Link emerges between Times Square bomb attempt and Pakistani militant group

Los Angeles Times ^ | May 5, 2010 | Alex Rodriguez

[nutmeg]

ping!

[prairiebreeze]

Can’t possibly be, the guy was a loner, a bumbler, just one guy who failed. The Obama administration said so....

[Canedawg]

Aha! A teabagtype person, just as they said it was.

[MEG33]

DUH I thought he acted alone..That’s what the administration said./s
No ties to Taliban or certainly not AlQueda for heavens sake.
Why should we jump to conclusions about some Islamic Jihadist threat???..
Heaven forbid we suspect Islamics plotting to kill Americans.

It’s the bank’s fault for foreclosing on his house I read.
DUH

[manc]

astounding the white house and the MSM do not get it

we all knew there was a link way before this as the Pakistani taliban said attacks will happen and they did.
he was heading back to Pakistan, he came from Pakistan, he got trained in Pakistan

Yet again the white house and the MSM were trying to point away from islam and trying to make this a lone wolf again

this was a muslim terrorist, PLAIN AND SIMPLE

[manc]

really

I despair I really do, the white house the left kooks and the MSM lie all the time about these terrorists attacks as to make them a simple lone wolf when many of us know they are not and now you said some on here actually said that then I really do despair,

it seems maybe there are still way too many watching CNN, NBC and the other local channels for their news

[jersey117]

Libs are the stupidest people on the planet.

[Dave346]

Well anyone can post here, livius.
I’m sure there are at least a few lefties posting on here to demoralize us.

[PapaBear3625]

Al Queda was originally designed to be a facilitator for jihad against the West. It receives money from certain wealthy individuals (see Golden Chain) and uses that money to finance training, support, and supplying for jihadis and jihad groups.

Given Western expertise in surveillance and rolling up terrorist organizations, it makes sense for the "Global Jihad" to focus on recruiting individuals and small groups, giving them some training, and sending them off to do their things as best they can. Some will succeed, some will fail, but catching one will not give much info about other operations.

Currently, the jihadis seem focused on doing explosions. This is getting harder to do in the US. They have not yet realized that you can get lots of casualties with arson too.

[Art in Idaho]

You don't say. A possible link? I'm so surprised.

[MadIsh32]

The PDF is a much more educated, forward thinking, multi national group of Pakistani’s (or descendents of Pakistani’s) that wish to see the rule of law followed and applied in Pakistan

If the Pakistan government did its job, and prosecuted and jailed terrorists, these asshats don’t exist.

[DoorGunner]

Just a thought:

What if maybe Shahzam’s FAMILY is being held hostage, back in Pok-e-ston, with a knife at their throats? That still makes it a terrorist plot, but makes him less guilty, personally.

It would also explain certain anomalies.

DG

[floriduh voter]

The terrorist is a DEMOCRAT. He probably voted for Obama but nobody wants to look into that.

[Candor7]

There is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorismThere is no terrorism

[AmericanInTokyo]

NY bomb plot raises questions about Pak military-terror nexus-- TIMES OF INDIA Chidanand Rajghatta, TNN, May 6, 2010, 01.47am IST Tags:Times Square|us bomb plot|may put Pak army terror links under US lens WASHINGTON: Long in thrall of the Pakistani military for geo-political reasons, Washington is finally starting to examine that institution's ties to terrorism following the discovery that failed Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad also belongs to an elite 'fauji'/diplomatic family as did alleged Mumbai carnage facilitators David Headley and Tawassur Rana. Initial reports describe Shahzad as the son of Air Vice Marshal (retd) Baharul Haq, who retired from the Pakistan Air Force in early 90's and later was a senior official in the country's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). His uncle Maj. Gen. Tajul Haq, is reported to have been inspector general of the Frontier Corps. If the family ties are confirmed, analysts says it follows the pattern of mediocre sons from some elite Pakistani families becoming terrorists, a development far removed from the clichéd image of indigent madrassa recruits that is often associated with Pakistani terrorism. Headley-Gilani's father was a civil service diplomat, while Rana came from a family of army officers, including brothers serving in the military. Both went to the elite Hasan Abdal Cadet College before migrating to the west. Ahmad Rashid, among the foremost experts on extremism in the region, said it was "truly extraordinary, from a Pakistani perspective, is that he (Shahzad) belongs to this country's true blue-blooded establishment" and warned that "US-Pakistan relations are likely to sour dramatically for the Pakistanis" if Shahzad is found to have been trained in bomb-making in Pakistan's badlands it has avoided cracking down on. "The fact that his father belonged to the country's ruling elite helped provide a cover that made it virtually impossible to detect his terrorist activities. The fact that he was determined to set off a bomb in the US rather than in Pakistan or in Afghanistan where Westerners have been recruited as suicide bombers makes him Pakistan's first global jihadist," Rashid explained in a commentary. In fact, there is now an ongoing re-examination of terrorists' profile in Washington, considering the terrorist groups' avowed intention of using recruits who can easily enter countries like the US and meld into western society. They are more likely to be wearing Dockers than dishdasha, and speak fluent English besides their native language. Some law-makers are talking of tightening immigration, visa, and citizenship rules to stop the infiltration of such 'elite' terrorists. While US law-enforcement authorities allowed themselves a brief moment of self-congratulation at the speed with which they zeroed in on Faisal Shahzad, the cold light of the morning has raised deeper questions about his entry to the U.S as a student, his assimilation or otherwise into American society, the process by which he acquired citizenship, and at what point did a 30-year old family man, a father of two infants, turn into a terrorist. Analysts have also noted that he earned an engineering degree (as did Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Mohammed Atta) before going in for an MBA. Some of the answers to these questions lie in Pakistan, where, Shahzad has admitted in initial questioning, he received militant training. U.S investigators are now looking into whether he has ties to terrorist groups such as Tehreek-e-Taliban, Lashkar-e-Taiba, or Jaish-E-Mohammed, or whether he acted alone and was a lone wolf as he claims. Of particular interest is his transit through Dubai, which was also Mumbai massacre caser David Headley transit point. The fact that Shahzad gave his nationality as Kashmiri in his latest passport is also being scrutinized for whether he has ties with groups operating there. The Shahzad episode has also brought immense scrutiny on the Pakistani establishment, after a brief honeymoon period in which the Obama administration rhapsodized over its sterling role against terrorism. Leading analysts are asking hard questions, including whether the Pakistani military, the real power fronted by a dummy civilian government, has genuinely given up use of terrorism as covert policy given its decades-long neuroses about India. "The Pakistani government is still obsessed with the idea of an Indian domination of the region...That's what makes me skeptical that there's been a true strategic revolution in Pakistan... There are still people who believe that there are good terrorists and bad terrorists, and some you can work with to further Pakistan's goals," Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria said on CNN even as the Pakistani fan club in Washington DC kept a discreet silence. Describing Pakistan as an "epicenter of Islamic terrorism," an expression the Obama administration has avoided using of late, Zakaria said "it's worth noting that even the terrorism that's often attributed to the war in Afghanistan tends to come out of Pakistan, to be planned by Pakistanis, to be funded from Pakistan or in some other way to be traced to Pakistan," Pakistan's connection with terrorist groups, he said, goes back decades and has often been encouraged by that nation's military for strategic reasons. That's something successive recent US administrations have been leery of raising publicly given Washington's dependence on Islamabad to conduct the war not only in Afghanistan, but within Pakistan itself. But the near tragedy in Times Square is likely to jolt the Obama administration from its credulous thrall of what many analysts say is Pakistan's dodgy and selective fight against terrorism.

[Bigg Red]

The Country is “Islamic Republic of Pakistan”.

&&&
Good points.

[Sacajaweau]

Nothing to do with them being Muslims either, right?? They are using our PC against us....Ft Hood, the Panty bomber, Faisal...All three of them...How dare us profile Muslims??

Obviously...Pretty stupid not to isn't it.

[LibertyRocks]

Actually it is. Shahzad was arraigned on charges of terrorism, and WMD charges (don’t expect that to be published in a paper like the LA Times though — ESPECIALLY because they’d have to acknowledge that WMD does not JUST mean biological weapons, aka Bush DIDN’T LIE).

[2harddrive]

We are DAMN LUCKY that the Muzzies are so incompetent with explosives! Like the shoe-bomber, the panty bomber, and now the car bomber!

[thouworm]

NY bomb plot raises questions about Pak military-terror nexus
Chidanand Rajghatta, TNN, May 6, 2010, 01.47am IST

WASHINGTON: Long in thrall of the Pakistani military for geo-political reasons, Washington is finally starting to examine that institution’s ties to terrorism following the discovery that failed Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad also belongs to an elite ‘fauji’/diplomatic family as did alleged Mumbai carnage facilitators David Headley and Tawassur Rana.

Initial reports describe Shahzad as the son of Air Vice Marshal (retd) Baharul Haq, who retired from the Pakistan Air Force in early 90’s and later was a senior official in the country’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). His uncle Maj. Gen. Tajul Haq, is reported to have been inspector general of the Frontier Corps.

If the family ties are confirmed, analysts says it follows the pattern of mediocre sons from some elite Pakistani families becoming terrorists, a development far removed from the clichéd image of indigent madrassa recruits that is often associated with Pakistani terrorism.

Headley-Gilani’s father was a civil service diplomat, while Rana came from a family of army officers, including brothers serving in the military. Both went to the elite Hasan Abdal Cadet College before migrating to the west.

Ahmad Rashid, among the foremost experts on extremism in the region, said it was “truly extraordinary, from a Pakistani perspective, is that he (Shahzad) belongs to this country’s true blue-blooded establishment” and warned that “US-Pakistan relations are likely to sour dramatically for the Pakistanis” if Shahzad is found to have been trained in bomb-making in Pakistan’s badlands it has avoided cracking down on.

“The fact that his father belonged to the country’s ruling elite helped provide a cover that made it virtually impossible to detect his terrorist activities. The fact that he was determined to set off a bomb in the US rather than in Pakistan or in Afghanistan where Westerners have been recruited as suicide bombers makes him Pakistan’s first global jihadist,” Rashid explained in a commentary.

In fact, there is now an ongoing re-examination of terrorists’ profile in Washington, considering the terrorist groups’ avowed intention of using recruits who can easily enter countries like the US and meld into western society. They are more likely to be wearing Dockers than dishdasha, and speak fluent English besides their native language. Some law-makers are talking of tightening immigration, visa, and citizenship rules to stop the infiltration of such ‘elite’ terrorists.

While US law-enforcement authorities allowed themselves a brief moment of self-congratulation at the speed with which they zeroed in on Faisal Shahzad, the cold light of the morning has raised deeper questions about his entry to the U.S as a student, his assimilation or otherwise into American society, the process by which he acquired citizenship, and at what point did a 30-year old family man, a father of two infants, turn into a terrorist. Analysts have also noted that he earned an engineering degree (as did Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Mohammed Atta) before going in for an MBA.

Some of the answers to these questions lie in Pakistan, where, Shahzad has admitted in initial questioning, he received militant training. U.S investigators are now looking into whether he has ties to terrorist groups such as Tehreek-e-Taliban, Lashkar-e-Taiba, or Jaish-E-Mohammed, or whether he acted alone and was a lone wolf as he claims.

Of particular interest is his transit through Dubai, which was also Mumbai massacre caser David Headley transit point. The fact that Shahzad gave his nationality as Kashmiri in his latest passport is also being scrutinized for whether he has ties with groups operating there.

The Shahzad episode has also brought immense scrutiny on the Pakistani establishment, after a brief honeymoon period in which the Obama administration rhapsodized over its sterling role against terrorism. Leading analysts are asking hard questions, including whether the Pakistani military, the real power fronted by a dummy civilian government, has genuinely given up use of terrorism as covert policy given its decades-long neuroses about India.

“The Pakistani government is still obsessed with the idea of an Indian domination of the region...That’s what makes me skeptical that there’s been a true strategic revolution in Pakistan... There are still people who believe that there are good terrorists and bad terrorists, and some you can work with to further Pakistan’s goals,” Newsweek’s Fareed Zakaria said on CNN, even as the Pakistani fan club in Washington DC kept a discreet silence.

Describing Pakistan as an “epicenter of Islamic terrorism,” an expression the Obama administration has avoided using of late, Zakaria said “it’s worth noting that even the terrorism that’s often attributed to the war in Afghanistan tends to come out of Pakistan, to be planned by Pakistanis, to be funded from Pakistan or in some other way to be traced to Pakistan,” Pakistan’s connection with terrorist groups, he said, goes back decades and has often been encouraged by that nation’s military for strategic reasons.

That’s something successive recent US administrations have been leery of raising publicly given Washington’s dependence on Islamabad to conduct the war not only in Afghanistan, but within Pakistan itself. But the near tragedy in Times Square is likely to jolt the Obama administration from its credulous thrall of what many analysts say is Pakistan’s dodgy and selective fight against terrorism.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/US/NY-bomb-plot-raises-questions-about-Pak-military-terror-nexus/articleshow/5895172.cms