Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!shadooby!samsung!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!wuarchive!psuvax1!rutgers!att!cbnews!military From: gwh%sandstorm.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (George William Herbert) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: The Channel Tunnel Message-ID: <11243@cbnews.ATT.COM> Date: 8 Nov 89 04:41:23 GMT Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM Organization: University of California, Berkeley Lines: 28 Approved: military@att.att.com From: gwh%sandstorm.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (George William Herbert) In article <11203@cbnews.ATT.COM> adrian%cs.heriot-watt.ac.uk@NSFnet-Relay.AC.UK (Adrian Hurt) writes: >From: Adrian Hurt > >I assume that folks here have heard of the proposed tunnel under the English >Channel, between south-east England and France. It seems to me that if it is >completed, it will be a perfect target for terrorists. All it needs is a car >full of baddies at each end, armed with assault rifles and probably grenades, >and equipped also with radios or good watches for synchronisation, and they >could hold the whole tunnel to ransom. Especially if they can get hold of >enough explosive, of sufficient power, to put a hole in the tunnel. > >So where have I gone wrong? Is such an attack impossible? Or are we giving the >IRA an offer they cannot refuse? Modern structures and infrastructure are in general insanely vulnerable to terrorist attack. A bakcpack of explosives is enough to bring down many if not most major bridges, tunnels can be taken out... consider knocking a skyscraper over (colateral damage, anyone? ). Be glad few if any terrorists have engineering degrees. **************************************** George William Herbert UCB Naval Architecture Dpt. (my god, even on schedule!) gwh@ocf.berkeley.edu [maniac@garnet.berkeley.edu, but i don't check mail often] ----------------------------------------