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The NYPD is toning down its response to a threat of a radiological truck bomb that appeared on the Internet recently. The city established checkpoints and situated radiation detectors around the city in an attempt to thwart any threat, in stark contrast to other cities mentioned as possible targets, which appeared to shrug the threats off as unlikely.
The police deployed radiation sensors in police cars, boats, and helicopters Friday night, and groups of cops searched trucks and SUVs coming into the city. Efforts were curtailed by mid-Saturday, however, when no corroborating evidence of a legitimate threat could be validated by any intelligence agencies.
The initial threats were reported at the site Debka.com. They were apparently made in retaliation for the lack of seriousness with which al Qaeda threats of an embassy attack were treated. Despite the response to the recent threat, the city's alert level never rose above the previous and current "orange" level.
(Image from Bomb Squad!, by ianqui at flickr)
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Is that logo official? Whether it is or not, the creators and users really show a strong form of gallows humor there.
We imagine that if one is serving in the department's Bomb Squad, it's good to have a well-developed sense of gallows humor.
and a well developed toilet plunger.
Another example of fine reporting from debka! Those guys have been reporting Cheney-style for years. If there's a 1 in a 100 percent chance that it's true, they run an article. They are the World Weekly News of the GWOT. And yet, our very own NYPD takes them at face value--they were, as far as we know, the only source of the threat. WTF? Perhaps DHS made the NYPD do it, who knows, but it's no a good sign that the NYPD takes debka seriously.
The logo is on the garage door of the Bomb Squad at The Sixth Precinct in Manhattan. You can see it for yourself on Charles Street between Hudson and Bleeker. The Sixth has always had a sense of humor. IN the 70's, when a precinct in The Bronx was called "Fort Apache" because it was so dangerous, The Sixth called themselves "Fort Bruce" and had t-shirts made up with a cartoon of a man dressed as a woman hitting a beat cop over the head with her purse with "Fort Bruce, NYC" printed underneath. I had two uncles who were detectives at that precinct. I wish I still had that t-shirt.
And to # 4: " And yet, our very own NYPD takes them at face value..."
I don't think so. Read for yourself. Debka only reported that there was a radiological threat against NYC, yet it was reported by our press here that The NYPD had information that an attack would take place on Friday Evening around 34th Street. No doubt they NYPD had even more information than that, but they won't tell us everything, now will they?
Don't be so niave. The NYPD does not spend thousands, possibly millions because of an unsubstantiated and uncorroborated threat reported on some random website (B/T/W- they never did said the threat was uncorroborated, now did they?). Debka has in the past reported similar threats against NYC (in 2003, for example.) which DID NOT prompt such a response by The NYPD. Obviously, the NYPD had other information from other sources (most likely from much more reliable and official sources.) So think again. If The NYPD relied only on Debka and other websites for their info, we would have a response like we saw on Friday night and Saturday every single day.
Have a bit more faith in The NYPD. We haven't been atatcked again yet, have we?