Bin Laden Had His Sights Set on Amtrak

Interesting:

Holed up in a compound in Pakistan, Osama bin Laden was scheming how to hit the United States hard again, according to newly uncovered documents that show al-Qaida plans for derailing an American train on the upcoming 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Details of the plan emerged Thursday as some of the first intelligence was gleaned from the trove of information found in bin Laden's residence when Navy SEALs killed the al-Qaida leader and four of his associates. They took his body and scooped up computers, DVDs and documents from the compound where U.S. officials think he had been living for as long as six years.

The confiscated materials reveal the rail attack planning as of February 2010. One idea outlined in handwritten notes was to tamper with an unspecified U.S. rail track so that a train would fall off the track at a valley or a bridge. Counterterrorism officials said they believe the plot was only in the initial planning stages, and there is no recent intelligence about any active plan for such an attack. The FBI and Homeland Security issued an intelligence bulletin with details of the plan to law enforcement around the country. The bulletin, marked "for official use only," was obtained by The Associated Press.

What's particularly interesting about this is they haven't found (at least so far) plans to go after an airliner again. That door has been pretty effectively closed, and after 9/11 I was pretty sure that airliners would be off the terrorist menu. Although the TSA would like the credit for that, I think the thing that ensures that airliners are not going to be a preferred target was the action of the passengers on Flight 93 on 9/11.  They stopped that hijacking and I can't image another group of passengers allowing a successful hijacking.  Won't happen.

The attack on railroads apparently did not involve suicide bombing, but simply sabotage of railroad equipment that might cause a destructive crash.  Spectacular if successful, but nothing like what the terrorist network pulled off on 9/11.  It sounds like we've pretty much gutted their organization and crippled their ability to be very effective.

While I wouldn't advocate a complete stand down of airport security, couldn't we at least stop treating everybody like terrorists?