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NYPD: "No Specific" Terror Threat To Make You Crap Your Pants (Yet)

2009_09_natguard.jpg
Photograph of National Guardsmen in Grand Central Station from the AP

As the authorities continue to investigate the alleged terror attack plans on "places of amusement, immorality, and sin" as well as "vital economic centers," Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has been trying to assure New Yorkers that the NYPD is on top of things as always, saying, "There is no specific threat. In a post-9/11 world, we're concerned. We do more than any other city in the world," and "Our operating premise is that the city is the top of the terrorist target list. That there are always those people that want to come here and hurt us." We guess that's why more raids were conducted yesterday.

However, as the NYPD and FBI say they work well together, the feds are implying that the police messed up their investigation of former Queens resident/current Denver-area resident Najibullah Zazi. According to the AP, "Police acting without the FBI's knowledge may have inadvertently helped blow the surveillance of a terrorism suspect and compromised a bomb plot investigation at a sensitive stage by questioning an imam about him, a criminal complaint suggests." The feds claim Queens imam (and one-time NYPD source) Ahmad Alfazi told Zazi that the cops kept asking Alfazi about him. Additionally, the NYPD's towing of Zazi's rental car also clued him in that he was being watched.

Anywhere from six to 24 more associates of Zazi (or at least people he called) are reportedly sought. Attorney General Eric Holder told CBS News, "I think we've disrupted that which they've planned and it's not totally clear to us at this point what it is they had in mind, though I think it is clear that something very serious and something very organized was under way."

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Comments [rss]

  • drewo

    Just like many of us at our jobs - these folks have to pretend they are doing something useful.

  • ckl

    zazi on the metro!

  • potsmoker

    hasnt it already been widely reported that the Nat Guard's weapons are actually UNLOADED and they do NOT carry Ammo!!!! hahaha



    its security theatre.suckers

  • Wza

    Bingo!

  • Quidnam

    If they're going after "places of amusement, immorality, and sin" as well as "vital economic centers," they can go 5/5 by taking out Espada's "non-profit" operation in the Bronx.

  • Quidnam

    Of course, that would have worked better if my math did also.

  • jules1000

    I'm surprised nothing hasn't happened yet on the subway.

    The vast system is just impossible to guard.

  • JacqueMehoff

    if I knew then, what I know now.

    yeah, I would have walked over to GZ. To keep on living like this is not worth it for me.

    and, I trust the FBI way more than the NYPD.

  • Peter

    The "war" on terrorism is over.

    Osama bin Laden is dead.

    al-Qaeda has been destroyed.

    The "war" on terrorism is over.

    We won.

    End of discussion.

  • hunter.blatherer

    Thank you, "Peter," for sharing your inside information. Everyone will stop talking now.

  • Peter

    Let's see ... it's been eight years, there have been ZERO attacks, and all of the threats and conspiracies have proven to be a whole lot of nothing (e.g. the pizza delivery boys with a delusion of grandeur about attacking Fort Dix). If there were a real, continuing threat we would've been hit a long time ago.

  • Rocknrope

    Zero attacks in the US. How many international attacks? London, Madrid, Mumbai.



    Go stick your head back in the sand and we'll tell you when its safe to come out.

  • HisGirl

    I brought a pair of "escape" sneakers to keep under my desk at work. I've worked Downtown across the street from the World Trade Center for 2 1/2 years and i've felt considerably safe, until now and it's just a real scary feeling here, as well as i'm sure all throughout the City, when you know people out there want to just kill on purpose and in mass. It just sucks.

  • Cranky Old Man

    Does anyone in their right mind believe that a real terrorist would keep a recipe for making explosives on his computer and have a dozen or so backpacks laying around his own home? Also, would a real terrorist exchange email with all his terror buddies back in Afghanistan? And wouldn't a real suicide bomber just merely walk up to a bag checkpoint at Grand Central and detonate it right there? Or just wait until all this died down? Or get on a subway at another station? This is all theatrics, designed to intimidate regular people. And it's working. People nowadays would accept being stripped naked and body cavity searched if that meant the difference between catching or missing their flight. People accept cops rummaging around their stuff without a search warrant. They accept $10 dollar an hour security guards with criminal records of their own. They accept angry, perverted TSA agents groping their wives and daughters at the airport. Nation of sheep, who just want to get home so they can watch television.

  • MrManhattan

    Remember the 1992 WTC bombers who got nabbed trying to claim the deposit on the rental truck? We're not dealing with the sharpest crayons in the box here.

  • CR

    If we were in fact a "nation of sheep who just want to get home so we can watch tv" wouldn't we go apeshit anytime anyone delayed us from our precious boob-tube and not stand for these delays?



    "Does anyone in their right mind believe that a real terrorist would keep a recipe for making explosives on his computer and have a dozen or so backpacks laying around his own home?"



    Yes. And "yes" to all your other questions. Different people have different motives for getting into terrorism, and different M.O.'s when they do.

  • ides_of_march

    Terrorists do stupid things. Most of them aren't playing with a full deck if you haven't noticed. I don't know where you get this image of razor sharp professionalism and infallibility on their part.



    In 1998, the NYPD stopped 2 palestinians in Brooklyn who were hours away from blowing a subway train with pipe bombs. They got caught because they did something totally stupid, they bragged about it to their room mate, an Egyptian, assuming because he was also muslim wouldn't rat them out to the cops. He did.



    Hate to disappoint you, there are a lot of incompetent terrorists out there. Thank goodness.

  • ides_of_march

    *that was reply to cranky old..

  • Matt Joyce

    The greatest single threat to the american way of life today is the TSA. Obama should bring to bear the full might of the US military in combating their growing threat to the safety and security of our nation and its ideals. I hope that he will soon address the issue.

  • The Man Bat

    You are an idiot. Cranky OM nailed it. Spot on.

  • emilydickinson

    I freaked out when I saw one of those kids drop his AR-15 in the Broadway-Nassau subway station. Other than that..."Keep Calm, Carry On."

  • Quidnam

    Yeah, I'd say that would qualify as freak-worthy.

  • Potty Boy

    Non-issue. Oneupsmanship is a universal constant between FBI and any local law enforcement agency. My faith is in Ray Kelly and the NYPD. They are directly responsible for protecting NYC. Mouthpiece Ron Kuby is trying to exploit the inter-agency turf battle to his client's benefit. Even if the NYPD did mess up, which I doubt, no field work is ever perfect. Don't second-guess an operation from an armchair.

  • zodak

    i used to get freaked out by those kids in fatigues with guns like in the photo but now i just ignore them as i walk by.



    it's sad that i've gotten used to them being there.

  • HisGirl

    It is sad. It's terrible to be afraid and to feel that maybe they might get you or a loved one in the next attack because you and the ones you love were OK in the last one.

  • blackwhole

    what was it the song said about New York City Cops?

  • farleft

    These guys probably piss holy water.

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