One was the driver, the other two were hiding themselves inside the truck. The Miami Herald (via Hot Air, which has an extra entry on this) has the best report on this…

My personal observation is that the security procedures at the Port of Miami are pretty good, at least where the cruise ships are concerned. If someone were to breach security, it would have to be an elaborate inside job.

Damn. It’s a good thing that the Deputy Director of the Port of Miami isn’t somebody like imam Khalid Salahuddin formerly of the Nation of Islam and currently involved with the Islamic Society of North America.

Oh, wait…

- The Cat

If Al-Quaeda knows anything at all about US culture, they know that the most people in this country watching a live television event this year will be for Super Bowl XLI at Dolphin Stadium. It could make 9/11 look like nothing.

An attack at Dolphin Stadium would be unlikely to yield the sorts of casualties that Al Qaeda goes for, unless they flew an airliner right into it (which, ironically, was sort of anticipated by the book and movie, “Black Sunday“).

More worrisome is a WMD attack via the port, or an attack on a cruise ship. The latest mega-ships carry about 3,500 passengers, plus at least 1,800 crew, making them attractive targets. Or if they get a sunken or damaged vessel to plug up the cruise ship channel or Government Cut, even for a few days, it would be a significant disruption to the entire South Florida economy for a while.

My personal observation is that the security procedures at the Port of Miami are pretty good, at least where the cruise ships are concerned. If someone were to breach security, it would have to be an elaborate inside job.

Sprinklers are a very important component of a cruise ship. A fire at sea can be a very bad thing, indeed, so no cruise ship can sail without a sprinkler system that has been approved by a semi-annual Coast Guard inspection.

I have heard that some types of PVC plastic can give off a positive for C-4.

SWLiP on January 8, 2007 at 6:16 PM

Thanks for the clarification.

You can be sure that Homeland Security knows it. So there’s a few extra people taking extra care around there. And maybe they have some equipment turned up to eleven.

I have heard that some types of PVC plastic can give off a positive for C-4.

Why would a cruise ship need a crate full of sprinkler parts? It’s not like they have a landscape to water or anything. What kind of sprinkler causes positive tests for C4 and be so scary looking that the bomb squad blew it up anyway?

Guardian on January 8, 2007 at 6:00 PM

That’s something I’m wondering too. If it’s an indoor sprinkler system (the kind that’s used to put out fires) then I could understand a little better … but that hasn’t been specified yet.

I can’t help but be a little skeptical knowing what a confirmed and acknowledged positive would do to the tourist industry down there, and especially to the cruise industry.

Hoodlumman on January 8, 2007 at 5:21 PM

I thought it was fine, never saw the spelling till you called it out.

Did anyone think to check if the parts had traces of exposive compounds on them? You know, so they would set off the detectors, but not actually be something. Wait for it . . . “We were guilty of driving while muslim”.

- The Cat

Shepard Smith already called a bunch of people who have been emailing him “conspiracy theorists.”

*sigh*

Wait for it . . . “We were guilty of driving while muslim”.

- The Cat

MirCat on January 8, 2007 at 5:17 PM

In our PC nation, I’d bet on it. Also “sailing while muslim”, “flying (but not landing) while muslim”, and possibly “walking in crowds while muslim”.

R.I.P.

False positive? Check

False positive? Check

False positive? Check

False positive? Forget it, it’s another…BOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!

ScottG on January 8, 2007 at 4:13 PM

I’m having the same feeling. Is this another case of the ‘wolf crying wolf’ like the flying Imams.

Did anyone think to check if the parts had traces of exposive compounds on them? You know, so they would set off the detectors, but not actually be something. Wait for it . . . “We were guilty of driving while muslim”.

- The Cat

I was convinced it was going to be weather balloons this time.

Sprinkler parts – really, how stupid do they expect us to really be?

Lends credence to all of these points:

So how do you get a false positive from sprinkler parts?

frreal on January 8, 2007 at 4:17 PM

As I prediceted yesterday before the verdict. And that is that there was no lying on the part of these terorists, it was a PC “Language Barrier”. Makes one question the “Sprinkler Parts” explanation.

Bearhopi on January 8, 2007 at 4:20 PM

Innocuous sprinkler parts rubbed with explosives, maybe? To test our responses? Or am I just drawing too many “what ifs” from an innocent event?

JinxMcHue on January 8, 2007 at 4:22 PM

Well.. string the “innocent events” together. Day 1: Try to sneak a couple of guys into the port and see what happens. Day 2: Rub some sprinkler parts with c4 and try to get those on board a cruise line to see what happens. It probably is nothing but you really have to wonder. AQ has been known to run dry runs in the past, just to gain intelligence about what they might be able to get away with. A cruise liner with a couple thousand passengers would be a tempting target.

jasnell on January 8, 2007 at 4:30 PM

Not to mention that there is far more going on in America if one connects the dots. We just have to remove our blinders to see and connect.

Not paranoia, just reality. Look around.

According to FOX, a preliminary test of “a suspicious device” being loaded onto a cruise ship in the port of Miami tested positive for plastic explosives. Of course, we’ve all watched enough of these breaking stories to know that subsequent……