Times Square ... Good Save

[shropshire 0]

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ew York City police have defused an improvised car bomb parked in Times Square, one of the city's busiest tourist areas, officials say.
They say propane tanks, fireworks, petrol, and a clock device were removed from a parked sports utility vehicle.
Part of the district - where many theatres are sited - was sealed off.
Both US President Barack Obama and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg praised the quick response by the New York Police Department.
"We are very lucky," Mr Bloomberg told reporters. "Thanks to alert New Yorkers and professional police officers, we avoided what could have been a very deadly event."

Clicky

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[quade 4]

Sounds like a domestic.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[shropshire 0]

Most likely ... but it does appear to have been caught and handled well by the authorities.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[wolfriverjoe 1,523]

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Most likely ... but it does appear to have been caught and handled well by the authorities.

To be honest, not really. More luck than skill.

Just like the underwear bomber, it looks like a "fizzle". I'll bet that it was activated, but didn't detonate. Very few bombs emit smoke before going "kaboom".

Gas cans and propane tanks are pretty amateruish (any idea how easy it is to make ANFO?).

"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

[Belgian_Draft 0]

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To be honest, not really. More luck than skill.

Maybe so. But they still handled it well.
That is, unless you would have preferred they didn't clear the area while making sure the contraption didn't go bang?
Unless each and every vehicle is stopped and searched, luck will always play a big part in these scenarios.

HAMMER:
Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a
kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the
object we are trying to hit.

[rhaig 0]

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(any idea how easy it is to make ANFO?).

If I'm estimating right, I have enough materials within 400ft of my house (neighbor's unlocked storage sheds) to make enough to fill a 30gal trashcan.

And considering the time of the year, buying moderate quantities of fertilizer (couple hundred lbs each) from a few different sources wouldn't raise eyebrows.

The tricky part is getting it to detonate which requires a primary. Still not hard to make from hardware store components, but marginally harder than making ANFO.

--
Rob

[kallend 2,146]

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(any idea how easy it is to make ANFO?).

If I'm estimating right, I have enough materials within 400ft of my house (neighbor's unlocked storage sheds) to make enough to fill a 30gal trashcan.

And considering the time of the year, buying moderate quantities of fertilizer (couple hundred lbs each) from a few different sources wouldn't raise eyebrows.

The tricky part is getting it to detonate which requires a primary. Still not hard to make from hardware store components, but marginally harder than making ANFO.

Anyone with access to a half way decent chem lab (such as in a university) would have no trouble at all.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[wildcard451 0]

Probing and testing for response times, procedures, etc?

[airdvr 210]

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Sounds like a domestic.

Prolly a Tea-Bagger!

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[Bolas 5]

I'm just surprised they actually found a place to park on the street.

Stupidity if left untreated is self-correcting
If ya can't be good, look good, if that fails, make 'em laugh.

[rhaig 0]

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Anyone with access to a half way decent chem lab (such as in a university) would have no trouble at all.

doesn't really even take that. 3 components from wal-mart, and my kitchen. But I wasn't going to give out a cookbook.

--
Rob

[rehmwa 2]

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Sounds like a domestic.

DUH - it's clearly a government plant (domestic) designed to generate sympathy for the current administration.

It's been done before (World Trade Center - do a search) but now that we're spending so much money on bribing industries and paying off voters, this is all they can afford this term.

In fact, Obama's aunt wants her car back and she's insisting on it being returned with a full tank and a good cleanup and little tree deoderizer - there's a finance committee formed even now to find the funds.

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[Zep 0]

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(any idea how easy it is to make ANFO?).

If I'm estimating right, I have enough materials within 400ft of my house (neighbor's unlocked storage sheds) to make enough to fill a 30gal trashcan.

And considering the time of the year, buying moderate quantities of fertilizer (couple hundred lbs each) from a few different sources wouldn't raise eyebrows.

The tricky part is getting it to detonate which requires a primary. Still not hard to make from hardware store components, but marginally harder than making ANFO.

Anyone with access to a half way decent chem lab (such as in a university) would have no trouble at all.

So do tell. What would YOU use as a reliable booster for ANFL or AN/FL

Gone fishing

[Andy9o8 2]

Albeit a (comparatively) crude device (insofar as the Received Wisdom tells us), I'm morbidly curious how much explosive force potentially could have been generated by this. Any chemists or engineers on here fancy an educated guess?

[pirana 0]

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I'm just surprised they actually found a place to park on the street.

Reminds me of the original Batman.

Some days you just can't find a place to park a bomb.

" . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

[winsor 236]

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Albeit a (comparatively) crude device (insofar as the Received Wisdom tells us), I'm morbidly curious how much explosive force potentially could have been generated by this. Any chemists or engineers on here fancy an educated guess?

"The purpose of terrorism is to terrorize." Lenin

The way it has been described, it would have been closer to Hollywood special-effect than a military-grade. However, given that the whole point is to freak everyone out, a lot of photogenic visuals would serve the purpose much better than a more lethal, but understated, setup.

It would have made for some real Jerry Bruckheimer video for whatever tourist had a camera running.


BSBD,

Winsor

[jgoose71 0]

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Sounds like a domestic.

Nope, latest is the guy is a naturalized Pakistani dude trained over seas. Rumor has it Eric Holder and the rest of the attorney generals office is lining up to defend him.

"There is an art, it says, or, rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss."
Life, the Universe, and Everything

[quade 4]

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. . . latest is the guy is a naturalized Pakistani dude trained over seas . . .

Link to support that please?

I've not read anything at all about them actually identifying the individual. Sure, a Paki Taliban group claimed the attack, but that's meaningless. Groups claim attacks they have nothing to do with all the time.

Additionally, if he was "trained" anywhere, it certainly wasn't very good training. While the bomb -may- have worked, I think most Taliban bombers know how to make bombs that will absolutely work.

To me, this looks too amateurish.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[1969912 0]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/05/03/officials-reportedly-foreign-plot-times-square-car-bomb/

"Once we got to the point where twenty/something's needed a place on the corner that changed the oil in their cars we were doomed . . ."
-NickDG

[quade 4]

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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/05/03/officials-reportedly-foreign-plot-times-square-car-bomb/

Will be fascinating to see how this pans out. FoxNews is the only source that I can see on that. I'm not seeing that reported anywhere else so far.

Edited to add

Ok, just did another run around the bases. Seeing a couple of other news organizations now reporting this same information.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[jgoose71 0]

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To me, this looks too amateurish.

Just because it didn't go off doesn't mean it's amateurish, it means he wasn't testing his materials as he went along to make sure things are working correctly. He just trusted that they would work because that is the way he was shown.

I've seen similar devices kill lots of friends over seas. If Janet Napalatano was paying any attention to any of the intelligence reports coming her way she would know better and not open her mouth and swallow her foot like that, just like she did with the underwear bomber. Just once again showing how unqualified she is.

Probably still thinking about the threat that Veterans pose to the U.S. Oh wait, it was a Veteran that reported it.

"There is an art, it says, or, rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss."
Life, the Universe, and Everything

[1969912 0]

Here you go: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36892505/ns/us_news-security/ (found through Fox News)

"Once we got to the point where twenty/something's needed a place on the corner that changed the oil in their cars we were doomed . . ."
-NickDG

[quade 4]

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Here you go: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36892505/ns/us_news-security/ (found through Fox News)

From that article;

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To experts in explosives, it seemed to be the work of someone who really didn't know what they were doing.

Chris Falkenberg, president of Insite Security, which works with Fortune 500 companies, said the device, as described by authorities, "doesn't differ much at all from 'The Anarchist Cookbook'" — the underground 1971 manual for homemade explosives.

He said revelations that the fertilizer used could not have exploded suggested "this is amateur hour. My kids could build a better bomb than this."

Still makes me wonder about this entire idea the guy was "trained" by the Paki Taliban.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[1969912 0]

Yeah, that "bomb" was a joke. Might have broken a few windows at best. Of course, the underwear bomb was a joke as well.

"Once we got to the point where twenty/something's needed a place on the corner that changed the oil in their cars we were doomed . . ."
-NickDG

[Bolas 5]

By joke you mean test/distraction/psychological mindgame?

Stupidity if left untreated is self-correcting
If ya can't be good, look good, if that fails, make 'em laugh.