'Taliban Commander' Claims Responsibility for Failed Times Square Attack

Source: MEMRI

A jihadist internet forum reports that Qari Hussain Mehsud, a key leader of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP, or the Movement of Pakistani Taliban) and a close lieutenant of TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud, has claimed responsibility for the New York's Times Square failed car bomb plot.

Read more: http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4129.htm

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Nothing more at that link. Anyone can claim anything at this point.

Edited to add: Blogs at the http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2010/05/bomb_times_square">Economist picked this up, as did http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2010/05/pakistani_taliban_cl.php">Long War Journal.

Edited again to add: Reuters http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCATRE64125320100502

We'll see, of course. I just posts 'em, I don't writes 'em. :D

Either someone didn't know what they were doing, or they mostly wanted a big show.

If they want to get paid.. You don't think they do this for free, do you? No sir. The closer you make it to the front page, the more you can claim. Now.. The guy who actually gets paid is the one who did it.

I agree it's amateurish, but their record is increasingly so.

.... exploded remotely by a cell phone, wire, or radio signal they don't use firecrackers as primers.

As one of the other comments upthread says, if it was the Taliban they would have done it "right."

In all candor what does an IED in iraq consist of? And are these parts readily available in NYC? I'd say not. I don't think the tp's would gain anything from this, loner, maybe.

Recall T. Mcveigh used fertilizer and fuel - not much different than what is used in surface mining blasting.

At any rate he/they will be caught and thank goodness it didn't work.

What's the world coming to when terrorist organizations can't even recruit competent car-bombers anymore. :shrug:

Maybe is was a new franchise of the Taliban, and the only guy on call was a newbie.

Perhaps one of our rightwing extremist groups, a teabagger perhaps?

My kingdom for a clear security cam shot of the perp.

for threatening Obama-middle aged, lived with mom, didn't even have a gun...or the asshole "christian militia" in Michigan who didn't even get out the door before they got arrested.
If this is the right wing revolution, they are not starting out very well...

mark

Most likely some idiot teabagger redneck.

like the Al Qaeda New York groups they've previously "discovered?" (Thus the utter lameness of the attack)

All this terror intrigue would be hilarious if it weren't so dangerous.

"A neat charge is a happy charge."

Chester S.

...um... let's just say that if you want yer terrist organization to be bad & scary & stuff, wavin' yer hand and hollerin' "Me, me!! I did that! I'm totally incompetent and proud of it!" is the wrong way to go.

And taking credit for someone ELSE's incompetence... (which I suspect looked like a good idea at the time, but dude, put the hash pipe down, seriously,) ...well, the only ones that's likely to impress are those who think Fox provides "News."

So do yer holy movement a favor and getcherself some expert advice on PR. It's worth the investment. Promise.

Besides, there are definitely plenty of PR whores who will happily fit you up with a big impressive campaign for a line on some of that primo hash yer smokin'. You can get in touch with them through the RNC.

helpfully,
Bright

SITE and LWJ both report the YouTube channel was started April 30. Nothing was posted until this, it was likely pre-recorded with the assumption it would work.

A foreign terrorist would have stayed inside the SUV to make certain it went off properly.

a failed bomb, and this moron "claims credit"...:rofl:

My hat is off to the individual that alerted the NYPD, the first responders who dealt with this, and the good people of NYC who took it all in stride, no doubt saying things like:

"You call that a bomb! I got your bomb right here!"

"Damn...some bomb, I blew up bigger than that when the damn Red Sox won the Series!"

"What? That's the best you can do! Damn, I got more than that in a fart!"

"Come on Sal, McGinty's is just down the block, dis ain't nuttin. Let's have a beer and watch the Yankees kick the White Sox's asses"


Being born a NY'er, I can see everyone coming out to see what the fuss is, no fear, just curiosity and a LOT of jokes about stupid people...:rofl:

It all makes Bin Laden's "confession" sound so... believable.

Source: Associated Press

CAIRO — The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility in a video released Sunday for the attempted car bomb attack in New York City's Times Square.

In the 1 minute, 11 second video allegedly released by the Pakistani Taliban, the group says the attack is revenge for the death of its leader, Baitullah Mehsud, and the recent slaying of the leaders of al-Qaida in Iraq — Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al-Masri — who were killed by U.S. and Iraqi troops last month north of Baghdad.

Despite the claim of responsibility, New York City's police commissioner said there's no evidence of a Taliban link to the failed car bomb.

On the tape, an unidentified voice speaking in Urdu, the primary language in Pakistan, also says the attack comes in response to American "interference and terrorism in Muslim Countries, especially in Pakistan for (the) Lalmasjid operation," a reference to the Pakistani army's 2007 storming of the Red Mosque in Islamabad where militants were holed up inside.

If the claim of responsibility is genuine, it would be the first time the group has struck outside of South Asia. It was no known global infrastructure like al-Qaida. In at least one past instance, the Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for an attack it played no role in.

The claim, which was posted on militant websites and uncovered by the U.S-based SITE Intelligence Group, could not be immediately confirmed. The video makes no specific reference to Saturday's failed attack in New York, does not mention the attack's location or that it was a car bomb.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hvkQCyOOEuuk_Hdfq1j5lzGCEgXQD9FETHMG0

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Not sure about this.

:rofl:

well, if they really want to, more power to 'em, I guess. Weirdos.

x.x.x.

No evidence to back Taliban claim to NY bomb: police

NEW YORK — There is no proof to back a claim by a Pakistani Taliban group that it was responsible for a car bomb attempt in New York's Times Square, city police chief Raymond Kelly said Sunday.

"Although a Taliban bomb maker has claimed on the Internet... we have no evidence to support this claim," Kelly told journalists the day after the failed bomb was found.

An Internet video purportedly from the Tarik-e-Taliban group claimed responsibility, the US monitoring service SITE said.

Posted on YouTube, the video said the attempted bombing was to avenge the recent killing of two top Al-Qaeda leaders in Iraq and US drone strikes in Pakistan, SITE said.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jY-cVmhv8cdq8fDDUwJLyPrQuYDA

Kelly is still guessing, like we all are.

Controversy
MEMRI's work has been attacked on three grounds: that their work is biased; that they choose articles to translate selectively so as to give an unrepresentative view of the media they are reporting on; and that their translations are sometimes inaccurate.<11> MEMRI has responded to the attacks of critics, stating that their work is not biased; that they in fact choose representative articles from the Arab media that accurately reflect the opinions expressed, and that their translations are highly accurate.<11>

Claims of bias
Brian Whitaker, the Middle East editor for the Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom, has been one of the most outspoken critics of MEMRI, writing: "My problem with Memri is that it poses as a research institute when it's basically a propaganda operation,"<11> to "further the political agenda of Israel."<1> Whitaker has also complained that "MEMRI's website does not mention you or your work for Israeli intelligence. Nor does it mention MEMRI's co-founder, Meyrav Wurmser, and her extreme brand of Zionism.... Given your political background, it's legitimate to ask whether MEMRI is a trustworthy vehicle."<11>

In response, MEMRI President Yigal Carmon, states: "You are right: we do have an agenda. As an institute of research, we want MEMRI to present translations to people who wish to be informed on the ideas circulating in the Middle East. We aim to reflect reality. If knowledge of this reality should benefit one side or another, then so be it."<11>

Claims of selectivity
Several critics have accused MEMRI of selectivity. They state that MEMRI consistently picks for translation and dissemination the most extreme views, which portray the Arab and Muslim world in a negative light, while ignoring moderate views that are often found in the same media outlets.<1><2><2><34><35> According to Juan Cole, Professor of Modern Middle East History at the University of Michigan, MEMRI has a tendency to "cleverly cherry-pick the vast Arabic press, which serves 300 million people, for the most extreme and objectionable articles and editorials" <36> Laila Lalami, writing in The Nation, states that MEMRI "consistently picks the most violent, hateful rubbish it can find, translates it and distributes it in e-mail newsletters to media and members of Congress in Washington".<2> As a result, critics such as Ken Livingstone state, MEMRI's analyses are "distortion."<37><38><39>

Claims of translation inaccuracy
See also: Tomorrow's Pioneers#Translation controversy
The accuracy of MEMRI's translations is sometimes disputed,<40> as in the case of MEMRI's translation of a 2004 Osama bin Laden video, which MEMRI defended.<11><38><41><42><43> Norman Finkelstein, in an interview with the Muslim newspaper In Focus said MEMRI "uses the same sort of propaganda techniques as the Nazis... t’s a reliable assumption that anything MEMRI translates from the Middle East is going to be unreliable."<44>

In 2007, CNN correspondent Atika Shubert and Arabic translators accused MEMRI of mistranslating portions of a Palestinian children's television programme.

"Media watchdog MEMRI translates one caller as saying - quote - 'We will annihilate the Jews,"' said Shubert. "But, according to several Arabic speakers used by CNN, the caller actually says 'The Jews are killing us."' <45>

Several commentators, such as CNN's Arabic department, have claimed that the transcript of the April 13 show (2007) provided by MEMRI contains numerous translation errors and undue emphases. Brian Whitaker, the Middle East editor for the Guardian newspaper (UK), wrote in a blog for the newspaper that in the translation of the video, showing Farfour eliciting political comments from a young girl named Sanabel, the MEMRI transcript misrepresents the segment, by attributing a sentence said by Farfour, ("I'll shoot"), to the child, and ignoring the child's statement ("I'm going to draw a picture").<46>

Whitaker further criticized MEMRI's translation. He and others commented that a statement uttered by the same child, ("We're going to resist"), had been given an unduly aggressive interpretation by MEMRI as ("We want to fight"). Also, where MEMRI translated the girl as saying the highly controversial remark ("We will annihilate the Jews"), Whitaker and others, including Arabic speakers used by CNN, insist that based on careful listening to the low quality video clip, the girl is variously interpreted as saying, "The Jews shoot[] us"<46> or "The Jews are killing us."<47> Other sources have also pointed out that MEMRI's translation "I will commit martyrdom" should more accurately have been "I'll become a martyr" – a passive statement rather than an active/aggressive threat.<48>

MEMRI defends their translation of the show, Yigal Carmon, founder and President of MEMRI declared, "Yes, we stand by the translation by the very words, by the context, by the syntax, and every measure of the translation."<47>

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memri

But to be fair it turns out they were not first on the story, nor has it needed any correction.

The video was in fact released, and says everything they said it did. Several blogs captured it before YouTube pulled it. :shrug:

Is Adam Yahiye Gadahn –

Oops... Abu Suhayb, or perhaps Yihya Majadin Adams…

nay that ain’t right.

– yea got it "Adam Pearlmen"!

Is he claiming responsibility?

For some bottle rockets and a couple of propane cylinders.

I misplace my track now & again.

This was an American citzen. He's looking to bomb his own country.