Well, they caught the guy, but let's face it, we got lucky again that a bomb didn't go off !
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/times-square-car-bomber-police-release-video-suspect/story?id=10534834
Site, Video Created Within Day of Times Square Plot [Daniel Foster]
A YouTube video claiming credit for a "successful" bombing in Times Square was uploaded just hours after the failed attempt, to a web site created the day before.
The video was uploaded in Connecticut, where Faisal Shahzad, arrested last night at JFK International, calls home.
Like seemingly every modern-day terrorist, Shahzad has a Facebook page (I won't link to it, but it is easy enough to find), and seems to be plugged into social media broadly. This purported image of Shahzad comes from the social networking site orkut.com, which is popular in countries like Brazil, India, and Pakistan.
I'll be posting more updates at On the News.
Arrests in Pakistan [Daniel Foster]
Developing:
Sources tell CBS News that multiple people have been taken into custody for questioning in Pakistan in connection with the Times Square bomb plot. Authorities are not saying who the potential suspects are or where they are being held, but they say there were raids Monday night and Tuesday morning in different locations. It's believed between four and eight people are being held, and there are reports that some of them may be related to the suspect arrested overnight in New York.
UPDATE: More from Islamabad:
An intelligence official who was not authorized to speak on the record said two arrests had been made in Karachi in connection with the bombing attempt. One arrested is named Tausif Ahmed, and he is believed to have traveled to the United States recently to meet with Shahzad, according to this official. The official did not have the other's name. Ahmed was arrested in a busy commercial neighborhood called Gulshan-e-Iqbal.
Pakistani television stations are reporting that as many as five other connected people may have been arrested in the central industrial city of Faisalabad, but those reports are not confirmed.
Shahzad hails from Pabbi, the main town of Nowshera District in the northwest, near Peshawar, according to Interior Minister Rehman Malik.
Is There a Pattern Here or What? [Victor Davis Hanson]
The jihadist symptoms of Major Hasan were ignored; General Casey lamented the possible ramifications of Hasan's killings to the army's diversity program; the warnings of Mr. Mutallab's father about his son's jihadist tendencies were ignored but the latter's Miranda rights were not; and the Times Square would-be bomber was quite rashly and on little evidence falsely equated with a "white" bomber with perhaps domestic-terrorism overtones (when it looks like there is a Pakistani radical-Islamist connection) — a sort of pattern has been established, one both implicit and explicit.One, we are doing our darnedest to playact that radical Muslims who are trying to kill us are not trying to kill us; and two, we are not seeing a lot of peaceful blowback from the virtual closing of Guantanamo, the virtual trial of KSM, the reach out in the Al Arabiya interview, the "reset" rhetoric, the Cairo speech, and the apology tour — 2009 saw the most terrorism attempts since 2001.
And that, of course, is the charitable take: that these near-miss (and not-so-near-miss) radical-Islamist incidents are incidental to, rather than a symptom of, our new de facto policy of suggesting that the problem with our "contingency operations" against "man-caused disasters" is with us rather than with hostile Muslim terrorists.
Shahzad Was Trained in Bomb-Making in Pakistan [Daniel Foster]
The Wall Street Journal reports:
Times Square bombing suspect Faisal Shahzad told interrogators that he received training in bomb making during a recent five-month trip to Pakistan, according to a senior U.S. official familiar with the matter.
The official said Mr. Shahzad received his training in the tribal region of Waziristan bordering the Afghan border. South Waziristan is currently the site of a continuing Pakistani military offensive against Islamic militants affiliated with al Qaeda. The region of North Waziristan is the locus of the Central Intelligence Agency campaign to kill militants with unmanned drone strikes.
If He Was on the No-Fly List, How Did He Get on the Plane? [Daniel Foster]
From the AP:
WASHINGTON – Deputy FBI director John Pistole says the alleged Times Square bomber was placed on the No Fly list Monday, hours before he was arrested.
This was a key step to stop the suspect, Faisal Shahzad, from fleeing the country.
Customs and Border Protection officials at the airport ordered that the flight be stopped before takeoff. They were able to arrest Shahzad on the plane and turned him over to the FBI.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declined to say how Shahzad was able to board the flight if he was on the No Fly list.
Shahzad Complaint Unsealed [Daniel Foster]
Some highlights and questions from the complaint, in order:
—Shahzad left the keys to his personal car and his Connecticut home inside the Pathfinder used in the bombing. Presumably because he thought they'd be destroyed.
—Shahzad used a prepaid cell phone to call a fireworks store and numbers in Pakistan in the days after purchasing the Pathfinder.
—Shahzad's wife and parents both live in Pakistan, so these calls could be to them, of course. But considering he claims to having trained in bomb-making in Waziristan. . .
—About that bomb-training. The fertilizer used in the bomb was non-explosive. The crude firecracker detonators didn't work. The clocks and wires seemed to have been completely extraneous. Makes you wonder.
—FBI/JTTF agents created a composite sketch of Shahzad from the description of the individual who sold him the Pathfinder. That individual also positively identified Shahzad from a photo array. Authorities were able to track Shahzad down, apparently, through a prepaid cell phone, but the mechanics aren't explained. Any guesses?
—A search of Shahzad's garage revealed fertilizer and fireworks.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Only # 7 ? Obama makes "the list"
http://www.judicialwatch.org/news/2009/dec/judicial-watch-announces-list-washington-s-ten-most-wanted-corrupt-politicians-2009
#7 President Barack Obama: During his presidential campaign, President Obama promised to run an ethical and transparent administration. However, in his first year in office, the President has delivered corruption and secrecy, bringing Chicago-style political corruption to the White House. Consider just a few Obama administration "lowlights" from year one: Even before President Obama was sworn into office, he was interviewed by the FBI for a criminal investigation of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's scheme to sell the President's former Senate seat to the highest bidder. (Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and slumlord Valerie Jarrett, both from Chicago, are also tangled up in the Blagojevich scandal.) Moreover, the Obama administration made the startling claim that the Privacy Act does not apply to the White House. The Obama White House believes it can violate the privacy rights of American citizens without any legal consequences or accountability. President Obama boldly proclaimed that "transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency," but his administration is addicted to secrecy, stonewalling far too many of Judicial Watch's Freedom of Information Act requests and is refusing to make public White House visitor logs as federal law requires. The Obama administration turned the National Endowment of the Arts (as well as the agency that runs the AmeriCorps program) into propaganda machines, using tax dollars to persuade "artists" to promote the Obama agenda. According to documents uncovered by Judicial Watch, the idea emerged as a direct result of the Obama campaign and enjoyed White House approval and participation. President Obama has installed a record number of "czars" in positions of power. Too many of these individuals are leftist radicals who answer to no one but the president. And too many of the czars are not subject to Senate confirmation (which raises serious constitutional questions). Under the President's bailout schemes, the federal government continues to appropriate or control — through fiat and threats — large sectors of the private economy, prompting conservative columnist George Will to write: "The administration's central activity — the political allocation of wealth and opportunity — is not merely susceptible to corruption, it is corruption." Government-run healthcare and car companies, White House coercion, uninvestigated ACORN corruption, debasing his office to help Chicago cronies, attacks on conservative media and the private sector, unprecedented and dangerous new rights for terrorists, perks for campaign donors — this is Obama's "ethics" record — and we haven't even gotten through the first year of his presidency.
The others in the top 10 (not a lot of surprises):
Dodd
Frank
Pelosi
Rangel
Murtha
Jesse Jackson Jr & Roland Burris (go IL)
Eric Holder
Turbo Timmy Geithner
John Ensign (the only republican to make the top 10)
Nice rogues gallery !
#7 President Barack Obama: During his presidential campaign, President Obama promised to run an ethical and transparent administration. However, in his first year in office, the President has delivered corruption and secrecy, bringing Chicago-style political corruption to the White House. Consider just a few Obama administration "lowlights" from year one: Even before President Obama was sworn into office, he was interviewed by the FBI for a criminal investigation of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's scheme to sell the President's former Senate seat to the highest bidder. (Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and slumlord Valerie Jarrett, both from Chicago, are also tangled up in the Blagojevich scandal.) Moreover, the Obama administration made the startling claim that the Privacy Act does not apply to the White House. The Obama White House believes it can violate the privacy rights of American citizens without any legal consequences or accountability. President Obama boldly proclaimed that "transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency," but his administration is addicted to secrecy, stonewalling far too many of Judicial Watch's Freedom of Information Act requests and is refusing to make public White House visitor logs as federal law requires. The Obama administration turned the National Endowment of the Arts (as well as the agency that runs the AmeriCorps program) into propaganda machines, using tax dollars to persuade "artists" to promote the Obama agenda. According to documents uncovered by Judicial Watch, the idea emerged as a direct result of the Obama campaign and enjoyed White House approval and participation. President Obama has installed a record number of "czars" in positions of power. Too many of these individuals are leftist radicals who answer to no one but the president. And too many of the czars are not subject to Senate confirmation (which raises serious constitutional questions). Under the President's bailout schemes, the federal government continues to appropriate or control — through fiat and threats — large sectors of the private economy, prompting conservative columnist George Will to write: "The administration's central activity — the political allocation of wealth and opportunity — is not merely susceptible to corruption, it is corruption." Government-run healthcare and car companies, White House coercion, uninvestigated ACORN corruption, debasing his office to help Chicago cronies, attacks on conservative media and the private sector, unprecedented and dangerous new rights for terrorists, perks for campaign donors — this is Obama's "ethics" record — and we haven't even gotten through the first year of his presidency.
The others in the top 10 (not a lot of surprises):
Dodd
Frank
Pelosi
Rangel
Murtha
Jesse Jackson Jr & Roland Burris (go IL)
Eric Holder
Turbo Timmy Geithner
John Ensign (the only republican to make the top 10)
Nice rogues gallery !
Monday, May 3, 2010
Times Square - Failed Car Bombing update
Shocka: suspect is of Pakistani origin; recently traveled to Pakistan
Why Haven't there been more Car Bombings ? http://blog.american.com/?p=13456
WSJ: Getting Lucky in Times Square: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704608104575220661376447890.html
NY Post: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/terror_in_times_square_Pm4BBXPx4uc7ou2nmamw3K
Why Haven't there been more Car Bombings ? http://blog.american.com/?p=13456
WSJ: Getting Lucky in Times Square: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704608104575220661376447890.html
NY Post: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/terror_in_times_square_Pm4BBXPx4uc7ou2nmamw3K
Iran & Nukes
The Iranian A-Bomb [Jay Nordlinger]
John Bolton’s piece in the Wall Street Journal today is entitled “Get Ready for a Nuclear Iran.” I’ll tell you when I first became resigned — pretty much resigned — to the Iranian A-bomb. Early last year, I was interviewing John Negroponte, the veteran diplomat who had recently been director of national intelligence — in other words, the top intelligence official in the country. He knows more than we do, simply put. A lot more.
I said, “What about Iran and the bomb?” He answered, “I think that’s what they want, I think that’s what they’re headed towards, I think that’s what they’re going to get.” That made me swallow a little, considering the source.
He said that, after he became DNI in 2005, his office estimated that Iran would have a weapon sometime between 2010 and 2015. And “I don’t believe that that assessment has essentially changed.”
“But what about stopping them?” I asked. He answered, “I think we can delay them — through sanctions, through import restrictions, through working with other countries. But definitively stop them? Even if you used coercive means, I think it would be quite difficult by now.”
Above, I said I was “pretty much resigned” to the Iranian bomb. Why not completely so? I bear in mind a conversation — an interview — I had with Dr. Ephraim Sneh, the Israeli politician. He is no righty, though he’s more or less a security hawk. He is known as one of the most pro-Palestinian politicians in Israel, and he is practically best friends with Saeb Erekat, the PLO spokesman and negotiator. Sneh told me that no Israeli government — left, right, or center — would allow Iran to acquire the bomb. It was simply a matter of survival. Israel is absolutely unanimous on this. It has nothing to do with politics — Likud, Labor, etc. According to Sneh, the united Israeli stance is, No Iranian bomb, period.
I can just hear the firmness in his voice when he talked about all this. Anyway . . . guess we’ll see. And wouldn’t it be kind of a shame if the United States — the world’s superpower — let tiny, ostracized Israeli do the work that the whole world needs?
Iran: America’s Choices [Linda Bridges]
As the Iranian nuclear program steams along, America and her allies have basically three choices: military action, sanctions, or containment. Containment is the favored option in Washington, D.C., these days, and yet it has considerable costs and risks. On the homepage today, Michael Anton writes:
It is simply taken for granted in the foreign-policy establishment that Iran would never, ever pass along nuclear weapons or materials to a terrorist group. This may or may not be true. All we can say with confidence right now is that Tehran doesn’t yet have the option. If the West resigns itself to containment and accepts an Iranian bomb, it soon will.
Read the rest here.
John Bolton’s piece in the Wall Street Journal today is entitled “Get Ready for a Nuclear Iran.” I’ll tell you when I first became resigned — pretty much resigned — to the Iranian A-bomb. Early last year, I was interviewing John Negroponte, the veteran diplomat who had recently been director of national intelligence — in other words, the top intelligence official in the country. He knows more than we do, simply put. A lot more.
I said, “What about Iran and the bomb?” He answered, “I think that’s what they want, I think that’s what they’re headed towards, I think that’s what they’re going to get.” That made me swallow a little, considering the source.
He said that, after he became DNI in 2005, his office estimated that Iran would have a weapon sometime between 2010 and 2015. And “I don’t believe that that assessment has essentially changed.”
“But what about stopping them?” I asked. He answered, “I think we can delay them — through sanctions, through import restrictions, through working with other countries. But definitively stop them? Even if you used coercive means, I think it would be quite difficult by now.”
Above, I said I was “pretty much resigned” to the Iranian bomb. Why not completely so? I bear in mind a conversation — an interview — I had with Dr. Ephraim Sneh, the Israeli politician. He is no righty, though he’s more or less a security hawk. He is known as one of the most pro-Palestinian politicians in Israel, and he is practically best friends with Saeb Erekat, the PLO spokesman and negotiator. Sneh told me that no Israeli government — left, right, or center — would allow Iran to acquire the bomb. It was simply a matter of survival. Israel is absolutely unanimous on this. It has nothing to do with politics — Likud, Labor, etc. According to Sneh, the united Israeli stance is, No Iranian bomb, period.
I can just hear the firmness in his voice when he talked about all this. Anyway . . . guess we’ll see. And wouldn’t it be kind of a shame if the United States — the world’s superpower — let tiny, ostracized Israeli do the work that the whole world needs?
Iran: America’s Choices [Linda Bridges]
As the Iranian nuclear program steams along, America and her allies have basically three choices: military action, sanctions, or containment. Containment is the favored option in Washington, D.C., these days, and yet it has considerable costs and risks. On the homepage today, Michael Anton writes:
It is simply taken for granted in the foreign-policy establishment that Iran would never, ever pass along nuclear weapons or materials to a terrorist group. This may or may not be true. All we can say with confidence right now is that Tehran doesn’t yet have the option. If the West resigns itself to containment and accepts an Iranian bomb, it soon will.
Read the rest here.
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