On July 6, 2006, the

New York Daily News The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...

released a story claiming the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

had disrupted a terrorist plot to bomb the

tunnels A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

connecting

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

with

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

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. 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'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

, 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, home, or public security ministries in other countries. Its missions invol ...

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 Hudson Square and Lower Manhattan in New York City in the east to Jersey City, New Jersey, in the west. The tunnel is operated by the Port Authority of New York an ...

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 any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, educatio ...

they were monitoring.

Assem Hammoud

Professor Assem Hammoud was said to be a key figure. He graduated from

Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...

in Montreal, Canada graduating with a 2002

Bachelor of Commerce A Bachelor of Commerce (BCom or B Com) is an undergraduate degree in commerce, accounting, mathematics, economics, and management-related subjects. The degree is mainly offered in Commonwealth nations. Structure Bachelor of Commerce The Bac ...

degree before returning to

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

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 Osama bin Laden (10 March 19572 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan ''mujahideen'' against the Soviet Union, and support ...

In 2003, Hammoud had met with a

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

n who took him to

Ain al-Hilweh Ain al-Hilweh (, lit. meaning "sweet natural spring"), also spelled as Ayn al-Hilweh and Ein El Hilweh, is the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon. It had a population of over 70,000 Palestinian refugees but swelled to nearly 120,000, as ...

, 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 ''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' (), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' (), an Arabic term that broadly refers to people who engage in ''jihad'' (), interpreted in a jurisprudence of Islam as the fight on behalf of God, religion or the commun ...

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 Improvised explosive device bombings in 2006 Failed terrorist attempts in New York City Islamic terrorism in New York (state) 2006 in New York City Hudson River Holland Tunnel Improvised explosive device bombings in New York City Islamic terrorist incidents in 2006 Attacks on buildings and structures in 2006 Attacks on buildings and structures in New York City Terrorist incidents on subterranean rapid transit Terrorist incidents against transportation in the United States