Holder: Taliban Directed Car Bomber (Updated)
[Guest post by DRJ]
Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr., has acknowledged the New York City car bomber was a terrorist directed and funded by the Taliban and was not a lone wolf:
“The Pakistani Taliban directed and likely funded Times Square bombing suspect Faisal Shahzad, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said Sunday.
“The Pakistani Taliban directed this plot,” Mr. Holder said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Mr. Holder told host David Gregory that he suspected early on that Mr. Shahzad had acted alone but that information uncovered since had made it clear that Mr. Shahzad was part of a larger plot. “
Nevertheless, the Administration’s counterterrorism adviser says the system worked:
“Mr. Brennan said the May 3 arrest of Mr. Shahzad, a Pakistan-born naturalized U.S. citizen accused of parking an explosives-laden sport utility vehicle in New York’s Times Square two days earlier, showed that the nation’s security measures work.
“The system was able to put the information out, and we were able to take action,” Mr. Brennan said.”
It worked, but only if your idea of working is catching suspects after-the-fact. There was a time when the government’s goal was to stop terrorists. Now its goal is to catch terrorists after they attack us.
— DRJ
UPDATE — The AP reports that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is talking tough to Pakistan in the Administration’s first public statement following a suspected U.S. missile-strike that killed 10 people on the Afghan border:
“U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Washington expects more cooperation from Pakistan in fighting terrorism and warned of “severe consequences” if an attack on U.S. soil were traced back to the South Asian country.
Her comments mark something of a change in America’s public stance toward Pakistan, which in recent months has been characterized by praise, not criticism. She made the remarks in an interview with CBS television’s “60 Minutes” that were to be broadcast later Sunday.”
Does “severe consequences” mean do what we tell you or we’ll attack? Or does it mean we’ll impose sanctions and cut funding? It’s hard to believe Obama would do either, but he doesn’t have to convince me he means what Hillary says. He has to convince the Pakistanis.
— DRJ
Where’s wheeler’s cat? I have a generous helping of crow for her to eat.
Some chump (8c5cc0) — 5/9/2010 @ 9:25 amWho’s on first?
Has Holder told Napolitano who is still got on the trail of supposedly racist, homophobic, anti-ObamaCare, dangerous, hate-mongering, geriatric, extremist Tea-Partiers?
daleyrocks (1d0d98) — 5/9/2010 @ 9:50 amhot on the trail. D’oh!
daleyrocks (1d0d98) — 5/9/2010 @ 9:50 amIf terrorists are treated as criminals you would want to catch them after the fact.
ROA (e2e9ec) — 5/9/2010 @ 9:56 amWheeler’s Cat is regrouping with the rest of the lefties to determine what – if anything – can be salvaged from another fiasco in along line of fiascos.
GeneralMalaise (294cd8) — 5/9/2010 @ 9:56 am“Mr. Holder told host David Gregory that he suspected early on that Mr. Shahzad had acted alone.”
Mr Gregory failed to ask Mr Holder why an American Attorney General would jump to that conclusion, without examining other, much more likely, possibilities first.
ropelight (a91bd1) — 5/9/2010 @ 10:05 amExcellent point, ropelight. Has their ever been another administration so preoccupied with minimizing situations, jumping to hasty conclusions or use of sleight of hand in an attempt to divert attention away from important things that should demand some attention?
GeneralMalaise (294cd8) — 5/9/2010 @ 10:13 amHolder continues to show his utter incompetence. Together with Napolitano’s performance, it is getting scary.
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/9/2010 @ 10:38 amThere, fixed that for you Mr. Holder.
Old Coot (f722a6) — 5/9/2010 @ 10:56 am#7, GeneralMalaise, no, I don’t believe so, but the LBJ, Carter, and Clinton Administrations are all serious contenders.
ropelight (a91bd1) — 5/9/2010 @ 11:36 amPerhaps we can encourage Bill & Bernardine to help these folks, so that their bombs will blow up –
AD - RtR/OS! (ae15f0) — 5/9/2010 @ 11:43 amunder construction!
Flawless logic: until we have proof of terrorist-network connections we will assume that no such connections exist.
You’ve all watched COPS. What’s the first thing they say to a detained suspect when they’re not sure how many supects might be running around loose?
Icy Texan (69710c) — 5/9/2010 @ 11:48 am“Where’s the other guy?”
Meanwhile, the administration is illegally withholding information from Congress.
This is the kind of conduct that would outrage Democrats if the Bush administration had done it. The Democrats continue their world-record breaking run of hypocrisy, corruption and bad faith.
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/9/2010 @ 11:59 amfIf it wasn’t for their reputations for that behaviour, what kind of reputation would they have?
AD - RtR/OS! (ae15f0) — 5/9/2010 @ 12:10 pmNovember is coming. As it gets closer, the behavior of these clowns is going to begin to resemble Brownian movement more and more.
Mike K (2cf494) — 5/9/2010 @ 12:19 pmMr. Holder told host David Gregory that he suspected early on that Mr. Shahzad had acted alone
Meanwhile, I’m sure Holder and his goofus-doofus buddy in the Oval Office still believe that Henry Gates Jr had every reason to accuse the cops in Massachusetts of police abuse and gross bigotry.
When the Pakistan Taliban on a website claimed responsiblity for the bombing of Times Square (apparently before the incident had been publicized and was seen as a failure), some experts were skeptical. Because of the ineptitude of the owner of the SUV — and descriptions of his bomb device as being “amateurish” — I thought their skepticism was warranted. I now realize they and everyone else actually should have been skeptical not about the veracity of the Taliban but the idiots running the White House.
Mark (411533) — 5/9/2010 @ 12:22 pmThe guy successfully left what he thought was a ticking bomb at TImes Square and was on the plane waiting for it to lift off. The only reason his plan failed was because his bomb was defective.
The only way this could be a success for homeland security would be if we somehow disabled the bomb beforehand. Otherwise, notwithstanding what I’m sure was quick thinking by some people that day, this was a complete failure.
The administration seems to primarily rely on the stupidity of those who want to hurt us, as if that is our major asset – which in this case it apparently was.
Amphipolis (17a9b7) — 5/9/2010 @ 12:51 pmHow do you successfully stop a terrorist?
AD - RtR/OS! (ae15f0) — 5/9/2010 @ 1:01 pmI think back a few days to that Brit sniper in Afghanistan who got two at distances of over one-mile.
If the trigger-pullers in Afghanistan can stop someone from planting a bomb, why can’t our vaunted FBI (First in War, First in Peace, First in the hearts of their countrymen) find, and stop, the bombers here before they set the bomb?
I updated the post with a statement from Hillary Clinton.
DRJ (d43dcd) — 5/9/2010 @ 1:58 pmI agree, Amphipolis. The evidence would have been much harder to trace if the bomb had detonated, and Shahzad would probably have escaped before they could track him down.
DRJ (d43dcd) — 5/9/2010 @ 2:00 pm#18, AD, in response to your question, perhaps it’s because they’re frightened by the prospect a terrorist might object to having his god given right to kill infidels restricted by discriminatory statutes, and bring a civil rights lawsuit against the agency.
ropelight (a91bd1) — 5/9/2010 @ 2:03 pm“Does “severe consequences” mean do what we tell you or we’ll attack? Or does it mean we’ll impose sanctions and cut funding? It’s hard to believe Obama would do either, but he doesn’t have to convince me he means what Hillary says. He has to convince the Pakistanis.”
No, DRJ, what it means is that if such an attack occurred on American soil, the president would write a harshly worded letter that in no uncertain terms advises the Pakistani government just how angry and disappointed Big Zero is with and in them.
GeneralMalaise (294cd8) — 5/9/2010 @ 2:24 pm“Severe consequences” means that if they don’t do what we tell them to, Hillary’s going to keep hitting herself in the face until they accede to our wishes.
Dmac (21311c) — 5/9/2010 @ 3:35 pmPakistan has its problems and its alliance with the US has its weak spots.
But once again we see that the Obama clowns are better at threatening our friends than our enemies.
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/9/2010 @ 4:32 pm