NYC police probe explosion at Times Square

[NYdemocrat089]

Source: MSNBC

NEW YORK - An explosive device damaged a military recruiting station in Times Square early Thursday, and police blocked off the area to investigate.

The explosive device caused minor damage, and no one was injured, police said. The explosion shattered a glass entryway.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23497390/

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SpiralHawk]

2. As long as we are making unfounded allegations without any facts whatsoever

let me hasten to add, it smells like republicon homelander 'conservative' black ops to me.

[bklyncowgirl]

3. Could be. My point was I doubt it's Middle Eastern terrorists. nt

[verdalaven]

4. Can't be Al Queda

We're fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them here, right? :sarcasm:

[whistle]

8. That is much much closer to the truth I'm sure or possibly Blackwater

[zanne]

10. That was my first thought....

Remember the pigs' blood on the registration files?

[rocktivity]

28. There was a time when I would have gone directly from zero to outrage

without stopping to wonder if this wasn't a Bush psy-ops to either gain sympathy for military recruiters or give an excuse to step up the war on domestic terrorism. Given the time of the detonation, fortunately, I think it's safe to conclude that human carnage was not the goal.

:(
rocknation

[bulloney]

5. But you know that Bush will make every attempt to spin this event

to argue that it happened because Congress didn't pass that surveillance act.

[bklyncowgirl]

11. Absolutely, that is until we find out that it's some home grown nutcase...

by that time Congress will have wussed out on whatever Bush wanted them to wuss out on (FISA would be my guess)and the damage will have been done.

[NYVet]

6. My hope is that he or she goes to jail for a long time.

For the simple facts that property damage and unlicensed use of explosives are violations of the law.

And what if someone had been walking by the building and been killed or injured by that blast?

[Ian David]

7. The news says there was a guy in a GRAY HOODIE invoved! Tancredo was right!

Tancredo Ad: Illegal Aliens Are Terrorists
James Joyner | Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Tom Tancredo has managed to get on the national radar screen, if briefly, by launching a bizarre ad campaign suggesting that illegal aliens are terrorists.

Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo on Monday unveiled a television ad depicting a hooded terrorist detonating a bomb inside a shopping mall, a message the Colorado congressman said he hoped would vault illegal immigration to its rightful place at the center of the campaign.

More:
http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/2007/11/tancredo_ad_illegal_aliens_are_terrorists/

[drm604]

23. When I hear "hooded terrorist"

I think "unabomber", not "illegal immigrant".

[Ian David]

27. Me too. n/t

[leveymg]

9. Lead story on CBS Early Show. The operation was a 100% success. FISA vote coming up.

The NY media just thrives on this kind of thing. Terra. Terra. Just Wiretap Everyone!

[seriousstan]

12. There are many cameras inTimes Square. Hopefully one of them caught something.

[Junkdrawer]

24. And..as if on cue...

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/06/times.square/index.html

[chelsea0011]

13. So does this count as a terrorist attack on our homeland?

Or does that only count towards Muslims?

[Junkdrawer]

14. Oh My. An incident of Domestic Terror...If only there were a law pending vote...

that encourages the TeleComs to help our wonderful spy agencies by giving them immunity from any law breaking in the past...

Oh look...there is! And it's today!

How fortunate.

[Blue_Tires]

15. personally, I blame A-Rod

[Muttocracy]

16. update at NY times website

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/06/police-investigate-explosion-in-times-square/index.html

[DumpDavisHogg]

17. The right-wing media is already blaming antiwar activists

But the right-wing media is wrong. If any more facts - not innuendo, but facts - emerge about the case, it will be proven that antiwar activists did not commit this crime. That is a 100% ironclad guarantee.

This is exactly like the time the media blamed environmental activists what the subdivision in Maryland burned down. It turned out the arson was committed by a white supremacist group, not an environmental group.

[BearSquirrel2]

18. They're looking for a guy on a bicycle ...

Apparently the midst of all the cars, it was the guy on the bicycle wearing a backpack that tossed a loaded ammo box with one hand while staying upright. We all know people who ride bicycles are hippies, no. So it must have been one of them.

[rexcat]

19. Not to get on the conspiracy theory side of things...

but my initial reaction to the news story this morning was "provocateur." If we see an increase in this kind of activity leading up to the general election I might have some concerns. Since the authorities don't know who or why and no one has taken responsibility all credible theories should stay on the table.

[DumpDavisHogg]

20. Does Phil Parlock have an alibi? (n/t)

[rexcat]

22. For one thing....

I don't think Phil has the brains to devise an IED. Another thing I am sure he would not know how to get out of West Virginia even with a GPS device. On the other hand he is a serial disrupter so there could be some credence to your theory.

edited for spelling...

[drm604]

21. Isolationists?

From here: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/06/police-investigate-explosion-in-times-square/index.html

The authorities were looking into whether the explosion was connected to two earlier blasts that were similar in method and timing, the official said. At about 3:40 a.m. on Oct. 26, 2007, two dummy hand grenades that had been fashioned into crude bombs exploded outside the Mexican Consulate at 27 East 39th Street in Murray Hill, shattering windows. The building was not occupied and no one was hurt. At 3:55 a.m. on May 5, 2005, two crude but powerful explosive devices detonated outside the British Consulate at 845 Third Avenue in East Midtown, shattering windows and damaging a planter.

If this latest one is connected to bombings at Mexican and British consulates then this may be the work of some (possibly right-wing) isolationist group (or individual).

[sofa king]

25. Shameful.

I don't care who did it. This is as good a time as any to remind ourselves of what we all already know: our armed forces are not responsible for starting this war. We all know who is responsible.

Our people in uniform have an extra-shitty job these days, one that is likely to wound them for life physically and/or mentally. They are our fellow Americans, and most of them were motivated to join at least in part by an admirable desire to protect our nation--whether or not we agree with their course of action. They deserve our respect, our sympathy, and our best efforts to bring them home safely and soon.

Whoever pulled this job either doesn't know this, or worse, doesn't care. Shame on them.


Edit: Sorry, drm604. This post was supposed to be a reply to the original post, not directly to you. I hope you didn't take my admonishment of the perpetrator as an admonishment of your thoughtful post.

[drm604]

29. Well, when I saw the subject line - "shameful" - I thought that you might be addressing me

but I see that that's not the case, so no hard feelings. And I'm certainly not defending the bomber(s) in any way.

I don't know for sure who did this but if (big if) it is connected to the consulate bombings then it's a little less clear (at least to me) what's going on.

[brettdale]

26. Why are the media playing this down?

You can bet your bottom dollar if this was 2009 and it happened Obama or Clinton, it will be headline news for the next month and they would get the blame, and fox news would call for impeachment.

[seriousstan]

30. Impeachment? Why, because some idiot was able to put blackpowder in an ammo box?