Conffederate
Confederate

May 02, 2010

Taliban Claims Responsibility for Times Square Bomb Attempt

Let's see Mayor Bloomberg continue to downplay this:

A top Pakistani Taliban commander took credit for yesterday's failed car bomb attack in New York City.

Qari Hussain Mehsud, the top bomb maker for the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, said he takes "fully responsibility for the recent attack in the USA." Qari Hussain made the claim on an audiotape accompanied by images that was released on a YouTube website that calls itself the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan News Channel.

The tape has yet to be verified, but US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal believe it is legitimate. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan News Channel on YouTube was created on April 30. Officials believe it was created to announce the Times Square attack, and Qari Hussain's statement was pre-recorded.

"This attack is a revenge for the great & valuable martyred leaders of mujahideen," Qari Hussain said. He listed Baitullah Mehsud, the former leader of the Pakistani Taliban who was killed in a Predator strike in August 2009, and Abu Omar al Baghdadi, the former leader of al Qaeda Islamic State of Iraq who was killed by Iraqi forces in mid-April. And although he was not mentioned, an image of Abu Ayyub al Masri, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, was also displayed in the images accompanying the audiotape.

You can view the video yourself at The Long War Journal. I don't think we can emphasis enough that this has every appearance of being a legitimate Taliban attack inside the United States, plotted overseas, and not the work of an isolated homegrown jihadi acting on his own initiative.

The bomber obviously has access to the explosives and vehicles as they are extremely common components. The question now is whether the bomber has orders to make a second attempt.

(h/t AllahPundit on Twitter)

Posted by Confederate Yankee at May 2, 2010 11:24 AM
Comments

so I guess this conflicts with Obama's administrations october 2009 policy "President Obama's national security team is moving to reframe its war strategy by emphasizing the campaign against Al Qaeda in Pakistan while arguing that the Taliban in Afghanistan do not pose a direct threat to the United States, officials said Wednesday."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/team-obama-afghan-taliban_b_314144.html

Who would have thought??!?!?!?

Posted by: Scott at May 2, 2010 01:37 PM

It sounds a lot more like the amateur and homegrown failed car bombing outside of a club in London in 07 or 08 than Al Qaeda or the Taliban. They used propane tanks as well.

Posted by: Jim at May 2, 2010 01:51 PM

Actually it sounds like a good design poorly done. the ingredients if ignited correctly would cause a rolling expanding fireball and pressure wave.

I keep saying this: As easy as it is to make a bomb (especially here in the USA) we have been very lucky the bombers have been stupid or incompetent.

Posted by: JP at May 2, 2010 01:57 PM

Good thing we've been fighting them over there so they can't fight us over here!

Posted by: Doc Washboard at May 2, 2010 07:15 PM

Refresh my memory, Doc... how many combat soldiers did we have in Afghanistan in September of 2001?

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at May 2, 2010 07:19 PM

It wasn't al queda. i have picked your site to announce that the Pennsylvania Chapter of The Affiliated Quilters and Knitters hereby claims responsibility for the foiled attempt. We're upset with yarn prices.


See how easy it is to claim responsibility for something you had nothing to do with?

anyway, I'll join in..... BLAME OBAMA!!!!!!!

Posted by: Jerry at May 2, 2010 07:32 PM

We had no soldiers in Afghanistan in September 2001, we did, however, have quite a few in the Arabian peninsula. This, along with our support for Israel, is why we were attacked. There are no guarantees of course, but not meddling in their business would probably limit their meddling in ours.

Posted by: Will Butler at May 2, 2010 07:57 PM

"but not meddling in their business would probably limit their meddling in ours."

All those pesky non-Muslim citizens from Nigeria to the Indonesia who've been slaughtered must have had it coming. If only they'd been smart enough not to meddle in those poor jihadis' business, their heads might still be attached to their bodies.

Posted by: Nine-of-Diamonds at May 2, 2010 08:15 PM

Cute, but that's not what I was referring to. Actions that nations take have consequences. For example, we deposed Mossadegh in Iran and replaced him with the Shah, whose misrule was a primary cause of the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and the Iranian revolution. We backed the "Noble" Mujahideen against the Soviets and their native Marxist allies in Kabul, and you see how that turned out... You can see everything in terms of "the terr'ists hate our freedom", or you can be a rational thinking adult.

Posted by: Will Butler at May 2, 2010 08:30 PM
"but not meddling in their business would probably limit their meddling in ours."

Killing them is a bit more reliable.

Posted by: Pablo at May 2, 2010 08:47 PM

Killing who, white men in their 40s?

Posted by: Jim at May 2, 2010 10:00 PM

"Cute, but that's not what I was referring to."

There's nothing cute about church burnings or little Asian schoolgirls getting mutilated for the crime of being Christian. I want to know, what did these people do to provoke their murders?

Posted by: Nine-of-Diamonds at May 2, 2010 10:05 PM

Sort of weird ... I was 6 blocks North when this happened.

Posted by: Neo at May 3, 2010 10:17 AM

I can't for the life of me figure out why you haven't been updating this breaking story of a clear attack by the Taliban upon the USA.

Posted by: Jim at May 3, 2010 03:49 PM

Don't worry, Jim, I'll make an update once they can provide more about the Pakistani-American and others suspected in this plot that the government agrees is an overseas plot.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at May 3, 2010 03:52 PM

Well that's kind of why I asked. You linked to the story about the video that now appears to not have been connected to the bomb, but haven't had anything to say about what's come out in the last two days.

I assume you're talking about the WaPo source for the foreign involvement story, but it seems to be pretty clear that it wasn't anything organized -- like the Taliban or AlQ. So why wait on that info after having posted that it was clearly Taliban days ago?

Posted by: Jim at May 3, 2010 04:06 PM

Better get cracking, CY. Otherwise, Jim will do...what, exactly? Hmm...

Posted by: Nine-of-Diamonds at May 3, 2010 09:30 PM

Otherwise I'll call him out for only being interested in an attempted bombing if the bomber is a foreigner or a lefty. When the rumor was that the guy was Taliban CY was all over the story, when the facts started pointing towards a "white 40-something American" CY started pushing other stories about rioting lefties. He linked to a Taliban video but couldn't find the time to link to the NYPD video of the suspect. Pretty lame use of the attempted murder of Americans if you ask me.

Posted by: Jim at May 3, 2010 09:59 PM

Wow... Jim done figured I was anglin' to racially profile a dad-gummed furnier! Why, i even dared post about somethin' other that that exact same topic!

How dare I not adhere to "Jim's Rules of How Other People Should Run Their Blogs!"

Listen, slick... I've got something in excess of 3,500 blog entries dating back to 2004. If you can find in there any occurance of where I stuck to one story or theme exclusively for days or weeks on end, without posting on anything else, then you might have a point... but you don't.

I posted the Long War Journal info because I know Bill a little and he is a solid source. If the pros are now backing off the authenticity of the video, fine. But opinions on that are mixed at best.

Right now all that has updated is that we have a vaguely caucasian man on video and another suspect in a video I haven't seen, neither of which really do much to advance the story at all... other than your apparent desire to find some sort of hidden meaning.

I'd also suggest you learn that caucasian does not mean "white."

But that fact wouldn't fit your agenda, would it?

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at May 3, 2010 10:59 PM

The NYPD called the guy white, not Caucasian, as did Fox, Allahpundit, if you think they have an agenda take it up with them, Slick.

Posted by: Jim at May 3, 2010 11:10 PM

Having told us the bomb wasn't at all amateurish I'd think you have found all the amateurish details -- M88s, plain fertilizer in a gun locker -- newsworthy. But then again, you're not interested in any facts that don't support your guess. Almost like someone with an...agenda.

Posted by: Jim at May 3, 2010 11:33 PM

Pakistani-American Faisal Shahzad has been arrested...

Initial police reports claimed was Caucasian, not white. Sorry. You're wrong again, Jim.

As for the device, it looks like he tried to improvise with the fertilizer, but depending on the precise configuration of device, claiming that fireworks--a stable ignition source--are the sign of an amateur simple means you know nothing of field expedient weapons.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at May 4, 2010 01:22 AM

Initial police reports? Where? Like I said, the NYPD, Fox and Allahpundit all used the word "White". Do you want or need me to supply all the links or can you be honest about at least that point?

And save me the blah blah about my knowledge of explosives. Have you seen ANY expert source, NYPD, FBI, heck a blogger you trust, who says THIS device was anything but amateur hour?

Posted by: Jim at May 4, 2010 07:01 AM

"Almost like someone with an...agenda. "

Because Jim's agenda is either non-existent or just-so self evidently right that it doesn't matter. Some agendas are more equal than others!

"You're wrong again, Jim."

Sssh - in jimbo's "mind" jihad-boy must be some rightie tea-party fellow with an elaborate Muslim disguise. I can almost hear the whimpering in progglodyte circles - one news anchor all but admitted that she was "disappointed" that the man turned out to be a Muslim. I wonder who she was hoping he'd be...?

Posted by: Nine-of-Diamonds at May 5, 2010 10:54 PM