failed bomb attempt in nyc

Police Seek Man Taped Near Bomb Scene

The police released a surveillance video image of the S.U.V., top right, going through Times Square on 45th Street on Saturday. More Photos »


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By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM, WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM and AL BAKER


Published: May 2, 2010



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This article is by Michael M. Grynbaum, William K. Rashbaum and Al Baker.

Multimedia

Interactive Feature

At the Scene of the Attempted Bombing






Photographs

Bomb Scare in Times Square








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  Vendors Who Alerted Police Called Heroes (May 3, 2010)
  
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  Bomb Scare Reveals Another Side of Times Square (May 3, 2010)
  

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PERSON OF INTEREST The police were examining this video of an unidentified man walking away from West 45th Street. More Photos »





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Law enforcement officials offered a more detailed description of the makeup of the failed car bomb found in Times Square on Saturday night, and said they were reviewing surveillance footage that showed a white man who appeared to be in his 40s walking away from the area as he looked over his shoulder and removed a layer of clothing.
Raymond W. Kelly, the New York City police commissioner, said on Sunday that the materials found in the Nissan Pathfinder — gasoline, propane, firecrackers and simple alarm clocks — also included eight bags of a granular substance, later determined to be nonexplosive grade of fertilizer, inside a 55-inch-tall metal gun locker.
The bomb, Mr. Kelly said, “would have caused casualties, a significant fireball.”
Had it exploded, said Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman, “It would have been, in all likelihood, a good possibility of people being killed, windows shattered, but not resulting in a building collapse.”
While the authorities said they were treating the failed bombing — described as a “one-off” by Janet Napolitano, the homeland security secretary — as a potential terrorist attack, they said there was no evidence of a continued threat to the city.
Additional patrols will be placed in Midtown, Mr. Kelly said, but no significant increase in the city’s police presence was planned.
F.B.I. agents and detectives had identified and were seeking to interview the owner of the Pathfinder, which was traced to Connecticut. The owner’s name was not made public.
No motive had been determined in the attempted bombing, and federal and local officials said there was no evidence to support a claim of responsibility issued Sunday by a Pakistani Taliban group that has a reputation for making far-fetched attempts to take credit for attacks.
The police and F.B.I. officials are also investigating a separate tip received by a news organization, but Mr. Kelly said it had not turned up any suspects.
Investigators were reviewing surveillance footage that showed an unidentified man walking away from West 45th Street, where the Nissan Pathfinder had been parked. The police said the man was a “person of interest.” The man was seen in Shubert Alley, which runs between 44th and 45th Streets, looking furtively over his shoulder and removing a dark shirt, revealing a red one underneath, officials said. The man then stuffed the dark shirt into a bag, officials said.
Asked if he considered the failed bombing the work of terrorists, Mr. Kelly said: “A terrorist act doesn’t necessarily have to be conducted by an organization. An individual can do it on their own.”
Mr. Kelly held his briefing as Times Square experienced an uneasy return to normalcy after a night of high drama that saw the evacuation of thousands of tourists and theatergoers. All Broadway shows ran as scheduled on Sunday, playing on streets where, just hours before, onlookers watched behind orange netting as a police bomb squad used a robot to break into the smoke-filled Pathfinder, which was discovered about 6:30 p.m.
Two street vendors had flagged down a mounted police officer after they noticed smoke coming from the Pathfinder, which had been parked haphazardly at the curb with its engine running and its flashers on. The area was cleared so the police could examine the vehicle, which was first seen on video surveillance cameras at 6:28 p.m., heading west on West 45th Street.
The Pathfinder was brought to a forensics center in Jamaica, Queens, where investigators were scouring it for DNA evidence and hairs, fibers and fingerprints. No fingerprints have yet been found, officials said, but analysis was in its early stages.
F.B.I. agents and detectives from the Joint Terrorist Task Force were also trying to determine where the three canisters of propane and two red plastic five-gallon containers of gasoline in the Pathfinder had been purchased.
The gun locker, which weighed about 75 pounds empty and upward of 200 pounds with the eight bags of fertilizer in it, could provide important clues because it was likely to be more easily traced than many of the other items found in the S.U.V.
The weight of the locker and the material inside raised questions as to whether it might have required more than one person to load it into the vehicle.
Identifying the owner of the Pathfinder — an important development, according to one official — was achieved through the S.U.V.’s vehicle identification number, which had been stripped from the car’s dashboard but was stamped on other car parts, like the engine block and axle.
Initially, investigators believed the last owner was in Texas and had donated the car to a charity in North Carolina, one official said. But that information proved to be incorrect.

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I hope they catch this bastard. Can you imagine being law enforcement, someone reports a possible BOMB and you have to run towards it? I'd never have enough courage to be a cop.

What does "one-off" mean?

While the authorities said they were treating the failed bombing —
described as a “one-off” by Janet Napolitano, the
homeland security secretary — as a potential terrorist attack, they said
there was no evidence of a continued threat to the city.

"One off" makes no sense to me. I think the NY Time misquoted there but I cannot figure out what they are trying to say.
My guess based only on what I have read in the news is.

They will catch him. He will ultimatly be American with no ties to any international organization. No or very minimal military training. [ie if he was in at all he did not meet fitness standards to progress past basic]. Became unemployed within the last 2 years. Family will notice something in the media that will confirm what they already suspect and they will cooperate with law enforcement.
If something different hits the paper tomorrow then we can just count this as one I was wrong on.
I have family in the NYC area. Sadly the city's status as the iconic American city will probably always make it a target for this sort of thing. I think it is an amazing place.

There was no information to suggest that there are any other terrorism targets linked to the incident and the evidence so far suggested that this was a "one-off attempt", Ms Napolitano told Fox News.



It just means they have no reason to believe its anything more than an isolated event. Sort of a silly choice of words but thats Janet.

Does anyone know the time of day this was discovered? I don't know if NYC has a "rush hour" or if it is always rush hour in NYC. I wonder, if this bomb had been "successful," how much damage it would have done? Would it have killed only a couple of people nearby or blown up a whole block?

Has anyone seen a photograph of the man in the alley removing his shirt? Some man in Pennsylvania thought he had inadvertently captured the bomber on video. I just wondered if that was a clearer picture.

Poor NYC -- are they always going to be a target?

6:28 pm Sat night. Click on the interactive feature on the article. It opens a pretty cool 3d map of the area.
Look at the pic at the top to see the crowd too. My experience is that it pretty much always crowded in that part of Manhattan. I've been clicking around news sites off and on today and cannot find a better picture. I am hoping that authorities have one and have just not released it for some reason.

Something is off here to me - why so many pics of the incident but not one clear pic or other related pics supposedly in police possession that show the POI? There's the one picture, but there are two people in it -is the suspect the guy bending down carrying a bag of some sort or the other guy standing? The don't even have an arrow point at the dude they would like to ID. Seems NY is making a big deal of this but not in the area of identifying the bad guy. This makes my suspicious hair stand up on the back of my neck.

Scott wrote:6:28 pm Sat night. Click on the interactive feature on the article. It opens a pretty cool 3d map of the area.
Look at the pic at the top to see the crowd too. My experience is that it pretty much always crowded in that part of Manhattan. I've been clicking around news sites off and on today and cannot find a better picture. I am hoping that authorities have one and have just not released it for some reason.

Did you watch the video of the man changing shirts on that interactive feature? It doesn't look to me like he came from the SUV. He does look back and it when he's walking away though. Can't law enforcement enhance the pictures to get an up close look at that man? I think I have seen that in the past when they're asking for help in identifying a suspect -- they zoom in, or digitally enhance it, something like that.

The article says they've located the registered owner of the vehicle. And????? Was his/her car reported stolen? I know the license plate did not belong on the vehicle, but what does the SUV owner have to say? I heard earlier that the VIN number had been scratched out. I don't know why someone would bother doing that if it was a stolen vehicle they were using.

OK saw the video of him changing clothes and it doesn't look that suspicious to me. Hope they find him and either clear him or nail him and move on to the source and motive.

Fox is saying a POI has been id'd--a naturalized American who was recently in Pakistan. Presumably, the "naturalized American" is Pakistani, though maybe not.

ziggy wrote:Something is off here to me - why so many pics of the incident but not one clear pic or other related pics supposedly in police possession that show the POI? There's the one picture, but there are two people in it -is the suspect the guy bending down carrying a bag of some sort or the other guy standing? The don't even have an arrow point at the dude they would like to ID. Seems NY is making a big deal of this but not in the area of identifying the bad guy. This makes my suspicious hair stand up on the back of my neck.

I dont know about this particular event but I believe events like these are sometimes staged/manufactured false flag attacks by alphabet soup agencies to keep everyone fearful and mindful of the idea that terrorists still lurk behind every corner just waiting to strike and kill us all, this makes it a lot easier to govern without concern for civil liberties hanging over their heads. Usually around the time events like these happen some sort of new draconian police state legislation is on the congressional floor, and of course nobody would dare vote against it in such a climate of fear.

Sadly a lot of people are willing to trade freedom for security in which case, in the opinion of Ben Franklin, they deserve neither.


That sort of thing, what I call state sponsored terrorism, has been a useful tool for our leaders for thousands of years. Nero burnt down Rome blamed the Christians, Hitler burnt down the Reichstag and blamed the communist Jews etc etc.

12 min ago on ny times web site
U.S. Seeks Man From Pakistan Tied to S.U.V. in Bomb Case
By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM, MARK MAZZETTI and PETER BAKER


This article is by William K. Rashbaum, Mark Mazzetti and Peter Baker.
Federal authorities have identified the man who recently bought the 1993 Nissan Pathfinder that was rigged to explode in Times Square as a naturalized United States citizen from Pakistan who recently returned from a trip there, and were seeking to arrest him on Monday night, according to several people briefed on the investigation.
The man, a Connecticut resident who was not publicly identified, bought the sport utility vehicle in Bridgeport, within the last three weeks, paying cash in a deal that involved no formal paperwork.
The vehicle was discovered about 6:30 p.m. on Saturday on West 45th Street near Seventh Avenue, parked at an angle with its engine running and hazard lights on, as theatergoers tucked into preshow dinners. Sharp-eyed street vendors noticed smoke coming from the Pathfinder and flagged down a police officer. The police bomb squad found the makings of a car bomb: gasoline, propane, fireworks, fertilizer, wiring and alarm clocks.
Investigators who were tracking the man were also exploring whether he or others who might have been involved in the attempted bombing had been in contact with people or groups overseas, according to federal officials. The investigation was shifted on Monday to the control of the international terrorism branch of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, a multiagency group led by the Justice Department, according to two officials.
Officials cautioned that the investigation of possible international contacts did not mean there was a connection to a known terrorist group, but they said they were exploring all possibilities.
“It’s a prominent lead that they’re following, the international association,” said a senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a continuing investigation. “But there’s still a lot of information being gathered.”
On Monday, there was a sweeping response to the attempted attack in the tourist-packed city-within-a-city of Times Square — including an increased police presence, vehicle inspections and a touch of panic from veteran New Yorkers when a manhole fire flared five blocks from the scene of the failed bombing. Consolidated Edison blamed faulty wiring for the fire.
The recent sale of the Pathfinder began online. An advertisement that appears to be for the vehicle, which had 141,000 miles on the odometer and was listed for sale at $1,300 on at least two Web sites, emphasized that it was in good condition — “CLEAN inside and out!!” — with a recently repaired alternator and a new gas pump, distributor and front tires. “It does have some rust as you can see in the picture,” the seller allowed on NothingButCars.net, “but other than that, it runs great.” The other advertisement appeared on Craigslist.
In Bridgeport, the seller refused to answer questions. “You can’t interview her,” said an unidentified man at the woman’s two-story, white clapboard house. “She already talked to the F.B.I.”
The police continued sifting through footage from 82 city cameras mounted from 34th Street to 51st Street between Avenue of the Americas and Eighth Avenue, and from untold number of business and tourist cameras.
But investigators appeared to have begun to assign less significance to a man who appeared to be in his 40s who was seen on one video. That man was seen walking away from the area where the Pathfinder was parked and through Shubert Alley, which runs between 44th and 45th Streets. He looked over his shoulder at least twice and pulled off a shirt, revealing a red T-shirt underneath.
The New York police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, said investigators still wanted to speak to that man, but acknowledged that he might not be connected to the failed bombing. Paul J. Browne, the department’s top spokesman, said the police had stopped looking for additional video in the area that might have tracked the man’s movements.
“It may turn out that he was just somebody in the area, but not connected with the car bomb,” Mr. Browne said.
The police, though, said they might release footage of a man running north on Broadway at the time that a fire broke out in the Pathfinder, Mr. Kelly said.
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. seemed optimistic in comments he made Monday morning. “I think that we have made really substantial progress,” he told reporters in Washington. “We have some good leads.”
The materials found in the Pathfinder were to be sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s laboratory in Quantico, Va., for analysis, the police said. “They’ve got the top laboratory in the world to do these sorts of examinations, and we’ll keep some samples here,” Mr. Kelly said.
Janet Napolitano, the homeland security secretary, said on the “Today” show on NBC that it was premature to label any person or group as suspect. “Right now, every lead has to be pursued,” she said. “I caution against premature decisions one way or the other.” But the White House made clear that it considered the effort an act of terrorism, whoever its authors were. “I think anybody that has the type of material that they had in a car in Times Square, I would say that that was intended to terrorize, absolutely,” said the White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs.
Michael Wilson contributed reporting.

Arrest Made in Times Square Bomb Case Douglas Healey/Associated Press


An FBI agent stood inside a truck outside a home in Bridgeport, Conn. on Tuesday morning.


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By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM, MARK MAZZETTI and PETER BAKER


Published: May 4, 2010



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Federal agents and police detectives arrested a Connecticut man, a naturalized United States citizen from Pakistan, shortly before midnight Monday for driving a car bomb into Times Square on Saturday evening in what turned out to be an unsuccessful attack, Justice Department officials announced.

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Times Square, Bombs and Better Security






Can more surveillance cameras help prevent terrorist attacks in crowded areas?

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Douglas Healey/Associated Press



A police car blocked a street in Bridgeport, Conn., early Tuesday morning as F.B.I. agents searched the home of Faisal Shahzad, a suspect in the failed bombing in Times Square.





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The man, Faisal Shahzad, 30, was taken into custody at Kennedy Airport on board an Emirates flight to Dubai, according to the airline and an early-morning statement Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. delivered at the Justice Department in Washington.
Two other passengers were removed from the plane, Emirates said, but it was unclear whether they were connected with the bombing attempt.
Mr. Shahzad was believed to have recently bought the 1993 Nissan Pathfinder that was found loaded with gasoline, propane, fireworks and fertilizer in the heart of Times Square, a person briefed on the investigation said.
Charges against Mr. Shahzad, who had returned recently from a trip to Pakistan, were not announced, but he was expected to be charged Tuesday in federal court.
“Over the course of the day today, we have gathered significant additional evidence that led to tonight’s arrest,” Mr. Holder said. “The investigation is ongoing, as are our attempts to gather useful intelligence, and we continue to pursue a number of leads.” He continued, “But it’s clear that the intent behind this terrorist act was to kill Americans.”
Pakistan’s interior minister, Rehman Malik, said Tuesday that his country would cooperate with American officials as they continued their investigation, Reuters reported. In a statement, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg thanked law enforcement officials, saying their “swift efforts led to this arrest after only 48 hours of around-the-clock investigation.”
“I hope their impressive work serves as a lesson to anyone who would do us harm,” he said. The authorities began focusing on Mr. Shahzad after they tracked the sport utility vehicle to its previously registered owner in Bridgeport, Conn., who had advertised it for sale on several Web sites. The former owner said the buyer paid cash, and the sale was handled without any formal paperwork.
The former owner told investigators that it appeared the buyer was of Middle Eastern or Hispanic descent, but could not recall his name. It was unclear how agents from the Joint Terrorist Task Force identified Mr. Shahzad. Federal authorities provided few details on Monday night about the suspect or the scope of any conspiracy in the failed attack.
The authorities have been exploring whether the man or others who might have been involved in the attempted bombing had been in contact with people or groups overseas, according to federal officials.
The investigation was shifted on Monday to the control of the international terrorism branch of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, a multiagency group led by the Justice Department, according to two federal officials.
“As we move forward, we will focus on not just holding those responsible for it accountable, but also on obtaining any intelligence about terrorist organizations overseas,” Mr. Holder said.
Officials cautioned that the investigation of possible international contacts did not mean they had established a connection to a known terrorist group.
“It’s a prominent lead that they’re following, the international association,” said a senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a continuing investigation. “But there’s still a lot of information being gathered.”
Mr. Shahzad was taken into custody after he was identified by the Department of Homeland Security’s United States Customs and Border Protection, according to a joint statement issued by the office of Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the southern district of New York, the F.B.I. and the New York Police Department.
Mr. Shahzad was already aboard Emirates flight 202 to Dubai when officials called it back before departure, the airline said. All of the passengers were taken off the plane, and they, their luggage and the Boeing 777 were screened before the flight was allowed to depart, about seven hours late, at 6:29 a.m.
President Obama was notified of the arrest at 12:05 a.m. by his counterterrorism adviser, John O. Brennan, the sixth time he had been briefed on the case over the past day, said Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary.
Early Tuesday, at Mr. Shahzad’s former home in Shelton, Conn., just outside Bridgeport, a neighbor said that Mr. Shahzad and his wife, Huma Mian, spoke limited English and kept mostly to themselves. The couple had two young children, a girl and a boy, said the neighbor, Brenda Thurman.
Ms. Thurman said the couple had lived at the house at 119 Long Hill Avenue for about three years before moving out last year. Mr. Shahzad left around May, she said, and his wife followed about a month later.
The house was a gray, two story Colonial-style three-bedroom built in 2003, according to the real estate site trulia.com.
Ms. Thurman said Mr. Shahzad got up early every morning and left to work nicely dressed, and had told her that he worked on Wall Street.
“I think he caught the train to New York,” she said.

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Reporting was contributed by Ray Rivera, Karen Zraick and Michael S. Schmidt from Connecticut, and Al Baker, Michael Wilson and Alison Leigh Cowan from New York

Good news. Excellent job by all law enforcement involved.

Yeah Kay except that they put him on a NO FLY LIST and yet he was ON BOARD a plane when it was intercepted. That's not so good.

Fricking Terrorists. Whatever their deal is I don't even care anymore. Enough already.


The only point they seem to have is that they must kill us because we won't convert to Islam or we make fun of Mohammed. They win because everyone is afraid. And everyone is afraid because they will kill and they don't care about this life. What to do? If you say sit down and talk with them I'll scream.

When stuff like this happens--or rather, doesn't happen--I hear that somber warning: it's just a matter of time.

Oh come on CNN - when the arrest had been made CNN didn't want to release the name yet...get this....because it was a common name and...


Wha'k? His name is Faisal Shahzad. Wussy CNN.

Okay looks like I was wrong in my initial guess. They are now reporting that the attempted bomber did have international ties.
Official: Times Square suspect had Taliban ties

By the CNN Wire Staff
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Terror suspect taped buying fireworks




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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Extent of involvement has not been determined, official says
  
• Faisal Shahzad probably trained with extremists in Pakistan, official says
  
• Suspect's father, four other men interrogated in Pakistan
  

Washington (CNN) -- Investigators now believe that Times Square bombing suspect Faisal Shahzad had ties to a Pakistani Taliban group, a senior law enforcement official said Thursday.
Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan released a video making a claim of responsibility for the attack on a website that had been established the day before the failed bombing attempt, but a spokesman denied any connection with Shahzad in a statement to CNN.
The law enforcement official said the extent of Shahzad's involvement with the group has not been determined and could range from communications to training, and does not necessarily mean it directed the attack.
New leads developed from the Pakistani end of the investigation show that Shahzad probably had training in Pakistan from extremists, according to a senior U.S. official.
The official has direct knowledge of discussions between senior U.S. and Pakistani officials about the case.
"Did he receive help in Pakistan? Yes, he did," the official said.
The United States will be making "significant asks" of Pakistan related to the Shahzad investigation, an official says.
Meanwhile, Shahzad "has been forthcoming with information, and as we develop that information, some of that will be shared with Pakistan, and obviously there will be things that we will want Pakistan to do," the official said.
The official said such requests would include running down leads about people in Pakistan with whom Shahzad associated and from whom he might have received help or training. If the investigation proves that he did receive help from particular individuals or groups, the Obama administration also would ask Pakistan "to take them down."
A high-level team of U.S. and Pakistani investigators grilled Shahzad's father and interrogated four people linked to a notorious Pakistani militant group, intelligence officials said Thursday.

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Video: Times Square bomb plot blunders

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The interrogators questioned Bahar Ul Haq in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar.
Ul Haq, who lives in the Peshawar suburb of Hayatabad, was not detained or arrested.
Another official said the team was questioning four men suspected of having links to the banned militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed.
Banned in Pakistan, the group aims to unite the disputed territory of Kashmir with Pakistan and to expel foreign troops from Afghanistan, according to the National Counterrorism Center. It is also close to al Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban. India and Pakistan have had disputes over Kashmir for decades.
Shahzad has admitted driving a Nissan Pathfinder into New York's Times Square on Saturday night and attempting to detonate the vehicle, which was packed with gasoline, propane tanks, fireworks and fertilizer, according to a complaint filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in New York.
After a 53-hour police manhunt, Shahzad was arrested late Monday at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport after boarding a flight bound for Dubai, United Arab Emirates. His final destination was to have been in Pakistan.
He has been charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries and three other counts in connection with the incident. If convicted, he could get life in prison.
Read complaint filed in federal court Tuesday (PDF)
In recent days, authorities in Pakistan have rounded up a number of people for questioning.
One was Muhammed Rehan, described as an associate of Shahzad's who has links to Jaish-e-Mohammed, a senior Pakistani official said.
Rehan was said to be instrumental in making possible a meeting between Shahzad and at least one senior Taliban official, the official said.
The official said Rehan drove Shahzad to Peshawar on July 7. At some point, they headed to the Waziristan region, where they met with one or more senior Taliban leaders, the official said.
Several officials in Karachi said Rehan was picked up in Karachi's North Nazimabad district. They said others were taken into custody for questioning on Wednesday, but they could not say how many, who they were or where they were seized.
It was not clear whether Rehan was one of the four with alleged Jaish links being questioned Thursday.
Also brought in for questioning have been Shahzad's father-in-law, Iftikhar Mian, and friend Tauseef Ahmed. They were picked up in Karachi on Tuesday, two intelligence officials said.
Meanwhile, efforts to determine what may have motivated the suspect continued. An official familiar with the investigation said Wednesday that Shahzad felt Islam was under attack.
Any grudge Shahzad may have held against the United States appears to have developed recently, according to a senior U.S. official who is familiar with the investigation but not authorized to speak publicly.
The investigation has found nothing to indicate that Shahzad had any long-standing grudge or anger toward the United States, the official said.
U.S. drone strikes have pummeled militants in Pakistan's tribal region in recent months, and they have drawn criticism from Pakistani citizens.
Other details are emerging in the investigation.
On Friday, Shahzad drove his white Isuzu from Connecticut through Times Square, where he staked out potential locations for the following night's planned attack, a law enforcement source said. He then parked the Isuzu several blocks away from Times Square, though the precise location was unclear, and took a train back to Connecticut, the source said.
CNNMoney: Faisal Shahzad's $65,000 home equity piggy bank
New details began to emerge on how Shahzad made his way to Times Square on Saturday night.
With his recently acquired Pathfinder loaded with his makeshift explosives, Shahzad drove south along Manhattan's East River on FDR Drive to the 49th Street exit, a law enforcement source said.
Shahzad pulled over and reached into the Pathfinder's rear compartment, where he attempted to set into motion the process needed to set off the homemade bomb, the source said.
The source, who did not explain how Shahzad had attempted to set off the bomb, said he then took a number of turns and wound up entering Times Square by driving south down Seventh Avenue.
The source added that police investigators have discovered a surveillance video of Shahzad walking in Shubert Alley, which runs between 44th and 45th streets just west of Broadway, moments after witnesses saw the smoky SUV. In the video, he is wearing a white baseball cap.
Also, law enforcement contacted a handful of airlines to alert them that Faisal Shahzad's name had been added to a government no-fly list, but Emirates, the airline the Times Square car bomb suspect boarded late Monday, wasn't one of them, an administration official confirmed.
For reasons related to the investigation, the FBI asked the Transportation Security Administration not to call every airline to alert them about the no-fly list change, the source said Wednesday.

A man and a woman were removed from an Emirates flight preparing for takeoff at John F. Kennedy on Thursday amid a suspicion that someone on board might have been on the no-fly list, but there was a false match on a name, an official said.

Why not call every airline? Doesn't that seem strange?

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/10/05/new.york.terror.plot/index.html?hpt=T2

Remember that this crime / terrorist action happened in May. See how quickly a trial can happen when it is a priority. Great work by federal law enforcement.

snipped:

"New York (CNN) -- A judge in Manhattan sentenced Faisal Shahzad to life in prison Tuesday for the botched Times Square car bombing, as the 31-year-old Pakistani-American defiantly warned in court to "brace yourself, the war with Muslims has just begun."

"The defeat of the U.S. is imminent, inshallah," Shahzad said during the sentencing. Inshallah means "if God is willing."



Later in the article he also states that when he became a citizen he lied in the vow he took.

Does this open anyone's eyes here?

When we went into the middle east, many complained that we were making it worse, stirring things up.

I say we are just smoking them out. It's like extermination - you start messing with the habitat and you suddenly realize how freaking many there are! It's a good thing to expose the vast numbers and the radical thought behind a seemingly harmless immigrant.