Car bomb in Times Square

raids in Boston and on Long Island.

 

arrest in Pakistan. my bet is on the brown muslim angle, not the lone tea bagger.

[rquoter]Pakistan arrests man with militant ties who says he aided Times Square bomb suspect
By Greg Miller
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 14, 2010; A01

The Pakistani government has arrested a suspect with connections to a Pakistani militant group who said he acted as an accomplice to the man accused of trying to bomb Times Square, U.S. officials said.

The suspect, whose arrest has not been previously disclosed, provided an "independent stream" of evidence that the Pakistani Taliban were behind the attempt and has admitted helping Faisal Shahzad, the main suspect, travel into Pakistan's tribal belt for bomb training.

Officials familiar with the investigation cautioned about inconsistencies in the two suspects' accounts. Federal authorities expanded their search for evidence Thursday, carrying out raids in four northeastern states, and arresting three people suspected of funneling money to Shahzad.

Still, the U.S. determination that the Pakistani Taliban directed the attempted attack is based largely on accounts given by the two men, several U.S. officials said. Authorities have been examining phone records, e-mail and other communication to see whether they contain firmer evidence of links between Shahzad and the Pakistani Taliban.

"What they said has been corroborated by other evidence,'' said a senior law enforcement source, who would not specify that evidence, saying it is classified.

The suspect in Pakistani custody "is believed to have a connection to the TTP," said a U.S. intelligence official, using an acronym for the Pakistani Taliban. Clues have added to authorities' understanding of the plot, the official said, but "what is definitely true is that a lot of this comes from the statements of people directly involved."

Assessing the role of the Pakistani Taliban carries significant stakes. A clear link would move the militant group onto an expanding list of al-Qaeda affiliates that pose a direct threat to the United States. It would also put new pressure on the U.S. relationship with Pakistan at a time when President Obama is pushing the country to expand its military campaign against insurgent groups.

In Islamabad, Pakistani security officials said Thursday that they had made no progress in finding concrete or credible evidence linking Shahzad to any Islamic militant activity in Pakistan or suggesting that he had traveled to the northwest and received training from the Pakistani Taliban.

U.S. officials declined to identify the suspect in Pakistan, but said American investigators have had direct access to him, and described him as a facilitator for the Pakistani Taliban.

U.S. investigators have pieced together their understanding of the Times Square plot largely by comparing the man's accounts with those of Shahzad. The broad outlines of their stories have been consistent, officials said, describing Shahzad's arrival in Karachi last year and his travel north to Waziristan for training with elements of the Pakistani Taliban.

But a second U.S. official briefed on the progress of the case said there are some "conflicts, disconnects" in their accounts. The discrepancies center mainly on the details and chronology of Shahzad's travel and training. Officials said the conflicts have raised some questions about the reliability of the suspects' information, but have not cast significant doubt on the overall understanding of the plot.

U.S. officials said they also think Shahzad and the man may have exaggerated their accounts. Both said they met Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud while being brought into the organization's inner core. But U.S. analysts are skeptical that Mehsud, who narrowly survived a Predator strike earlier this year, would risk meeting face-to-face with an unproved American recruit.

Although they acknowledged that the investigation is in its initial stages, Obama administration officials are describing an expansive Pakistani Taliban role. In a TV interview Sunday, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said that "they helped facilitate it . . . they helped direct it . . . and I suspect that we are going to come up with evidence that shows they helped finance it."

The certainty of Holder's comments prompted a pointed response from Sen. Christopher S. Bond (Mo.), the ranking Republican on the Senate intelligence committee, who questioned whether such conclusions are premature. After attending a closed-door hearing on the case Tuesday, Bond said, "I am not convinced by the information I've seen so far."

Other U.S. officials said that even as the emerging evidence points to the Pakistani Taliban, it remains unclear whether it was the militant organization or Shahzad who conceived the plot. "The question becomes: precisely whose plan?" a U.S. intelligence official said.

Al-Qaeda affiliates have recently demonstrated a new ability to tailor a plot to a new recruit. The group's offshoot in Yemen allegedly used a Nigerian with a U.S. visa to attempt to take down a Detroit-bound plane on Christmas Day. And the Pakistan Taliban was behind a suicide bombing several days later that killed seven CIA employees near the Afghan city of Khost.

Phone records show a series of calls between Shahzad and people in Pakistan in the weeks before the attempted bombing. Authorities have also uncovered other "circumstantial" evidence that links Shahzad to the Pakistani Taliban, according to the U.S. official briefed on the case. Asked whether phone records show contacts with Taliban figures, the official said: "Nothing conclusive, we have seen no conclusive tie."

Pakistani officials said Thursday that they detained for questioning five people from a mosque in Karachi affiliated with the extremist group Jaish-e-Muhammad. Shahzad, a U.S. citizen who made at least a dozen trips to Pakistan over the past decade, is thought to have visited the mosque during a long stay in the country this year.

Sources in the northwest tribal area said again that the Taliban was preparing to release a video but did not say whether they planned to claim any connection to Shahzad or the attempted bombing. The group originally said it carried out the plot but later said it had no link to Shahzad.

U.S. investigators have focused on how Shahzad -- who quit his job before leaving for Pakistan last year -- paid for the Nissan Pathfinder and explosives he is accused of using in the failed attempt. Officials have speculated that he used informal Middle East money-transfer networks known as hawala, which are difficult to trace.

The three people arrested Thursday -- two in the Boston area and a third in Maine -- were charged with immigration violations.

They "may have provided money to Shahzad but may not have known what they were doing," a federal law enforcement official said. "The question is: Did they provide money, did they facilitate and were they knowing?"[/rquoter]

 

i don't think this was a one-off event.

via Michael Yon

[rquoter]"Tariq Azam TTP Spokesman interviewz"

About the video of Hakimullah Mahsud Amir of TTP I would say that the Pakistani government was making a false propaganda about the death of Hakimullah Mahsud and they had even convinced the Americans that Hakimullah Mahsud has been killed in the American drone attack. But we have been denying this from the start that Amir Sahib has been killed he is alright and he is in contact with all the Taliban leaders active in different areas. Amir Sahib is looking after the day to day business of the movement. But the Pakistani secrete agencies were still making this false propaganda that Amir of TTP Hakimullah has been killed in drone attack. Due to this the Muslim Ommah and Mujahideen were greatly demoralized and disappointed so it was felt that a video of Amir Sahib should be released to tell the world and all the Muslims that Amir Sahib is alive and not only alive but is active and is in contact with all the Mujahideen groups who are fighting against Taghoti forces in any part of the world.

Every Mujahid in the world is receiving his messages and he is in contact with them. By the video we also wanted to show to the world that Tehrik-i Taliban is moving forward towards its goals. The Tehrik is again getting stronger and is getting nearer to its objectives every day.

By this (the Time square attack) we also wanted to give a message to the head of Taghoti forces in the world and which is involved in the killing, displacing and dishonoring of Muslims in the world and its supporters and allies that soon America will also burn and it is digging its own grave and our fidayeens has entered America who will carryout attacks on their soil. Those forces who want to crush Muslims and who want to erase Islam from the world and who want to crush Mujahideen and Jihad we want to tell them that they can’t crush the Muslims or the Mujahideen and neither could they do any harm to Islam but instead they would burn and they would be crushed and they would be digging with their own hands their graves.

The Americans couldn’t even dream of what the TTP has proven to them (by organizing the foiled attack).This was only a car full of explosives which could not explode but many other would explode right on their soil and America would also burn very soon, God Willing.

And by this we also want to send a message to the heads of Americans allies and their supporters that they would also be burned like America if they continue their support to the Americans.

The Tehrik under Amir Sahib is getting popular and is spreading in all the four corners of the world and this Tehrik is now not only confined to the agencies only it is now spreading every where and it is getting stronger. All the Mujahideen in the world are in contact with one another and they are communicating with one another.

As far as Tehrik Taliban Pakistan is concerned it is now not only confined to South Waziristan agency but has been organized in all the tribal agencies and the Tehrik Taliban is fighting against the Taghoti forces. They are united and they have no differences of any kind with one another they are all united.
Thanks to Allah, just like the Russian forces in Afghanistan were defeated similarly America and its allies are facing defeat in Afghanistan.

The Tehrik Taliban is fighting against the enemies of Islam at every front and are defeating them everywhere. The TTP Taliban are organized and active in all the sectors in the agency and they are inflicting great damage to the impure army (Pakistan Army) in the agency. You would have heard and seen that the Pakistani army claimed that they had secured and cleansed Swat of the Taliban and they even took their American masters on the tour of Swat. but it is again coming under the control of the Taliban and attacks are taking place on the army regularly by the Taliban in Swat and the Taliban are again gaining control of Swat.

The army is now forced to admit that the Taliban are still controlling Swat. And in the Khyber Agency, Mohmand Agency, Bajaur Agency, Orakzai Agency and even Kurrum Agency the Taliban are according to their planning inflicting great damage to the Taghoti army, the mercenary army which gets its pay from the Kerry Logar bill is facing defeat everywhere.

All the Mujahedeen groups’ in every part of the world are in contact with one another and they cooperate with each other and they are interdependent on one another those who fights for Allah and their religion. So we are going to take revenge from the Jews and Christians for all the killing and brutalities inflicted upon the Muslims by them.

Where ever there are Mujahedeen they are one and their mission is to impose the laws of Allah in this world.

I will also tell you now with the help of Allah there is no shortage of suicide bombers in the TTP and they are in great numbers in the Tehrik. There are thousands of Suicide Bombers with the TTP in Pakistan. The control of the suicide bombers are in the hands of responsible and intelligent people who use these suicide bombers according to the need of the time. They are used on different occasion against the Taghoti forces in the area.

The TTP don’t target public places through suicide bombers to kill civilians this is done by the government to defame the Taliban to decrease their support in the people. I would also make one thing clear that we believe in fighting Jihad according to the Shariah rules. This is a very brave and proud nation and we don’t want to give this nation into the hands of Americans such as Gen. Paptreas, Holbrooke and Armitage we don’t want this nation to become the slave of the Americans. This is an independent nation and here would be an Islamic rule on this land.

This Pakistani army and government have given a lot of trouble to our people just to please the Americans. They are sacrificing their own country and people to please the Americans. So the people should keep very close watch on this government and now is the time to remove the government whose every policy is against the people and anti-Islam as soon as possible. As long this government is in power military operation by the impure Pakistani army would go on in the area and jihad against them would go on as long as this government goes on pleasing the Americans. We are from the people and the people are ours and so is Pakistan, it belong to us and one day this hypocrite government would also be removed from power in Pakistan.

The media’s main responsibility is to tell the truth to the people about this military operation going on in South Waziristan that what is the real situation on the ground and why has this American war been imposed on our areas. The journalists should tell the truth to the people about this American imposed war in our areas. These are not threats to the journalist community but just to tell them that they should perform their duties honestly. the government is claiming that they are in control in South Waziristan I invite the journalists to come to South Waziristan and see for themselves what is the real situation on the ground in the agency and the journalist should tell the public that the Taliban are in control in the agency and not the Pakistani army and if you can print government news in your newspaper so you should also report about the success made by the Taliban against the army in your papers. I want the journalist to present our side of the story also along the government’s claims. I want to invite the journalist to visit all the area from Swat to South Waziristan and see for themselves the ground situation. Who is stopping the journalists from their duties is this present government who according to the Do More Policy of Armitage is stopping the journalist from reporting the truth.[/rquoter]

 

more on the WOF between NYC and Obama:

[rquoter]Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano fired back at accusations that the White House was shortchanging NYC area counter-terrorism funding, telling Rep. Peter King (R-Long Island) in a letter that the NY Times happened to obtain, "We are concerned. that more than $275 million in federal funding for New York City’s port and transit security since 2006 has not yet been drawn down."

She added, "In fact, New York has yet to draw down on any of the transit funding it received last year." King, though, claims:

It is a desperate letter based on a phony argument. If Janet Napolitano and the Obama Administration really believe that New York has been sitting on $275 million for four years, why were they just yesterday bragging about all of the extra stimulus money they gave to New York last year for homeland security? The fact is that almost all of the money that has not been spent is being held up by the DHS bureaucracy. For instance, $36 million to harden the PATH tunnel has been delayed since at least 2008 by FEMA’s environmental planning and historic preservation review because the tunnel is more than 50 years old. This letter is a cheap political attempt by the Obama administration to cover up and hide the fact that it has shortchanged New York. New York was unsuccessfully attacked at Times Square on May 1; now it is also being unsuccessfully attacked by the Obama Administration with this cheap letter.​

Senator Schumer has also asked for NYC's share of anti-terror funding to be increased, "The bottom line is, New York City continues to be the number one target for terrorism in the United States and federal anti-terror funding needs to reflect that reality."

The Caucus also reports that Mayor Bloomberg's office weighed in, “While the funds the Department of Homeland Security are referring to were not earmarked for City agencies, there are tens of millions of dollars for the NYPD and FDNY waiting for approval by FEMA. We look forward to working with DHS to speed up the FEMA approvals necessary to release the money we need for important security projects."[/rquoter]

 

Two more arrested at JFK.

Two US men arrested at JFK airport on terrorist charges The suspects were reportedly about to board planes to Egypt with plans to travel to Somalia to join with an extremist group there. The Newark Star Ledger said the New Jersey men, Mohamed Hamoud Alessa 20, and Carlos Eduardo Almonte, 24, are both US citizens and quoted neighbors as saying they went to school in the United States. "As of this moment I am only able to confirm that two arrests took place last night," an FBI spokesman said. "Please understand due to the sensitivity of this matter this is the only information we are able to release at this time," she added. Around the time of their arrest, both men's homes were searched by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the federal agents carted away boxes of evidence. Authorities told the paper the suspects had been under surveillance for some time and their circle of friends had been infiltrated by a New York City police officer who saw them prepare to travel overseas. The men were not, however, planning an attack in the United States, authorities said.]arrested at JFK.​

is it just me, or we seeing more of this kind of thing (I realize this arrest is likely unrelated to the TS bomber)? Are arrests more public now, or perhaps do they not love us as much under Obama as was posited by his supporters, and Obama himself ("...when they see my face, the will look at the US differently...")?