On July 6 2006, the New York Daily News released a story claiming the FBI had disrupted a terrorist plot to bomb the

tunnels A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A Pipeline transport, pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used ...

connecting

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

with

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and drown the New York Financial District with a torrent of water. The following day the FBI clarified there had been online messages about the idea, but none of the authors were in the United States or making efforts to enter the United States, and counterterrorism officials cast doubt on the significance of the alleged plot and some authorities questioned the breaking news first reported by

James Gordon Meek James Gordon Meek (born August 24, 1969) is an American former ABC News senior producer and senior counter-terrorism advisor to the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security. During his time as a journalist, Meek held prominent positions cover ...

. The alleged plot was unfeasible since the tunnel is embedded in bedrock, and the target is above sea level. there was no evidence that the plotters had taken any actions, such as buying explosives or sending money. Two U.S. counterterrorism officials, speaking to

the Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

, discounted the ability of the conspirators to carry out an attack. The report, however, made international news. The government initially protested about how the story was leaked to the New York ''Daily News''. The

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...

assured the public there "was never a concern that (the plot) would actually be executed". Although Meek had specifically said the

Holland Tunnel The Holland Tunnel is a vehicular tunnel under the Hudson River that connects the New York City neighborhood of Hudson Square in Lower Manhattan to the east with Jersey City in New Jersey to the west. The tunnel is operated by the Port Author ...

was the target of the plot, authorities disputed this and said there had been "extremely vague" messages sent between online user accounts on a

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wi ...

they were monitoring.

Assem Hammoud

Professor Assem Hammoud was said to be a key figure. He graduated from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada graduating with a 2002

Bachelor of Commerce A Bachelor of Commerce (abbreviated BComm or BCom; also, ''baccalaureates commercii'') is an undergraduate degree in business, usually awarded in Canada, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Ireland, New Zealand, Ghana, South Africa, Myanmar, ...

degree before returning to

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

to teach at the Lebanese International University - although his girlfriend and one of his brothers remained in Canada. As a result of the news of the alleged plot, Hammoud was arrested by Lebanese authorities in the summer of 2006, and was released on bail in June 2008. The Lebanese Internal Security Forces released a confession from Hammoud agreeing he made plans hoping to follow in the path of Osama bin Laden In 2003, Hammoud had met with a Syrian who took him to

Ain al-Hilweh Ain al-Hilweh ( ar, عين الحلوة, lit. meaning "sweet natural spring"), also spelled as Ayn al-Hilweh and Ein al-Hilweh, is the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon. It had a population of over 70,000 Palestinian refugees but swell ...

, a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, to practice with weapons. In 2005, Hammoud met with a foreign man who asked Hammoud to provide weapons and shelter to mujahideen.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Press release from FBI
* ttp://www.cnn.com/2006/US/07/07/tunnel.plot/index.html?section=cnn_topstories CNN report with interviews with Mark Mershon Terrorist incidents in the United States in 2006 Explosions in 2006 Failed terrorist attempts in New York City Islamic terrorism in New York (state) 2006 in New York City Hudson River Holland Tunnel