Four days after the failed car bombing attack in New York City's Times Square, senior officials in the Obama administration have grudgingly begun to accept that the Pakistani Taliban are likely involved in the plot.
Obama administration officials said today that there "strong indications" Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani-born naturalized American citizen "knew some members" of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, The New York Times reported.
"Somebody’s financially sponsoring him, and that’s the link we’re pursuing," an administration official told The New York Times, noting that Shahzad received money from Dubai to purchase the Nissan Pathfinder used in the failed attack and his one-way airline ticket to Pakistan following the attack. "And that would take you on the logic train back to Pak-Taliban authorizations."
The administration's admission that Shahzad and the attempted bombing link back to Pakistan marks a departure from its early view that the attack was likely a purely domestic incident. One day after the attack, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano described the attack as a "one-off" and "amateurish,” and over the next two days administration officials continued to downplay or deny possible links to international terror groups, despite early clues suggesting such involvement.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was more direct and put the blame on domestic terrorists. "If I had to guess 25 cents, this would be exactly that, somebody who’s homegrown, maybe a mentally deranged person or someone with a political agenda that doesn’t like the health care bill or something, it could be anything,” Bloomberg told CBS New.
Evidence of link to the Pakistani Taliban was available in the first 24 hours
But evidence that the Pakistani Taliban may have played a role in the attack emerged almost immediately after firefighters and police dismantled the crudely-made bomb in Times Square on the evening of May 1. On the morning of May 2, a person who claimed to be from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan News Channel notified The Long War Journal that an audiotape of Taliban commander Qari Hussain Mehsud was posted on a YouTube site. The email was titled "Qari Hussain Mehsud from Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan accepts the responsibility of recent Attack on Times Square Newyork USA.”
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US authorities clearly were aware of the Qari Hussain video, and had the video pulled from YouTube within hours after the The Long War Journal received the email notification of its existence.
On the evening of May 2, the Taliban spokesman sent The Long War Journal another email that pointed to the location of an audio tape and a video tape of Hakeemullah Mehsud, the top commander of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan.
The email was titled "Hakeemullah Mehsud is Alive and Healthy and Delivering news about Attacks on USA." The audio and video tapes were produced in April. On the tapes, Hakeemullah denied the multiple reports of his death and threatened the US with further attacks.
"The time is very near when our fedayeen will attack the American states in their major cities," Hakeemullah said. "And Inshallah (god willing) we will give extremely painful blows to the fanatic America."
The videos were difficult to dismiss, as the timing of the release of the tapes is significant. Ordinarily, the Taliban and al Qaeda have a long lead time, often one to two weeks, from the recording to the release of their tapes.
But more importantly, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan News Channel website that the Qari Hussain tape was released on was created on April 30, just one day prior to the attack. The Qari Hussain tape was also uploaded on April 30. US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal on May 2 said they believed that the website was created explicitly for the purpose of claiming credit for the Times Square attack.
Other pieces of evidence also emerged within the first few days that directly linked Shahzad to Pakistan and the Taliban. The night that Shahzad was arrested, US intelligence contacted by The Long War Journal said they believed he had spent time in al Qaeda or Taliban training camps in North Waziristan.
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The reasons for the administration's decision to quickly discount a foreign connection remain unclear, but the end result was that partisans feuded over phantom domestic terrorists while the Taliban accepted responsibility.
Pakistan gets $656M from U.S. as terror link probed
Pakistan received $656 million in security funds from the United States as authorities probed links between the country and the confessed Times Square bomber.
According to Dawn newspaper, the U.S. embassy in Islamabad transferred $188 million to Pakistan's central bank last week and the remaining $468 million on Monday. The coalition-support funds compensate Pakistan for counterterrorim and counterinsurgency operations.
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Dems defend Obama's handling of terror suspect in attempted car bombing
Democrats launched a defense of the Obama administration's handling of an attempted terror attack amid some Republican criticism.
Sens. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Ted Kaufman (D-Del.) praised law enforcement officials and first responders who helped foil an attempted car bombing Saturday in Times Square in New York.
"His national security team is working 24/7 to plug the gaps, and indeed, there have been a number of foiled attacks in the last year," Reed, a leading Democrat on national security issues, said Wednesday.
The pair defended Obama after Republicans complained that the suspect detained in the case, Faisal Shahzad, had been read his Miranda Right, affording him the same rights as other criminal defendants.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called Mirandizing Shahzad a "serious mistake."
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Reaction low key to “Los Suns”
PHOENIX (AP)—Suns fans wore “Los Suns” jerseys and T-shirts and a group of four even entered the arena with sombreros for their team’s playoff game against the San Antonio Spurs.
There was a lone protester holding up a homemade sign outside the arena who was against the idea of the “Los Suns” jerseys Phoenix wore Wednesday night for Game 2 of its second-round series.
Otherwise, it was a typical game night around US Airways Center.
The Suns made headlines the day before with their decision to wear “Los Suns” jerseys on the Cinco de Mayo holiday. A new Arizona immigration law has drawn widespread criticism from Latino organizations and civil rights groups that say it could lead to racial profiling of Hispanics. President Barack Obama has called the law “misguided.”
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What a slap in the face to the people of Arizina. This has NO place in National sports.
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And finally:
Stunning Pictures of Al Gore's New $9 Million Mansion Media Totally Ignored
Nobel Laureate Al Gore purchased a $9 million mansion in the luxurious hills of Montecito, California, recently.
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consider what the Nobel Laureate told Congress last year as the House was deliberating cap-and-trade legislation:
AL GORE: Every penny that I have made, I have put right into a non-profit deal, Alliance For Climate Protection, to spread awareness of why we have to take on this challenge. And Congresswomen, if your, if, if you believe that the reason I have been working on this issue for 30 years is because of greed, you do not know me.
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Sure, Al.
“According to Dawn newspaper, the U.S. embassy in Islamabad transferred $188 million to Pakistan’s central bank last week and the remaining $468 million on Monday. The coalition-support funds compensate Pakistan for counterterrorim and counterinsurgency operations”
Does this sound funny to you?
If I didn’t know better, it sounds like a down payment for a contract hit before and full payment after the deed is done.