By: Stacey Moore
It has been five years since 9/11, and as terrible as those events were for an unprepared America, a new book, "The Wrong Abraham," (Martin and Lawrence Press, $22.95) by best-selling author David S. Brody, makes it clear that the nation is at risk and the terrorist threats published in newspapers on an almost daily basis should be taken very seriously.
"Our ports and coastal cities are considered prime targets for terrorist attacks," Brody said, "and are as vulnerable as ever." Once a week, tankers filled with highly volatile liquefied natural gas (LNG) snake their way through Boston Harbor, only a few hundred yards from the office towers of Boston's Financial District and the residential neighborhoods of the North End, East Boston, Charlestown and Everett, even though an explosion of an LNG tanker could release energy the equivalent of 55 Hiroshima-sized bombs.
A 1994 report by Sandia National Laboratories, commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy, concluded that a terrorist attack on an LNG tanker could result in an explosion so massive that it would cause fatalities and major damage to buildings a third of a mile away and second-degree burns to people more than a mile away. Buildings would be vaporized, office towers would melt and crumble, and tens of thousands of people would perish.
LNG tanker deliveries create such a security risk that, while the tanker is in transit through Boston Harbor, Logan Airport is closed, all boats are excluded from the security harbor, and the Tobin Bridge is closed to vehicle traffic. The risk is so dangerous that during VIP events, such as the Democratic National Committee Convention in 2004, LNG tanker deliveries are suspended. (In 1944, an LNG explosion in Cleveland killed 131 people and incinerated a square mile of the city.)
In addition to Boston, LNG terminals exist and operate in Maryland, Georgia and Louisiana. New terminals have been proposed up and down both U.S. coastlines and in the Gulf of Mexico.
Art imitates life in this compelling new book as the headlines of today serve as a backdrop to the intrigue and subterfuge of a terrorist plot. Readers will be enthralled by the story's twists and turns, as a Holocaust survivor learns that an Al Qaeda terrorist cell is planning to attack a liquefied natural gas tanker in Boston Harbor during a world economic summit and asks his niece to risk her life and help him prevent it.
The terrifying and riveting account is compounded by additional terrorist plots, which the Holocaust survivor and his niece work so desperately to prevent. It's an edge-of-your-seat yarn that will give you a more enlightened understanding of the realities behind today's terrorism news headlines.
"The Wrong Abraham" is available at bookstores everywhere.
