Say Hello to the NY Car Bomber

[Guest Glock23ForMe]

What Led Up to the Arrest of A Bombing Suspect

The keys found in the ignition of the sport utility vehicle that was left to explode in Times Square on Saturday evening did more than just start cars: one opened the front door to Faisal Shahzad’s home.

The news media gathered at federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday. But Mr. Shahzad did not make an appearance. The young woman in Bridgeport who last month sold Mr. Shahzad the rusting 1993 Nissan Pathfinder prosecutors say he used in the failed attack did not remember his name. But she had his telephone number.

That number was traced back to a prepaid cellular phone purchased by Mr. Shahzad, one that received four calls from Pakistan in the hours before he bought the S.U.V.

It was 53 hours and 20 minutes from the moment the authorities say Mr. Shahzad, undetected, left his failed car bomb in the heart of Manhattan until the moment he was taken off a plane at Kennedy Airport and charged with trying to kill untold numbers of the city’s residents and tourists.

“In the real world,†said the New York police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, whose detectives investigated the case with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, “53 is a pretty good number.â€

In the most basic calculus, the success of the investigation of the attempted car bombing in Times Square is measured by the authorities only one way: a suspect was caught and charged, and now faces life in prison if convicted.

But based on interviews and court records, those 53 hours included good breaks, dead ends, real scares, plain detective work and high-tech sophistication. There were moments of keen insight, and perhaps fearsome oversight.

The police detectives and federal agents of the Joint Terrorist Task Force, for instance, interviewed the occupants of 242 rooms of the Marriott Marquis and 92 staff workers. They spoke to theatergoers from the stages of two Broadway plays to determine if anyone had glimpsed a man fleeing the Pathfinder shortly after 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.

They did a 24-hour street canvass and fanned out to Pennsylvania and other places to talk to manufacturers of the bomb’s components: two clocks, three propane tanks, gas cans, a gun box, M88 firecrackers.

But according to several people with knowledge of the investigation, federal agents who had Mr. Shahzad under surveillance lost him at one point, a development that probably allowed him to make it to the airport and briefly board the plane bound for the Middle East.

Spokesmen for the F.B.I. in New York and Washington would not comment on any possible lapse in surveillance.

If the lapse occurred, it was not final, or fatal. Mr. Shahzad, according to court papers, confessed to trying to set off a bomb in Times Square shortly after he was taken off the plane.

The route to that capture began in Midtown Manhattan, just off Broadway on a warm night of high drama. At 6:28 p.m. on Saturday, the authorities say Mr. Shahzad steered his newly acquired Pathfinder west on West 45th Street, in Times Square, a move caught on film by a police security camera as it crossed Broadway.

He bailed out seconds later. Then a street vendor — wearing an “I love New York T-shirt†— waved down a mounted officer, who saw the white smoke collecting inside the still idling vehicle and made a call that got the bomb squad there by about 7 p.m.

It took the bomb squad, according to court papers, eight hours of work simply to render the S.U.V. safe enough to approach. Once the authorities did, they found keys hanging from the ignition. Hours later, after they towed the car to a Queens forensic garage, they found an even more important clue when a police Auto Crime Unit detective crawled underneath the vehicle. “The break in this case took place when a New York City detective was able to go under the vehicle and get the hidden VIN number,†Mr. Kelly said at a news conference in Washington on Tuesday. “This identified the owner of record, who in turn, as we know, sold it to the suspect.â€

It had been something of a feat to get the city’s most senior officials to the scene of the attempted bombing. Mr. Kelly had been in Washington, for the annual White House Correspondents Dinner, when his cellphone rang. At 8 p.m., he walked over to where his boss, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, was sitting and spread the news. At 10:55 p.m. the two men left, taking the mayor’s private jet and touching down at 12:20 a.m. at La Guardia Airport.

Fifteen minutes later, the two men, still in fancy suits, were inside a drab storage area of a building on West 44th Street, pulling up folding chairs with police and F.B.I. investigators around a Formica table and reviewing X-ray photos of the Pathfinder’s contents. And soon, investigators fanned out to find the driver.

Little Bit on Faisal Shahzad

Faisal Shahzad is a naturalized American citizen from Pakistan who prosecutors say tried to detonate a crude car bomb in Times Square on the night of May 1, 2010.

Mr. Shahzad was arrested just before midnight on May 3 aboard an Emirates Airways flight to Dubai that had just pulled away from a gate at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Prosecutors said that Mr. Shahzad had admitted his role in what Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. called a "terrorist plot aimed at murdering Americans." He told investigators he received bomb-making training in the militant strongholds of western Pakistan, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court. He was charged in a five-count complaint with crimes including conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction.

Mr. Shahzad told investigators he had acted alone, but hours after he was arrested, Pakistan arrested a number of suspects in connection with the car bomb. Pakistani officials said that two of the men held said they had been in contact with Mr. Shahzad during a five-month visit he paid to the country that ended in February 2010.

The criminal complaint said that Mr. Shahzad received four calls from Pakistan on a pre-paid cell phone hours before he bought the vehicle used in the attempted attack, a 1993 Nissan Pathfinder. Investigators tracked him down by tracing the Pathfinder, which they said he loaded with gasoline, propane, firecrackers and fertilizer and parked on West 45th Street during the busy pre-theater rush before walking away.

Mr. Shahzad bought the vehicle from a Connecticut woman within the last three weeks for $1,300, and authorities were able to identify him through an email address he had given the seller. A law enforcement official said the two had met in a parking lot in Connecticut, that Mr. Shahzad had given the Pathfinder a test drive, and that he'd negotiated the price down to $1,300 from the $1,800 initially sought by the seller.

An official in Pakistan's Interior Ministry said that Mr. Shahzad had come to Pakistan in April 2009 and departed on August 5 on an Emirates Airways flight. The official said that Mr. Shahzad stayed in the port city of Karachi during that period.

Before his arrest, Mr. Shahzad had apparently driven to the airport in a white Isuzu Trooper that was found in a parking lot with a Kel-Tech 9-millimeter pistol, with a folding stock and a rifle barrel, along with several spare magazines of ammunition.

Mr. Shahzad had lived legally in the United States for most of the last 11 years and was naturalized as an American citizen in Bridgeport, Conn., in April 2009.

I have one thing to say... FRYYYYYYYYYYYYY HIMMMMMMMMMM

[mikegideon]

I have one thing to say... FRYYYYYYYYYYYYY HIMMMMMMMMMM

In pig

[mikegideon]

Pakistan is 'epicenter of Islamic terrorism'

May 5, 2010 7:36 a.m. EDT

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Naturalized U.S. citizen of Pakistani descent charged in Times Square bomb probe
  
• Authorities say he received bomb training in Pakistan's Waziristan region
  
• Fareed Zakaria says Pakistan has encouraged Islamic terrorist groups for decades
  
• Zakaria: Pakistani military sees militant groups as a weapon to prevent Indian domination
  

RELATED TOPICS

• Pakistan
  
• Faisal Shahzad
  
• Pakistani Armed Forces
  
• Terrorism
  
• Times Square
  

Editor's note: Fareed Zakaria is an author and foreign affairs analyst who hosts "Fareed Zakaria GPS" on CNN U.S. on Sundays at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. ET and CNN International at 2 and 10 p.m. Central European Time / 5 p.m. Abu Dhabi / 9 p.m. Hong Kong.

New York (CNN) -- The suspect in the Times Square bombing attempt was caught as he was seeking to flee to Pakistan, a nation that analyst Fareed Zakaria calls the "epicenter of Islamic terrorism."

"It's worth noting that even the terrorism that's often attributed to the war in Afghanistan tends to come out of Pakistan, to be planned by Pakistanis, to be funded from Pakistan or in some other way to be traced to Pakistan," said Zakaria. He added that Pakistan's connection with terrorist groups goes back decades and has often been encouraged by that nation's military for strategic reasons.

Faisal Shahzad, a 30-year-old naturalized citizen of Pakistani descent, had recently been trained in bomb making in Pakistan's Waziristan province, according to a federal complaint filed in court Tuesday. CNN reported Tuesday that Faisal Shahzad's father is a retired vice-marshal in the Pakistani Air Force.

Shahzad was arrested around 11:45 p.m. ET Monday at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport just before he was to fly to Islamabad, Pakistan, by way of Dubai.

Zakaria, author and host of CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS," spoke to CNN on Tuesday. Here is an edited transcript:

CNN: Based on what we know so far, what lessons can be learned from this incident?

Fareed Zakaria: This does not seem to be part of a larger and more organized effort to penetrate the United States. That doesn't mean such efforts are not under way....it does make you realize just how open we are as a country and how open we are as a society. There is always a level of vulnerability that comes from being an open society and this guy, Mr. Shahzad obviously took advantage of that openness.

CNN: Apparently he traveled to Pakistan on a number of occasions. Does that signal that Pakistan isn't vigilant enough about terrorism?

Zakaria: Well it certainly signals something that we have known for a while, which is that Pakistan is the epicenter of Islamic terrorism. ... The British government has estimated that something like 80 percent of the terror threats that they receive have a Pakistani connection.

So there's no question that Pakistan has a terrorism problem. It has radical groups within the country that have the ability to recruit people and have access to resources that makes for a very combustible mixture.

It should remind us that even when looking at the war in Afghanistan, ultimately the most important place where jihadis are being trained and recruited is not in Afghanistan but in Pakistan. And there's no other part of the world where you have quite the same concentration of manpower, resources and ideology all feeding on each other.

CNN: What feeds the ideology that drives the terror effort?

Zakaria: Pakistan has been conducive to this kind of jihadis for a number of reasons. For the last three or four decades, the Pakistani government, the Pakistani military has supported, funded many of these groups in a bid to maintain influence in Afghanistan, in a bid to maintain an asymmetrical capacity against India -- in other words, to try to destabilize India rather cheaply through these militant groups rather than frontally through its army.

So it has found it useful to have these militant groups and to support them. It has always assumed that these groups will not attack Pakistanis and therefore was not a threat to Pakistan itself. And to a large extent that's true, these groups by and large have attacked people in Afghanistan, India, in the West but not in Pakistan. But that is changing, because these groups are so intermingled and often sufficiently ideological, and also because the Pakistani military is beginning to take them on.

But fundamentally the reason this has gone on is that there has been a policy of the Pakistani state and particularly the Pakistani military, to encourage these groups, to fund them, to ignore their most pernicious activities. And some of it goes back even further than four decades. In the 1965 war against India, the Pakistanis used Islamic jihadis...

And the great hope now is that finally the Pakistani government is getting serious about this. Frankly it remains a hope.

CNN: Why do you say that it's only a hope?

Zakaria: Over the last few years, it appears that the Pakistani government has begun to understand that these groups all meld together, that they are a threat to a stable and viable modern Pakistani state. But when I talk about the Pakistani government you have to realize that there are different elements in it.

The Pakistani civilian government really does understand the danger that Islamic terrorism poses to Pakistan, but the civilian government in Pakistan appears quite powerless. Most power lies with the military.

The military in Pakistan has a somewhat more complex attitude. It does believe that these militants have gone too far. It does believe that it has to take on the militants. And it has actually battled them quite bravely over the last few years.

CNN: So what's the reason for thinking the military supports militant groups?

Zakaria: It still holds within it the view that at the end of the day, the United States will leave the region and that they will have to live in a neighborhood which will have a very powerful India and an Afghanistan that is potentially a client state of India's -- and that in order to combat this Indian domination, they need to maintain their asymmetrical capabilities, their militant groups.

It is interesting to note that Ahmed Rashid, who may be the most respected Pakistani journalist, has reported on the way in which Pakistani government has thwarted and put obstacles in the way of any kind of talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban.

The message it has sent to the Afghan government is very clear. If you want to have any negotiations with the Taliban, you have to understand that since we are the critical intermediary -- since the Taliban leadership all lives in Pakistan -- the Pakistani military's terms to the Afghan government are, we want you to push back on Indian influence in Afghanistan, we want you to shut down Indian consulates in various Afghan cities.

In other words, the Pakistani government is still obsessed with the idea of an Indian domination of the region, and they're using their influence with the Taliban to try to counter Indian influence. This is the old game that the Pakistanis have played.

That's what makes me skeptical that there's been a true strategic revolution in Pakistan... There are still people who believe that there are good terrorists and bad terrorists, and some you can work with to further Pakistan's goals.

CNN: In the attempted car bombing in Times Square and the Christmas Day attempted bombing, you have two failed plots that don't appear to be highly sophisticated. Does that tell us anything about the terror groups?

Zakaria: At some level, that tells you about the weakness of the terror groups. You do not have highly organized terrorist groups with great resources and capacity that are able to plan spectacular acts of terrorism the way they were in the 1990s and on 9/11.

What you have now are more isolated, disorganized lone rangers and while they're obviously very worrying and one has to be extremely vigilant, it is also at some level a sign of the weakness of an organization like al Qaeda that it is not able to do the kind of terrorist attacks it used to.

To be sure, it's important to be very vigilant and make sure you have groups like al Qaeda on the run. But I don't know that in a free society, you will ever be able to prevent an individual with no background in terrorism who's broken no laws and is radicalized from attempting to make some kind of trouble.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

So, I want to know what causes a naturalized American citizen to do this? It couldn't be his religious beliefs. Oh, no. The loving religion of Islam.

[Daniel]

So, I want to know what causes a naturalized American citizen to do this? It couldn't be his religious beliefs. Oh, no. The loving religion of Islam.

So what you are saying is that all of the other muslims in this country are just waiting for their chance to bomb times square.

[Il Duce]

the bomber is a *******.

edit. Do Not Add symbols or numbers to get around hte filters.

Edited May 5, 2010 by Daniel

[strickj]

So, I want to know what causes a naturalized American citizen to do this? It couldn't be his religious beliefs. Oh, no. The loving religion of Islam.

Compared to what? The loving Christians that hates other religions?

If like, I could post stories of Christians killing people

[Guest 6.8 AR]

What else, then? Political motivations. You can post all you want, but Christians are taught to love their enemies. Whether or not that ends up being the case is another matter. Post away!

[mikegideon]

here's a piece on it. I just skimmed the article...

Does the Qur'an Sanction Violence? (by Mohamed Elmasry) - Media Monitors Network

[mikegideon]

Compared to what? The loving Christians that hates other religions?

If like, I could post stories of Christians killing people

When it comes to mass killin', the biggest common denominator is religion. I haven't tallied the score, but are the Muslims finally winning?

Radical interpretations of the Quran happen. So do radical interpretations of the Bible. I guess the main difference is that folks from the middle east tend to use killing as a tool, because they can't afford lawyers and politicians

[Guest 6.8 AR]

I don't know if they have caught up, but they are on the march. That's a pretty decent article comparing the Old Testament and Quran. The Old Testament did have a lot of violence in it, also. That stuff in the Quran about "convert or destroy" is the bothersome

piece I have. Thanks for posting that, Mike:D

[Guest 6.8 AR]

So what you are saying is that all of the other muslims in this country are just waiting for their chance to bomb times square.

No, I didn't say anything like that. What's a Jihad?

"GGP2JZ what a dumba$$."

You could grow up, also. I don't think that was necessary;)

[mikegideon]

It's reasonable for me to believe that if this kinda crap was part of the core teachings of Islam, then we would have thousands people blowing themselves up for Allah every day in this country. It's a religious idiot problem, and the jihadists don't have the market cornered on it.

Edited May 5, 2010 by mikegideon
misspelled idiot. must be one

[Guest 6.8 AR]

It's a radical offshoot probably trying to become dominant in it's core religion. I would like to see them stop their own from ruining it completely. Have my doubts.

[mikegideon]

I big part of it is cultural. They're in a crappy part of the world, with bad systems of government. Just like a few geographical pockets in this country, they have way more than their share of idiots. California comes to mind, even tho it's not the same kind of idiot

[Il Duce]

the what a ******* was for the idiot bomber not you 6.8 lol. my apologies if you took it that it was directed towards you

Edited May 5, 2010 by Daniel

[Guest 6.8 AR]

That's cool:D

[Guest 6.8 AR]

I big part of it is cultural. They're in a crappy part of the world, with bad systems of government. Just like a few geographical pockets in this country, they have way more than their share of idiots. California comes to mind, even tho it's not the same kind of idiot

Yeh, unfortunately we aren't immune from idiots, either. They ruin it for everyone else. Maybe someday...

[mikegideon]

It's a radical offshoot probably trying to become dominant in it's core religion. I would like to see them stop their own from ruining it completely. Have my doubts.

Being a member of the offshoot is pretty unheathy these days. Maybe they'll figure it out. I don't see us letting up until they do.

[gnmwilliams]

This is why I don't believe in RELIGION. I believe in TRUTH. The truth of God's love and sacrifice for us will never change. It's mankind that messes everything up when we start trying to interpret our version of truth. Fortunately, God's truth is out of reach of anything mankind can try to do to it.

[mikegideon]

My favorite question... According to YOUR religion, what percentage of the world's population is going to hell because they don't have the same beliefs as you? Usually followed by... What kinda God is that?

The conversation seldom goes beyond that point.

[Mike.357]

be glad he is a gutless piece of pooh. If he wanted i am sure he could have pulled off a suicide bombing a lot easier.

I am of the opinion that there is no doubt he is guilty, beat whatever info out of him you can then just put him down.

[Mike.357]

My favorite question... According to YOUR religion, what percentage of the world's population is going to hell because they don't have the same beliefs as you? Usually followed by... What kinda God is that?

The conversation seldom goes beyond that point.

In grade school the Nun's would tell us " as long as the person is true to his religion he will get into heaven" Of course when I was ten years old I did not know about jews or muslims.

[Guest Whiskers]

While we argue the fine points of the influence of religions on society, Bloomberg and his ilk are plotting to use this incident in another emotional push to enact more restrictive firearms laws. Today, before congress, Mr. Bloomberg again assailed the so called "gunshow loophole"..... even though there is no evidence the terrorist purchased anything at a gun show. And, according to Megan Kelly, Fox News, the terrorist had been on the "watchlist" for some time..... "so, how was he able to purchase a firearm?", she asked.

While donning my aluminum foil hat, I submit that those who would ban gun possession for law abiding citizens, are perfectly content to sacrifice victims of these human piles of crop in the furtherance of their goals.

[mikegideon]

While we argue the fine points of the influence of religions on society, Bloomberg and his ilk are plotting to use this incident in another emotional push to enact more restrictive firearms laws. Today, before congress, Mr. Bloomberg again assailed the so called "gunshow loophole"..... even though there is no evidence the terrorist purchased anything at a gun show. And, according to Megan Kelly, Fox News, the terrorist had been on the "watchlist" for some time..... "so, how was he able to purchase a firearm?", she asked.

While donning my aluminum foil hat, I submit that those who would ban gun possession for law abiding citizens, are perfectly content to sacrifice victims of these human piles of crop in the furtherance of their goals.

Speaking of somebody in desperate need of a country ass whippin'