pulled over by the cops?

As I recall the toll gates on the Alley have bars. If I was traveling with family, I'd make sure the "Payer" was in front, or at least stop and explain, not blow the toll booth. That's one of the things that's making me believe these are three really brilliant idiots.

You know the type, National Honor Society, Dean's List straight A's, but gets his tongue stuck to the flag pole on a really cold morning?

Rhumb

 

[brokenbrainwave]

but the sad thing is dont you just know Ashcroft has a hard on waiting to detain them without charging them.

 

[CoolidgEffect]

As I recall the toll gates on the Alley have bars. If I was traveling with family, I'd make sure the "Payer" was in front, or at least stop and explain, not blow the toll booth. That's one of the things that's making me believe these are three really brilliant idiots.

You know the type, National Honor Society, Dean's List straight A's, but gets his tongue stuck to the flag pole on a really cold morning?

Rhumb

Heh.

 

[takingchances42]

I don't buy the joke theory. Three men of Jordanian, Pakistani and Iranian heritage specifically -- who have be very aware of the current atmosphere in the US -- making a story up just to tease a woman into believing they were terrorists? What kind of moronic masochist would do something like that intentionally, knowing the likely consequences?

The other troubling part is explosives trained dogs smelling something in the cars -- many hours after the conversation. I don't know the rate of "false alarms" there, but there is a very reasonable chance there was something in the cars recently.

The "extremely uncooperative" part also doesn't fit well. If it was a joke, one would assume they would be falling all over themselves to make sure the police understood that.

From what has been released so far, it doesn't sound like they will be arrested (though detention is a different matter these days). There not being the evidence in the vehicles for an arrest is a different thing from saying nothing was going on, or that it was a joke or false alarm.

 

[Guest]