Salon.com > Times Square Bomb Attempt

Bomb threat reported at Newtown church

Sun, 16 Dec 2012 19:23:00 +0000

Mourners in Newtown, Connecticut, where 20 children and six adults were gunned down in a school Friday, were forced to evacuate the local Catholic church Sunday after reports of a bomb threat.

"It's not clear if there actually was a threat or if, like many tragedies, whether it was a hoax or the result of a community on edge," noted the AP.

According to NBC News, police gave the "all clear" sign at the St. Rose of Lima Church around 1.15 p.m.

Study: Internet Jihadists are silly conspiracy theorists

Thu, 30 Sep 2010 14:45:00 +0000

If there's one point on which Republicans and Jihadists agree, it's that we should be terrified of brilliant, unstoppable Jihadists who will stop at nothing to destroy our way of life. The reality, though, is that the vast majority of Those Who Want To Do Us Harm are silly, paranoid conspiracy theorists -- the would-be attackers are generally poorly trained, kinda dumb, misinformed, and self-deluded. (You can go ahead and make the tea partier joke.)

The Guilliam Foundation has released a fascinating report on the content of pro-Jihadist Internet message boards. Focusing on the ideology and "social dynamics" of Arabic-language web-forums, the study finds that internet jihadists spend a lot of time attacking other Muslims, restricting free debate, and re-posting the same pro-Jihad texts. Users have little knowledge of scripture, continue to cite material from "recanted" Jihadists, and they love Saudi-funded Wahhabbi clerics. They also actively ignore information that contradicts their beliefs, shut out "bad news," and are super-paranoid.

Times Square car bomb suspect pleads guilty in NYC

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 21:38:00 +0000

A Pakistan-born U.S. citizen pleaded guilty Monday to carrying out the failed Times Square car bombing, saying he wanted it known that unless the U.S. stops attacking Muslim lands, "we will be attacking U.S."

Faisal Shahzad, 30, entered the plea in U.S. District Court in Manhattan just days after a federal grand jury indicted him on 10 terrorism and weapons counts, some of which carried mandatory life prison sentences.

Shahzad made the plea and an accompanying statement as U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum began asking him a lengthy series of questions to ensure he understood his rights. She did not immediately accept the plea.

Cedarbaum asked Shahzad if he understood he might spend the rest of his life in prison. He said he did.

At one point, she asked him if he was sure he wanted to plead guilty.

He said he wanted "to plead guilty and 100 times more" to let the U.S. know that if it did not get out of Iraq and Afghanistan, halt drone attacks and stop meddling in Muslim lands, "we will be attacking U.S."

The Bridgeport, Conn., resident was arrested trying to leave the country May 3, two days after a gasoline-and-propane bomb failed to ignite in an SUV parked near a Broadway theater.

NYC bomb suspect looked at other targets

Wed, 19 May 2010 18:12:00 +0000

A law enforcement official says the Times Square bomb suspect had considered bombing New York's Grand Central station or other targets before settling on Times Square.

The official tells The Associated Press that Faisal Shahzad (FY'-sul shah-ZAHD') first considered Grand Central Terminal, Rockefeller Center and the World Financial Center in New York, and Sikorsky Inc., a Connecticut defense contractor.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation.

The official says Shahzad decided instead to drive the bomb-laden SUV into Times Square on a busy Saturday night. The official says Shahzad had not planned any attacks on the other locations after the May 1 botched bombing.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Appearing relaxed and obedient, the man accused of plotting to kill Americans with a car bomb in Times Square made his first appearance in a Manhattan courtroom where he was told by a magistrate judge that he had the right to remain silent.

Times Square car bomb suspect appears in N.Y. court

Tue, 18 May 2010 21:43:00 +0000

A Pakistani-American man accused of driving a homemade car bomb into Times Square appeared in a court Tuesday for the first time since his arrest two weeks ago.

Faisal Shahzad, of Bridgeport, Conn., was arrested May 3 on a Dubai-bound plane at John F. Kennedy International Airport on charges he drove an SUV rigged with a homemade car bomb into Times Square two nights earlier, sending thousands of tourists into a panic on a busy Saturday night. The bomb didn't explode, and no one was hurt.

Authorities said he had waived his rights to an initial court appearance while he cooperated with authorities. An initial appearance in court typically happens within a day or two of a suspect's arrest.

Shahzad appeared in court wearing gray pants and a shirt and looked calm. He didn't speak right away.

The U.S. attorney's office said Tuesday Shahzad is charged with attempted use of weapons of mass destruction and attempting acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries, each carrying a maximum life term.

He's charged with using a destructive device in an attempted violent crime, punishable by up to 30 years in prison; transporting and receiving explosives, punishable by up to 10 years; and attempting to damage and destroy property with fire and explosives, punishable by up to five years.

Times Square bomb suspect’s detention challenged

Tue, 18 May 2010 18:35:00 +0000

A New York defense lawyer has demanded that the suspect in the botched car bombing in Times Square be brought to court.

Ron Kuby sent a letter to a chief judge Tuesday that accused authorities of violating the rights of Faisal Shahzad (FY'-sul shah-ZAHD') by "squeezing information" out of him in secret.

The 30-year-old Shahzad has been held at an undisclosed location since his May 3 arrest on charges he abandoned a bomb-laden SUV in Times Square. Authorities say he has voluntarily waived his rights to an initial court appearance while he cooperates.

Kuby said he wasn't representing Shahzad. But he argued that since the suspect hasn't appeared in court yet, it was impossible to know if his rights are being protected.

Terrorism: The inevitable blowback from drone attacks

Sat, 15 May 2010 01:01:00 +0000

Imagine, if you can, an alternate universe.

Imagine that in this alternate universe, a foreign military power begins flying remote-controlled warplanes over your town, using on-board missiles to kill hundreds of your innocent neighbors.

Now imagine that when you read the newspaper about this ongoing bloodbath, you learn that the foreign nation's top general is nonchalantly telling reporters that his troops are also killing "an amazing number" of your cultural brethren in an adjacent country. Imagine further learning that this foreign power is expanding the drone attacks on your community despite the attacks' well-known record of killing innocents. And finally, imagine that when you turn on your television, you see the perpetrator nation's tuxedo-clad leader cracking stand-up comedy jokes about drone strikes — jokes that prompt guffaws from an audience of that nation's elite.

Ask yourself: How would you and your fellow citizens respond? Would you call homegrown militias mounting a defense "patriots," or would you call them "terrorists"? Would you agree with your leaders when they angrily tell reporters that violent defiance should be expected?

Sleepy Kit Bond naps through intelligence briefing

Thu, 13 May 2010 16:41:00 +0000

The United States Senate is so very old and tired. At a briefing on Tuesday about the attempted Times Square bomber's supposed links to the Pakistani Taliban, Senate Intelligence Committee ranking Republican Kit Bond fell asleep:

One person who was in the room for Tuesday's intelligence briefing said Bond appeared to fall asleep for 10 to 15 minutes, but that he and other senators had spirited exchanges with the briefers.

This sounds pretty embarrassing, but Orrin Hatch has an excuse. He was resting his eyes, because the lights in that room are just too bright.

FBI executes searches related to Times Square plot

Thu, 13 May 2010 14:31:00 +0000

Federal agents were searching locations in Massachusetts and New York in connection with the failed Times Square car bomb, and two people were arrested, federal authorities and a witness said Thursday.

The searches were the product of evidence gathered in the investigation into Faisal Shahzad's alleged bombing attempt, but there was "no known immediate threat to the public or any active plot against the United States," FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz said.

Marcinkiewicz would not confirm any addresses, but police have cordoned off a small house in Watertown, a suburb about 10 miles west of Boston where a neighbor reported seeing an FBI raid. FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said locations in Long Island also had been searched.

Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said the two people taken into custody were being held on alleged immigration violations, but he would not provide more details.

Shahzad, 30, is accused of trying to detonate a bomb-laden SUV in Times Square on May 1. The vehicle smoldered but didn't explode. Federal agents, tracing Shahzad through the SUV's previous owner, caught him two days later on a plane bound for the United Arab Emirates as it was departing New York's Kennedy Airport.

The assimilated terrorist: An outsider no longer

Mon, 10 May 2010 12:33:00 +0000

He was an American citizen with a three-bedroom suburban home, a wife and two kids. He shopped at Macy's and ate Oreos. His picture was on Facebook. He had an MBA and a job as a financial analyst. His wife liked to watch "Friends." And then, authorities contend, Faisal Shahzad tried to set off a bomb in Times Square.

A decade after 9/11, it increasingly seems to have come to this: We have met the enemy -- and he is carrying an American passport.

For generations, assimilation has been the story told by the United States -- the recipe for making Americans. Irish and Italians, Catholics and blacks, Japanese and Jews joined the mainstream even as they maintained their unique cultures and traditions.

But today, with the world a mouse click away and most every country in the world accessible in little more than a day, globalization is competing fiercely with assimilation. People who have a foot in two strikingly different cultures no longer leave one behind for the other. Now they can move between them easily, fluidly, quickly.

Thus it becomes possible for a fanatical few Muslim-Americans, living in the belly of what they perceive as a hostile culture, to feel closer to a bombed Afghan village or a Pakistani madrassa than to the America outside their own front doors.

Liberals are making the wrong case against racial profiling

Sun, 09 May 2010 21:01:00 +0000

Watch one of the many cable news debates about racial profiling, and it will probably go something like this: First a pundit will ask why, if there are patterns in who attempts terrorist attacks, we shouldn't scrutinize some people more than others. Shouldn't we be looking for the next Faisal Shahzad or Mohamed Atta? Then the designated opponent of profiling will point out that Richard Reid — or Timothy McVeigh, or the Unabomber, or whoever else — looked nothing like Shahzad or Atta. From there the conversation will devolve into a contest to see who can name more terrorists, until at some point the segment runs out of time.

This is the debate over racial profiling that most Americans hear, but profiling opponents are foolish to play along with it. It doesn't clarify the moral issues raised by profiling, and it doesn't help to build a consensus against it. When these exchanges go badly for opponents, they simply play into the conservative narrative that liberals are beholden to a dogma of political correctness — ideologically committed to thinking that everyone is equally likely to be a threat, whatever common sense and experience may suggest. That impression is then eagerly exploited by the supporters of profiling, as in a Republican candidate's brazenly pro-profiling TV ad this week.

Police claim Shahzad bombed Times Square cheaply

Sat, 08 May 2010 17:53:00 +0000

Confessed Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad appears to have financed his failed plot with a wad of $100 bills, but the amount of money needed to execute the scheme was fairly modest.

There were plane tickets to and from Pakistan, living expenses, $1,300 for a used SUV, $95 worth of firecrackers and other small amounts for tanks of gasoline and propane.

The total could add up to as little as $7,000.

Shahzad's finances are under scrutiny as authorities try to learn whether he got cash from an overseas group.

A law enforcement official has told The Associated Press that investigators have identified -- and are looking for -- a person who helped courier money to Shahzad from overseas. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation.

Petraeus: Times Square terrorist was unassisted

Fri, 07 May 2010 23:01:00 +0000

Gen. David Petraeus says the Times Square bombing suspect apparently operated as a "lone wolf" who did not work with other terrorists.

The general who oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan tells The Associated Press that alleged bomber Faisal Shahzad was inspired by militants in Pakistan, but didn't necessarily have direct contact with them.

Authorities say Shahzad told investigators he went to a terror training camp in Pakistan, but they have yet to confirm that.

Shahzad is a U.S. citizen, accused of an attempted terror attack nearly a week ago in New York's Times Square. He was caught late Monday night trying to leave the country.

Eds: APNewsNow. CORRECTS that Petraeus said suspect apparently acted alone.

Faisal Shahzad was not trained anywhere

Fri, 07 May 2010 19:45:00 +0000

Would-be Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad probably did not receive "training" in terrorism from the Pakistani Taliban, or anyone else. Based on how poorly he planned and carried out his slapstick attack on Times Square, that seems obvious -- if this is how the Pakistani Taliban trains a bomber, they might want to consider purchasing a high school chemistry textbook -- but it contradicts a week of hysterical reporting on statements by unnamed officials.

According to the criminal complaint, Shahzad "admitted" to receiving training in Waziristan. But McClatchy quotes an FBI spokesman:

"Did somebody encourage him to try to do this? That's possible, given where he was and for how long and his financial circumstances," a third U.S. official said. "But did anybody show him how to do it? Nothing we know points in that direction, and I don't know why some people are talking as if we had something solid. Inspired, maybe. Trained? Not in any serious sense of the word."

NYPD bomb squad gives all-clear in Times Square

Fri, 07 May 2010 18:35:00 +0000

Update: The bomb squad of the New York Police Department squad says a suspicious cooler in Times Square is not a threat.

Streets have been reopened to traffic.

- - - - -

Police have cleared streets around Times Square after finding a cooler left on a sidewalk on the same block where a failed car bomb was found over the weekend.

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne says police have created some distance between the cooler and people. He says they are "in an abundance of caution" and looking into whether the cooler was abandoned by someone.

Browne says no buildings have been ordered evacuated. Three blocks around Times Square were closed as a precaution because the cooler was found about a block from where a failed car bomb was found Saturday night.

No other details were immediately available. The call was received about 1:15 p.m.

My daughter almost had a terrorist’s name

Fri, 07 May 2010 13:27:00 +0000

A few months ago, I gave birth to a beautiful, healthy baby girl. During my pregnancy, my husband and I both took great pleasure in making lists of names, scouring the Internet and pestering friends and families for suggestions. When our daughter finally came into this world, we gave her a name that was universal in its beauty, simplicity and association: Mariam. Mariam is the Muslim version of the name Mary, given to the mother of the Prophet Isa, whom Christians know as Jesus. Mariam, or Mary, is acknowledged in all of the Abrahamic religions. We both felt it was a fitting name for an individual born in such divided times.

The real dilemma occurred, however, when we were debating her surname. Typically, the father's surname is passed down to children, making it the "family name." My husband's surname is Shahzad. (No other shoe will drop: His first name is not Faisal.) Shahzad means "prince" in Persian. My husband's parents gave him that name despite the fact that his family name is actually Sheriff. Faced with whether to pass on "Shahzad" or "Sheriff," we chose the latter. I felt passing on the true family name would give her a sense of continuity and place. On Tuesday, as I watched the news channels announce the arrest of Faisal Shahzad, it felt like the best decision of my life.

The Daily Show on the Christian conservative gaycation

Fri, 07 May 2010 13:08:00 +0000

Between bombing attempts, oil spills, financial crises -- Jon Stewart's getting a little bit ADD. But don't worry, he knows what matters most: Christian fundamentalists, and their Internet-hired male prostitutes.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Family Research Council's European Gaycation

www.thedailyshow.com

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Pakistan: Times Sq. bomb suspect didn’t act alone

Fri, 07 May 2010 12:16:00 +0000

Pakistan's interior minister said Friday he believed the Times Square bombing suspect did not act alone, but he had seen no evidence suggesting the Pakistan Taliban were involved.

Authorities in Pakistan and the U.S. are trying to trace the movements of 30-year-old Faisal Shahzad during his recent five-month stay in Pakistan. They are seeking to establish whether he connected with any of the myriad Islamic terrorist groups operating in the country and if he received instructions, funding or training.

"All those leads, suggesting it was his own action, I will not accept that. I'd like to see details," Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters in Beijing, where he is on an official visit.

"Obviously, he had bought a vehicle filled with explosives. It looks a bit difficult (to say) that he's (working) alone," he added.

The Pakistani Taliban -- which has hitherto not attacked the American homeland -- initially claimed responsibility for the failed car bombing last Saturday but has since said they had no role in it.

The reasons for backpedaling were unclear. It's possible a faction of the group had links with Shahzad, or it is seeking to avoid a possible military offensive in its stronghold in North Waziristan by distancing itself from the act. Previous campaigns have driven the militants from other redoubts in the country's northwest.

In this era, “homeland security” is an oxymoron

Fri, 07 May 2010 01:01:00 +0000

Faisal Shahzad, the 30-year-old Pakistani-American charged with attempting to blow up a carload of explosives in Times Square, is the latest of many 9/11-II hopefuls. He left a trail of clues about his intentions, many missed by those charged with keeping America safe and secure.

He bought the car with cash, spent five months in Pakistan (probably for terrorist training) and reentered the States without inquiry. Headlines naively ponder whether he is part of an "international plot." This is like wondering if the oil spill in the Gulf is related to offshore drilling. Shahzad is -- formally or informally -- tied to millions who hate America for what they see as military aggression and religious bigotry. They want to destroy the U.S., city by city, bridge by bridge, tunnel by tunnel. And they will do whatever it takes: kill our children, destroy our physical, economic and technological infrastructure, poison our food/water supplies -- anything.

And there's only so much we can do about it. Essentially, we are now where Israel has been for decades. And even in Israel, with the aggressive anti-terror steps it has taken, school buses regularly blow up, bridges explode, and party guests are killed by car bombers. Israelis accept this reality and embrace life shielded by constant vigilance. America can learn from this.

Is Obama’s war on terror working?

Thu, 06 May 2010 22:07:00 +0000

Were thousand of innocent New Yorkers -- and the White House -- merely very fortunate when the Times Square car bomb failed to detonate? So say critics of the Obama administration, especially among Republicans on Capitol Hill and in the media, who constantly complain that the president lacks any coherent counterterror policy and refuses to pursue tough measures against enemy plotters.

Of course, much of this criticism is simply partisan carping by politicians who have nothing more to offer than slogans and clichés. Consider this embarrassing quote from Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., the chairman of the Republican Study Committee in the House, whose supposed mandate is to promote substantive policy ideas from the right:

"What we need is a strategy going forward. What are we doing to make certain the American people are absolutely as safe as can be? I haven't seen that kind of resolve put forward by this administration. That's what people across this land are crying out for."