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Bomb "scare" in NYC

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More information at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... Collection

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/05/01/ne ... stigation/ (an AP report)

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/05/02/tim ... tml?hpt=T1

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News sources are reporting a bomb "scare" in Times Square. They're saying it happened early Sunday evening (the day is only about two hours old for reference as I type this), so the information is still coming in and needs to be confirmed.

Fox News is reporting:

Investigators removed bomb-making materials, including propane tanks, explosive powders and a crude timing device, top police spokesman Paul Browne said.

 

"There were explosive elements, including powder, gasoline, propane and some kind of electrical wires attached to a clock," Browne said early Sunday. "No motive has been identified."

 

CNN has not confirmed this yet, only stating:

The police department's public information office said the box and other items found in the search are not confirmed at this time to be a bomb. [...] A law enforcement source said police found propane cylinders and a gas can among the items. The source said these could be supplies used by street vendors.

 

Apparently smoke was coming from a box inside a suspicious vehicle, and currently NYPD and the FBI are involved, with DHS and other elements on standby.

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Yea, the initial reports noted the license plate. In the press conference last night/early this morning said that the plate was from a truck that had been sent to a junk yard.

Sources are also saying forensics have found prints. So, hopefully that will help a bit.

 

Should be interesting how this ends up.

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The information from last night's PC was pretty sketchy. The information since has been pretty eye opening, and this was definitely a legitimate concern. From the sounds of it, that SUV was rigged as a VBIED. As for the commercial grade fireworks, it might have been a half stick, or anything really to enhance the terror the explosion would have caused (a psychological thing, not physical).

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On this basis, propane cylinders/cans and "half sticks", if it had actually worked, it might not have killed anybody. And certainly would not have done what even 10 lbm of real explosives would have done, let alone 500 lbm. The gasoline was the most dangerous component as it would spill/spray and catch fire.

 

Also, I personally doubt this is Moslem terrorism. Based on the timing and lack of sophistication, it's probably liberal left white guys performing terrorism for May Day.

 

Except for the VBIED thing, that acronym makes it serious. ;)

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Haha, acronyms always make it sound serious!

 

But you're right for the most part. Basing it off the reports, 2x5gal. containers filled + whatever gas was in the SUV, two propane cylinders, and the fireworks... well, I'm not sure how propane reacts with gasoline when detonated, but it could have definitely done some damage (considering the vehicle itself would act as shrapnel). But what is really the point of terrorist attacks? Not to kill or maim, but to terrorize. An explosion on Times Square, especially if a few people had been killed by it, would definitely do the trick.

 

Another possibility is that this might be a dry run, but I doubt it. But in that thought, groups might be evaluating the response time/measures by authorities.

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Haha, acronyms always make it sound serious!

 

But you're right for the most part. Basing it off the reports, 2x5gal. containers filled + whatever gas was in the SUV, two propane cylinders, and the fireworks... well, I'm not sure how propane reacts with gasoline when detonated, but it could have definitely done some damage (considering the vehicle itself would act as shrapnel). But what is really the point of terrorist attacks? Not to kill or maim, but to terrorize. An explosion on Times Square, especially if a few people had been killed by it, would definitely do the trick.

 

Another possibility is that this might be a dry run, but I doubt it. But in that thought, groups might be evaluating the response time/measures by authorities.

 

The propane would not actually "react" with the gasoline, depending upon your definition of the term.

 

The car would probably not produce "shrapnel," depending on your definition of the term. Perhaps a flying trunk, windows blown out, and fast moving objects here and there. But not turned into bullets.

 

Improvised fuel-air explosives are a very moody beast. They produce very low overpressure and are basically a conflagration, although sometimes rapid. Inside a building, they can be incredibly destructive. Buildings cannot survive an indoor overpressure that your body and lungs can survive as a human being. Outdoors, they tend to push and throw things around and break glass. But not create frag. Certainly can kill. But it's hard to get the effect in the first place.

 

HE overpressure is very high and the blast wave is very short. It smashes stuff and creates missiles at supersonic or hypersonic velocity. Fuel-air creates low pressure overwaves with long pressure waves.

 

Then there are military fuel-air devices. These use substances which are flammable in air from about 5% to 95%. Propane has a very narrow range, probably about 2% to 7% (I didn't look it up). For the military devices, the primary material usually has oxygen right on the molecule. Like high explosives, although they do not act like high explosives, the oxygen helps when the fury is going to increase the flammability range. Many military devices also distribute oxidizers in the spray.

 

Inside a car, you have a very small volume and mass of oxygen. It is neither a building (easy) nor outside (hard). You can pack all the propane you want in there, but the blast will be limited by the amount of air in the space. A 16 oz. bottle of propane provides more gas then oxygen available to burn. The blast will be very small. If it occurs at all. If the igniter fires after the propane exceeds Upper Explosive Limit (UEL/UFL) in concentration, there will be no blast. If it actually works, there will be a small blast and then a large conflagration as the remaining gas escapes.

 

There is an exception. If you use a sizable quantity of high explosives, you can distribute the gas into a cloud outside of the vehicle before it ignites. This will be tricky with propane but could be done. A second exception would be seeding a large area with cooled propane, as happens in refinery accidents. This creates a very large explosive area and a very large contact area for the propane with air. You could have a tremendous explosion. That does not really make a workable offensive device, of course.

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I hope you guys are watching this press conference from the Commissioner of the NYCPD.

 

He said they have video tape of somebody buying a gun in PA but there is no link to PA for the event. Wonder what PA shop that would be? ;) I certainly hope it was not one of you. They look for people to prosecute (or sue) based on what information they have, not based on finding out who dunnit.

 

Also said the "bombers" used M-88s. "A firecracker less powerful than M80s." "Legal in PA." LOL

 

And, the reporters asked if there is a requirement to register propane tanks :D

 

Bend over, here it comes again.

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This is from Wikipedia,

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_1,_201 ... bomb_scare

 

 

 

On May 1, 2010, a failed car bombing in Times Square, New York City was discovered by a New York City Police Department (NYPD) officer, who was alerted to the threat by a nearby street vendor. The device failed to ignite and was successfully disarmed with no casualties.

 

The suspect vehicle entered Times Square at approximately 6:28 pm Eastern Daylight Time (10:30pm UTC) on the evening of Saturday, May 1, 2010. Two minutes later a T-shirt vendor, identified as Lance Orton,noticed suspicious activity coming from a Nissan Pathfinder, including smoke drifting from the vehicle. He alerted a nearby NYPD police officer. The officer then approached the Pathfinder to investigate, and observed smoke coming from vents near the back seat, unidentified canisters, and the smell of gunpowder. The officer immediately called for backup, a bomb disposal team, and the New York City Fire Department.

An area stretching from 43rd Street to 49th Street on Seventh Avenue, and 45th Street from Seventh Avenue to Eighth Avenue, was quickly evacuated of all vehicle and foot traffic, and barricaded. Several buildings near the vehicle, including the New York Marriott Marquis hotel that the Pathfinder was parked in front of, were also evacuated. Civilians moved away included some of those attending Broadway performances.

Upon arrival, the bomb disposal team utilized a remote-controlled robotic device to break out a window of the vehicle and explore its contents. They found gunpowder, consumer-grade fireworks, two five-gallon cans of gasoline, three propane tanks, electrical wiring, and two clocks with batteries that apparently were fashioned as one or two detonators. A bomb disposal expert with information on the contents found indicated that the design of the device was more consistent with that of an incendiary device than that of a traditional bomb.

 

 

A first generation 4-door Nissan Pathfinder was used in the attempted bombing.

For reasons not yet known, the device's ignition source failed to set it off as intended, possibly due to the suspect being interrupted by the police officers. Kevin Barry, a former supervisor in the New York Police Department bomb squad, reported that the improvised explosive device had malfunctioned and "failed to function the main charge.

[edit]Reaction and investigation

 

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and NYPD Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly were in Washington, D.C., to attend the 2010 White House Correspondents' Dinner, but returned immediately to New York after they were informed of the incident. United States Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano made a statement that the attempted bombing has been regarded as "a potential terrorist attack".Law enforcement officials planned to review security camera footage from the area for additional information. The Pathfinder was determined to be stolen, and had invalid license plates that did not match its registration. The registered owner of the plates was contacted, and according to law enforcement sources does not appear to be involved in the incident.

United States President Barack Obama was briefed on the incident and later directed John O. Brennan, his homeland security and counterterrorism adviser, to offer federal assistance to New York City officials. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Joint Terrorism Task Force also provided assistance to the NYPD.

 

Responsibility

 

According to a report by the Associated Press, a Pakistan-based Taliban group allegedly claimed responsibility for the attack in a video posted on YouTube. However, the website states that "the claim could not be immediately confirmed.

Police are looking for a white male in his forties who was seen on surveillance footage.

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The problem with any type of covert movements is that they easily come to light, especially with the advent of modern news... most of these major news corporations have better capabilities and assets then the majority of intelligence agencies in the world.

 

I would agree with the last statement made by the authorities that this smells like a lone wolf incident-- though, that would play right in the hands of the Dems right now anyway.

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Video to be released of a suspect later today............and one more Pennsylvania connection

 

 

 

New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said a white male in his 40s was seen near the SUV that was parked on a Times Square street and packed with explosives.

 

The man was seen leaving the area and shedding a dark shirt, revealing a red shirt underneath, about a half block from where surveillance cameras saw the vehicle entering Times Square in New York City at about 6:28 pm Saturday. The video of the possible suspect is expected to be released later today. Kelly said the individual was looking around in a furtive manner, but also stressed that the behavior could be totally innocent.

 

The Connecticut license plate on the car does not match the vehicle, and investigators have spoken to the individual to whom the plates are registered, according to Kelly.

 

That license plate ultimately was traced to a Connecticut junkyard,

 

 

 

At about 2 p.m. Sunday, NYPD breached a 55 by 32 inch gun locker inside the car and found it contained eight bags of an unknown, fertilizer-like substance and an inverted pot with a "bird's nest" of wires. There were three propane tanks next to the gun locker, two five-gallon jerry cans of gasoline, and a timing device, police officials said. There was no high-grade explosive, and the timing device was clocks attached to wires. Attached to the propane tanks were M88 fireworks, some of which went off.

 

At a Sunday afternoon press conference, Kelly said police would be reviewing hundreds of hours of videotape, and that police had identified the owner of the green Nissan Pathfinder but had not yet spoken to the owner.

 

Detectives are in Pennsylvania today meeting with tourists who think they may have captured a suspect on video.

 

Kelly said "no evidence" supports the Pakistani Taliban's claim of responsibilty for the bombing, but had not yet ruled out either domestic or international motives for the attempted attack

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Bloomberg's next targets:

 

Ban cell phones. (used to remotely detonate bombs)

 

Ban propane tanks. (can be used to blow things up)

 

Ban alarm clocks. (2 were found in the Nissan Pathfinder)

 

Ban Nissan Pathfinders. (can easily fit "high capacity" propane tanks and gun lockers in cargo area)

 

Ban junkyards in Connecticut. (to slow the flow of straw purchases of old license plates)

 

and 1 more,

 

Ban the sale of fertilizer. (used in Ok city bombing )

 

That about covers it.

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Heard on the radio today that the latest theory is this was Muslim extremists in retaliation for the South Park episodes about Muhammed. They said the vehicle was parked outside of the Viacom building.

 

Supposedly they got fingerprints, reported by janet napolitano, hopefully they didn't screw that up too.

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Shocked that this actually made it to the news but it is on Fox news I doubt you'll find it on CNN or similar.

 

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/05/05/michael-goodwin-times-square-bombing-muslim-pakistan/

 

The jist is a Muslim man living in the US is calling for his fellow Muslims to support the flag that they live under and not the flag they come from because if they want to support that other flag, then get up and get the hell out and go live there!! :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

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Shocked that this actually made it to the news but it is on Fox news I doubt you'll find it on CNN or similar.

 

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/05/05/michael-goodwin-times-square-bombing-muslim-pakistan/

 

The jist is a Muslim man living in the US is calling for his fellow Muslims to support the flag that they live under and not the flag they come from because if they want to support that other flag, then get up and get the hell out and go live there!! :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

 

 

It about time. There must be tens of thousands doing the same thing and have been since even the first WTC attack.

 

I had a friend of mine that came from Lebanon that absolutely hated the way things were going in the Middle east to the point where he took a contracting job with the FBI as a translator.

 

Unfortunatley his first name was Jihad. Poor guy would get rocks thrown through his windows every now and then, among other things and his home phone was rendered useless due to death threats and the like. Jihad doesn't mean death to infidels, it losely means change for the better. I hope he is okay.

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Bloomberg is a MORON..he also tried at first to link it to a Tea-Party supporter....even though NYPD and FBI had ALREADY IDentified the actor. Yes it was Amateurish, and it failed..to an extent. But look at it this way, you are a smart guy, you ONLY have a couple of months to train, are you going to focus on the "Simple" stuff like the chemistry, or are you going to focus on teh fiddly technical parts like the timers, command det device, and wiring?? Personally i think this guy just screwed up. Withough knowing exactly what the device was made of..it is completely possible he had the right ingredients with the wrong grades, which cause it to burn instead of Deflagrate or Detonate. Fireworks?? They have been Demonized for so long (Especially Flash-based devices like M-80's and terminology as 1/4 and 1/2 Stick) that it's not Beyond Reason he REALLY Assumed that they would work as Initiators for the device. Rememebr this guy isnt a lifelong Jihadi, he's new to the game. Couple light training, with doing it for real on his own for the first time jitters, and you have a recipe for EXACTLY what happened. The majority of Bombers arent captured or killed by securoty forces, they are killed or wounded by their own devices... This guy got lucky, and from what i understand he's giving up EVERYTHING he knows to keep from being Executed.

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