How to Destroy the United States.....in a week or two

How to destroy the United States in a week:
Imagine, if you will, a scenario that involves just 50 people in 25 rented vans…working independently, yet as a group, from many different locations in the United States. This group of radicals—I use this term loosely as “radicals” may mean any race, religion, creed, or ideology—spends several days travelling coast to coast placing small explosive charges on rural bridges and overpasses that cross major truck routes in the U.S. These radicals agree to activate all of the explosives at the same time…on a given date. They target unobserved bridges and overpasses of less than one mile in length and located in rural areas with limited traffic…especially late at night or early in the morning. Al Qaeda and other groups have this type of capability already. Let’s put this scenario into play and see what happens:
It takes a team of two just 40 hours to travel coast to coast driving in 11 hour shifts. Our Interstate system is organized…beginning in the South with Interstate 10 and moving North with I20, I30, I40, I70, I80, and I90 being the major routes. In the West, there is I5, Then I15, I25, I35, I55, I57, and going up to I95 which travels along the East coast. There are several State and U.S. highways that cross these routes and are alternative truck routes. If each team drives and stops long enough to wire a bridge…just 5 minutes….over 2500 bridges could be set to explode in just a week. No one is watching these bridges or overpasses…people often park near them, especially at night or during bad weather.
The United States has a bridge crisis. Our bridges are in horrible shape due to poor maintenance and a lack of funds. The highway department is basically out of funds and converting these roads to toll roads is currently being considered.
July 4th, 2015 @ 0800: 1157 bridges simultaneously explode and are damaged in the United States.. Almost immediately, traffic backs up for miles while stae and local governments begin to wrap their heads around the situation. Once it is determined that this is a terrorist attack, the government will make an announcement basically stopping all U.S. traffic until all undamaged bridges can be inspected for safety and the damaged ones can be repaired…the United States just died. Please, allow me to explain:
Once this news gets out, the major carriers—Schneider(which has over 10,000 trucks on the road), Swift, CR England, JB Hunt, etc-- will send out emergency communications to their trucks to immediately proceed to a terminal or major truck stop, fuel the truck, and shut down. These carriers are ALWAYS worried about law suits due to injured motorists or employees. They will not risk it. Trucks will begin POURING into the major truck stops these companies contract with for fuel—Pilot, Flying J, Love’s, Petro, and TA. They will take on TONS of fuel—a truck can hold 200 gallons@ almost $4.00 a gallon.
Truck stops cannot get the fuel they need, but demand has increased…price goes up. Higher price means owner operators and smaller fleets cannot afford to fuel, so they park their trucks as well…now freight is not getting through. No freight means that companies cannot produce goods so people are told to not come to work…citizens with reduced income cannot afford increased food price…lack of trucks puts a burden on medicine deliveries and food and water deliveries….cities cut back on services…buses, taxis, etc. are the first to go, with trash pickup and other services soon to follow. Streets begin to accumulate piles of garbage and disease rates begin to rise…taxing hospitals that are already experiencing higher than normal complaints…police departments are starting to get reports of looting and violent crimes.
Two days into this disaster, riots and looting begins to occur as stores cannot restock shelves and food supplies run short. The average Wal-Mart gets about 5 trucks every 24 hours…without these, the shelves begin to get bare food becomes scarce….smaller stores suffer worse.
36 hours into this crisis, gas supplies run short and the price of gas tops $10 a gallon. Food is hard to get. Waste water treatment plants shut down and hospitals begin turning away all but the most serious cases, trash is piling up and police and fire response times triple. Looting has moved to truck stops. Truck hi-jacking is normal now. Truckers begin to walk away from trucks or drop loads and head home to protect families and people begin to walk out of cities towards a more rural environment. These people are not equipped or trained to hunt so they take domestic animals as food…ruining the cattle and farming industries.
At this point, an attack by China or another world power will result in a total defeat for the United States….all because just 40% of the United States’ truck fleet was affected. Shut off fuel to just 40% of U.S. trucks and the United States FAILS as a country. The economy would be crippled for years to come and defense would be nearly impossible…..If they are smart, they will attack refineries and make the problem even worse.
Infrastructure attacks would further cripple our defenses. Yes, there is a strategic reserve of oil, but it is USELESS if there is no way to deliver it. The United States military is a ghost without fuel and the roadway system is the key to denying the delivery of said fuel.

Congratulations !!

You just let the cat out of the bag.

Are you a recruiter for al -quida

wait for the knock on the door

a reply to: tonyb1968

Umm, I don't think that the US would fall to it's knees in 36 hrs. Plus, we have PLENTY of planes and airports...They'll just do air drops or deliver via air.

Traffic problems, yes. Destroying the US? Not a chance with this scenario. BTW, like others said, wait for the knock & good luck with that...

I would watch that movie.

Hmm.. you forget that a good amount is transported via train - even in the United States. Oil is transported through pipelines from coast to coast.. if you blow up the bridges than you just put a inconvenience on the drivers because they have to find alternative routes (there are always alternative routes).

Military facilities have enough resources to go through a crises like this... on top you forget that we have major assets around the world - it's not all located in the United States. China will have issues, too - because they can't get their products delivered to americans .. it's a cascading effect.

Btw, there was real life experience collected during the 80s oil crises .. the US didn't go down.

Just in case I will avoid driving over bridges on July 4th 2015!

remember, you are only as anonymous as your ip

All existing rail, air and shipping services are nationalized, all essential freight is diverted to intermodal transport, essential supplies are delivered. Repairs to infrastructure begin immediatly, temporary bridges are in place where needed most within days, only minor sporadic disruptions in delivery of essential supplies... Hunt for culprits begins, they will be hunted down and if they have ties of any kind with a foreign government... WAR!

USA isn't destroyed, in fact they're just really pissed off...

a reply to: creation7
I am NOT on drugs and would gladly consent to a drug test. I am a Professional driver with INTIMATE knowledge of the situation. I do this for a living. NOTHING works if you limit the trucks that deliver the goods. Trains and planes need fuel also.....40% reduction in fuel would also limit their activity. Fuel MUST get from refinery to the trains and planes. Name ONE item that does NOT spend some portion of its life on a truck...I dare you. Trains could NOT handle the increase in freight. Planes only haul a SMALL fraction of the freight. How do you get the stuff from the manufacturer to the plane or train? You people are LOST. It all depends upon trucks, you idiots

That might piss us off but in no way end us. The government has plenty of reserve fuel to fight anything, even without the roads. They'd makefood drops for us. Plus I'd like to see anyone try to invade with as many weapons as we have in our homes. You see we band together even with as much fighting as we may do amongst ourselves its like we're still family. We can pick on each other. But we damn sure won't let others mess with our people! Although that might be a good way to get our government to spend our money on us instead of the rest of the world. So in any way the scenerio would play out we'd only become stronger. And now you would have really pissed us off. ... We've been playing NICE so far. ....

a reply to: tonyb1968

Why would you want to see your country fail and all the people out of work you would not be driving for a while

"Breedges?...

..."we don't need no steenking breedges"!

Sorry, I really had no control over that... just too funny for me to let slide...

a reply to: tonyb1968
Wait for it....reality strikes when you fools finally realize that almost EVERYTHING arrives by truck. Even pipeline deliveries need to be moved to locations by truck. Aircraft burn what is basically kerosene....delivered by truck. Trains run on diesel...delivered by truck. Limit truck traffic enough and America will destroy itself. I am not a radical. I am a CONCERNED citizen that drives a truck for a living.

a reply to: tonyb1968

Your logic is flawed you mention using small charges on bridges and overpasses.....LOL. You might want to research this before making wild claims.



The only target that could bring the country this size to it's knees is the power grid being hacked.

a reply to: tonyb1968
This was a mental exercise to improve awareness of the situation as I see it from my close perspective. I welcome conflicting statements as it only makes me feel safer.

a reply to: tonyb1968

Did you just put a reply to yourself? Yes trucks are needed. But this only slows things down. You didn't say destroy all the trucks. You said the bridges. The trucks that need to get through will by temporary bridges. The trucks are fine in your scenerio!

a reply to: SubTruth
Sub,
One would only need to create structural damage to the bridge to close the road....small charges would do this. one pound of c-4 may well bring a bridge down.

originally posted by: tonyb1968
a reply to: SubTruth
Sub,
One would only need to create structural damage to the bridge to close the road....small charges would do this. one pound of c-4 may well bring a bridge down.

How are they going to get the 1000's of pounds of c-4 needed to pull this off. I am sorry it would make a interesting book plot but in real life I just do not think it is possible.