Failed Car Bombing Attempt in New York, Times Square evacuated

[Supermarioman]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36892505...news-security/

NEW YORK - Police evacuated New York's Times Square Saturday night after smoke was reported coming from a dark-colored sports utility vehicle and authorities treated it as a suspected bomb.

Reuters quoted a New York Fire Department official as saying the vehicle was found to contain explosives, gasoline, propane and burned wires. The officer, who did not give his name because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said a man was seen fleeing the vehicle.

But the New York Times reported that it was unclear whether a package in the vehicle was a bomb. The Times reported that a federal official said the incident was not considered a terrorist threat. The Times said the vehicle was a Nissan Pathfinder parked on 45th Street just west of Seventh Avenue.

Dang, this came pretty close to ending badly.

[Dreadnaught]

I never ever ever go out in Times Square. If you come here, just don't. But last night I was invited to a birthday party of a friend's friend at a trashy-looking nightclub on 47th street and 7th avenue (two blocks away from this).

Was surprised to have everything blocked off when I got out of the subway at around 11:15PM. I had been looking forward to seeing Times Square without as much car traffic (they've closed a lot of the car lanes). Some guy said it was a car bomb, which seemed like all talk until I realized how large the evac zone was. Had to do a big detour to get to the terrible trashy club.

But this seems really lucky. Maybe a good case for eliminating car traffic in Times Square altogether.

[GGT]

What about the Broadway shows? I've stayed at the Marriott Grand Marquis before, very convenient to the shows. Seems their "target" was that kind of tourist concentration, right in front of Lion King, not Times Square itself.

[Dreadnaught]

It's all in Times Square. All of that is within ~four blocks of each other.

[GGT]

Right, so how can you tell visitors to avoid Times Square if they want to see a Broadway show?

[Loki]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100502/...quare_car_bomb

The Taliban claim credit for being inept.

[GGT]

Gee, they should have claimed they did the oil rig explosion instead.

[CitizenCain]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100502/...quare_car_bomb

The Taliban claim credit for being inept.

Do you think we should tell them they're getting that whole revenge thing wrong?

the group says the attack is revenge for the death of its leader Baitullah Mehsud and the recent killings of the top leaders of al-Qaida in Iraq.

On second thought, let's wait. I'll go kill some AQ leaders, take advantage of their "free explosives delivery" revenge thingie... and after I take delivery someone can point out that they're supposed to light the fuse.

[GGT]

What was the "smoking" in the car coming from? I've only heard about propane tanks, a couple of gas cans, some fireworks and clocks with batteries....

[CitizenCain]

Sounds like they didn't use a thick enough wire for the amount of juice going through it, so the wire melted and burned the rubber/plastic insulation around the wire (and anything else nearby). Or they didn't solder it proper, used cheap wiring and ended up with a short, etc, etc. Almost definitely a wiring issue.

Assuming, of course, they used an electronic timer/trigger device (and the Islamic terrorists almost always do) - alternately, if they used an analogue fuse (like McVeigh did), the smoke could come from the fuse burning. Doesn't seem all that likely though, since you generally want to avoid lighting an analogue fuse when your bomb contains flammable gases like propane. Premature detonation isn't the type of mistake you get to make more than once, you know.

It's not as easy to trigger an explosive device as those Palestinian kids make it look.

[Dreadnaught]

Right, so how can you tell visitors to avoid Times Square if they want to see a Broadway show?

I'm talking about closing more of it to car traffic. There's still 11 subway lines and a bus terminal that go to Times Square.

[CitizenCain]

I'm talking about closing more of it to car traffic. There's still 11 subway lines and a bus terminal that go to Times Square.

But if we're doing it 'cause of terrorism, we've gotta close the subway lines too.

[Dreadnaught]

Err, no. Half of the car lanes through Times Square have been closed recently as part of an experiment to turn them into pedestrian malls. Closing the rest might be a solution to prevent errant carbombings.

The issue of subway bombings will never go away anywhere in the subway system of course. Wherever a subway bomb was set off would cause massive disruption, Times Square or not.

[GGT]

Or move Broadway....

[Hazir]

Eh, a failed bomb attack as motivation to uproot life in a part of Manhattan? I don't think the bomb attacks in Istanbul changed anything but the security forces being more alert. With some success obviously since we haven't seen any real bombings since the HSBC/British Consulate bombing.

[CitizenCain]

Err, no. Half of the car lanes through Times Square have been closed recently as part of an experiment to turn them into pedestrian malls. Closing the rest might be a solution to prevent errant carbombings.

The issue of subway bombings will never go away anywhere in the subway system of course. Wherever a subway bomb was set off would cause massive disruption, Times Square or not.

Just saying that if you're gonna close Times Square because of one [failed] car bomb, well there have been more than one successful terrorist attack on subways and such.

[Dreadnaught]

I really just liked walking through a car-less Times Square before being stopped at 43rd street by a growing contingent of heavily armed officers with assault riffles. It was pleasant without the cars.