tagged w/ Faisal Shahzad
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Story from NPR.org.
Faisal Shahzad, suspect in the failed NY car bombing of Times Square, plead guilty to the crime. This comes after his surprising level of cooperation with authorities and his desire to announce publicly the nature and motivations of his plot.
Shazhad engaged in a nearly half-hour long conversation with the judge, detailing his plot matter-of-factly, retelling the story of his training, and declaring his intentions and fighting spirit unabashedly.
Many of the details he provided confirmed earlier details released by news outlets. His plea was so succinct, in fact, that he nearly entered his plea before all charges against him were read.
Details on his plan can be found at the original story.Story from NPR.org.
Faisal Shahzad, suspect in the failed NY car bombing of Times... more
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According to senior military officials, the U.S. military has “reinvigorated planning” for a unilateral strike in Pakistan should a successful attack on American soil be traced to the country's tribal areas.According to senior military officials, the U.S. military has “reinvigorated... more
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Host Conor Knighton looks at Playboy's latest efforts to bring in readers with a 3-D centerfold in his weekly roundup of magazines, "We've Got You Covered." Also ready for their cover shot: New York wants LeBron James, Camaro vs. Mustang, Diddy apologizing, and World Cup athletes strip down to their underwear.
We've Got You Covered is a recurring segment on Current TV's weekly television show, infoMania. In each episode of We've Got You Covered, Conor Knighton catches you up on everything you need to know about what's in this week's magazines. For more We've Got You Covered visit: http://current.com/groups/weve-got-you-covered/
and Current TV.
infoMania is a half-hour satirical news show that airs on Current TV. The show puts a comedic spin on the 24-hour chaos and information overload brought about by the constant bombardment of the media. Hosted by Conor Knighton and co-starring Brett Erlich, Erin Gibson, Ben Hoffman, Bryan Safi and Sergio Cilli, the show airs on Thursdays at 10 pm Eastern and Pacific Times and can be found online at http://current.com/infomania/ or on Current TV. And make sure to check out our facebook profile for special features at http://facebook.com/infomania.Host Conor Knighton looks at Playboy's latest efforts to bring in readers with a... more
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With all the billions of dollars and high-tech equipment we're using in the fight against terrorism, it was ultimately a handbag vendor and an NYPD cop on horseback who were the first line of defense in the failed bombing attempt in Times Square. But if the bomber had not been so incompetent, all hell would have broken out. Republicans are saying Obama has been lucky in his fight against terrrorism and that his policies are a failure. But the terrorists capability to conduct large-scale, centrally-directed operations has been the result of hard work on the part of the Obama administration, not luck, according to Obama's supporters.
http://paulsolomon.blogspot.com/2010/05/times-square-bombing.htmlWith all the billions of dollars and high-tech equipment we're using in the fight... more
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WASHINGTON — Investigators discovered the name of the suspect in the failed Times Square bombing because of a telephone number he provided when he returned to the United States from Pakistan in February, a law enforcement official said Wednesday.WASHINGTON — Investigators discovered the name of the suspect in the failed... more
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[This is the original submission. To read hopefully accurate updates, please scroll down for additional contributions and comments.]
I'm watching CNN live, and it has just been confirmed that the suspicious car, parked in Times Square, was in fact turned into an "incendiary device."
UPDATE AS OF 5/2/10 at 1:15PM PT, BASED ON NYPD COMMISSIONER RAY KELLY'S PRESS CONFERENCE:
#
New York Police Department Commissioner Raymond Kelly is speaking live on CNN right now.
Quick notes while watching press conference.........
Surveillance tape: White male, 40s, dark shirt, looking back at car, removing dark shirt, revealing red shirt, stuffing white shirt into bag he was carrying.
Pennsylvania resident has footage taken in PA that includes potential driver. FBI headed to PA.
Gun locker (75-pound size) revealed "at least" eight bags of "unknown substance"; granular feel; "look" possibly fertilizer; could have created "significant fireball."
Two sources claiming responsibility: Pakistan Taliban and a "specific individual" who "claimed credit."
"More police officers are on patrol."
Not ready to reveal name of town in Pennsylvania where investigators have gone.
Pathfinder not reported stolen. Pathfinder with license plate from truck found in Connecticut junkyard.
"We will be doing an in-depth forensic investigation."
Not close to making any determinations.
"We're asking the public to help us."
"... would have caused casualties... vehicle would have been cut in half... We were lucky that it didn't detonate."
"Someone brought this vehicle... to terrorize... an individual can do it on their [sic] own."
"New Yorkers are pretty tough, resilient people."
"Two clocks were involved in this; they were wired together."
Surveillance camera caught dark green SUV going west on 45th St. at 6:28pm Saturday.
"In the car... everything was in the rear of the car... Two clocks connected to a 16-ounce can, in between two canisters..." "...Gun box inside cardboard box." "Running into that box were wires coming from, we believe, the explosives..."
"The detonation device... it's believed... the timers would ignite the cans, set them on fire, and then explode the propane tanks..."
Some video will be released "as soon as we can put it together." This is of "a person walking down Shubert Alley... 45th and Broadway... stops, takes dark shirt off... continues to walk south... looking sometimes in a furtive manner."
Fireworks are M-80's. The closest state where they are legal is Pennsylvania.
"Well, we certainly wouldn't rule it out," in regard to South Park Comedy Central.
"We're still examining the [yellow] alarms clocks, batteries... the detonator was the 16-ounce can..."
Alleged fertilizer "from a grocery store." "Had a pot... with additional M-88s, in the pot."
Eight bags were grocery store bags, not marked as fertilizer.
Not ruling out Viacom. Reveals picture of the alarm clock. Alarm "is set at Midnight... other clock was damaged..."
"I'm telling you this is what we found." "Okay, thank you very much."[This is the original submission. To read hopefully accurate updates, please scroll... more
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Pakistan officials detain five people believed to have worked with suspect
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36892505/ns/us_news-security/
NEW YORK - Pakistani-born U.S. citizen Faisal Shahzad has admitted trying to set off a car bomb in busy Times Square and will face terrorism and mass destruction charges, Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday.
"Based on what we know so far, it is clear that this was a terrorist plot aimed at murdering Americans in one of the busiest places in our country," Holder said.
Shahzad, 30, is being questioned and has provided useful information to investigators, Holder said. The FBI read Shahzad his constitutional rights after he provided information, and he continued to cooperate, FBI Deputy Director John Pistole said.
The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that he told interrogators he received training in bomb making during a recent five-month trip to Pakistan, according to a senior U.S. official familiar with the matter.
The official said received his training in the tribal region of Waziristan bordering the Afghan border, the Journal reported.
Authorities tracked down Shahzad using the vehicle identification number on the Nissan Pathfinder that failed to detonate. They linked that number to a recent sale in Connecticut, Holder said.
Once they identified Shahzad, authorities placed him on a federal air travel no-fly list. He was arrested late Monday night aboard a plane bound for the United Arab Emirates.
U.S. government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Shahzad made his flight reservation on the way to the airport and paid for his ticket in cash.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, while refusing to criticize agencies, said the suspect was "clearly on the plane and shouldn't have been." An FBI official said Shahzad was placed on No Fly list hours before his arrest.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declined to say how Shahzad was able to board the flight if he was on the No Fly list.
In Pakistan, intelligence officials told NBC they had detained five suspects in the southern city of Karachi in connection with the Times Square case, including one woman.
A Pakistani TV station reported that Shahzad spent time in Karachi and visited the northwestern city of Peshawar during his recent stay in Pakistan. Peshawar is a gateway for foreigners seeking to travel into nearby tribal regions, where militant groups have long had sanctuary.
Pakistan's embassy in Washington said it would work with U.S. intelligence to unravel the failed bombing but said at the moment it appears the would-be bomber was a lone "disturbed individual."
President Barack Obama said "hundreds of lives" may have been saved Saturday night by the quick action of ordinary citizens and law enforcement authorities who saw the smoking SUV parked in Times Square.
"As Americans and as a nation, we will not be terrorized. We will not cower in fear. We will not be intimidated," Obama said.
Shahzad, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Pakistan, was accused of driving a car bomb into Times Square, authorities said.
"It is clear that the intent behind this terrorist act was to kill Americans," Holder said.
Shahzad, 30, had recently returned from a five-month trip to Pakistan, where he had a wife, according to law enforcement officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation into the failed car bombing.
Shahzad became a naturalized U.S. citizen last year shortly before traveling to Pakistan, a federal law enforcement official in Washington said, speaking on condition of anonymity amid the ongoing investigation.
Investigators hadn't established an immediate connection to the Pakistani Taliban — which had claimed responsibility for the botched bombing in three videos — or any foreign terrorist groups, a law enforcement official told the AP.
"He's claimed to have acted alone, but these are things that have to be investigated," the official said.
Shahzad has been answering questions for investigators, the official said, declining to say what information was provided. It's unclear if those conversations will continue.
Another law enforcement official said Shahzad was not known to the U.S. intelligence community before the failed bombing attempt, in which authorities found a crude bomb of gasoline, propane and fireworks in a 1993 Nissan Pathfinder parked on a bustling street in Times Square.
The U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan was handling the case and said Shahzad would appear in court later Tuesday. Shahzad will face charges "for allegedly driving a car bomb into Times Square on the evening of May 1," according to a statement by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, FBI agent George Venizelos and New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, FBI agents searched the home at a known address for Shahzad in Bridgeport, Conn., early Tuesday, said agent Kimberly Mertz, who wouldn't answer questions about the search.
Authorities removed filled plastic bags from the house in a mixed-race, working-class neighborhood of multifamily homes in Connecticut's largest city. A bomb squad came and went without entering as local police and FBI agents gathered in the cordoned-off street. FBI agents appeared to have found fireworks in the driveway that they were marking off as evidence.
Shahzad was being held in New York and couldn't be contacted. A phone number at a listed address for Shahzad in Shelton, Conn., wasn't in service.
He used to live in a two-story grayish-brown colonial with a sloping yard in a working-class neighborhood in Shelton. The home looked as if it had been unoccupied for a while, with grass growing in the driveway and bags of garbage lying about.
"Nobody ever had a problem with him," said Dawn Sampson, 34, who lives across the street from Shahzad's third-floor apartment. She said he had remodeled it and had put on the market to rent for $1,200, a fee she thought was much too high.
Law enforcement officials say Shahzad paid $1,300 cash three weeks ago for the Pathfinder, going first for a test-drive in a mall and offering less than the $1,800 advertised price. Peggy Colas, 19, of Bridgeport, sold the car to Shahzad after he answered an Internet ad, law enforcement officials said. The officials spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the case.
The vehicle identification number had been removed from the Pathfinder's dashboard, but it was stamped on the engine, and investigators used it to find the owner of record, who told them a stranger bought it. As the SUV buyer came into focus, investigators backed off other leads.
The SUV was parked near a theater where the musical "The Lion King" was being performed. The bomb inside it had cheap-looking alarm clocks connected to a 16-ounce can filled with fireworks, which were apparently intended to detonate gas cans and set off propane tanks in a chain reaction "to cause mayhem, to create casualties," police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.
A metal rifle cabinet in the SUV's cargo area was packed with fertilizer, but NYPD bomb experts believe it was not a type volatile enough to explode like the ammonium nitrate grade fertilizer used in previous terrorist bombings.
Police said the SUV bomb could have produced "a significant fireball" and sprayed shrapnel with enough force to kill pedestrians and knock out windows.
A vendor alerted a police officer to the parked SUV, which was smoking. Times Square, clogged with tourists on a warm evening, was shut down for 10 hours. A bomb squad dismantled the bomb and no one was hurt.
"It's clear that the intent behind this terrorist act was to kill Americans," he said.Pakistan officials detain five people believed to have worked with suspect... more
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A man at JFK airport was arrested in connection with the failed bomb attack at Times Square in New York. In a statement, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder says the suspect Faisal Shahzad was attempting to board a flight to Dubai at the time of the arrest.
"The suspect, Faisal Shahzad, was identified by customs agents at John F. Kennedy International Airport and was stopped before boarding an Emirates airlines flight to Dubai, according to officials who spoke to The Associated Press early Tuesday on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation. He had recently returned from a five-month trip to Pakistan, where he had a wife.."-Huffington PostA man at JFK airport was arrested in connection with the failed bomb attack at Times... more
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