More on the JFK bomb plot

Following up on yesterday's story
Hot Air has a bunch of stuff, including a link to the complaint.

Experts are stating that if they had managed to blow the tanks at JFK, the pipelines themselves wouldn't have caught fire.

ABC News

The pipeline snakes more than 100 miles from Pennsylvania through New Jersey to JFK. Once they learned of the plot, authorities investigated at what points the pipeline could be accessed and found that even if those points were bombed, there would be little to no impact — and no ignition — and that the only way to wreak havoc at JFK would be to detonate bombs at the airport itself.

But, a source said, “They never let go of the idea,” and seemed determined to find a way to execute it regardless.

NY Times

The airport is fed jet fuel, gasoline and heating oil through a capillary system of pipes that run from New Jersey through Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens. Oil industry experts said safety shut-off valves would almost assuredly have prevented an exploding airport fuel tank from igniting all or even part of the network.

According to the complaint however the conspirators did brief an engineer and he seemed to accept the general outline of the plan.

So how big a threat was this?

One law enforcement official played down Mr. Defreitas’s ability to carry out an attack, calling him “a sad sack” and “not a Grade A terrorist.” Comparing the case with the plot in which a group of men were arrested last month on charges of planning to attack soldiers at Fort Dix in New Jersey, the official said the New Jersey plotters “were a bit further along.”

But the official said that Mr. Defreitas’s efforts to enlist Jamaat al-Muslimeen’s aid could have had devastating consequences.

“They didn’t have the money and they didn’t have the bombs,” the official said of the suspects, “but if we let it go it could have gotten there; they could have gotten the J.A.M. fully involved, and we wouldn’t know where it could have gone.”

The official declined to be identified because he was not authorized to comment on the case.

One other thing I noted in the complain that I haven't seen anyone else pick up on. During the initial discussions in Guyana one of the participants mentioned a plot to smuggle extremists from Asia through Guyanato the USA. Keep an eye out for follow-ups on that.

Terrorism, Global War on Terror, JFK