Hypothesis
It’s being reported that although bomb-sniffing dogs reacted to something in the two cars stopped on Alligator Alley, that no actual bombs have been found yet. If there were bombs, then where are they now?
The Three Stooges, as Laurence has dubbed them, were overheard by a waitress in Calhoun Wednesday night, and were caught 683 miles later west of Miami, just after midnight, Friday morning. That’s a 12 hour drive, according to mapquest. Let’s say they had a late dinner Wednesday night, around 8 o’clock. They spent 12 hours driving, so what were they doing during the other 16? What if the bombs weren’t intended for Miami, but rather for somewhere else, and Miami was were they planned to escape from? Atlanta and Tampa are both major cities also on Interstate 75, and you could argue that Atlanta is a more target-rich environment than Miami.
Also, as Kehaar reports below, the men were apparently concerned about running late. If this is a isolated attack, then why worry about the time? One would be concerned about the time in such a situation for two reasons that I can think of off the top of my head. One, you’re rendezvousing with another cell in order to carry out the attack. Two, the attack is timed to occur in conjunction with other attacks across the country, like the 4 separate hijackings were on 9/11. I don’t know about you, but I’m wanting the day to hurry up and end.
Update: What else is near interstate 75, and could be considered a target?
Florida’s Crystal River Nuclear Power Plant
Alabama’s Joseph M.Farley Nuclear Power Plant is also pretty close.
Yet another Update: These guys seem like piss-poor terrorists to me, especially compared with Atta and his crowd. They talk loudly about their plans in a public restaurant, drive through a toll booth without paying, and then politely let an single deputy pull them over? It just doesn’t make much sense. But what if instead of being the people in charge of the attack, these are the guys in charge of the diversion? That their orders are to basically make a lot of noise and get the eyes of the Nation turned towards Florida, while another attack goes forward elsewhere? It would fit in with their concern about timing, as well. I figure a good deal of proof for this theory will come if someone else comes forward with a story similar to the one in Calhoun, in that they were overheard boasting about an attack in Miami on the 13th.
YAU2: They’re claiming to be medical students in Dominica. That would Ross University. And they could well be students there. Atta’s group were students, too.
YAU3: The Miami Herald is reporting that the impetus for the 2 state manhunt was a practical joke gone awry.
Three medical students of Middle Eastern descent who were stopped as suspected terrorists on Alligator Alley early Friday morning remained detained after they were overheard in a Georgia restaurant vowing to make America “cry on 9/13.”
Federal sources involved in the investigation said they believe the three men - all U.S. citizens - were playing a stupid joke on another restaurant patron who gave them a suspicious look.
Now that was a powerful joke. I bet they don’t do it again, though. Barry, Maurice, Robin, do you have something to say?
