London Attacks Highlight America's Vulnerabilities

[tocqueville]

http://www.watchingamerica.com/lefigaro000039.html

Thrust by the London attacks back into a 9/11 mindset, U.S. counterterrorist officials were more than a bit concerned that none of its intelligence services had as much as an inkling of the London bombings, and that hardly a pittance has been spent on protecting U.S. ground transport.
By Our Correspondent Philippe Gélie

Jule 9, 2005

Le Figaro - Home Page (French)

Washington: A railway bridge with one side facing toward southeast Washington causes the greatest anxiety for counter-terrorist specialists. Overhanging a little-frequented street just steps from the Capitol, it sees the daily passage, in plain sight, of railcars carrying dangerous chemical material.

It would be enough to blow up the bridge at the correct time with a booby-trapped truck to endanger the lives of 100,000 people in less than an hour, with the elected officials in Congress and the judges of the Supreme Court on the front lines. This catastrophic scenario motivated Democratic Senator Joseph Biden to propose a bill to prohibit the transit of highly toxic products in the downtown area. It is just the latest in a long series of warnings in regard to the weak points in the American security system: failings that are so exposed that they are likely to give ideas to the terrorists.

[bryant69]

1. That is one of the things that I wonder about

Perhaps the terrorists are focused on the "hail Mary" style of play - meaning New York or Washington. But it strikes me there must be hundreds of targets in America's second tier cities that aren't that well guarded where they could do a lot of damage.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[GraysonDave]

2. It'll happen

We are sitting ducks whenever the terrorists decide the time is right to strike again. Transporting dangerous chemicals by rail thru downtown DC in this day in time is pretty damn stupid. IMO.

[tocqueville]

3. oh at the end of the article : money is always the priority

In Washington , after municipal authorities issued a decree against the rail transport of dangerous chemicals, the railway company, supported by the Bush Administration, had the measure reversed by the Justice Department.