Car bomb almost goes off in NYC

[TruthSeeker]

One point i would like to make here.....his house was supposedly in foreclosure here and he had recently spent 5 months in Pakistan. This suggests he was probably without a job all those months. Perhaps this was a desperate attempt on his part to make some money and save his house.

As I understand the foreclosure story, he left and went back to Pakistan with his wife, THEN, while he was gone, the bank foreclosed. Perhaps he went back to Pakistan because he lost his job, but the foreclosure occurred because he "walked away" from the house and stopped making payments. A lot of Americans, who made very small downpayments of their own money when they bought, are doing this because the market value of their houses has decreased below what they now owe on their mortgages and they are concluding it is in their financial interest to "walk away" and let the bank take the loss. Anyway, the mortgage foreclosure would not be the key to his story as to why he returned to Pakistan shortly after becoming a USA citizen. Rather the question is (1) did he lose his job or (2) hear the siren call to jihad?

 

[Prometheus]

DAWN.COM | Pakistan | Hakimullah behind New York bomb plot: Reports
ISLAMABAD: Reports suggest that the leader of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Hakimullah Mehsud has a hand behind the failed Times Square bomb plot in New York of arrested Faisal Shehzad.

This has been revealed by a letter which Hakimullah wrote to the sister of Dr Afia Siddiqui, Dr. Fouzia nearly two months back.

According to a copy of the letter received exclusively by DawnNews, Hakimullah Mehsud threatened a memorable response against the United States.

The summary of the letter states that Hakimullah Mehsud declared the sister of incarcerated Dr. Afia Siddiqui, Dr Fouzia as her own sister and assured her of every cooperation.

Threatening the US, he announced his intention to teach the United States a lesson. Hakimullah also purportedly said in the letter that the leaders of Pakistan would also face a fitting response. -DawnNews

 

[Napalm]

Image: The man who tried to blow up Times Square: Rediff.com India News

A report from Islamabad says

says Faisal Shahzad is the son of a retired air vice marshal of the Pakistan Air Force.

Meanwhile, Reuters has released Faisal Shahzad's picture -- undated though -- obtained from Orkut, a social networking site. (See the picture alongside)

In another crucial development, The Geo News channel in Pakistan claimed Shahzad is the son of Air Vice Marshal (retired) Baharul Haq, who also served in the civil aviation department. However, his family has rejected any terror links.

Shahzad's parents live in the posh Hayatabad area in Peshawar while his ancestral home is at Pubbi of Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa province, the channel reported.

Shahzad's relatives said he was married and had two children. They said he had gone to America for studies some time ago.
Shahzad last visited his ancestral home at Pubbi some six months ago to attend a wedding, his cousin Sarirul Haq said.

Kifayat Ali, another cousin, said he was one of the two sons of retired air force officer Baharul Haq.

"I was definitely shocked on hearing this news (of Shahzad's arrest). All people who knew the family were shocked," said Ali.
Shahzad's father was an upright air force officer and his son "never had links with political, religious or terrorist groups," Ali said.

"The whole family had no links to political parties. This is all a part of the conspiracy launched against Pashtuns in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks," he claimed.

Asserting it was indeed an act of terror, the US said it was a clear ploy aimed at murdering Americans in one of the busiest places in their country.

 

[sparklingway]

 

[Marxist]

No citizenship rights to terrorists: Senator Lieberman

WASHINGTON: It is time that citizens involved in acts of terrorism should be stripped of their nationality, an influential Senator has said, in the wake of the arrest of Pakistani-born US national Faisal Shahzad, the suspect behind the Times Square bomb plot.

"I think it's time for us to look at whether we want to amend that law to apply it to American citizens who choose to become affiliated with foreign terrorists organisations, whether or not they should also be deprived automatically of their citizenship and therefore be deprived of rights that come with that citizenship when they are apprehended and charged with a terrorist act," Senator Joe Lieberman told the Fox News in an interview.

Lieberman, Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said that he is trying to amend an old US law that says if an American citizen is found to be fighting in the military of a nation with whom the US is at war, they lose their citizenship.

The Senator, however, denied that he was targeting the Pakistani-Americans in general.

"I think that, I wouldn't want to single out a group. Rest assured that people travelling to certain countries, particularly going to areas of the country that, Pakistan for instance, may have contact with radical, anti-American Islamists, extremists. One way or another, we are watching them very closely and they should know that," he said.

There were many loyal Pakistani-American citizens and they were probably most angry and embarrassed when somebody committed an act like this, Lieberman said while praising the community.

"But, you know, you raise a point and some of us have started to talk about it here, which is, you know, there is an existing law, which hasn't been much used. It says that if an American citizen is shown to be fighting in a military force that is an enemy to the US, then that person loses their citizenship and they no longer have the rights of citizenship. That's an old law that was adopted during a very different time of conflict," he said.

In a statement, Lieberman said the FBI, New York City Police Department, Department of Homeland Security and Connecticut law enforcers deserve the gratitude for breaking open this case quickly.

"But let's not forget that but for the grace of God and the sheer incompetence of the suspect, this explosion could have taken place as planned, and many people might have died," he added.

No citizenship rights to terrorists: Senator Lieberman - US - World - The Times of India

 

[sparklingway]

Joe Lieberman is the mixture you get when you join all that's wrong with the left and the right in the US. Supporter of wars, hypocritically speaking of free trade while being a staunch protectionist at legislation in order to save next election and a staunch blind supporter of extensive military aid to Israel. Add xenophobic and hate based legal rights denial to his crimes as well. Such an idiotic legislation will obviously be outright challenged and face severe resistance in the SC, if not in Congress.

 

[Pakistani Man]

U.S. Senator Joe Liberman is Jewish.

 

[Bang Galore]

The Case of Faisal Shahzad
Posted by Steve Coll

Providing an accurate e-mail address to the seller of a vehicle you intend to use as a murder weapon is the sort of mistake that might get a person’s membership card pulled down at the terrorist union hall. No doubt Faisal Shahzad, the man arrested in the Times Square car bomb case, is having a bad day. It will probably get worse if he spends time in his holding cell reflecting on the trail of breadcrumbs he apparently left behind while planning what the evidence available so far suggests was the only act of violence committed during his young life as a U.S. citizen. If not for that e-mail address, Shahzad might already have stepped off an airplane in Karachi, ready to melt away into Pakistan.

Terrorists are adaptive, self-correcting, and cunning—except when they aren’t. For all of his alleged error-making as an individual, however, Shahzad’s case may actually reflect on how Pakistan-based jihadi groups have learned to protect themselves. According to news reports, Shahzad spent several months in Pakistan before returning to the United States. This would make him one of at least half a dozen U.S. citizens or residents to travel to Pakistan as alleged volunteers during the last several years.

Last week, before the Times Square incident, I was talking with a former U.S. intelligence officer who worked extensively on jihadi cases during several overseas tours. He said that when a singleton of Shahzad’s profile—especially a U.S. citizen—turns up in a place like Peshawar, local jihadi groups are much more likely to assess him as a probable U.S. spy than as a genuine volunteer. At best, the jihadi groups might conclude that a particular U.S.-originated individual’s case is uncertain. They might then encourage the person to go home and carry out an attack—without giving him any training or access to higher-up specialists that might compromise their local operations. They would see such a U.S.-based volunteer as a “freebie,” the former officer said—if he returns home to attack, great, but if he merely goes off to report back to his C.I.A. case officer, no harm done.

Whatever the narrative behind Shahzad’s case turns out to be, we can take solace that we will hear it in a court of law. Amidst the country’s often self-defeating search for a justice system to address terrorism, his is not a particularly hard case—a U.S. citizen arrested on U.S. soil for a crime against Americans carried out in New York. We can nonetheless look forward to “The Daily Show” clips showing cable television anchors railing about the Obama Administration’s failure to recognize him as a warrior. Fortunately, like one of those Eleven O’clock News bank robbers who tries to rob an A.T.M., only to topple it over on himself, Shahzad’s case may help to illuminate a truth larger than himself: Terrorists are criminals, and the great majority of criminals are prosaic.

Think Tank: The Case of Faisal Shahzad : The New Yorker

 

[Prometheus]

Mr Shahzad left the keys to his home inside the car with the bomb

Mr Shahzad is charged on five counts, including attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to kill and main citizens.
According to court documents, he admitted to receiving bomb-making training in Waziristan, Pakistan.
Mr Shahzad spent five months in Pakistan, returning on 3 February. He told immigration officials he had been visiting his parents.
He claimed he would be living at a motel in Connecticut while he searched for a job and a more permanent place to live. His wife, he told authorities, remained in Pakistan.
Police have also discovered that the pre-paid mobile phone which authorities had used to identify and locate Mr Shahzad had received a series of calls from Pakistan following his purchase of the Nissan Pathfinder at the centre of the failed attack. But the phone had not been used since 18 April.
After working for eight hours to secure the vehicle, investigators found the keys to Mr Shahzad's Connecticut home inside, along with keys to another car - likely the Isuzu Rodeo that Mr Shahzad was seen driving when he purchased the Pathfinder.

BBC News - Court papers reveal details of New York bomb suspect

 

[Marxist]

NY Mayor warns against attacks directed at Muslims

ollowing the arrest of a Pakistan-born US national Faisal Shahzad as the suspect behind the failed Times Square bombing plot, Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned against any anti-Muslim incidents.

"We will not tolerate any bias or backlash against Pakistani or Muslim New Yorkers," he said.

Shahzad has been arrested in connection with the failed car bomb that was planned to go off in a crowded area of Times Square.

The 30-year-old was arrested as he was reportedly trying to flee New York and go to Dubai by an Emirates flight on Monday.

The suspect was in Pakistan for five months between April and August 2009, a Pakistan's Interior Ministry official told New York Times.

Earlier, the city experienced several cases of racist attacks against Muslims and Sikhs, who were mistaken to be Muslims because of their turbans and long beards, after the 9/11 terror attacks.

NY Mayor warns against attacks directed at Muslims: India Today - Latest Breaking News from India, World, Business, Cricket, Sports, Bollywood.

 

[new wave]

Lessons from the bomb in Times Square - Laurie Essig - Class Warfare - True/Slant



Last night someone loaded a Nissan SUV with a bunch of compressed gas and propane and parked it in Times Square,. Apparently the hope was that the SUV would explode and kill a bunch of tourists. Thanks to a tee shirt vendor, who noticed that the vehicle was smoking, who notified a mounted police officer who smelled gunpowder and called for back up, the bomb did not go off, theater goers were not killed, and New York City and the US once again avoided the inevitable terrorists attacks.

That’s right. A terrorist attack (whether homegrown or foreign) is inevitable. It will happen at some point. At the same time the Time Square bomb was smoldering, a United Airways plane was being diverted because of a bomb threat now described as a “hoax.” The next time the tee shirt vendor might not see the smoke or the threat might not be just some stupid “joke.” Just like offshore drilling will inevitably lead to oil spills, US foreign and domestic policies will inevitably lead to terrorist attacks. It is the price we pay for Empire.

When people (usually angry men motivated by fundamentalist religions- Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Middle Eastern or corn-fed white Americans) feel as if their lives have been destroyed by a state and simultaneously feel that there is no possible way to address their grievances, they will feel justified in the use of terror against the population in an attempt to get to the state. It’s a story as old as the Maccabees and as new as last night’s incident in Times Square. It is the inevitable price that large states that control huge swathes of land and extract wealth from a variety of populations to finance the military might necessary for such control pay. It is a story as old as Rome and as contemporary as America.

That such an attack is unavoidable and will happen we know. What we do not know is how to respond. Inevitably the initial response will be to fight terrorism with violence- more bombings, more arrests, more dead civilians. Here in Waco or there in Kabul.

But that response is neither necessary nor does it produce the desired result: no terrorist attacks. In fact, if history teaches us anything it is that violence begets violence. Instead, it might be worth thinking about other responses. A bomb in Times Square would be a tragedy, with hundreds of civilians wounded and more than a few casualties. But bombing a village in Kabul or having a shoot out with American terrorists in some village in Texas does not lead to less violence. To the contrary, numerous sites exist on the internet that could convince an angry young person to take up arms against a fascist government as a result of the Waco massacre. And even the Army understands that the more civilians die in Afghanistan and Iraq, the more terrorists will be produced.

So the question is, when the bomb finally does go off in Times Square or another airplane is blown up, what should people who actually want a more peaceful world do? The State will attempt to utilize these incidents for more war- because the state extracts huge amounts of our wealth for the military industrial complex and therefore must justify such expenditures to the people. But we the people can prepare now to put pressure on the State not to respond to terrorism with war-like tactics. Instead, we can think about other responses- like pressure on the State to control a smaller amount of territory, to spend less on military and more on the American people (leading to a much less disaffected group of homegrown terrorists), and to generally scale down the size and scope of Empire.

The lessons of a bomb in Time Square are simple: dismantle the military-industrial complex, scale down the operations of Empire, redistribute the wealth from buying swords to making plowshares. It’s a lesson as old as Isaiah and as new as last night’s bomb in New York.

 

[Prometheus]

DAWN.COM | Pakistan | Pakistan doubts Taliban Times Square claim

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's army does not believe the Pakistani Taliban were behind the Times Square bomb attempt as the insurgent group has claimed, a spokesman said Wednesday.

In a video message on Sunday, the group said it carried out the attack, in what would be the first time it had been known to strike outside South Asia. US officials quickly dismissed the claim, but the arrest of a Pakistan-American who allegedly has admitted to being trained in the group's heartland in Waziristan has given it new credence.

Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, the military's chief spokesman, said the claim should be ''taken with a pinch of salt.''

''Anybody can claim anything, but whether the organization has that kind of reach is questionable. I don't think they have the capacity to reach the next level,'' he said.

The attack is likely to increase pressure on the Pakistani army to launch a new offensive in the northern part of Waziristan, something it has been avoiding until now. US and European officials have long said that many of the terror plots in the West are hatched in the region.

Abbas declined to comment on reports that the suspect, Faisal Shahzad, had been to Waziristan for training.

The army had claimed to have delivered the Pakistani Taliban a decisive blow in an operation late last year in South Waziristan. But the notion that the Pakistani Taliban are on the ropes has been shaken by the emergence of videos of a top commander previously believed to have been killed, and the group's claims of responsibility for the Times Square bomb attempt. – AP

 

[Solomon2]

Joe Lieberman is the mixture you get when you join all that's wrong with the left and the right in the US. Supporter of wars, hypocritically speaking of free trade while being a staunch protectionist at legislation in order to save next election and a staunch blind supporter of extensive military aid to Israel. Add xenophobic and hate based legal rights denial to his crimes as well. Such an idiotic legislation will obviously be outright challenged and face severe resistance in the SC, if not in Congress.

J.L. is no criminal, and I'm shocked and surprised you consider him such. Nor is he an idiot, nor a xenophobe, nor does he engage in "hate based legal rights denial". Although he's not my Senator, of all the people in Congress he is one of the few who have conscience enough not to toe a party line; that's why he was re-elected as an independent.

In short, an ad hominem attack on Lieberman can't be justified. Best stick to his policies and leave it at that, Sparklingway.

Naturally Lieberman is concerned because the prime suspect in this case lived in his state. I'm not thrilled with the prospect of citizen-revocation legislation, but in the U.S., unlike in many other countries, it is often tough for government officials to misuse and abuse their authority in matters that reach to the courts.

We may see this legislation pass. Though I doubt it will be much of a deterrent, it may be a big help in terror investigations - especially at the plea bargaining stage. Just the sort of thing that appeals to Obama, I guess.

 

[Solomon2]

I'd like to add that I can't help but feel gratitude towards Pakistan's police for their prompt attention to this matter.

 

[T-Faz]

Loser lost his job, got angry, some mullah brainwashed him in US, send him to Pak, he saw a video on lighting up a firecracker, didn't work, got arrested. He got F'ed and we got F'ed.

Buying firecrakers: $20
Buying used Pick up Truck: $2100
Buying ticket to Dubai: £1300

Embarrassing the whole country and its citizens: Priceless.