Today’s report on the Times Square failed bombing from The Washington Post wins this month’s coveted Captain Louis Renault Award.
This is probably going to have nearly everyone’s surprise meter pegged at zero. From The Washington Post:
Investigators are getting closer to tracking down a person of interest in the attempted bombing in Times Square, identifying the man as a naturalized U.S. citizen who is originally from Pakistan, according to a senior administration official.
The man is believed to have used cash three weeks ago to purchase the sport-utility vehicle that was loaded with explosive material and left Saturday night in midtown Manhattan, law enforcement sources said. Officials said Monday that they have developed domestic and international leads in a plot that appears more complex now than it did when the investigation began.
An FBI-led terrorism task force took over the investigation Monday because of indications it was connected to international terrorism, a senior law enforcement source. The probe had been overseen by the New York Police Department.
Responsibility for it shifted to a Joint Terrorism Task Force as Obama administration officials said the incident increasingly appears to have been coordinated by more than one person in a plot with international links.
US officials initially were quick to dismiss foreign links to the attack and described the attack as amateurish. But remember that the Pakistani Taliban took credit for the attack, and threatened further attacks. And as reported first by The Long War Journal, the YouTube website that hosted the video was created one day before the failed attack, and the video was also uploaded one day before the attack. Awfully coincidental. So why dismiss the possibility of foreign involvement so quickly?
Update:
And more from ABC News on those who uploaded the Qari Hussain and Hakeemullah Mehsud videos:
Authorities said another clue in the investigation is a video posted online early Sunday morning by persons in Connecticut, who may have been involved in the bomb attempt and are being sought by law enforcement. The video, posted on a site registered one day before the attack, has the Taliban in Pakistan claiming responsibility for the attempted bombing.
Update:
That was pretty quick. The FBI arrested Faisal Shahzad.
