Investigators try to unravel Times Square bomb plot

Thank the gods, this nit wit did not get away with murder! We should also thank the average NYC citizens who were alert enough to figure out something was wrong. The USA was very lucky this time, but how many America hating Talibanis will it take to really blow up a bomb etc..in NYC, London, Madrid etc..??We must be on alert, Happy 5 de Mayo!

"Authorities shed little light on what might have motivated Shahzad "

And yet I have little doubt many on here will make up their own reasons, and blame it all on a certain religion when the authorities themselves admit they know little as to why.

"A real estate broker who worked with Shahzad in 2004 said the bombing suspect had expressed a dislike for former President George W Bush and his policy in Iraq."

So did the rest of the US, save for a small fringe, so why does this make him special?

Anyway, I mirror elbudamexicano's thankfulness on the bomb not going off and them nailing the guy. I forgot it was Cinqo de Mayo (sp?

"Shahzad told him to let the bank take the house because he owed too much on it"

Another casualty of the Bush administration's failed policies.

America needs a real president to steep up invade Pakistan and remove their nuclear capabilities. Terrorist Islamic people do not have the right to posses nukes. This fool will never see the light of day, or dream a peaceful dream while sleeping ever again for the remainder of his pitiful life.hahahaha.

You know this was like in a movie where the bad guy is trying to escape and he's caught just in the nick of time.

He's been mirrandized and he's talking. He's giving useful information.

Looks like the system worked before he got away. < :-)

and blame it all on a certain religion when the authorities themselves admit they know little as to why.

People are perfectly entitled to come up with theories as to why he did it. And from what we know it's extremely likely that he did it for a reason relating to perceived attacks on Islam or insults against the Islamic 'prophet'.

A real estate broker who worked with Shahzad in 2004 said the bombing suspect had expressed a dislike for former President George W Bush and his policy in Iraq."r

Count me in that group too. I was on the "No War in Iraq" march in London, just before the illegal invasion. The biggest demo in British history. However, the fact the Bush and Blair started an illegal war, and that the USA and UK continue pointlessly to try to crush the Taliban, doesn't alter the fact that Islam clearly preaches that infidels should be killed. Wishful thinkers may say that 'those texts only apply in times of war'. That may be true. But consider that many radical Muslims interpret the Koran in such a way that Islam will always be at war with the non-Muslim world "Dar al-Harb - the house of war" until the whole world is Muslim. And since the west is obviously killing Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan (justification is totally irrelevant), there is NO DOUBT IN THEIR MINDS that they are now in a war situation. And the war is Islam v attackers/insulters of Islam, and none of the 'enemy' can ever be considered 'innocent'. Shahzad, who was trained in a Taliban stronghold, is just another foot-soldier of Islam. Just like the Fort Hood attacker, who even had "SoA" (Soldier of Allah) written on his meishi, and yelled "Allahu Akbar" as he shot his victims.

Thank goodness this time the crime was solved quick, no one was hurt.. as far as motives.. it is only speculating but the man was trained to do this.. only a matter of time.. or maybe he was contacted and told it was finally time for him to do the task.. America is at war with a cowardly adversary who does not wish to win territory, or change dogma.. or bring about revolution.. they only have 1 goal.. to cause as much suffering as they can to their enemy. We have already seen what comes from attempting 'regime-change' in the Middle East.. it is so very sad to say this but the enemy has proven that there is no hope of peace.. if senseless death is how they insist that this ends then let it be THEIR senseless death.

It is a terrible wonder to me, as to how a man can lets see, by the numbers 1. become a U.S. citizen 2. be married 3. have two children. 4 went to college 5. graduated with a B.A. 6. Went back to college 7. earned a Masters Degree. 8. Hold down a decent Job. 9. was smart enough to know what to do regarding his house during foreclosure. 10. Able to procure decent funds, enough to support his family, and even purchase an SUV. And what? harbor resententmant over what? President Bush's policies? Enough to carry out a terrible attack against abunch of people who could have cared less? here is what happened; He let some cleric fill his head with a bunch of hate doctrine, and he let it ruin his , and his families lives, not excluding his relatives who are now obvioulsy embarassed, and whats more, he probably thinks he did some good, in some brainwashed way. It is just sad. So, here is some advise, the next time your late 20's something, obviously hell bent but very intellegent husband wants to visit his parents in a taliban run province in the middle of the godforsaken dessert, tell him, ``I love you, but for the love of God NO NO and NO!"

I think one: It is too easy for some countries citizenships to be obtained. Education dont play a factor in ideologies neither to families.

Some people are easily let as has been shown by many dictators, etc across the ages. Do a search on the "3rd Wave" experiment and a similar one done iin Germany that took it further. Those make the incidents in Abu Graibh(sic) look tame. And all the participants were your average Uni-grad, etc.

Impressionism at it's worst I see, I do not disagree. It is true in religion; family,education, and outward circumstanses do take a backseat to ones ideologies or faith, be it fanatical or mainstream. I do think this could have been avoided though, if the man could have taken into account all that he had accomplished, and all that he had to look forward to, had he have stayed off the terroristic and fanatical path. I mean the man obviously had issues, but one must always look inside first, before one goes out placing blame on others or even harboring homicidal wishes against a population that lets face it, is not exactly in the know as far as policy regarding the middle east. And although, we all got it coming to us one day, this guy had no right to try and play the reaper in people lives at all. God save us.

Selaman:

" He let some cleric fill his head with a bunch of hate doctrine, and he let it ruin his , and his families lives, not excluding his relatives who are now obvioulsy embarassed, and whats more, he probably thinks he did some good, in some brainwashed way "

Yes, of course. He was going to help the Jihad and create much terror among the infidels. And these clerics create an unlimited supply of these believers, and we pretend that belief has nothing to do with it.

The Aum Shinri Kyo cult in Japan used to target 'intelligent' and very well-educated people to do their work for them. This guy must have seemed like an ideal candidate.

...a cousin of Shahzad’s father...called (it) “a conspiracy so the (Americans) can bomb more Pashtuns".

The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for the Times Square car bomb plot.

And there you have the hypocrisy of it all. It is obviously a US plot carried out by the Pakistani Taliban... I think not. It's this strange idea that everything bad in the world is a plot by the US that drives the nutters who brainwash guys like Shahzad to try things like the Times Square attempted bombing. Of course, it doesn't help when half of the same accusations are used within the US by people who have become more and more radicalised toward the far ends of their own political spectrum. All fuel to the fire, I guess.

Looks like the system worked before he got away. " And to think, that had the ACLU not protested in putting in more street cams, perhaps the guy would not have come close to getting away and perhaps Bloomberg would have not had any reason to think this was done by someone angry at the immigration debate nor the health care.

I hope they put more cams. Privacy? Well, if you get blown up, I guess you have no need for it do you?

In fact, by all accounts the bomb (which included a kind of fertilizer that is nonexplosive), as well as the method used to deliver it, bore the hallmarks of extreme amateurism, strongly suggesting that the individual responsible was not someone who had received professional training. As with all such cases, questions remain about the real motive and authorship of the attempted terrorist act. Information about the suspect and his connections has only begun to surface. "A father of two who became a naturalized citizen one year ago after marrying a US citizen, Shahzad earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science and engineering and completed his MBA, but was apparently without a job or money and had lost his family’s home through foreclosure." One can only speculate as to whether these difficult personal conditions, which confront millions of Americans, played a role in pushing Shahzad toward a desperate act.

It just seems to me, that there has to a place where a guy who is about to go over the edge like this, needs to just stop, take a look at his life, see that, though times are tough; nothing being shot out of someones mouth thousands of miles away has anything to do with you providing for your family and loving them enough to go on with your life; not throwing it away for some foolish endeaver, to support some obvioulsy unbalanced way of thought. The man never really took stock of his life, or appreciated it to it's fullness. He possibly just let anger consume him, and now his family more than all must now have a burden that they were never meant to carry. Like I said it is just sad. And who wins? The terrorist? Fear mongers?, Shahzad?(because he lived to tell about it in his brainwashed way of thinking?) who by all accounts seems to be singing like a bird since being apprehended, probably from some deranged inner feeling of relief and misunderstanding. In the end no one wins, it just scares everybody, and the Taliban and anyone else who was involved, just sit back and probably literally laugh at us. I'm so thankful they got to loaded SUV in time, I truthfully am, and yet I'm so grieved that this kind of ideology can still be so effective with people such as Shahzad. It's terribly sad. God save us!

Yeah, it is a real shock to learn that if you quit your job, fly to Pakistan for six months of terror training and don't make your mortgage payments that you might end up in foreclosure!

skipthesong No matter what the ACLU wanted, which I don't always agree with, the system worked.

"See Something, Say Something"

It was the vigilance of two disabled Viet Nam Vets who alerted authorities that something was wrong. These heroes are a part of the .07866% of the population who have served this country so honorably, and still serve. < :-)

BTW skipthesong, it wasn't the street cameras that caught Shahzad. It was email address owner and simple things like that. The cameras didn't show his face well enough to make out who he was. < :-)

BTW skipthesong, it wasn't the street cameras that caught Shahzad. It was email address owner and simple things like that. The cameras didn't show his face well enough to make out who he was. "

that's my point! If you did not oppose them, in force that YOU did, perhaps, it wouldn't have taken 50+ hours and a stroke of luck to catch him.

as for this: It was the vigilance of two disabled Viet Nam Vets who alerted authorities that something was wrong. These heroes are a part of the .07866% of the population who have served this country so honorably, and still serve." Oh, I see, those of Army types that were in a three day war, Bosnia, and Somalia just don't meet your cut? Oh, I forgot, I was a wimpy medic, not a grunt. I am so not macho

skipthesong

These heroes are a part of the .07866% of the population who have served this country so honorably

Apparently you missed this. Are you a part of the % of Americans who served honorably? I wasn't leaving anybody out. < :-)