Times Square Terrorism Plot

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright May 5, 2010
All Rights Reserved.                                

               Packing his $1,300 Craig’s List bought 1993 Nissan Pathfinder SUV with propane tanks, gasoline, fireworks and crude timers May 1, 30-year-old Pakistani-born Faisal Shahzad hoped to wreak massive damage in New York City’s crowded Times Square Theater District.  Frantic efforts by the FBI, New York Police and U.S. Justice Department located the renegade terrorist inside an Emirate Airlines; flight on the tarmac of New York’s JFK Airport nearing takeoff.  Placed on a “no-fly” list only hours before the flight, the recent U.S. citizen and graduate of the University of Bridgeport with degrees in computer science and MBA, was plucked off the flight just in time.  Shahzad faces arraignment today in U.S. District Court, accused of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction charges.  Arresting FBI officials read Faisal in Miranda rights, antagonizing conservatives, especially Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

             Atty. Gen. Eric Holder Jr. worked feverishly on the case, confirming the worst suspicions of many Americans that this incident was indeed a premeditated foreign-based terrorist plot. “Based on what we know so far, it is clear that is was a terrorist plot aimed at murdering Americans in one of the busiest place in our country,” said Holder, refuting earlier reports that Faisal acted alone.  Faisal’s attempted mayhem was the most recent terrorist attack since 39-year-old Army psychiatrist Abdel Mallik Hasan murdered 13 and injured 30 in a rampage Nov. 5, 2009 at Fort Hood, Texas.  Controversy still surrounds Hasan’s massacre of whether he acted alone or was part of a carefully orchestrated terrorist plot.  “As Americans and as a nation, we will not be terrorized.  We will not cower tin fear.  We will not be intimidated,” said President Barack Obama, acknowledging the failed attack.

           Obama finds himself juggling a lot of balls, dealing with the near terrorist incident simultaneously managing the nation’s worst oil-rig and ecological disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Louisiana.  While the Gulf Coast suffers yet another nightmare since 2005 Hurricane Katrina, Barack faces some tough choices regarding the lurking threat of Islamic terrorism.  He’s tried to make a case with his attorney general for closing down Guantanamo Bay and plans to try 9/11 terror suspects in Manhattan’s U.S. District Court.  Recent developments remind Obama that the best-laid plans must be modified according to exigent circumstances.  Since Hassan’s Fort Hood massacre, the president has been forced to rethink the preferred ways to manage emerging threats to U.S. national security.  Shahzad’s failed Times Square terrorist attack forces Barack to change plans again.

            Saturday’s near miss in Times Square is a rude wake-up call for the White House, pivoting aggressively since the Bush administration toward domestic issues, like health care and the economy.  Since the Nov. 2009 Fort Hood massacre, the administration should have redoubled efforts to prevent more infiltration by terrorist sympathizers.  Prior to Sept. 11, there’s no doubt that federal officials were asleep at the switch.  In early ‘90s, former President Bill Clinton did little to contain a growing Islamic threat after the initial attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 or al-Qaida-backed attacks on U.S. Marines in Somalia.  When U.S. embassies were bombed by al-Qaida in 1998 and again in 2000 with the attack on the U.S.S. Cole in the Gulf of Aden, the Clinton administration turned a blind eye.  Only after Sept. 11 did the Bush White House take a more aggressive approach toward fighting Islamic terrorism.

            No matter what the final details gleaned by the FBI on Shahzad, Obama must step up efforts overseas to preempt the next terrorist attack, including redoubling efforts in Pakistan’s Waziristan region, the mountainous ungoverned tribal lands along the Afghan border.  More predator drone attacks aren’t enough to neutralize Osama bin Laden’s or the Taliban’s terror operations in the area.  Since taking office Jan. 20, Barack has fazed down Iraq and escalated by 50,000 troops the Afghan War.  Today’s Afghan mission barely resembles Bush’s Operation Enduring Freedom in Oct. 2001, where the U.S. toppled the Taliban government after 9/11.  Today’s mission in Afghanistan is more about preserving Hamid Karzai’s power than going after growing threats to U.S. national security.  Shazad’s failed car bomb attack in Manhattan proves the U.S. hasn’t neutralized terrorist operations.

            Despite all the criticism of the Bush administration, it’s now up to Obama to take the war on terror seriously, recalibrating current U.S. efforts to intercept terrorist threats before they hit soft targets on U.S. soil.  Putting more troops on the ground in Afghanistan doesn’t address al-Qaida’s growing foreign operations in South Asia, East Africa and the Middle East.  There’s only so much airline officials can do to prevent another 9/11 or intercept terrorists like Shahzad.  Going after terrorist bases, safe-havens and training camps in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen should be a high priority, together with current efforts to learn more about Shahzad and others like him.  National Security officials should be asking why Shahzad wasn’t on the current terrorist watch or no-fly lists.  Whatever training Shazad received in South Waziristan, it’s lucky for the U.S. that he was such a misfit.

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.