That's so, and I find myself wondering why they'd target the tunnels anyway. There are many routes into and out of Manhattan, so taking out just one would only be an inconvenience. Unless there was a master plan to break all those routes, the Holland Tunnel doesn't seem by itself to have a lot of strategic value. I'd think that bridges are easier to damage than tunnels, too.

An explosion in a tunnel can be pretty horrific--remember the Caldecott Tunnel explosion here a couple of decades back? Perhaps it's incorrect to assume that they planned to crack the tunnel and flood it; they may have been going for the terror value of an incendiary holocaust. The kind of explosives they were gathering would answer that question.

Later reports say that their target wasn't so much the vehicular traffic as it was the PATH trains. OK, but I still have to wonder why in a tunnel, instead of a station, per the London tactic.

The latest reports also say that they've captured three of eight conspirators. That's odd--you'd expect the authorities to roll up all the conspirators, so there's a hint that the operation, on our side, didn't go as well as hoped.

I guess there will always be these anomalies in terror cases, due to the distorting effects of secrecy. We may learn more over the short run, but more likely this is another story that won't be told fully for many years.