The FBI has arrested a 30-year-old Bridgeport, Conn., man in connection with the failed attempt to set off a car bomb in New York’s Times Square, federal authorities told ABCNews.com late Monday night.
The man was identified as Faisal Shahzad, a naturalized American citizen, who had recently returned from a five-month trip to Pakistan and the city of Peshawar, a known jumping off point for al Qaeda and Taliban recruits.
Shahzad was arrested at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City where FBI agents said he was attempting to leave the country to go to Dubai.
At a press conference early Monday morning, Attorney General Eric Holder said, “It’s clear that the intent behind this terrorist act was to kill Americans.” He urged America to “remain vigilant.”
Federal authorities told ABC News that they tracked Shahzad over the last two days using evidence found in the Nissan Pathfinder left at the scene and in the unexploded bomb components.
According to authorities, Shahzad bought the vehicle on April 24, one week before the bombing attempt, through an Internet ad placed by a Connecticut family.
Members of the family told the FBI that Shahzad paid $1,300 for the vehicle in $100 bills after taking the Pathfinder on a test drive in the parking lot of a Bridgeport shopping center. FBI agents recovered a shopping center surveillance tape that they say shows Shahzad driving the car, authorities said.
He later had the windows on the car tinted, officials said, prior to driving it to New York City last Saturday.
Federal law enforcement officials said at least three other people close to Shahzad were also under scrutiny in connection with the case.
I am glad to see that the feds acted with swiftness on this one, and I am glad to see that the Obama Administration is taking this very seriously. Score one for our side, because this was actually terrorism; and not some crazy right winger, like the left was saying, before the feds had any information.
What I see in this video; are people, of various non-white nationalities, walking by this woman; who is calling them “Crazy Mother Fuckers”, some are dancing and some are carrying torches.
What bothers me, is this:
Jim Hoft has video of the riot
Um, Ed? There was no riot in that video. It was people walking with torches and dancing. Besides all that? Jim Hoft? You mean the same Jim Hoft, who linked to an White European Nationalist website, called the Counsel of Conservative Citizens, and then moved the link to the previous posting, when I brought it up? You mean that guy? Who like his fellow Tea Partier, Pamela Geller; likes to claim that Obama is not even born in America and uses underhanded and nuanced racist code words for the President? That Jim Hoft?
While I have much respect for Ed; I am beginning to be disturbed by what I see as outright propaganda of the “Pamela Geller type”, on that Blog. It sickens me, that Ed must go there. I am no more of a fan of illegal immigration than anyone else, least of all Ed. But can we please, just for once, stick to the facts and stop with the false propaganda to further our cause? Because , when we do this, we are no better than Iran, Hugo Chavez or any of the rest of those leftist idiots that want to destroy this Nation and the values that it represents —- Like honesty? Does any remember….honesty?
I am just saying people. 🙄
Update: On the other hand… This is from the comments section at HotAir:
I do believe that I just posted Ed’s vindication. 😯 WOW! 😮
A crude car bomb of propane, gasoline and fireworks was discovered in a smoking Nissan Pathfinder in the heart of Times Square on Saturday evening, prompting the evacuation of thousands of tourists and theatergoers on a warm and busy night. Although the device had apparently started to detonate, there was no explosion, and early on Sunday the authorities were still seeking a suspect and motive.
“We are very lucky,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said at a 2:15 a.m. press conference. “We avoided what could have been a very deadly event.”
A large swath of Midtown — from 43rd Street to 48th Street, and from Sixth to Eighth Avenues — was closed for much of the evening after the Pathfinder was discovered just off Broadway on 45th Street. Several theaters and stores, as well as the South Tower of the New York Marriott Marquis Hotel, were evacuated.
Mr. Bloomberg was joined by Gov. David A. Paterson, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly and other officials at the early morning press conference to give a chronology of the vehicle’s discovery, its disarming, and the investigation that has been launched. The mayor and police commissioner had returned early from the annual White House correspondents’ dinner in Washington.
At 6:28 p.m., Mr. Kelly said, a video surveillance camera recorded what was believed to be the dark green Nissan S.U.V. driving west on 45th Street.
Moments later, a T-shirt vendor on the sidewalk saw smoke coming out of vents near the back seat of the S.U.V., which was now parked awkwardly at the curb with its engine running and its hazard lights on. The vendor called to a mounted police officer, the mayor said, who smelled gunpowder when he approached the S.U.V. and called for assistance. The police began evacuating Times Square, starting with businesses along Seventh Avenue, including a Foot Locker store and a McDonald’s.
Police officers from the emergency service unit and firefighters flooded the area and were troubled by the hazard lights and running engine, and by the fact that the S.U.V. was oddly angled in the street. At this point, a firefighter from Ladder 4 reported hearing several “pops” from within the vehicle. The police also learned that the Pathfinder had the wrong license plates on it.
Members of the Police Department’s bomb squad donned protective gear, broke the Pathfinder’s back windows and sent in a “robotic device” to “observe” it, said Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne, the police department’s chief spokesman.
Inside, they discovered three canisters of propane like those used for barbecue grills, two five-gallon cans of gasoline, consumer-grade fireworks — the apparent source of the “pops” — and two clocks with batteries, the mayor said. He said the device “looked amateurish.”
Mr. Browne said: “It appeared it was in the process of detonating, but it malfunctioned.”
Bomb squad officers also discovered a two-by-two-by-four-foot metal box — described as a “gun locker” — in the S.U.V. that was taken to the Police Department’s firing range at Rodman’s Neck in the Bronx to be destroyed, Mr. Kelly said. It was not immediately known what, if anything, was inside it.
Officials said they had no reports of anyone seen running from the vehicle. Mr. Kelly said police were scouring the area for any additional videotapes but noted that the S.U.V.’s windows were tinted, which could further hamper any efforts to identify those inside. Some of the surveillance cameras nearby were located in closed businesses, and the mayor made clear it would take time to review all available tapes.
Obviously, I am glad that this idiot or these idiots were not successful. Hopefully, the FBI nabs these guys. As you can imagine; The right is hollering “Jihad!” and the left, of course, is playing it down. Personally, I am not going to do either. Because obviously someone intended to cause some pain here. As to whom it was, I am sure the FBI either knows by now or is close to finding out.
What I now look for, is for the media, especially Fox News and the rest of the Conservative talkers to politicize the crap out of this. Which I think is sad; for all we know these idiots could have been just some people trying to scare people. I think everyone should just wait until the investigation is complete; then have at it. But they will not; which is sad.
Update: Bloomburg is on it, as usual:
Good catch by AllahPundit, NYC Police and FBI are checking a possible South Park link. Bomb was set off near Viacom’s offices, which owns that Cartoon:
The device, which failed to detonate, was left near the offices of Viacom, which owns the irreverent cartoon series.
Last month postings on an Islamic website warned the creators of South Park – Matt Stone and Trey Parker – that they could face violent reprisals after an episode of the show featured Muhammad in a bear suit.
A posting on the website of a US-based group called Revolution Muslim warned Stone and Parker that they would “probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh”, the Dutch film-maker who was murdered in 2004 by a Muslim angered by his film about Muslim women.
Images of the Prophet are strictly forbidden in Islam, and Comedy Central, which broadcasts South Park, has banned Stone and Parker from depicting Muhammad in the past. In 2006 the network stopped them from featuring Muhammad in an episode which followed worldwide protests over a caricature of the Prophet by a Danish cartoonist.
Detectives are also understood to be investigating striking similarities between the New York bomb and two car bombs planted by Islamic terrorists outside the Tiger Tiger nightclub in London in 2007.
In both cases, the devices comprised cylinders of propane gas and cans full of petrol intended to be ignited by electronic detonators.
David Paterson, the Governor of New York, described the Times Square incident as an “act of terrorism.”
Wouldn’t it be nice, if they tied that to the guys at Revolution Muslim and put those idiots in jail?
“a Brazilian tourist was right there with camera rolling as the “firecrackers” in the back of the SUV went off. My understanding of the incident until now was that only the local street vendors noticed something amiss and that the cops moved people in the area way back before anything happened in the vehicle. Not so. As you’ll see, there were still crowds around and the firecrackers themselves were heavy duty enough to cause a serious boom. Listen to the guy off-camera shouting about the Taliban 30 seconds in; bystanders clearly knew what the risk was here. If you’re a New Yorker, especially a New Yorker who was in the city on 9/11, this is tough to watch.”
…and Obama says this is nothing to get excited about. 😡
Well, except when he goes on a tirade about the unions. 😉
Anyhow, I happen to notice this over at HotAir.com:
I just received my copy of the book and will try to complete reading it before Aaron appears on The Ed Morrissey Show this week to discuss the book. The book follows the efforts of David Freddoso’s The Case Against Barack Obama (reviewed here) and Jerome Corsi’s Obama Nation. Both of those books shed light on Obama’s past political associations and efforts, but didn’t get as much traction as they deserved, thanks to a wave of popular support for Obama.
To put it in context; Ed is reviewing a book. However, he could have written up that Blog entry without mentioning Jerome Corsi and I would have had zero to say about it. The problem I have with Corsi is this; the dude is a habitual liar and his crazy conspiracy theories, like where Obama was born, have been proven to be false, even within Conservative circles.
I respect Ed and AP over at HotAir; Because I feel it to be one of the more mainstream Conservative sites out there. HotAir is not, nor do I hope it ever becomes WorldNetDaily. Mentioning Jerome Corsi in the same breath as Obama does nothing at all to further that cause of being a respectable mainstream Blog.
So, Ed. Consider this a friendly and mild objection. Please, don’t go there. We do have an election to win this year.
Yes, I have seen it. The story about Obama cheating on Michelle during the election.
So far, in the Conservative blogosphere, there has been a collective… “Eh…” about it. Basically, I feel the same as everyone else. If video comes out. I’ll believe it. Until then, it’s just another stupid gossip story.
When it comes to the National Enquirer; it is just like this right here. If honesty were tires, the National Enquirer would a bald set of Uniroyal tires.
We’re not, we’re not trying to push financial reform because we begrudge success that’s fairly earned. I mean, I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money. But, you know, part of the American way is, you know, you can just keep on making it if you’re providing a good product or providing good service. We don’t want people to stop, ah, fulfilling the core responsibilities of the financial system to help grow our economy.
The problem is; that was not a part of his prepared remarks, here is what he was supposed to say:
Now, we’re not doing this to punish these firms or begrudge success that’s fairly earned. We don’t want to stop them from fulfilling their responsibility to help grow our economy.
By the way, the radio host is Mark Levin, whom I normally find to be highly annoying; mainly because his voice sounds like the equivalent of dragging a cat backwards through a fan. But, I have to say, that I agree with everything that is said here.
Ed Morrissey, whom I have much respect for, points out the glaringly obvious here:
He should have stuck with the TelePrompter. The President doesn’t get to decide when people have “made enough money.” In fact, as the radio host notes, that’s a statist point of view. Furthermore, the responsibility of an entrepreneur isn’t to “grow our economy,” core or otherwise. It’s to grow his own economy. In a properly regulated capitalist system, the natural tension of self-interests create economic growth through innovation and efficient use of capital and resources.
Put simply, a free people work for themselves, not for the government. Barack Obama seems to have a problem understanding that.
But then again; Marxists usually do. Yesterday, I posted a video by Chris Matthews over at MSNBC basically saying that we should cool it with the Nazi references, when it comes to politics and the Right…and Left. The reason why I say that I agreed with that; is because comparing this President to Adolf Hitler is giving Hitler and this President way too much credit. Nazism was started because Hitler saw the failures of socialism and sought to improve upon it; a plan the ultimately failed thankfully. This President is just a flat out socialist; he is highly against any sort of unfettered Capitalism at all. I mean, do not misunderstand me here; I am all for seeing the people that capitalized on our economy going down the toilet, having to pay the piper. But to get in front of people and make a statement like this, is just inexcusable. This might come as a shock to those on the left; I am for Capitalism, but I am not for the reckless greed, that leads to destruction. There is a big difference.
The Bottom Line: The President needs to stick to the teleprompter. Because every time that he goes off of that teleprompter, he exposes himself and that exposure is starting to look very, very ugly.
Now I realize that Keith Olbermann can be bit over the top. But, if I were a G.O.P. strategist; I would be watching this —- and taking notes.
Obviously, I do not agree with all of this, because some of it, is mired in Liberal talking points and Meme’s. But some of it is absolutely true; and some of it is just perception — which anyone with a brain knows, is worse than reality itself.
I hope someone — anyone, either at the G.O.P. or somewhere within Conservatism is taking notes.
Video of reaction on the Street: (H/T