Dodging the Bullet - The NY Bomber
Faisel Shahzad, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Pakistani descent, on May 1 attempted to explode a very powerful bomb on 45th Street near Times Square. He was detained on May 3 attempting to board an Emirates Airlines flight to Dubai. The bomb failed to explode because of incompetent implementation of the detonation chain. This was extremely fortunate, because this bomb, installed in a 1993 Nissan Pathfinder small SUV, was powerful enough to cause massive casualties. Below is a diagram of the bomb installation, from the Department of Justice.

The primary explosive was 250 lb. of urea-based fertilizer. Urea-based fertilizer is usually mixed with nitric acid, creating the very powerful explosive urea nitrate. This much urea nitrate would cause serious damage and loss of life. The Nissan was parked on 45th Street near the always busy Times Square.
The bomb also included two 5-gallon cans of gasoline, which would have done little to enhance the damage if the bomb had exploded. Commercial M-88 firecrackers were placed hear the gasoline cans, presumably to trigger detonation. They did explode, creating only a carpet fire and smoke which alerted a street vendor. The firecrackers were inadequate to initiate the full explosion sequence, including detonation of the urea nitrate.
There were also three 20-gallon pressurized propane tanks with the valves closed. This was apparently intended to increase the explosive power, which they would have done had the thing gone off. If the valves had been opened, the firecrackers would have successfully initiated detonation of the urea nitrate. Propane tanks are common IED components.
The bomb failed due to incompetence and/or inexperience on the part of Shahzad. Had he been a bit more knowledgeable, this would have been a major terrorist incident with many casualties. We were lucky.
Shahzad was apparently trained during a five-month trip to Pakistan, but was inexperienced in bomb-making. He was apprehended so quickly because apparently he was under surveillance because of the Pakistan trip and also probably due in part to intercepted cell phone calls authorized under the much-maligned USA Patriot Act and still quietly being employed.
What is disturbing is that, despite the surveillance, Shahzad was able to purchase and assemble the bomb under our noses. He typifies the new nature of the al Qaeda threat. Its infrastructure decimated, the current terrorism paradigm is the solitary bomber or small cell. Shahzad was probably recruited because of his ability as a U.S. citizen to freely travel overseas. Be assured he is not alone.
The most disturbing feature of this bungled attack was how nearly it succeeded and the ease with which Shahzad assembled the bomb-making materials ostensibly while under surveillance. If he could do it, so can others with disastrous consequences.
While the powers that be in this country apparently realize the severity of the threat by continuing many of the clandestine surveillance activities initiated under the Bush administration, the hard truth is, it is practically impossible to stop them all. Shahzad failed due to the fact he was a novice bomb-maker and screwed up.
If we continue to allow unknown intruders--"non-Mexicans"--across our border, many reportedly resembling Mid-Easterners (Ooo--profiling!) and perhaps with more experience than the hapless Shahzad, a major terrorist attack, likely utilizing the very effective car bomb, becomes a very immediate threat. Even without the "NM" border-crossers, sooner or later someone is going to succeed. If we don't get really serious about surveillance and all other tools, including profiling and border enforcement, the possibility of multiple successful major terrorist incidents causing great loss of life here at home becomes more of a certainty than a possibility.
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17 Comments
Carl Hicks - Jun 03, 2010 9:31 PM
Oh and ...My patriot act is the Bill of Rights.
I'm sure they would have had no problem being allowed by FISA any and all surveillance tools available after his return from 5 months in Pakistan.
aneuhauser - Jun 04, 2010 12:41 AM
The diagram apparently was given to Getty Images who distributed it. I think I'm safe in reproducing it since it was originally generated by one of my government agencies.
The suggestion that clandestine cell phone intercepts were involved came from an periodic intelligence report I get.
referee33 - Jun 04, 2010 1:41 AM
Tami Klink - Jun 04, 2010 7:32 AM
Unfortunately, it has made quite a few of us look more closely at someone when we think they may be up to no good. This affects our relationships with the people that we meet, the people that we work with and how we view the human race overall. It's sad to see that even though most of us have nothing to do with these negative events, it affects everyone to a certain extent as they go about their daily lives.
The days of being able to have differing views and calmly discussing them with others is not the norm anymore. I find this unfortunate in that this was something that I really enjoyed and also learned quite a bit about the hows and whys of a persons' opinion.
Of course, there have always been those that have wished to do others harm. I really don't see how we can go back to the way that it used to be now that the genie is out of the bottle.
Have a great week!
Carl Hicks - Jun 04, 2010 11:55 AM
Tami Klink - Jun 04, 2010 3:06 PM
Not having spent too much time reading newspapers from other countries, I'm not sure that they follow the same practices when it comes to sharing info. It makes a lot of the stories more interesting, but when you see how easy some of this stuff is to do, it's kind of scary.
Tami Klink - Jun 04, 2010 3:10 PM
Have a great week!
aneuhauser - Jun 05, 2010 1:10 AM
It's important to keep these things in perspective. If we have to have the CIA/NSA monitoring overseas phone calls to identify potential terrorist threats, then I guess we'll just have to watch what we say when talking to Uncle Gustav in Hungary.
Shahzad was caught within a few hours in part because of cell phone intercepts, so in this case it was a valuable tool. He wasn't prevented from trying to set off his bomb, but that was a screwup by HSA. They had enough to pick him up but didn't.
The most compelling argument for the USA Patriot Act in my estimation is the fact that we have not had a successful terrorist attack in this country in the 9 years since 9/11. Must be doing something right.
sirlaughsalittle - Jun 05, 2010 10:39 AM
If any one of the so-called "liberals" who comment here had made that statement Hitler's sister would be on them like white on rice.
"Our country has also witnessed two deadly terrorist attacks on our own soil during Obama's watch."
Hemmer
According to some reports, one of the street vendors who played a role in bringing attention to the smokong vehicle is not being recognized.
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/5/6/muslim_vendor_gets_no_credit_in
Carl Hicks - Jun 05, 2010 11:47 PM
Faulk says he and others in his section of the NSA facility at Fort Gordon routinely shared salacious or tantalizing phone calls that had been intercepted, alerting office mates to certain time codes of "cuts" that were available on each operator's computer.
"Hey, check this out," Faulk says he would be told, "there's good phone sex or there's some pillow talk, pull up this call, it's really funny, go check it out. It would be some colonel making pillow talk and we would say, 'Wow, this was crazy'," Faulk told ABC News.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5987804&page=2
Carl Hicks - Jun 05, 2010 11:49 PM
Carl Hicks - Jun 06, 2010 7:40 PM
Onlyoneme - Jun 06, 2010 10:42 PM
Onlyoneme - Jun 06, 2010 10:46 PM
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Onlyoneme - Jun 06, 2010 10:48 PM
Thomas Paine
Onlyoneme - Jun 06, 2010 11:04 PM
Abraham Lincoln
“The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.”
Thomas Jefferson
“Liberty has never come from Government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it... The history of liberty is a history of limitations of governmental power, not the increase of it.”
Woodrow T. Wilson
“A great wave of oppressive tyranny isn't going to strike, but rather a slow seepage of oppressive laws and regulations from within will sink the American dream of liberty”
George Baumler
aneuhauser - Jun 17, 2010 1:14 AM