Failed car bomb in Times Square

[technoextreme]

We can't rule out al Qaida or the Taliban just by the suspect's ethnicity. They have many sympathizers among white Americans. A couple of recent, high profile examples are Colleen LaRose (aka "Jihad Jane") who was recruited to travel to Sweden to carry out a hit, and Zachary Chesser (aka "Abu Talhah al-Amrikee") who threatened the South Park creators with death for depicting Mohammed.

It's certainly likely as well that this was a lone nut with an axe to grind, but not all the facts are in yet.

Yeah but given the nature of television this actually would be rudimentary knowledge. I can't imagine anyone building this crude of a bomb that was disproven on national television repeatedly.

 

[I Ratant]

According to an article in the LA Times yesterday
.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationw...-pakistan-fertilizer-20100501,0,6132806.story
.
Al-Q and Taliban know how to make very effective powerful bombs.
Like our McVeigh did.

 

[MattusMaximus]

We can't rule out al Qaida or the Taliban just by the suspect's ethnicity. They have many sympathizers among white Americans. A couple of recent, high profile examples are Colleen LaRose (aka "Jihad Jane") who was recruited to travel to Sweden to carry out a hit, and Zachary Chesser (aka "Abu Talhah al-Amrikee") who threatened the South Park creators with death for depicting Mohammed.

It's certainly likely as well that this was a lone nut with an axe to grind, but not all the facts are in yet.

Just highlighting for emphasis, folks. Let's get more solid info before we start engaging in rampant confirmation bias, shall we?

 

[KingMerv00]

Just highlighting for emphasis, folks. Let's get more solid info before we start engaging in rampant confirmation bias, shall we?

Still fun to speculate.

My money is on paranoid mentally ill loner with no formal connection to "real" terrorism. A dumb unabomber.

 

[cienaños]

Just highlighting for emphasis, folks. Let's get more solid info before we start engaging in rampant confirmation bias, shall we?

Agreed.

And...

 

[GreNME]

Just highlighting for emphasis, folks. Let's get more solid info before we start engaging in rampant confirmation bias, shall we?

I read somewhere that the driver of the SUV was heard shouting "Allahu Ackbar" as he walked away from the scene.

 

[technoextreme]

Agreed.

And...

I'm not. That first article sounds a bit paranoid and overbearing. Though it now makes a lot more sense. Had there been an working actual explosive in the car it would make a really effective bomb. You use the bomb to to blow a hole in the propane tanks. The propane tanks catastrophically explode with a really huge force. I wonder why it took them a while to report that.

 

[Skeptic]

A microwave oven that someone had dumped on the route of the marathon.

Shows you the difference between Pennsylvania and New York.

In New York a car with lights and running motor with nobody in and a friggin' gas canister attached to an alarm clock in the middle of friggin' Times Square only gets attention by chance.

In Pennsylvania a microwave oven found WHERE IT SHOULDN'T BE!!!! (ooooooo-----eeeeeeeee------ooooooooo) makes national news.

 

[KingMerv00]

Shows you the difference between Pennsylvania and New York.

In New York a car with lights and running motor with nobody in and a friggin' gas canister attached to an alarm clock in the middle of friggin' Times Square only gets attention by chance.

In Pennsylvania a microwave oven found WHERE IT SHOULDN'T BE!!!! (ooooooo-----eeeeeeeee------ooooooooo) makes national news.

I'll be honest, I laughed at the above but the last time I made fun of a southern state, I got cries of "stereotype"!

 

[Darth Rotor]

Maybe he was hoping they'd form a giant "V" above the explosion.

I chuckled.

I'll be honest, I laughed at the above but the last time I made fun of a southern state, I got cries of "stereotype"!

PA is not a southern state.

Once again, a bomber who was not tech savvy.

DR

 

[Bell]

Person of interest is a 40 something white male.

Did he come from Michigan?
Or more serious, some extreme right wing militia nutter?

 

[kerikiwi]

Once again, a bomber who was not tech savvy.

DR

And one who had heard of fertiliser bombs and thought any old BS would do the trick.

 

[Policenaut]

I saw the video. He had on a long sleeve shirt, took it off to reveal a t-shirt, and walked away. Seems like something anyone might do on a hot day. The only thing that even ties this guy to the situation is that he was looking in the direction of the suv. He might be the main suspect (maybe there are other tapes of him that haven't been released) but just going by this tape alone it seems reasonable that this guy was just some guy who was hot and took off his secondary shirt. More info is needed.

 

[kerikiwi]

I saw the video. He had on a long sleeve shirt, took it off to reveal a t-shirt, and walked away. Seems like something anyone might do on a hot day.

And he was described as doing it furtively in an alleyway, looking over his shoulder towards the SUV
Didn't look remotely furtive, didn't look over his shoulder, and that alleyway was so busy it needed pedestrian lights.

 

[Bell]

Hence the NYPD calls the man a person of interest, instead of suspect.

 

[Policenaut]

Right. But some people are taking it as fact that this guy is the main suspect and are already theorizing his affiliation and motive.

 

[Bell]

Right. But some people are taking it as fact that this guy is the main suspect and are already theorizing his affiliation and motive.

Kind of what I did?

But if the suspect is a white male, I think him being a right wing militia nutter could be very likely?

Acting against that communistic and Islamophile Barry Soetoro

 

[Toke]

I you can figure out how to disable the safety valve you should get an explosion from placing a propane tank on top of the burner it is supplying.

It would make no sense to also have bags of fertiliser there, it is an oxidising agent and have to be mixed with diesel to be explosive, a mistake I made as a school kid.

It sounds like the terrorist were not too bright.

 

[Policenaut]

Kind of what I did?

But if the suspect is a white male, I think him being a right wing militia nutter could be very likely?

It could be. But this scenario doesn't seem to fit in with the typical MO of those sorts of nuts. Right wing nuts usually go after government targets (but they don't have the monopoly on that as seen by the recent IRS plane attack) or abortion clinics.

 

[Policenaut]

I you can figure out how to disable the safety valve you should get an explosion from placing a propane tank on top of the burner it is supplying.

It would make no sense to also have bags of fertiliser there, it is an oxidising agent and have to be mixed with diesel to be explosive, a mistake I made as a school kid.

It sounds like the terrorist were not too bright.

I think that is the safe thing to say right now. Whoever was behind this was a true amateur and seemed to have no real knowledge on the mechanics of bombs or explosions. Besides the fertilizer not being mixed it seems to be a non-explosive type anyway. It looks well thought out from the perspective that he bought the car with cash in another state, didn't sign the registration, took off the vin number, used different license plates, and got the suv into the middle of times square. The only deficiency was the truly important one: the actual bomb. And thankfully the perpetrator was ignorant of even the most basic aspects of bomb making. And he still would have gotten away with some kind of explosion if he stayed in the car and made sure the components he did have went off.