Car bomb in Time Square

[Ed Jewett]

From “Car Fire” To Foiled Homegrown Terrorism: MSNBC Changes Their Story on the Green SUV Once the Politicians Got Involved

Posted on May 2, 2010 by willyloman
by Scott Creighton
Detonator? What detonator?

***UPDATE 4*** - On MSNBC’s Today Show, the talking heads said there was a “detonator” in the SUV. They said that even though they showed the official contents of the SUV as reported by the NYPD official, and no detonator was listed…
The guest on the show just goes on and on about all the horror that COULD have happened… but he doesn’t understand why the bomb didn’t go off… (maybe “the smoke defused it”)
***UPDATE 3*** IT’S JUST SO FUCKING STUPID!!! I CAN”T TAKE IT ANY MORE!!! Here is the story as it was related by a CNN “reporter” on their “news” show a little while ago… follow along now… this is good…
Dumbest reporter EVER

According to this “reporter” a police official told her… “it’s possible that the smoke from the fireworks SOMEHOW DEFUSED THE PROPANE INSIDE THE SUV AND THAT IS WHY IT DIDN’T BLOW UP“
uh…. her story, that she goes on to explain, is that the “terrorist” lit the fuse… (I guess while inside the fucking PROPANE FILLED SUV)… tossed the firecracker on the seat… then left… the BURNING FUSE didn’t ignite the propane SOMEHOW… and the SMOKE from the firecracker… SOMEHOW FUCKING DEFUSED THE PROPANE GAS IN THE AIR…
“Jane you magnificently ignorant slut.” … the smoke comes AFTER THE GODDAMN FIRE YOU LITE THE FUSE WITH,YOU MORON!!! THE FIRE AND THE FUSE WOULD HAVE IGNITED THE GAS PRIOR TO THE SMOKE MIXING WITH IT!!! AND SMOKE DOESN’T “DEFUSE” PROPANE GAS!!!
All of that means the propane didn’t ignite because the propane tanks were either not open, or completely empty.
It’s just so goddamn stupid…
Green SUV and his partner's HotDog Stand...

***UPDATE 1***
Guess what I found? One of CNN’s first interviews on the scene is a guy named Hamid Baubaln and he is … a hotdog vender, who was on the corner of 45th and 7th avenue… he said his “partner came” because it was Hamid’s break time… and he was sitting “facing the car”… (so it was right there)… he said the SUV was less than 15 feet from his hotdog stand… hahahahaha… was it his “partner” bringing him some supplies and giving him a break so he could eat who was parked with the engine running and the lights flashing? Just a thought….
The Shopping Terrorist

***UPDATE 2*** “The Shopping Terrorist“… A photo of the bomb squad technician removing a brand new looking large box from the SUV… what’s in that box? Looks like the “terrorist” went shopping prior to leaving his “car bomb” at the scene… who goes out and buys a large item, then leaves it in the car to get blown up? what kind of sense does that make? Is anyone paying attention to this shit at MSNBC or do they just repeat whatever the “officials” tell them?
———— original—————
Does Bloomberg take a podium everywhere he goes? Just look at that product placement

The reports were coming in fast and furious last night. The dark SUV in Times Square was all over the news. Everyone watched as that stupid little robot rolled up to the window and earned its million dollar cost to the taxpayer by breaking out the windows and removing various “stuff” from a vehicle parked on the side of the road. The talking heads on CNN and MSNBC were all beside themselves trying to make the best out of the unexpected viewers. They were droning on and on about this terrorist attack and that terrorist attack. They all tried to sound like a counter-terrorism expert because that would certainly earn them more time on the air. But just like NASCAR fans, they were there hoping for the big crash. They were all hoping that the device would go off while they had the spotlight and they would have their big “Hindenburg” moment of broadcast history.
But the car wasn’t even smoking while the camera were rolling. No fire. No boom. Nothing.
So they droned on and on for hours as the story leaked out to the less glamorous press: not terrorism. MSNBC ran a written article about the whole thing that had just been updated at 12:47 am, quoting several different federal officials and first responders who were on the scene as saying it was NOT an act of terrorism, but rather simply a small car fire. But somehow I just knew that story wouldn’t do for the politicians what they wanted it to do, “somehow” I just knew they would change the whole thing. So this morning I get up, and the whole is “terrorism” again. MSNBC changed their article and Mayor Bloomberg is contradicting everything anyone says about the event.
The entire event was broadcast live for 6 hours on just about every news channel there is. A vender’s car-fire causing the heart of New York City to come to a stand still makes the officials there look like overreacting ”chicken littles” who can’t tell a car-fire from 9/11. But a foiled ”homegrown terrorist” bombing attempt makes them look like heroes who need even more money for even bigger toys because that “endless war on terror” is still very much a “hot war”.
Times Square Vending Cart

(I can tell you right now, I lived in Manhattan for about 6 years and I actually worked on Gansevoort St. right across from a warehouse that the hot-dog and bagel venders kept their carts in. Every day at about 6-7 pm, these SUVs would show up, over and over again, towing the big stainless steel hot-dog carts. The venders used SUVs because they could also carry supplies and were lockable (as opposed to an open bed pick-up truck). The hot-dog carts use propane tanks as fuel to keep the hot-dogs warm. The SUVs would drop off the carts and run off real quick to go get others from their various locations around the city. The reason they had gas cans in the SUVs is because they drove around so much in Manhattan traffic, they needed the emergency gasoline in case they got stuck in a traffic jam. As far as the “black metal box” that resembled a gun-locker is concerned, that’s a cash box, a lockable cash box they use to keep cash in… not hard to figure out.
Even the clock with a wire attached to it is easy to figure out. Many of these venders used by the companies to man these carts are dirt-poor, many of them working for 2 or 3 dollars and hour, if that, off the books. They just came to the country, legally or not, they are being taken advantage of, and some might not even have a watch. So what the cart pick-up guy with the SUV has to do if they don’t have a watch is leave a clock with them so that they can start to prep the cart before he returns to pick them up. If they aren’t ready to go when the pick-up guy gets there, then that throws the timing all off. That costs money. So what they do is leave a cheap alarm clock with the vendor if he doesn’t have a watch and it has a piece of wire on it which they can use to fix the clock to the umbrella stand.
Even the illegal aspect of the SUV fits this theory.
There are a lot of illegal cars in the big city. Vehicle insurance for a hot-dog vending company in New York City must cost a fortune so they pay insurance on a couple of legal cars to make it all look legit, but in reality they need more pick-up vehicles than they can afford to pay insurance on. So… they “contract’ some of the guys to use their own vehicles, where-ever they get them, and they have to provide assurances they have insurance. So, an industrious new immigrant decides to stop standing around a smelly hot-dog cart all day and he “acquires” an SUV so he can move up the company ladder.
Now, imagine what that guy was thinking when he went out to his SUV and found 10 cops and bomb sniffing dogs all around his illegal car. People were running down the street, cops looked scared, and there he is, barely able to speak english, and he had just arrived from Pakistan… maybe even with no Green Card in his pocket. What the fuck do you think he is going to do? Walk up to a New York City cop and tell him it’s his truck? Or slip off into the crowd and hope he can find another under-the-table job?
I promise you… they found vending supplies in that vehicle… cases of soda, chips, hotdogs and buns… but you will NEVER hear about that… not now that the politicians are involved.)
Now that is probably what happened, just for the record… but let’s take a look at how the story changed overnight from a non-terrorist carfire into the biggest foiled Domestic Terrorism act in a decade….

“Area evacuated; federal official tells N.Y. Times it’s not terrorist threat“ MSNBC 12:47 am

At 12:47 am, after 6 hours of non-stop “terrorism” coverage, MSNBC had concluded that the event was not a terrorist event. They hadn’t come to that conclusion on their own.

“But the New York Times reported that a federal official said the incident was not considered a terrorist threat.“… ”Other emergency personnel on the scene called the incident a “car fire.”" MSNBC 12:47 am

Since I just had this strange feeling that the politicos wouldn’t let a good opportunity like this pass by, I copied and pasted the entire MSNBC article into a Word document before going to sleep. This morning, that story is gone and all the questions about whether or not this event was “terrorism” are gone with it. Now, it is clearly an act of homegrown terrorism. See what happens when the politicians get involved?
Mayor Bloomberg can’t seem to get his story straight yet though. Either that or the rest of the propaganda mill hasn’t quite picked up on his efforts to control the narrative. Take for instance the quality of the “bomb” itself. Everyone else says it was “amateurish”, even Bloomberg said that at one point. But that story just won’t do… so Bloomberg changed it.

Bloomberg called the explosive device “amateurish” but potentially deadly, noting: “We are very lucky.” New MSNBC Story
Police found an “amateurish” but potentially powerful bomb in a smoking sport utility vehicle in Times Square… New MSNBC Story
The wiring around the device “was nothing that looked amateurish,” Bloomberg said. CNN Story

At one minute the device looked “amateurish” to the good mayor, then all of a sudden it looked like nothing that was “amateurish”. But that wasn’t the only contradiction that the good billionaire mayor would make…

The officer, who did not give his name because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said a man was seen fleeing the vehicle. MSNBC 12:47 am
“So far, we have no reports of anybody running away (from the car),” Bloomberg said.

Well, there’s one report…
New York Governor David Paterson is also calling this an act of terrorism and using the spotlight to praise the counter terrorism task force.

New York Governor David Paterson called the incident an “act of terrorism.”
“Luckily, no one is hurt, and now the full attention of city, state and federal law enforcement will be turned to bringing the guilty party to justice in this act of terrorism,” he said in a statement. MSNBC

Even Obama had to get into the act…

President Barack Obama, who attended the annual gala, praised the quick response by the New York Police Department, White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said.
He has also directed his homeland security and counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, to advise New York officials that the federal government is prepared to provide support. MSNBC

(Notice that Obama has Bush’s old ex-CIA big wig, John Brennon on the scene and still on his staff. This career CIA bureaucrat will be sure to get to the bottom of this. And I am sure he will do it in a way that doesn’t take into consideration that a foiled homegrown terrorist act will be a boom for the Domestic Security industry that his old company, The Analysis Corporation would be able to profit from… I sure he isn’t like that at all…)
In short, the politicians got involved and the story has changed. Gone are the statements from the first responders and gone is the statement that this was not a terrorist act.
But what do you expect? There is nothing to gain from a story about an city-wide official overreaction to an illegal SUV owned by a hot-dog vender while there is a lot to be gained by turning it into a foiled act of Domestic Terror.
In the first case, you might even find business owners suing the city for needless loss of revenue on a Saturday night. But with the other narrative, the City that Never Sleeps gets an influx of counter-terrorism money.
The ways they can use the second story are endless. The spotlight leaves that sticky little mess in the Gulf and politicians will soon be using the illegal nature of the vehicle to press for the passage of the Real ID act or some other god-awful law.
The point is, take any event, any one at all, and let these lying conniving politicians get their hands on it with their PR (propaganda) specialists, and they will turn it into whatever serves their interests. Period. And if you don’t pay attention, if you don’t copy and paste the early stage reporting, it’s lost into the void of the internet, never to be seen again. In the post 9/11 world, nothing is what it seems. Everything serves a greater purpose to these criminals and the truth is always the first casualty.

[Ed Jewett]

Photo of a Green SUV In Times Square, On the Same Corner, and Next to the CNN Witness’ Hot Dog Stand – Taken A Year Ago

Posted on May 2, 2010 by willyloman
by Scott Creighton
When I first heard the story last night, it seemed like what they found in the green SUV could easily have been materials used by any hotdog vendor in Manhattan. This morning, in an earlier article, I gave a detailed explanation of what I think happened in Times Square last night and I showed how the media had been changing the story from an accidental car fire into a “terrorist” act.
After further investigation, I think I was right.. the SUV belonged to a hotdog vender, the propane tanks are used in their carts to keep the hotdogs warm. The gas cans are in case he runs out of gas in traffic while servicing all the carts and running around picking them up. The reason the SUV was double parked is because this guy was just coming by to resupply or pick up his partner, and so he double parked the SUV near the cart and left it running. The do it all the time in New York City. Once the cops were aware of the SUV because of the fireworks going off in the back seat, the vendor certainly didn’t want to claim ownership of the potentially stolen vehicle with fraudulent tags.
Well, the last photo I found may just prove my point. It is definitely a photo of the hotdog stand that the CNN witness stated was his stand and it is right across the street from where the SUV was. In fact, the photo that I just happened across is of the same guy being interviewed in the CNN story and he is standing in front of what appears to be a Dark Green SUV.
During the CNN interview, the witness reports that his “partner” had just come by and that he was working the vending cart while he took a break to eat. This would explain why the SUV was double parked and the engine was still running… the “partner” didn’t expect to stay and help out.
In the photo that I found dated last year this time… the man who appears to be the same guy being interviewed by CNN today, is wearing an Adidas jacket (three white stripes on a black background) and in the interview he is wearing an Adidas shirt ( see Adidas logo here). It really appears to be the same guy, just a year older now. The interesting thing about the photo is that the man standing next to him behind the service area of the cart appears that he might in fact be the witness’s partner (I know that is an assumption, but a customer wouldn’t stand back there) and it appears as if he is standing next to a dark green SUV.
What follows is a step by step series of photos and screenshots that leads me to conclude that CNN actually interviewed the partner of the owner of the Green SUV.
The first photo is the one I found of the vendor and his cart on the same corner. This photo was taken last year and I just happened to find in on the internet. (click on photos for larger view)

Notice the Sabrett umbrellas, the Lion King marquis in the back, and what appears to be a green colored SUV directly behind the two vendors (circled)… This photo was taken a year ago and I found it, here.
I was immediately struck when I saw this photo because it puts the cart in the exact same place as the hotdog vender’s who was interviewed on CNN today.
The next picture show them loading up the green SUV with the Lion King marquis in the background. It’s from the Today Show, MSNBC. Notice the tan-colored wall which you can clearly see in the picture above.

Now, you can clearly see the same Lion King marquis in the background and the green SUV being loaded onto the tow truck in the early morning hours… also notice the broken and graduated walkway…
The next picture is a picture taken from the I-Report site that a person sent in from a balcony right across the street. You will see the green SUV in its position, double parked, lights still flashing. Across the street you will see the hotdog cart and the same graduated pedestrian walk-way.

As you can see, you have the green SUV, the hotdog cart, and the walk-way. Another thing to notice is how far the SUV was from curb. He double parked… that is why the engine was still and the flashers were on.
Now, this next screen-shot is from the CNN interview with the witness, Hamid Baubaln. Baubaln stated that his “partner” showed up and he was able to take a break to get something to eat. This is that screen-shot.

Notice he is wearing Adidas shirt and cap.
Now, remember this image I found from a picture taken a year ago from the exact same location…

This is a hotdog vendor on the exact same corner of Times Square, right across from where the Green SUV was double parked last night, wearing an Adidas warm-up jacket.
Let’s look a little closer…

Last year…
and this year…

now side by side…

Is this the same guy a year later? If it is, then we might want to take a close look at the man standing beside him behind the hotdog cart… because that just might be his “partner”… and more importantly, we might want to notice what is clearly a dark-colored SUV parked right behind him and the cart (as if he were unloading stock)…
Now, you tell me that isn’t a green SUV behind that man….

The easiest thing to do would be to check with the vender rental records. They rent these corners each year. Whomever is the “partner” of the CNN witness is probably listed on that lease with the city, and my guess would be that it’s his fingerprints in that SUV. It wasn’t a bomb attempt. It was a car fire, just like the early reports stated. But when the cops came over looking at the firecrackers and the smoke, the guy who knew the car was illegal wasn’t going to claim it and go to jail.
Then it snowballed from there.
It wasn’t a “crude” car bomb… it wasn’t al Qaeda in Pakistan. It wasn’t someone angry with South Park or some false flag operation.
It was simply a guy double parked, giving a vendor a dinner break, who left his engine running and his flashers on… because he was 12 feet away filling in at his partner’s hotdog vending cart.
It was a careless mistake that took on a life of its own after police saw propane tanks in the back of the SUV. But even after all that, the investigators on the scene initially had it right… it was nothing more than a small car fire.
Then the slimy politicians got a hold of the story and started to lie it into something else.
"Never let a Crisis go to waste"

[Ed Jewett]

Authorities Have Identified Person of Interest in Times Square Bomb Attempt Investigation Pointing to Coordinated Effort, Foreign Links in Foiled Times Square Attack

By RICHARD ESPOSITO, PIERRE THOMAS and BRIAN ROSS

May 3, 2010—

Federal authorities are closing in on the man they say is a person of interest in the Times Square car bomb attempt this weekend, who is described as a naturalized American citizen who hails from Pakistan and just returned after spending five months there.
There is growing evidence the bomber did not act alone and had ties to radical elements overseas, with one senior official telling ABC News there are several individuals believed to be connected with the bombing and that at least one of them is a Pakistani-American.
Attorney General Eric Holder said today the investigators had made "substantial progress" in tracking the man who drove a Nissan Pathfinder into New York's Times Square with a crude bomb that failed to detonate.
Officials declined to provide the specifics that led them to believe there were overseas links to a larger plot.
Authorities said another clue in the investigation is a video posted online early Sunday morning by persons in Connecticut, who may have been involved in the bomb attempt and are being sought by law enforcement. The video, posted on a site registered one day before the attack, has the Taliban in Pakistan claiming responsibility for the attempted bombing.
The Washington Post, quoting Obama Administration sources, said the attempted bombing "increasingly appears to have been coordinated by several people in a plot with international links."
Other law enforcement officials said the investigation was closing in on the driver of the vehicle and an unknown number of others connected to him.
"This is moving very fast because they left behind a treasure trove of evidence in the unexploded car," one US official told ABC News.
Officials told ABC News Senior Justice correspondent Pierre Thomas that the Connecticut owner of the vehicle told them he had sold the Nissan SUV last month in an unrecorded sale to an "Arabic or Latino looking man" in his 20's or 30's, for a few hundred dollars in cash.


The license plate on the car was apparently stolen from an auto repair shop outside Bridgeport, Connecticut, according to law enforcement officials.
The authorities told ABC News that the previous owner provided a description of the man who bought the car, and told investigators the vehicle was sold for several hundred dollars in cash, with no written records identifying the purchaser.
The license plate found on the Pathfinder also came from Connecticut, #98CY09, according to photographs of the vehicle.

Times Square Bomb

Authorities tell ABC News that the plate came from a vehicle that was in a repair shop near Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Meantime, police are now engaged in an urgent manhunt for a man caught on tape near the SUV, loaded with propane, fireworks, fertilizer and timing devices.
Though a Taliban leader thought killed in a U.S. drone strike has now resurfaced in a video threatening attacks on U.S. cities, and the Taliban has claimed credit for the failed New York attack, U.S. authorities are skeptical.
According to police, surveillance shots from a half block away from the site of the Saturday incident may give clues to the person responsible.
The New York City Police Department has released video showing a white male in his 40s looking back in the direction of West 45th street. He can also be seen in the video shedding a dark-colored shirt, revealing a red one underneath.
On Good Morning America, New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg was cautious in his description of the man on the surveillance tape, calling him "a person of interest."
Bloomberg expressed confidence that whoever was responsible for the failed attack would be caught. "There's a high probability we will find out who did this," said Bloomberg. "There's a lot of evidence."
The would-be bomber packed the car with more than 100 pounds of fertilizer, but not the kind that would explode, police said.
Had the bomber chosen the right kind of fertilizer, the bomb would have had the force of more than 100 pounds of TNT. But instead of ammonium nitrate, the kind of fertilizer used by Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, the bomber used a harmless fertilizer, New York City Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said.

A surveillance camera captured an image of the car crossing Broadway through pre-theater crowds just before 6:30 p.m. Saturday. The car was left on W. 45th Street with its lights flashing and engine running.
The surrounding area was evacuated after street vendor Duane Jackson saw smoke coming from the Pathfinder and alerted police. Jackson, who has been working in Times Square for 13 years, said he is always on alert in the crowded public space, and in touch with police. "Vigilance is the key," said Jackson. "Keep your wits about you [and] don't take anything for granted."
Police moved back thousands of theatergoers and tourists as the bomb squad moved in.
Technicians blew open the back doors and trunk and found the car packed with propane canisters and gasoline containers.
"Clearly it was the intent of whoever did this to cause mayhem," said New York police commissioner Ray Kelly.
But the detonator, alarm clocks hooked up to fire crackers, failed to work.
"They would not have been able to have stopped the bomb if it had been wired properly," said former counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke, now an ABC News consultant. "Someone was able to drive into New York with what looks like bomb parts, drive right into the heart of Times Square, pull up on the sidewalk, jump up and run away and not get caught."
The bomb bore similarities to two Al Qaeda-connected attacks on a London nightclub and an airport in Scotland in 2007. Three vehicles used in the attempted bombings contained propane gas tanks.
Al Qaeda has posted videos showing how to construct a bomb using propane tanks and gasoline.
On Sunday night, the Taliban released a video featuring Hakimullah Mehsud, who U.S. and Pakistani authorities had thought was killed in a drone strike in January.
On the recording Mehsud can be heard saying, "The time is very near when our fedayeen will attack the American states in their major cities." He also claims that Taliban fedayeen "have penetrated the terrorist America, we will give extremely painful blows to the fanatic America."
Mehsud's video was recorded April 4, and Mehsud threatens attacks in the days and weeks to come.
Earlier, in the hours after the failed Times Square bombing, a Taliban group in Pakistan claimed responsibility for what it called a "jaw-breaking blow to Satan's USA.
But U.S. officials expressed doubt about a Taliban connection.
Mayor Bloomberg said that so far there was "no legitimate evidence" the Taliban or al Qaeda were involved. "There's one group of the Taliban that claims credit for everything, including traffic jams," said Bloomberg.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano noted on Good Mormng America that there is a history of groups trying to claim credit for attacks. But she did not rule out any groups. "What we have is a real attempt at an attack," said Napolitano. "Law enforcement is pursuing leads."
Click Here for the Blotter Homepage.

Copyright © 2010 ABC News Internet Ventures


Has embedded video




http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/times-squa...d=10534834

[Ed Jewett]

New videos show Pakistani Taliban chief thought to have been killed in January


In the videos, Hakimullah Mehsud vows attacks on U.S. cities, which he says his suicide bombers have already penetrated. The videos provide the first solid evidence that he survived the missile strike, and they come after the Pakistani Taliban's widely dismissed claim of responsibility for the failed attack in New York's Times Square. In that case, authorities were zeroing in on a naturalized U.S. citizen from Pakistan, though any connections to extremist groups were unknown.
Mehsud's profession of global goals was a departure for the Pakistani Taliban, a motley militant network. The group is linked to al-Qaeda, but it has displayed no ability to carry out attacks outside Pakistan and Afghanistan. Last year, it falsely asserted responsibility for a shooting in New York.
Intelligence officials and analysts said the threats against the United States probably represented more of that same bravado, meant to rally the troops of a weakened organization -- but also prove that it has not been beaten.



More here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...00502.html

[Magda Hassan]

Arrest Made in Times Square Bomb Case

Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times
A Connecticut woman said she sold the S.U.V. used in the failed bombing to a man she described as Middle Eastern or Hispanic.

By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM, MARK MAZZETTI and PETER BAKER

Published: May 3, 2010

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This article is by William K. Rashbaum, Mark Mazzetti and Peter Baker.



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Win McNamee/Getty Images

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. at a news conference Monday: “I think that we have made really substantial progress.”

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Christopher Capozziello for The New York Times

Plates on the Nissan Pathfinder were traced to a pickup truck being repaired at Kramer's Used Auto Parts in Stratford, Conn.




Federal agents and police detectives arrested a Connecticut man, a naturalized United States citizen from Pakistan, early Tuesday in connection with the failed Times Square car bombing, according to people briefed on the investigation.
The man, Faisal Shahzad, was believed to have recently bought the 1993 Nissan Pathfinder that was found loaded with gasoline, propane, fireworks and fertilizer in the heart of Times Square, one of the people briefed on the development said.
Mr. Shahzad was taken into custody at Kennedy Airport, apparently trying to flee, one of the people said. Charges against Mr. Shahzad, who had returned recently from a trip to Pakistan, were not announced.
The authorities began focusing on him after they tracked the vehicle to its previously registered owner in Bridgeport, Conn., who had advertised it for sale on several Web sites. He paid cash, and the sale was handled without any formal paperwork.
The former owner told investigators that it appeared the buyer was of Middle Eastern or Hispanic descent, but could not recall his name. It was unclear how agents from the Joint Terrorist Task Force identified him. Federal authorities provided few details on Monday night about the arrest, the suspect or the scope of any conspiracy in the failed attack.
The authorities have been exploring whether the man or others who might have been involved in the attempted bombing had been in contact with people or groups overseas, according to federal officials.
The investigation was shifted on Monday to the control of the international terrorism branch of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, a multiagency group led by the Justice Department, according to two federal officials.
Officials cautioned that the investigation of possible international contacts did not mean there was a connection to a known terrorist group, but they said they were exploring all possibilities.
“It’s a prominent lead that they’re following, the international association,” said a senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a continuing investigation. “But there’s still a lot of information being gathered.”
On Monday, prior to the arrest, there was a sweeping response to the attempted attack in the tourist-packed city-within-a-city of Times Square — including an increased police presence, vehicle inspections and a touch of panic from veteran New Yorkers when a manhole fire flared five blocks from the scene of the failed bombing. Consolidated Edison blamed faulty wiring for the fire.
The recent sale of the Pathfinder began online. An advertisement that appears to be for the vehicle, which had 141,000 miles on the odometer and was listed for sale at $1,300 on at least two Web sites, emphasized that it was in good condition — “CLEAN inside and out!!” — with a recently repaired alternator and a new gas pump, distributor and front tires. “It does have some rust as you can see in the picture,” the seller allowed on NothingButCars.net, “but other than that, it runs great.” The other advertisement appeared on Craigslist.
In Bridgeport, the seller refused to answer questions. “You can’t interview her,” said an unidentified man at the woman’s two-story, white clapboard house. “She already talked to the F.B.I.”
The police earlier on Monday continued sifting through footage from 82 city cameras mounted from 34th Street to 51st Street between Avenue of the Americas and Eighth Avenue, and from untold number of business and tourist cameras.
But investigators appeared to have begun to assign less significance to a man who appeared to be in his 40s who was seen on one video, and it may well be because they were close to arresting the Connecticut man.
The man in the video was seen walking away from the area where the Pathfinder was parked and through Shubert Alley, which runs between 44th and 45th Streets. He looked over his shoulder at least twice and pulled off a shirt, revealing a red T-shirt underneath.
The New York police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, said investigators still wanted to speak to that man, but acknowledged that he might not be connected to the failed bombing. Paul J. Browne, the department’s top spokesman, said the police had stopped looking for additional video in the area that might have tracked the man’s movements.
“It may turn out that he was just somebody in the area, but not connected with the car bomb,” Mr. Browne said.
Before the arrest occurred, the police had said they might release footage of a man running north on Broadway at the time that a fire broke out in the Pathfinder.
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. seemed optimistic in comments he made Monday morning. “I think that we have made really substantial progress,” he told reporters in Washington. “We have some good leads.”
The materials found in the Pathfinder were to be sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s laboratory in Quantico, Va., for analysis, the police said. Janet Napolitano, the homeland security secretary, said on the “Today” show that it was premature to label any person or group as suspect. “Right now, every lead has to be pursued,” she said. “I caution against premature decisions one way or the other.” But the White House made clear that it considered the effort an act of terrorism, whoever its authors were. “I think anybody that has the type of material that they had in a car in Times Square, I would say that that was intended to terrorize, absolutely,” said the White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs.
Reporting was contributed by Alison Leigh Cowan, Robert Davey, Nate Schweber, Michael Wilson and Karen Zraick.




http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/nyregion/04bomb.html

[Peter Lemkin]

A Pakistani-American was arrested for this at JFK Airport today. Hmmm..... He recently returned from Pakistan near the Afghani border, or so it is reported...stay tuned...:vroam:

[Magda Hassan]

I wish they'd make their minds up if he was coming or going. It's all over the place like a dogs breakfast.

[Jan Klimkowski]

I wish they'd make their minds up if he was coming or going. It's all over the place like a dogs breakfast.

I'd fire the scriptwriter. He's clearly assuming a combination of needlessly prescribed ritalin for kids, dirt cheap crystal meth for adults, and Faux News propaganda as a never-ending soundtrack to Yankee life, has totally destroyed the capacity for critical thought of most Americans.

I suspect this Times Square fiasco is modelled on the following movie:

The Creeping Terror (1964)

Directed by Arthur J. Nelson (who also stars in the film under the pseudonym Vic Savage), the film is memorable for its use of some bargain-basement effects: stock footage of a rocket launch played in reverse to depict the landing of an alien spacecraft, and what appears to be shag carpet draped over several actors shambling about at a snail's pace (tennis shoes are occasionally visible) thus bringing the monstrous "creeping terror" to the screen. Due to having had most of its dialogue lost, the movie also employs a technique that has come to be synonymous with Z-movie horror: voiceover narration explaining to the audience the dialogue being silently enacted onscreen.

The movie was lampooned in September 1994 in an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. It remains on the IMDb's Bottom 100 movie list,and appeared in the 2004 documentary The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made.

[Ed Jewett]

Tennis shoes beneath shag carpet costumes is an apt image.

[Jan Klimkowski]

Tennis shoes beneath shag carpet costumes is an apt image.

As is: voiceover narration explaining to the audience the dialogue being silently enacted onscreen

As a filmmaker, I can guarantee that voiceover narration need bear no relevance to the events on screen whatseover.....