# Why was the NY bomb such a POS? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 13, 2010, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-ny-bomb-such-a-pos/539355 "2010-05-13T22:27:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-ny-bomb-such-a-pos/539355/1 "2010-05-13T22:27:23Z")
This guy claims he received terrorist training, is he just all talk. The “bomb” seems like it wouldn’t have caused much damage if any at all. I know this is a hard question to answer because we still do not know all the facts other than 3 men are now being held. It seems to me most people on this message board could make a better bomb then him. Hell blackpower + nails + mason jar probably would have worked better. Why would this guy leave his car running and double parked with its hazard lights on. It just seems fishy he was so careless and clueless ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-ny-bomb-such-a-pos/539355/2 "2010-05-13T22:32:45Z")
I really think this guy wanted to be caught. The whole caper, from the useless bomb, to forgetting the keys to his getaway car, to booking an escape flight under his own name just seems so remarkably incompetent as to boggle the mind. ---
**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 13, 2010, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-ny-bomb-such-a-pos/539355/3 "2010-05-13T22:36:01Z")
John Stewart compared this guy to the _Home Alone_ villains. I think that’s an apt description. ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-ny-bomb-such-a-pos/539355/4 "2010-05-13T22:38:00Z")
Not to mention he gave up his rights to a fair trial… Honestly I am far more inclined to believe this whole thing was staged by [insert agency here] to show the US populous how well we are being protected. I mean look at this guys pictures. He has tool written all over him. This whole thing is fishy even the part where the FBI stops the plane on the tarmac and arrests him on the plane I mean cmon they were 5 minutes from being late ---
**Author:** ![MrTuffPaws](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@MrTuffPaws](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrTuffPaws)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-ny-bomb-such-a-pos/539355/5 "2010-05-13T23:09:17Z")
> [@ChrisBooth12](#): > > Not to mention he gave up his rights to a fair trial.. > > Honestly I am far more inclined to believe this whole thing was staged by [insert agency here] to show the US populous how well we are being protected. I mean look at this guys pictures. He has tool written all over him. This whole thing is fishy even the part where the FBI stops the plane on the tarmac and arrests him on the plane I mean cmon they were 5 minutes from being late Not that I usually subscribe to conspiracy theories, but considering all of the bomb attacks within the US were nothing more than utter failures, I agree with you. Come on?!? There isn’t one guy willing and capable to build and detonate a bomb in a public location on the other team? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-ny-bomb-such-a-pos/539355/6 "2010-05-13T23:18:15Z")
> [@ChrisBooth12](#): > > Not to mention he gave up his rights to a fair trial.. Fair trials aren’t exactly a right in the War on Terror. Doubt he gave up much. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-ny-bomb-such-a-pos/539355/7 "2010-05-13T23:33:01Z")
> [@ChrisBooth12](#): > > This guy claims he received terrorist training, is he just all talk. The “bomb” seems like it wouldn’t have caused much damage if any at all. I know this is a hard question to answer because we still do not know all the facts other than 3 men are now being held. Since this one is not exactly an answerable GQ, let’s visit IMHO. **samclem** , Moderator, GQ ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-ny-bomb-such-a-pos/539355/8 "2010-05-13T23:38:08Z")
> [@ChrisBooth12](#): > > Hell blackpower + nails + mason jar probably would have worked better. I had no idea that black power was so explosive! Of course, I never lived through the late 60’s and early 70’s. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-ny-bomb-such-a-pos/539355/9 "2010-05-13T23:48:50Z")
> [@interface2x](#): > > I had no idea that black power was so explosive! Of course, I never lived through the late 60’s and early 70’s. The fist works best when “LOVE” and “HATE” are tattooed on the appropriate knuckles. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-ny-bomb-such-a-pos/539355/10 "2010-05-13T23:56:20Z")
> [@ChrisBooth12](#): > > Not to mention he gave up his rights to a fair trial.. > > Honestly I am far more inclined to believe this whole thing was staged by [insert agency here] to show the US populous how well we are being protected. I mean look at this guys pictures. He has tool written all over him. This whole thing is fishy even the part where the FBI stops the plane on the tarmac and arrests him on the plane I mean cmon they were 5 minutes from being late That’s not how you do it. You can’t have the “threat” be an idiot. The keystone cops could have caught him. How exactly does that make anyone believe we are “well protected?” And if that was their plan, you certainly don’t make a big deal about how shoddy and ineffective the bomb would have been. You talk about “how close we came to disaster.” No one walks around saying “Whew, I feel safer after they caught that moron.” ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-ny-bomb-such-a-pos/539355/11 "2010-05-14T00:04:09Z")
One reason for the failure is that the police do a good job of regulating chemicals that would make bomb making easier. Terrorists have to make do with homemade materials to create bombs and that has proven to be pretty difficult. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-ny-bomb-such-a-pos/539355/12 "2010-05-14T00:23:24Z")
He would have killed hundreds if he had been a suicide bomber, which radical Islam breeds quite a bit of. People ridiculed the 1993 car bombing of the World Trade Center saying it was the work of amateurs. Sadly on 9/11/01 they found out how deadly these Islamic terrorists "amateurs " are. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-ny-bomb-such-a-pos/539355/13 "2010-05-14T01:19:44Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > He would have killed hundreds if he had been a suicide bomber, which radical Islam breeds quite a bit of. I don’t really see how the bomb would’ve been more effective if he had stayed in the car to try and blow himself up with it. IIRC, there was a pretty similar case in Scotland where the terrorists stayed with the car and had only slightly more effective bombs. The end result was that they didn’t hurt any bystanders but did manage to set themselves on fire. But I agree that the story doesn’t add up 100%. The various Islamic terrorist groups have been making IED’s for years now, it seems unlikely that they wouldn’t be able to teach him at least a vaguely plausible method for building one in the States. I suspect he either: 1)was never really at a Pakistani Terrorist camp and is making the story up or 2) The camp he ended up in was some sort of wannabe terrorist camp for the gullible or 3) He never really intended for the bomb to go off, and this was all some weird cry for help or symbolic protest thing. ---
**Author:** ![Plan\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Plan\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plan_B)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-ny-bomb-such-a-pos/539355/14 "2010-05-14T02:10:14Z")
From the following Washington Post article [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/13/AR2010051305032.html?hpid=topnews:](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/13/AR2010051305032.html?hpid=topnews:) > [@](#): > > The Pakistani government has arrested a suspect with connections to a Pakistani militant group who said he acted as an accomplice to the man accused of trying to bomb Times Square, U.S. officials said. > > The suspect, whose arrest has not been previously disclosed, provided an “independent stream” of evidence that the Pakistani Taliban were behind the attempt and has admitted helping Faisal Shahzad, the main suspect, travel into Pakistan’s tribal belt for bomb training. Denial is not just a river in Egypt. These people will kill you if they get the chance. But I know, I know, the Tea Partiers, with their \*\*potential \*\*for violence are a much greater threat. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-ny-bomb-such-a-pos/539355/15 "2010-05-14T02:10:35Z")
> [@MrTuffPaws](#): > > Not that I usually subscribe to conspiracy theories, but considering all of the bomb attacks within the US were nothing more than utter failures, I agree with you. [If this was an utter failure, I’d hate to see what you’d call a success.](http://image3.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID7039/images/Murrah_Building_-_Aerial.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-ny-bomb-such-a-pos/539355/16 "2010-05-14T13:10:18Z")
Here’s a story about the similar attempt in London in 2007 - [Beavis and Butthead in London jihad](http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/29/more_fear_biscuits_please/). The author was a Royal Army bomb disposal expert. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-ny-bomb-such-a-pos/539355/17 "2010-05-14T14:03:22Z")
From what I hear it literally was a POS. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-ny-bomb-such-a-pos/539355/18 "2010-05-14T14:33:22Z")
> [@Plan\_B](#): > > From the following Washington Post article > > [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/13/AR2010051305032.html?hpid=topnews:](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/13/AR2010051305032.html?hpid=topnews:) > The Pakistani government has arrested a suspect with connections to a Pakistani militant group who said he acted as an accomplice to the man accused of trying to bomb Times Square, U.S. officials said. > > > [@](#): > > > > The suspect, whose arrest has not been previously disclosed, provided an “independent stream” of evidence that the Pakistani Taliban were behind the attempt and has admitted helping Faisal Shahzad, the main suspect, travel into Pakistan’s tribal belt for bomb training. > > Denial is not just a river in Egypt. These people will kill you if they get the chance. But I know, I know, the Tea Partiers, with their \*\*potential \*\*for violence are a much greater threat. That’s the surprising thing. If telling someone to tape firecrackers to the outside of propane tanks is what they are now calling “bomb training,” then their standards have gone seriously downhill. Wile E. Coyote has built better bombs. ---
**Author:** ![Oregon\_sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/50afbb/32.png) [@Oregon\_sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oregon_sunshine)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-ny-bomb-such-a-pos/539355/19 "2010-05-14T15:07:51Z")
Bomb fail. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-ny-bomb-such-a-pos/539355/20 "2010-05-14T15:52:58Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > He would have killed hundreds if he had been a suicide bomber, which radical Islam breeds quite a bit of. > > People ridiculed the 1993 car bombing of the World Trade Center saying it was the work of amateurs. Sadly on 9/11/01 they found out how deadly these Islamic terrorists "amateurs " are. The 1993 bomb at the World Trade Center was an extremely powerful truck bomb. I don’t recall anyone saying it was the work of “amateurs”. Islamic radicals have carried out numerous deadly and destructive attacks, but that doesn’t mean we have to reflexively say that every jihadist wannabe with a half-witted “bomb” is the new bin Laden. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-ny-bomb-such-a-pos/539355.md?page=2)