Amazingly, the information on the New York Times Square would-be bomber keeps changing.
Saying they have obtained new evidence, senior White House officials said the Pakistani Taliban were behind the failed Times Square bombing. It marks the first time the group has been able to launch an attack on U.S. soil, indicating growing strength by groups linked to Al Qaeda even if the CIA says their operations are seriously degraded.
To say that the attempt to set off a bomb in NYC was amateurish and a poor bomb just because it did not explode is a big mistake. Maybe it was a rehearsal to see what our reactions would be. Maybe the Taliban planners did not want the culprit to survive and he knew it so it fixed it so the entire car bomb would not explode. He certainly was awaiting the FBI or NYPD to take him off the airplane before his escape. Maybe he feels safer in jail than having to return to Pakistan where he would probably be killed.
Al Qaeda and its affiliates are not stupid. They are learning and adaptive organizations
The reality is that we have to stay vigilant and we must continue to get systems, processes and procedures that can identify these individuals, ideally of course before they can carry out an attack and then indeed to react quickly if something is attempted before it’s too late.
