Suspect Sought in Foiled Times Square Bomb Plot

Wall St. Journal ^ | 05/02/10 | JOEL STONINGTON, R.M. SCHNEIDERMAN, DEVLIN BARRETT

[OldDeckHand]

A failed car bomb smoked, popped and shut down Times Square, causing panic, evacuations and confusion Saturday on one of the tourist spot's busiest nights. Most of the streets in the area were reopened Sunday morning, though a heavy police presence remained in the area.

New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said officers are heading to a town in Pennsylvania to talk to a man who believes he may have recorded a bombing suspect on his video camera. Police are looking a for a white male in his 40s who was seen shedding a dark shirt with a red shirt underneath, he said at an afternoon press conference. Investigators are now looking through "hundreds of hours of surveillance videos," Mr. Kelly added.

[El Gato]

Here is a furtive white guy with a red shirt!

Run for the Hills!

if you are a no good, rotten scoundrel libtard

I've heard this guy has a virtual army of heavily armed gun nuts at his back.

[El Gato]

The Cash for Clunkers trade-ins were supposed to be prominently defaced with paint that would mar the exterior supposedly to prevent resale in the used car market

Not only that, but an abrasive substance, like pumice, was supposed to be poured into the intake manifold, with the filters removed and the engine running. Saw some videos of that being done. T'weren't pretty.

[randita]

Plenty of those engine destruction videos on youtube (search cash for clunkers).

[Brad from Tennessee]

[T’weren’t pretty.]

Reminds me of some of FDR's programs where they dyed potatoes purple and burned bales of cotton.

A junkyard would have a motor for the Pathfinder or be able to lay hands on one with a phone call.

[surfer]

OMG It’s Jim Thompson!!! I knew it!!!

[erman]

I don't think so, because the bomb itself was described as "amateurish". If there had been lots of planning involved here, you'd have to assume they would have put more effort into making the bomb.

I think that the label "amateurish" is amateurish. With some motor oil, fertilizer, and detergent in a truck packed with gasoline, propane and a couple of hundred packs of of bolts, nails, nuts and use a cigar or a cigarette as a delayed fuse is pretty simple and amateurish.... but effective. Heck just because it's simple doesn't make it any less lethal. I'll wait and see what the guys investigating this find out. It sure is going to be interesting to see how this pans out.

[txhurl]

The spare tire on the back hatch-door was brand spanking new, per the photo. Original.

Really, the whole truck looked new, despite being 15? years old.

Why would someone take a nice 4x4 SUV to NYC from CT or TX to trash when a crappy one would be cheaper... something with 290K miles?

Like posters have said, because they stole it and rigged it to die. And because a nice truck wouldn't draw notice, well, until the operator error.

[El Gato]

A junkyard would have a motor for the Pathfinder or be able to lay hands on one with a phone call.

A lot of bother. Easier to get one that was a rebuilt wreck, not a "cash for clunkers" turn in. Even easier to replace the part with the VIN number. They said the one on the forward section of the dash was missing. Maye the other was from a different vehicle. Since if the bomb had gone off as intended, there wouldn't be much left but the "remote" VIN. (Some were on the rear axel for example)

[OwenKellogg]

He/she was a liberal infiltrator at the 4/15 Tea Party in DC

[IYAS9YAS]

I thought the whole point of Cash for Clunkers was to get the vehicle molten back into metal for China, or sent to Mexican drivers, not re-sold in America.

It was my understanding that the dealer had to render the vehicle inoperative by draining all fluids, putting some type of chemical in the engine, and running the engine until it siezed. These vehicles were not to be resold. The dealer couldn't get the cash until proof was offered up.

No, I'm thinking someone bought a salvaged vehicle on a salvage title and put fake or stolen plates on it. Many salvage vehicles drive and operate fine, they just have more damage than the insurance company was willing to pay for - or someone had an old vehicle towed because it was more expensive to fix it than it was worth.