Bloomberg Blames International Terrorists who Hate “Our Freedoms” for Times Square Car Bomb

Alhamdulillah (thank God), an act of terrorism with potential of causing significant harm in New York has been averted. A crude car-bomb was planted in a SUV parked in the bustling New York Times Square. This square is at the heart of New York, and is part of the city that especially never sleeps.

While significant harm has been averted on the ground, our elected leaders continue to harm American interests with premature conclusions. It does seem that they just haven't learned from history. Amazing, and then not so surprising, that  Mayor George W. Bloomberg is already blaming “international terrorists”, who “hate our freedoms” for the failed act of terrorism. Of course he cannot already know who is behind the plot, but as the security expert stated (in an interview with Al Jazeera -story below), this line appears to take a pretty much no-regrets position, with politicians using it for their “own political advantage to accuse the Islamic militants even if it turned out that they have nothing to do with it”.

The plot, Bloomberg admits, was “amateurish” as has been every “plot” thus far in America, thank God. Why Bloomberg thinks that well-trained “international terrorists” could be amateurish escapes me; rather, such plots may point more to local extremists, who could be either the J-types or could be the white-supremacist-types.

More than a year ago, the Department of Homeland security warned about a rise in “rightwing extremist activity”, especially under tough economic times. With a non-white in the Presidential seat, one can only imagine white supremacist anger at this time. So why should that possibility be immediately excluded, Mr. Bloomberg? In fact, if there is anyone who hates our freedoms, it is the white supremacists who hate non-whites’ freedom!

Of course, the entire premise of “our freedoms” being a cause (let alone primary cause) for terrorism is entirely bogus. Most j-types don’t really care for our “freedoms”; a lot of them actually had and left these “freedoms” on their own accord. Rather, their hate is driven by America’s foreign policies. Of course, Bloomberg won’t say that, because that indirectly makes Israel complicit. As the military chiefs have finally come out said it, Israel’s policies are indeed one of the biggest factors for anti-Americanism.

So, if it is indeed “international terrorists”, Mr. W-wannabe, it is not for freedoms, but rather for our policies and the policies of Israel. Not that this fact excuses the terrorists for their treachery, but lets at least get the causes right, so we can do something about the consequences.

We hope and pray of course that no Muslims were involved. If they were, then let's brace for another media pounding, with cheer-leading provided by the Islamophobic right-wingers, the ziocons & the neocons. In any case, Muslim organizations should assume the worst-case scenario, and start preparing for a response.

Car bomb found in New York square

A car bomb has been found in New York City's Time Square, prompting US police to evacuate thousands of people from the area.

Police said the explosive device, discovered in a four-wheel-drive vehicle on Saturday evening, consisted of propane tanks, fireworks, petrol containers, wires and two clocks.

Michael Bloomberg, the city's mayor, said the bomb, which failed to go off, was homemade and “looked amateurish”.

“We are very lucky. Thanks to alert New Yorkers and professional police officers, we avoided what could have been a very deadly event,” he said.

Bloomberg also said that “we have no idea who did this and why”.

Bomb-squad staff were deployed in busy square in the heart of Manhattan late on Saturday and police shut down several streets after a street vendor alerted police of “an unoccupied suspicious vehicle”.

Bloomberg said the police then observed that the car had smoke emerging from vents near the back seat and smelled of gun powder. There were reports of a small flash and popping sounds also coming from the car.

Nearby life normal

Al Jazeera's Kristen Saloomey, reporting from Manhattan, said that while the square was shut down, life was going on as usual in areas nearby.

“New Yorkers have lived through many scares,” she said.

“The [four-wheel vehicle] was a Nissan Pathfinder with licence plates from the state of Connecticut.

“The plates were actually traced and found to belong to another vehicle so obviously investigation is still going on.”

The purpose of the bomb was to create “a significant amount of fire,” Raymond Kelly, the city police commissioner, said.

He said that after an examination by bomb squad experts, the vehicle will be moved to a police location.

“The vehicle will be examined for DNA and fingerprint evidence.”

Terrorists blamed

In his press conference, Mayor Bloomberg said that “terrorists around the world”, who want to take “freedoms” away from the Americans, always focus on the symbol of those freedoms – New York City.

Riad Kahwaji, a security analyst from the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis in Dubai, said it was “premature” to accuse international terrorists.

“We shouldn't jump into conclusions here,” he told Al Jazeera.

“We have a precedent here, back in the 1990s, of the attack on the FBI building in Oklahoma city. People immediately accused Islamic militants and it turned out [the culprit] was one of the right-wing fundamentalists from inside the US.

“Right now, the big bogeyman is al-Qaeda, the Islamic terrorists. … For the US, it's always safe and good for their own political advantage to accuse the Islamic militants even if it turned out that they have nothing to do with it.”

A statement issued by the White House said the New York police department had done “excellent work” in responding to the incident.

Unconfirmed reports said someone had been seen running from the car.

The vehicle had been parked close to a theatre on the corner of 45th Street and Seventh Avenue showing a production of The Lion King.

Times Square is one of the city's most high-profile attractions and police are deployed there in large numbers.

In December they closed the area while inspecting a van at first feared to contain a bomb, but which turned out to be carrying nothing dangerous.

[Source: Al Jazeera]