Posted on 05/01/2010 9:09:39 PM PDT by Steelfish
Times Square Is Evacuated in Bomb Scare
The scene at Times Square on Saturday night after police found a suspicious package inside a Pathfinder on West 45th Street.
RAY RIVERA and KARIN HENRY May 1, 2010
A bomb in Times Square led to the evacuation of thousands of tourists and theatergoers from the area on a warm and busy Saturday evening, the police said. There was no explosion.
“It appears to be a car bomb left in a Pathfinder between Seventh and Eighth,” said Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman. The device, he said, contained “explosive elements” that included “propane tanks, some kind of powder, gasoline and a timing device.”
“This is very much an active investigation,” he said.
The device was discovered by a mounted police officer who saw a box with smoke pouring from it in the back of the Pathfinder, Mr. Browne said. The officer called for backup, and the Fire Department and bomb squad.
The Pathfinder’s back window was broken out, Mr. Browne said, and the police sent in a “robotic device” to “observe it.”
Police began evacuating Times Square, starting with businesses along Seventh Avenue, including a Foot Locker store and a McDonald’s restaurant.
The license plates on the Nissan were registered to a Ford, the police said.
A New York City firefighter who told Reuters he arrived early on the scene said that the vehicle was smoking and that he saw “a flash” from the back of the it. “We put two and two together” and the evacuation was ordered, he said. Broadway was closed between at least 43rd and 46th Streets, and the police also appeared to be closing off part of Eighth Avenue.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/05/07/2010-05-07_untitled__3bomb07m.html
“Confessed Times Square car bomber Faisal Shahzad boasts of ties to numerous global terrorists”
BY MATTHEW LYSIAK IN NEW HAVEN AND RICH SHAPIRO, JAMES GORDON MEEK AND LARRY MCSHANE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Friday, May 7th 2010, 4:00 AM
SNIPPET: “Shahzad has been spilling his guts to interrogators, claiming he met with radical Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who is accused of inciting violence in the past.
He exchanged e-mails with Fort Hood, Tex., shooter Nidal Malik Hasan. And Awlaki may have met Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian who tried to blow up an airliner over the U.S. on Christmas Day.
Shahzad is also insisting he met with Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud, who has pledged to strike U.S. cities in revenge for CIA drone attacks - one of which almost killed him.”
SNIPPET: “Investigators are studying at least four extreme Islamist terror networks concentrated in Waziristan, Pakistan, where Shahzad said he received bomb-making training.
The networks include the Taliban and Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistani militants behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks.”
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=10569306
“Suspected Money Courier Sought in NYC Bomb Plot
Official: Authorities seek suspected money courier from overseas in Times Square bomb plot”
The Associated Press
Post a Comment By TOM HAYS and RASOOL DAWAR Associated Press Writers
NEW YORK May 6, 2010 (AP)
SNIPPET: “A law enforcement official says authorities are looking for a suspected money courier they say helped finance from overseas a Pakistani-American man’s Times Square car bomb plot.
The official tells The Associated Press authorities know the name of the suspected courier. The official spoke on condition of anonymity...”
http://www.investigativeproject.org/blog/2010/05/undercover-officer-tells-of-foiled-plots
“Undercover Officer Tells of Foiled Plots”
May 7, 2010 at 2:01 pm
SNIPPET: “The Wall Street Journal has published the story of an unsung hero in the fight against terrorism: an undercover New York Police Department (NYPD) officer who infiltrated local terrorist cells.
The officer, who went by the alias Kamil Pasha...”
SNIPPET: “David Cohen, deputy commissioner of intelligence at NYPD, says that such undercover operations have become the city’s main defense against terrorism amid the escalation of terrorist plots since 9/11. But despite numerous successes like the Siraj case, the use of informants against Islamist terror cells continues to come under attack from groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations.”
Note: Post no. 103 is NOT related to this thread, but it is interesting and fyi.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/taliban-my-inbox
“The Taliban in My Inbox
Eight hours after the failed bombing, an email arrived claiming ‘responsibility of recent Attack on Times Square Newyork USA.’”
BY BILL ROGGIO
May 17, 2010, Vol. 15, No. 33
SNIPPET: “Early Sunday morning, May 2, I awoke and followed my usual routine: Grabbed a cup of coffee, logged onto my computer, scanned the news for major developments in the war, and checked my email. It was no ordinary morning, though, as the evening before someone had attempted to set off a car bomb in Times Square in New York City.
Normally I have a couple of dozen messages in my inbox: notes from readers, an occasional tip or link to a news story, and some spam. But something I found sitting in my inbox that morning made me catch my breath: an email from someone claiming to be a representative of the Pakistani Taliban, who was notifying me that one of their top leaders had released a tape claiming responsibility for the attempt to murder U.S. citizens in Times Square.
The email had been sent at 2:37 a.m., just eight hours after the bomb was discovered. The emailer’s handle was Taliban News and the subject line read: “Qari Hussain Mehsud from Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan accepts the responsibility of recent Attack on Times Square Newyork USA.”
“You’re the first one to know” the cryptic email stated.”
###
###
Hat Tip:
http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2010/05/when_the_taliban_emails.php
“When the Taliban emails”
By BILL ROGGIO
May 8, 2010 12:50 AM
SNIPPET: “I have a cover story in in this week’s edition of The Weekly Standard. Titled “The Taliban in My Inbox,” the story details the surreal encounter with the Taliban on May 2. I’ve had quite a few question on how the release of the Taliban tapes went down, and this article will hopefully answer those questions. Here is an excerpt:”
ADDING to post no. 102:
“Faisal Shahzad case: Hunt for money courier in Times Square car bomb plot”
BY JONATHAN LEMIRE, JAMES GORDON MEEK AND LARRY MCSHANE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Originally Published:Friday, May 7th 2010, 9:46 AM
Updated: Saturday, May 8th 2010, 1:49 AM
SNIPPET: “The accused Times Square terror bomber, broke and unemployed after returning from Pakistan, reportedly received cash to fund his deadly plot from an overseas courier.
Investigators have a name for the suspect whose money helped Faisal Shahzad purchase an SUV, a 9-mm. handgun, bomb components and a one-way ticket out of New York, The Associated Press reported Friday.”
WORDS OF IMPORTANCE HERE: “May” and “appears to be.” -Cindy
#
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/05/05/times-square-bomber-faisal-shahzad/
Updated May 05, 2010
“Times Square Bomb Suspect May Have Received Online Education in Jihad”
By Jana Winter - FOXNews.com
SNIPPET: “An intelligence source initially provided Fox News with a link to what was believed to be an online posting by the Times Square suspect. Using details from that post, FoxNews.com found several dozen more on radical Islamic jihadist sites devoted to a range of Salafist sects. These other postings shared either the same IP address — in Pakistan — or e-mail address or partial e-mail address. (For example, in some cases the same user name appeared on both Yahoo and Hotmail accounts.)
The initial post, dated May 24, 2006, and placed on the World Islamic Mission Forum by a user named Faisal Shahzad, inquires into the purchasing of a recorded sermon.
He wrote:”
SNIPPET: “In other posts, also uncovered by FoxNews.com, a user who also appears to be Shahzad inquired about how to obtain work visas in Italy and Canada. That same person was a member of a Google group that recently circulated a petition opposing a cartoon rendering of Muhammad that appeared in the Australian media.”
http://internet-haganah.com/harchives/006828.html
07 May 2010
“ENEMIES, BOTH FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC”
By A. Aaron Weisburd
SNIPPET: “If nothing else, I would hope that the Times Square attack of 01 May 2010 highlights the problematic nature of efforts to categorize terrorism as either foreign or domestic. In the end all terrorism is local, regardless of the terrorist, his cause, his ideology, his religion, his place of birth, where he was raised, etc. The threat is not either foreign or domestic, it is both foreign and domestic.”
http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4142.htm
May 7, 2010
Special Dispatch No.2940
“Reactions in the Arab World to the Times Square Bombing Attempt”
ON THE INTERNET:
Quote:
www.revolutionmuslim.com/2010/05/busted-paltalk-trolls-up-in-arms-over.html
SATURDAY, MAY 8, 2010
BUSTED!!! - paltalk trolls up in arms over RM commentary, LOL!
Was it something I said???
Apparently, the kuffar are very interested in our Paltalk convo’s, it is obvious that these people have absolutely no lives. Miserable, deaf, dumb and blind, they will wander to and fro until hellfire eats them forever. I can only say, Perish in your Rage!!! Your end is coming soon! May Allah destroy the economy, society, political reality and general safety of every nation at war with Islam, BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY!
POSTED BY REVOLUTION MUSLIM
###
###
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC7NVCLXKlE
“The Danger of Younus Muhammad of RevolutionMuslim”
Video Description - quote:
itsztruth — May 08, 2010 — This short video clip was taken in a chatroom last night. Listen to Younus Muhammad of RevolutionMuslim talk about the failed Times Square bombing - it will make you sick. At one point, there were over 70 people in the chatroom whom this man is trying to influence with hatred they explained was the essence of their faith.
Read more at http://ztruth.typepad.com/ztruth/2010...
Category:
News & Politics
Tags:
Younus Muhammad RevolutionMuslim terrorism New York Ctiy.
As usual, great work.
Reactions in the Arab World to the Times Square Bombing Attempt:
Most Muslims in the U.S. Harbor Hostility Towards It and Feel No Loyalty To It
Despite the sacrifices from thousands of our best and brightest.
ROP-MA,
OLA
“Despite the sacrifices from thousands of our best and brightest.”
Yep and thank you One Loyal American.
“U.S. to Pakistan: “You can’t pretend any longer that this is not going on””
SNIPPET: “Is Pakistan’s double game wearing thin? Or will business as usual return once the attention on the Times Square bombing attempt fades? “U.S. Urges Action in Pakistan After Failed Bombing,” by Jane Perlez for the New York Times, May 8:
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The Obama administration has delivered new and stiff warnings to Pakistan after the failed Times Square car bombing that it must urgently move against the nexus of Islamic militancy in the country’s lawless tribal regions, American and Pakistani officials said.
The American military commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, met with the Pakistani military chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, at his headquarters here on Friday and urged Pakistan to move more quickly in beginning a military offensive against the Pakistani Taliban and Al Qaeda in North Waziristan, Americans and Pakistanis familiar with the visit said. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of continuing diplomatic efforts here.”
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.justice.gov/ag/speeches/2010/ag-speech-100506.html
Attorney General Eric Holder Testifies Before the Senate Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
Washington, D.C. ~ Thursday, May 6, 2010
Good morning Chairwoman Mikulski, Ranking Member Shelby, and distinguished members of the subcommittee. Thank you for this opportunity to discuss the President’s Fiscal Year 2011 Budget for the Department of Justice and to provide an update on the department’s progress, key priorities and future plans. I appreciate your recognition of the department’s critical mission, and I look forward to your continued partnership and support.
When I appeared before this subcommittee last May, I set forth several goals for the department: to protect our nation’s security, to reinvigorate the department’s traditional missions, and to restore integrity and transparency at every level of the department’s work. I also pledged that, under my leadership, all decisions and policies would be based on the facts, the law and the best interests of the American people, regardless of political pressures or political consequences.
Almost one year later, I’m pleased to report that the department has made historic progress in meeting these goals. Although new challenges and demands have emerged, the thousands of men and women who serve the department have advanced efforts to protect our country, to enforce our laws in a non-partisan manner, to defend our interests in court, and to ensure the strength and fairness of our justice system.
The President’s FY 2011 Budget request for the Department of Justice, which totals $29 billion and includes $2 billion in program enhancements, will enable the department to build on the progress that’s been achieved over the last 15 months. During this time, we’ve enhanced our national security programs and capabilities. We’ve strengthened efforts to support our most vulnerable communities, to safeguard civil rights in our workplaces, housing markets, voting booths, and border areas, and to protect our environment. In light of last week’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, I want to note that the Justice Department stands ready to vigorously enforce the laws that protect the people who work and reside near the Gulf, the local wildlife, the environment and the American taxpayers. I recently dispatched a team of attorneys to New Orleans to monitor the oil spill, and the department will continue to provide critical legal advice and support to the agencies involved in the federal response.
As part of our focus on securing our economy and combating mortgage and financial fraud, the department is now spearheading the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force that President Obama launched last year. And, in collaboration with the Department of Health and Human Services, we’ve made meaningful progress in combating and deterring health care fraud through the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team. Through this initiative, we have brought the full resources of our agencies to bear against individuals and corporations who illegally divert taxpayer resources for their own profit. Just last week, this work resulted in a $520 million settlement – the largest amount ever paid by a company in a civil-only settlement of off-label pharmaceutical marketing claims. And, over the past 15 months, the Justice Department has recouped more than $2.8 billion in health care fraud cases through use of the False Claims Act, money that will be fed back into federal coffers.
The President’s budget request will enable the department to build on these achievements and to continue making progress in meeting its responsibilities. Let me assure you that, in distributing and using these funds, we will think carefully and strategically. And we will act to ensure accountability and transparency, just as we have in managing the billions of dollars that have recently been recovered.
The investments requested in the President’s Budget would allow us to continue aggressively pursuing and prosecuting financial and health care fraud, to expand the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) hiring program, to reduce violent crime and drug trafficking, to assist our state, local and tribal law enforcement partners, to ensure that detention programs are adequately funded and that effective prison and jail re-entry programs are available, to protect civil rights, to combat international organized crime, and to enforce immigration laws. As you all know, the Department is currently working with agencies across the federal government, and with Congress, to support comprehensive immigration reform in a way that “keeps faith,” as President Obama has said, “with our heritage as both a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws.”
The budget would also allow the department to strengthen its critical national security work. As you’ve seen, $300 million in program increases have been requested to help strengthen national security and to counter the threat of terrorism. These resources will enable us to expand on the progress we’ve made in the last year. Due to the vigilance of our law enforcement and intelligence agencies, we’ve succeeded – repeatedly – in identifying and averting nascent plots.
On Monday, Faisal Shahzad, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Pakistan, was arrested in connection with his alleged role in last Saturday’s attempted car bombing in Times Square. On Tuesday, he was charged with acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries, attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, and other federal crimes. If convicted, he faces a potential life sentence in prison.
During ongoing questioning by federal agents, Shahzad has provided useful information, and we will continue to pursue a number of leads as we gather intelligence relating to this attempted attack. Although this car bomb failed to properly detonate, this plot was yet another reminder that terrorists are still plotting to kill Americans. In February, Najibullah Zazi, a key participant in the plot to bomb New York City’s subway system, pleaded guilty to terrorism violations. Less than two weeks ago, we secured another guilty plea from one of Zazi’s co-conspirators and revealed the role of senior al-Qaeda leaders in ordering the plot. Three others also have been charged as a result of our investigation.
These attempted attacks are stark reminders of the threats that we, as a nation, confront. For the Department of Justice and our partners in the national security community, there is simply no higher priority than disrupting potential attacks and bringing those who plot them to justice. In the Shahzad and Zazi cases, that is exactly what the dedicated federal agents, law enforcement officers and Justice Department prosecutors achieved through exemplary investigative efforts. It is in every American’s best interest to ensure that these public servants have the resources necessary to continue their outstanding work.
In this time of unprecedented challenges, new threats, and ongoing war, your support will continue to be critical in helping the department meet its goals and obligations. As we move forward, I look forward to working with you as all. Once again, thank you for inviting me here today. I am now happy to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you.
"On Monday, Faisal Shahzad, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Pakistan, was arrested in connection with his alleged role in last Saturday’s attempted car bombing in Times Square. On Tuesday, he was charged with acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries, attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, and other federal crimes. If convicted, he faces a potential life sentence in prison.
During ongoing questioning by federal agents, Shahzad has provided useful information, and we will continue to pursue a number of leads as we gather intelligence relating to this attempted attack. Although this car bomb failed to properly detonate, this plot was yet another reminder that terrorists are still plotting to kill Americans. In February, Najibullah Zazi, a key participant in the plot to bomb New York City’s subway system, pleaded guilty to terrorism violations. Less than two weeks ago, we secured another guilty plea from one of Zazi’s co-conspirators and revealed the role of senior al-Qaeda leaders in ordering the plot. Three others also have been charged as a result of our investigation.
These attempted attacks are stark reminders of the threats that we, as a nation, confront."
http://www.flashpoint-intel.com/images/documents/pdf/0510/timessquare.pdf
#
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2010/05/slideshow_the_times_square_bom.php
“Slideshow: ‘The Times Square Bomb Plot Videos’”
By Evan Kohlmann
SNIPPET: “Flashpoint Global Partners has released an exclusive multimedia slideshow tracking the origin and provenance of video recordings produced by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (the Pakistani Taliban) which appear to claim responsibility for the most recent failed “Times Square” bomb plot in New York.”
(May 10, 2010, 1:08 am)
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