Times Square bomber picked up trying to leave country

[lupinus]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/05/04/pakistani-american-arrested-times-square-plot/

NEW YORK -- A U.S. citizen from Pakistan accused of driving a bomb-laden SUV into Times Square and parking it on a street lined with restaurants and Broadway theaters was to appear in court Tuesday to face charges for his failed attempt to set off a massive fireball and kill Americans, federal authorities said.

The suspect, Faisal Shahzad, was taken into custody late Monday by FBI agents and New York Police Department detectives while trying to leave the country, according to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and other officials. He was identified by customs agents at John F. Kennedy International Airport and was stopped before boarding a flight to Dubai, Holder said early Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

More at the link. According to the morning news he's a naturalized citizen for about a year, and was picked up after boarding a plane headed for Dubai.

[Leatherneck]

Man, this guy left a clue trail a mile wide. Rocket science? Not so much. Good police work, IMO.

TC

[S. Williamson]

Something doesn't seem right. Not sure what, though.

[roo_ster]

Something doesn't seem right. Not sure what, though.

That we still allow folks from Splodeystan to immigrate to the USA?

[Jamisjockey]

He's just pissed off about Obamacare.

[red headed stranger]

Something doesn't seem right. Not sure what, though.

The thing that I don't like about this case (and a few others) is they way that some officials want to proclaim that "he was acting alone" so quickly.  There are all kinds of investigations that police will not comment on, but for some reason, they feel that they can state definitively less than 48 hours after the incident that he acted alone. I think that is pretty odd. 

[Hutch]

The PTB risk nothing by saying "lone operator".  It may be a smokescreen to hide their ongoing search for accomplices.  I sincerely hope they're still following the evidence to see if it's so.

[Ben]

Why would white male domestic terrorist Faisal Shahzad (real name Billy Bob Smith*) be trying to leave the country?



*Bloomberg investigation files data

[Tallpine]

Faisal Shahzad

He can't be acting alone.  He doesn't have a middle name. 

[MicroBalrog]

That we still allow folks from Splodeystan to immigrate to the USA?

Pakistan isn't Splodeystan, though. It's a US ally, they're targeted by Al-Quaeda in the Global Holy War [tm], etc.

they feel that they can state definitively less than 48 hours after the incident that he acted alone.

Don't you think that sensible accomplices would have pointed out: "Hey, Faisal, this is the wrong brand of fertilizer" or "Don't you think we should build a test device before we try and, you know, blow up Times Square"?

[AZRedhawk44]

Pakistan isn't Splodeystan, though. It's a US ally, they're targeted by Al-Quaeda in the Global Holy War [tm], etc.

It's a "US ally" by military coup.  The population doesn't support the US. 

[MicroBalrog]

It's a "US ally" by military coup.  The population doesn't support the US. 

The current President of Pakistan has been properly elected (and is famous for divesting his office of several powers).


OTOH, Al-Quaeda and its allies murdered three thousand Pakistani in the last year alone. Doesn't look like they consider them friends.

[red headed stranger]

Don't you think that sensible accomplices would have pointed out: "Hey, Faisal, this is the wrong brand of fertilizer" or "Don't you think we should build a test device before we try and, you know, blow up Times Square"?

I don't necessarily assume that he would have sensible accomplices.   

[red headed stranger]

The PTB risk nothing by saying "lone operator".  It may be a smokescreen to hide their ongoing search for accomplices.  I sincerely hope they're still following the evidence to see if it's so.

I have thought about that, but a simple "we can't comment right now" would seem to suffice. 

I'm sure that like so many of these cases, there will be more questions than answers by the time the media has moved on to a different story. 

[longeyes]

That we still allow folks from Splodeystan to immigrate to the USA?

Maybe if we had a State Dept. that wasn't filled with mandarin Marxists from "good schools" we might have some common sense policies regarding the obvious.  Too many of our top-echelon tops live in complete delusion about the realities of this planet today.

[gunsmith]

Maybe if we had a State Dept. that wasn't filled with mandarin Marxists from "good schools" we might have some common sense policies regarding the obvious.  Too many of our top-echelon tops live in complete delusion about the realities of this planet today.

R's and D's are completely guilty of this McCain has always wanted to illegals, never mind legal ones like our current suspect. I can't go to Pakistan and drive a cab, every country in Europe that our so called biggov elite and rad/lib elite so much think we should be like, require so much red tape and proof that the job you take can not be filled by a local that it is nearly impossible to find a legit job there if you're a yank. Was there a shortage of cab drivers that needed to filled by Pakistani's?

[French G.]

Am I the only one here that is estatic? Estatic that the "suspicious white male" was just apparently stuffy in his sweatshirt? You know all the news shows already had their domestic terror experts retained and their !OMG TEA PARTY TERRORIST WAR! graphics all ginned up. I was thinking, "hmm, doesn't much look like the Reichstag, but it will do for them."

Actually, it will do for them anyway. In the vein of never wasting a crisis it appears the watchword will be "See something, say something." Yea for an excuse to spy on everyone.

[Scout26]

A test case, mayhaps.  Perhaps underwear boy in Detriot was a probe also.  But then again, they are not looking for a knock out or even staggering blow.  They are looking for symbolic wins.  "See, we poked the Great Satan in the eye !!"


It's also just enough to make us turn up the heat on our own citizens.

[Harold Tuttle]

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-may-3-2010/explosive-and-the-city

[Harold Tuttle]

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/308720/may-03-2010/times-square-terrorism

Colbert nails it
"That was a wonderful bomb and we were all sufficiently terrorized"
"There is no need to try that again"

[kgbsquirrel]

Pakistan isn't Splodeystan, though. It's a US ally, they're targeted by Al-Quaeda in the Global Holy War [tm], etc.

OTOH, Al-Quaeda and its allies murdered three thousand Pakistani in the last year alone. Doesn't look like they consider them friends.

Sad to say, there is a huge swath of Pakistan that falls under the heading of splodeystan. Or, as we put it Talibanistan. The Paki government has little to no control in the north and northwestern areas of it's country along the border with Afghanistan. It serves as a haven for Taliban and other sorts who keep the local populace under their boot heel through various violent means. The local populace themselves have a nagging habit of just rolling over for the Taliban, and paying their extorted "taxes" or allowing them the free run of their land while submitting to their perverse form of Sharia.

The Taliban would regularly make incursions from Splodeystan/Talibanistan in order to make attacks against Americans and cooperative Local Nationals in Afghanistan, and then would flee back across border where they could sit with relative impunity because "Pakistan is our ally, and they asked us not to invade their airspace." Ally status or not, Pakistan is an uncontrolled region with a government impotent to adequately secure itself. Add to this evidence that the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence agency of Pakistan) was actively supporting the Taliban and working against Americans and I can not see any reason which would justify allowing anyone into the U.S. on Pakistani papers at this time.

[PTK]

The Taliban would regularly make incursions from Splodeystan/Talibanistan in order to make attacks against Americans and cooperative Local Nationals in Afghanistan, and then would flee back across border where they could sit with relative impunity because "Pakistan is our ally, and they asked us not to invade their airspace." Ally status or not, Pakistan is an uncontrolled region with a government impotent to adequately secure itself. Add to this evidence that the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence agency of Pakistan) was actively supporting the Taliban and working against Americans and I can not see any reason which would justify allowing anyone into the U.S. on Pakistani papers at this time.

....really?

[kgbsquirrel]

....really?

Really. If Paki's want in they should have to pass a rigorous background check conducted by us. We should not be taking the Paki government's word on who they are and where they are from.

[PTK]

Even that one surgeon/M.D.?

[kgbsquirrel]

Even that one surgeon/M.D.?

And how would you know it actually was that Surgeon/M.D.? Because the Pakistani government told you it was?