# Addendum on Time Square Bombing **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 7, 2010, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addendum-on-time-square-bombing/538580 "2010-05-07T02:08:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addendum-on-time-square-bombing/538580/41 "2010-05-07T11:24:29Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > I hadn’t heard of the ring-wing-nut car bomb theory until this very thread. I need to get out more. I hadn’t either. Come to think of it, I hadn’t really heard any theories. What I heard was pretty much that they were hunting for the person responsible, and then that they caught him. ---
**Author:** ![Camus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ba8739/32.png) [@Camus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Camus)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addendum-on-time-square-bombing/538580/42 "2010-05-07T11:38:25Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > When the news of the Time Square attempted car bombing broke out all those liberal morons, those incessant nagging heads on MSNBC and the Internet immediatly leaned to the conclusion it was the Tea Party and other right wingers. Even Mayor Bloomberg did this. Funny how they ignore that the vast majority of terrorist attacks and attempted attacks on American soil or on Americans were by Islamist terrorists not by right wing fanatics nor left wing fanatics for that matter. Rush Limbaugh didn’t blame hippies when the 1993 WTC bombings happened for God’s sake. > > Example of such folly: [http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/may/03/times-square-bomb](http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/may/03/times-square-bomb) Uh, I think it might’ve been early stories like [these](http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/7158662/white-male-suspect-linked-to-times-square-car-bomb/) that led people (including liberals) to tentatively cross off Islamic terrorists as the culprit(s). Even though, yes, it is possible for an Islamic terrorist or radical to be a white guy (a la Johnny Walker Lindh). ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addendum-on-time-square-bombing/538580/43 "2010-05-07T11:48:23Z")
I’m pretty liberal… guess I missed the meeting where we all decided that it was a Teabagger. I’m always the last to hear about these things. Speaking of teabaggings, **Curtis** , how’s yours so far? ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addendum-on-time-square-bombing/538580/44 "2010-05-07T11:55:42Z")
Ya mean like the link in **Curtis** ’s link, [“… And the fact that the suspect, videotaped, is a white male in his 40s …”](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2010/may/03/usa-terrorism-times-square-al-qaeda). The one that shows the CCTV of the White guy acting suspiciously and doing a _Superman_ disguise change. Ya know the White guy that was the initial suspect? Can’t imagine why folks would speculate of just which group of angry White folks might be planting bombs. I mean it’s not like White folks ever bomb things! :rolleyes: Can’t imagine how **Curtis** could’ve noticed that, three paragraphs is so much more than any average human can read in one siting. CMC fnord! > [@DanBlather](#): > > Let’s leave your personal habits out of this. > [@Turek](#): > > I thought I detected a distinct _fwapping_ sound. Our little **Curtis** is growing up ::wipes tear:: ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addendum-on-time-square-bombing/538580/45 "2010-05-07T12:04:37Z")
Two observations, in no particular order, except that I have to put them in some order because I have yet to master the fourth spatial dimension: 1. Anyone who says that there were not a few speculations about this being a right-wing terrorist is deluding himself. Of course there were – here and elsewhere, And of course they came, generally, from folks on the left. 2. Anyone who says that there was a strong, definitive claim that this was the work of the right-wing or the fault of Tea Partiers is deluding himself. In the absence of information, people speculate. Even here, a place that leans decidedly left, the strongest “claim” was **Freudian Slit** ’s, who clearly (and explicitly) says he’s more joking than serious. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addendum-on-time-square-bombing/538580/46 "2010-05-07T12:04:57Z")
Minor point for the OP: it’s **TIMES** Square. Times, plural. Named for the New York Times, which was headquartered there. I don’t know what the fuck _Time_ Square is. The junior high school version of Time Cube maybe? Anyway Tea Party rhetoric aside, it goes without saying that anybody who immediately blamed this on the Tea Party was being premature. It’s stupid, but people of all stripes jump to conclusions. > [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > Rush Limbaugh didn’t blame hippies when the 1993 WTC bombings happened for God’s sake. And how the fuck did you come by that knowledge? You weren’t even born yet, much less listening to Rush. If I had to make a blind guess I’d say he probably blamed it on Middle Eastern terrorists, which would be accurate. That was everybody’s default assumption during the '90s, too. And that explains why everybody assumed the Oklahoma City bomber was an Islamic terrorist, and we know what happened there. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addendum-on-time-square-bombing/538580/47 "2010-05-07T12:19:36Z")
> [@Turek](#): > > I thought I detected a distinct _fwapping_ sound. The webcam will reveal this to be the sound of quickly turned pages of _The Decline of the West_. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addendum-on-time-square-bombing/538580/48 "2010-05-07T12:28:38Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Minor point for the OP: it’s **TIMES** Square. Times, plural. Named for the New York Times, which was headquartered there. Y’know, I never made that connection before. Ignorance fought. Like many people I suspected an Angry White Guy was responsible _after_ hearing that the suspect was a middle-aged white guy, but reconsidered after hearing that the bomb was situated outside Viacom. You go with the information you have. Funny how the media have largely ignored the [other Muslim immigrant](http://thinkprogress.org/2010/05/05/senagalese-muslim-vendor/) in the story. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addendum-on-time-square-bombing/538580/49 "2010-05-07T12:48:12Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Y’know, I never made that connection before. Ignorance fought. A lot of people probably don’t. The Times moved its headquarters a long time ago and only came back recently when it moved into its new building. > [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > Funny how they ignore that the vast majority of terrorist attacks and attempted attacks on American soil or on Americans were by Islamist terrorists not by right wing fanatics nor left wing fanatics for that matter. Not true, and I have to say this reflects your bias toward thinking history started after George W. Bush took office. Islamic terrorism has been around for the last couple of decades, and made major attacks starting in the 1990s. Since then, and especially since 2001, most of the major attacks and attempts have been made by Islamic terrorists. But there’s a lot of history before that which you’re not aware of or ignoring, and even in the last decade, there are more domestic terrorist attempts than attempts by Al Qaeda and their ilk. [Here’s a helpful document: it’s an FBI report on terrorism.](http://www.fbi.gov/publications/terror/terrorism2002_2005.htm#page_63) It focuses on 2000 to 2005, but near the end there’s a listing of terrorist incidents in the U.S. from 1980 to 2005. > [@](#): > > Twenty three of the 24 recorded terrorist incidents [successful attacks] were perpetrated by domestic terrorists. With the exception of a white supremacist’s firebombing of a synagogue in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, all of the domestic terrorist incidents were committed by special interest extremists active in the animal rights and environmental movements. The acts committed by these extremists typically targeted materials and facilities rather than persons. […] > > The terrorism preventions for 2002 through 2005 present a more diverse threat picture. Eight of the 14 recorded terrorism preventions stemmed from right-wing extremism, and included disruptions to plotting by individuals involved with the militia, white supremacist, constitutionalist and tax protestor, and anti-abortion movements. The remaining preventions included disruptions to plotting by an anarchist in Bellingham, Washington, who sought to bomb a U.S. Coast Guard station; a plot to attack an Islamic center in Pinellis Park, Florida; and a plot by prison-originated, Muslim convert group to attack U.S. military, Jewish, and Israeli targets in the greater Los Angeles area. In addition, three preventions involved individuals who sought to provide material support to foreign terrorist organizations, including al-Qa’ida, for attacks within the United States. [The full list includes some attacks by Muslims, but it’s nowhere close to a majority.](http://www.fbi.gov/publications/terror/terrorism2002_2005.htm#page_63) I don’t have time to count but it’s a tiny minority. The busiest single year for attacks in this period was 1982. Only one of the 51 terrorist incidents that year involved Muslim extremists. Other attacks were made by various Puerto Rican nationalist groups, the Jewish Defense League (I count six of those), Omega 7, various socialist-sounding groups, and Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide, among plenty of others. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addendum-on-time-square-bombing/538580/50 "2010-05-07T13:22:10Z")
Thank you, **Bricker**. Succintly put. > [@Marley23](#): > > Islamic terrorism has been around for the last couple of decades, and made major attacks starting in the 1990s. Since then, and especially since 2001, most of the major attacks and attempts have been made by Islamic terrorists. But there’s a lot of history before that which you’re not aware of or ignoring, and even in the last decade, there are more domestic terrorist attempts than attempts by Al Qaeda and their ilk. > > [Here’s a helpful document: it’s an FBI report on terrorism.](http://www.fbi.gov/publications/terror/terrorism2002_2005.htm#page_63) It focuses on 2000 to 2005, but near the end there’s a listing of terrorist incidents in the U.S. from 1980 to 2005. > > [The full list includes some attacks by Muslims, but it’s nowhere close to a majority.](http://www.fbi.gov/publications/terror/terrorism2002_2005.htm#page_63) I don’t have time to count but it’s a tiny minority. The busiest single year for attacks in this period was 1982. Only one of the 51 terrorist incidents that year involved Muslim extremists. Other attacks were made by various Puerto Rican nationalist groups, the Jewish Defense League (I count six of those), Omega 7, various socialist-sounding groups, and Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide, among plenty of others. (Note: “Omega 7”, in **Marley** ’s quote, was an anti-Castro Cuban-exile extremist group, quite nasty) It’s almost perversely apt, how diverse and inclusive is terrorism in the US. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addendum-on-time-square-bombing/538580/51 "2010-05-07T13:25:28Z")
> [@Turek](#): > > I thought I detected a distinct _fwapping_ sound. Except it’s more theo-political than that- the first ever _fapwa_. [QUOTE=Marley23] And how the fuck did you come by that knowledge? You weren’t even born yet, much less listening to Rush. [/QUOTE] Allegedly. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addendum-on-time-square-bombing/538580/52 "2010-05-07T13:27:35Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > (Note: “Omega 7”, in **Marley** ’s quote, was an anti-Castro Cuban-exile extremist group, quite nasty) I should’ve explained that, but I couldn’t stop looking at that name and wondering if they stole it from a Tom Clancy novel. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addendum-on-time-square-bombing/538580/53 "2010-05-07T15:30:16Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I should’ve explained that, but I couldn’t stop looking at that name and wondering if they stole it from a Tom Clancy novel. I thought Omega-7 was some kind of militant fatty acid. ---
**Author:** ![emacknight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ec8ea/32.png) [@emacknight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emacknight)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addendum-on-time-square-bombing/538580/54 "2010-05-07T17:29:02Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Here’s an interview of the Mayor by Katie Couric, where he said "If I had to guess, twenty five cents, this would be exactly that. Homegrown, maybe a mentally deranged person or someone with a political agenda that doesn’t like the health care bill or something. It could be anything.” > > [Bloomberg: NYC Bomb Suspect Someone With A "Political Agenda" | RealClearPolitics](http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/05/03/bloomberg_nyc_bomb_suspect_someone_with_a_political_agenda.html) Is that what **Curtis LeMay** was actually referring to? Interesting that what he concludes with is, “It could be anything.” ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addendum-on-time-square-bombing/538580/55 "2010-05-07T17:35:14Z")
Parts of Times Square are being evacuated right now because somebody saw a quote-unquote suspicious package. [My reaction: “Must be the Naked Cowboy’s.”] It’s at 45th and Broadway, so it’s about a block away from the weekend crap bomb. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addendum-on-time-square-bombing/538580/56 "2010-05-08T01:28:44Z")
> [@emacknight](#): > > Is that what **Curtis LeMay** was actually referring to? Interesting that what he concludes with is, “It could be anything.” But considering what his examples were, it’s pretty easy to guess his line of thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addendum-on-time-square-bombing/538580/57 "2010-05-08T01:56:06Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Parts of Times Square are being evacuated right now because somebody saw a quote-unquote suspicious package. [My reaction: “Must be the Naked Cowboy’s.”] It’s at 45th and Broadway, so it’s about a block away from the weekend crap bomb. NYC is such a shithole with trash everywhere that I defy anyone to walk five blocks and not see at least one suspicious package. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addendum-on-time-square-bombing/538580/58 "2010-05-08T02:04:20Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > NYC is such a shithole with trash everywhere that I defy anyone to walk five blocks and not see at least one suspicious package. Cripes, are you ever right about _anything_?. You can’t walk near Times Square without bumping into an army of street cleaning personnel. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addendum-on-time-square-bombing/538580/59 "2010-05-08T02:08:44Z")
> [@Hal\_Briston](#): > > Cripes, are you ever right about _anything_?. You can’t walk near Times Square without bumping into an army of street cleaning personnel. I was in Times Square a couple of years ago and was struck how it was much cleaner than I expected. Now Rand, he has never visited NY, because it’s difficult to afford vacations on his snowmobile salesman salary. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addendum-on-time-square-bombing/538580/60 "2010-05-08T02:21:43Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > NYC is such a shithole with trash everywhere that I defy anyone to walk five blocks and not see at least one suspicious package. I don’t believe that the package you are trying to sell me is marijuana. It looks like oregano. I am suspicious. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addendum-on-time-square-bombing/538580.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/addendum-on-time-square-bombing/538580.md?page=4)