Terrorists on a Bridge?

Now we have our own little fake “terrorism” scare here in Michigan. Over the weekend, three Texans were arrested in Caro with a van full of TracPhones and a digital camera with Mackinac Bridge photos. Supposedly, the phones were to detonate bombs, and the pics were the target shots. However, I have several problems with this scenario:

1. The Mackinac Bridge is not really a strategic target. Okay, we here in Michigan love our “Mighty Mac,” but there are certainly more important targets (oh, say the two international bridges or the Detroit-Windsor tunnel). The bridge does get quite a bit of traffic, but much of it is tourist traffic between the two penninsulas. Even if there was an attack and the bridge was damaged, there are still the Mackinaw/St. Ignace-Mackinac Island ferries that could take on the traffic.

2. The structural integrity of the bridge. If you ask most state residents, they do find it a little unnerving to drive across. However, in the nearly fifty years since the bridge has been opened, there has only been one high-profile accident. This involved a Yugo flipping over the safety rails and into the straits during a bad winter storm. (It was nearly quite literally blown over!) Being the convergence between two of the big lakes (Michigan and Huron), the weather there can be quite severe, particularly in the winter. The bridge is built to withstand snow, sleet, hail, freak marine storms, and high winds.

3. The Bridge Authority. The MBA has always done a stellar job taking care of the bridge. They monitor the weather, traffic, and the bridge conditions very carefully, and will not let anyone cross if they perceive that something is wrong.

4. If they were going to Mackinaw City, they were headed the wrong way. As you'll see from the .pdf map, Caro is a little out of the way.

Actually, the area around Caro is the home of terrorists. But they’re homegrown. Just one county away is the Nichols family farm (in Decker).