US Officials: No Credible Evidence That Terrorists Trained Shahzad
Jonathan S. Landay and John Walcott
WASHINGTON — No credible evidence has been found so far that the Pakistani-American man accused in the Times Square bombing plot received any serious terrorist training from the Pakistani Taliban or another radical Islamic group, six U.S. officials said Thursday.
“There is nothing that confirms that any groups have been found involved in this for certain,” one U.S. official told McClatchy . “It’s a lot of speculation at this point.”
Faisal Shahzad may have, at the most, had “incidental contact” with a terrorist organization, and he may have been encouraged to act, said one of the officials, who declined to elaborate further.
Four U.S. intelligence and counterterrorism officials and two other U.S. officials with knowledge of the case spoke only on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss classified intelligence or the ongoing investigation publicly.
According to a five-count criminal complaint filed by U.S. prosecutors in federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday, Shahzad admitted after his arrest on Monday to receiving bomb-making training in Waziristan, a part of Pakistan’s tribal area bordering Afghanistan , during a five-month trip to his homeland that ended in February.
According to the criminal complaint, Shahzad admitted that he’d parked a Nissan SUV loaded with propane tanks, gasoline canisters, fertilizer and fireworks coupled to two alarm clocks in New York’s Times Square on Saturday evening and fled.
The vehicle began smoldering, but failed to explode. Shahzad was apprehended on Monday night on a Dubai -bound Emirates flight at John F. Kennedy Airport that he’d been allowed to board even though his name was on the “no fly” list.
The U.S. intelligence and counterterrorism officials, however, said that the bungled nature of the bombing and the trail of clues that led the FBI to him suggest that he never received even rudimentary terrorist training or instructions on how to evade arrest.
Nor has any credible evidence been uncovered verifying his story of being trained in Waziristan, they and the other U.S. officials said.
“We’ve seen nothing suggesting that Shahzad received even minimal training, and everything about what he did suggests otherwise,” one U.S. official said.
The official cited, among other things, the would-be bomber’s use of the wrong kind of fertilizer and the fact that he made little or no effort to conceal his identity or that of the vehicle he used.
Another U.S. official said that Shahzad hadn’t even removed the plastic caps on the propane tanks’ valves before he abandoned the vehicle.
Nor does it appear that he made plans to escape after leaving the car in an illegal parking space where it was sure to attract attention in an area that one U.S. official said “has about the heaviest police and surveillance presence of any public space in this country.”
Several news reports on Thursday, though, said that U.S. officials had gathered “mounting” evidence that the Pakistani Taliban had trained Shahzad.
“Officials said that after two days of intense questioning of the bombing suspect, Faisal Shahzad , evidence was mounting that the group, the Pakistani Taliban, had helped inspire and train Mr. Shahzad,” The New York Times reported.
However, Richard Kolko , an FBI spokesman, said Thursday that it could be “weeks or months” before U.S. investigators are able to corroborate all aspects of Shahzad’s tale, saying they have to interview detainees and other people in Pakistan .
“If he went to a (training) camp, it is a lengthy process,” Kolko said. “Everything has to be checked.”
“Did somebody encourage him to try to do this? That’s possible, given where he was and for how long and his financial circumstances,” a third U.S. official said. “But did anybody show him how to do it? Nothing we know points in that direction, and I don’t know why some people are talking as if we had something solid. Inspired, maybe. Trained? Not in any serious sense of the word.”
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs Thursday dodged questions about whether links had been found between Shahzad and foreign extremist groups.
“This is a rapidly developing, ongoing investigation. And if there are developments that need to be made public, they’ll likely be done so through the Department of Justice ,” he said.
Shahzad, 30, is the son of a retired senior air force commander from Mohib Banda , a village near Peshawar , the main city in violence-torn northwestern Pakistan . He came to the U.S. in 1998 on a student visa and became an American citizen last year.
Testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee , Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday that Shahzad was providing investigators with valuable information.
“Mr. Shahzad is continuing to cooperate with us,” Holder said.
Faisal Shahzad was given US Citizenship 2 years ago. Once he has gained American Citizenship, he’s an American Citizen. Whatever he does wrong, is USA’s concern, and USA has no right to point fingers at Pakistan! and neither does the American Media have the right to do anything of the sort. He’s an American Citizen so the Americans should themselves take the blame. Pakistan did not ask the US to give him their Citizenship.
Here’s what the US is achieving with this hoax:
1. The proxy Pakistani lame Govt. has allowed them more drone attacks despite the fact that no evidence has come forward suggesting this guy being trained in Pakistan at all!
2. US media has unnecessarily run a “Pakistan-bashing” campaign, without the case being properly investigated.
3. The accused comes from a strong Army background. Now Pakistan Army is being demonised in the most infamous ways, to be forced to go into North Waziristan as per American wishes – cuz US wants a safe and dignified exit from Afghanistan by engaging the Talibans with the Pakistan Army via North Waziristan.
Solution:
Pakistan’s impotent Govt., which PPP is so bloody proud of, should be hanged for treason and deception. Patriots from within and outside the Army should be put in important positions representing the country, so that we can defend our dignity without feeling ashamed!
Rehman Malik is a disgraced son of a Bi*ch. He should be pulled out of the interior ministry and hanged.
Zardari should be buried next to his sorry wife.
The rest of their cronies should be given to the nation to punish them as they like.
Nice one bro..!!
PAkTRIOT
I can understand your sentiments but I feel the blame rests Pakistanis themselves. You will have heard of the phrase: ONCE BITTEN TWICE SHY. The question is WHY?
No nation is responsible on its own until its leaders take on responsibility. If the leaders are themselves corrupt culprits, the nation can’t really do much except protest.
Whichever successful nation you speak of, has a positive leadership that plays a prominent role in safeguarding the honor and dignity of its citizens from every creed and class. Unfortunately, our existing Govt. isn’t even close to that.
Why? You need to learn a lot of things before we even start this. So, enjoy while you’re at it “striver”.
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Killing innocent lives is the most horrendous act of violence that can be committed by any human being. I was completely appalled and devastated to know that someone from my country was the culprit. I live in Pakistan and have seen hundreds of people die recently in the bomb shedding scenes across the country. I have buried innocent children, parents, brothers, sisters and soldiers. Innocent blood spilt on the roads of Islamabad, Lahore, and Peshawar. I still fight for the right to be free and peace. Question that people need to understand is the root cause that creates such devilish minds and insanity. Come to Pakistan and witness first hand that the people are not what you capture in Afghanistan and US. We are peace loving people. When drones attack and kill innocent lives, India involvement and agencies work against your civil veneer and the entire government edifice is run by corrupt and immoral leaders, insane patterns will emerge. Pakistan as a whole condemns such acts of violence. We love peace and promote it. Please do read what occurs in this country to understand the derailing of humanity. To read more, kindly visit http://buildpakistantogether.blogspot.com
Americans threaten Pakistan with attacks.
U.S. Urges Swift Action in Pakistan After Failed Bombing
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The Obama administration has delivered new and stiff warnings to Pakistan after the failed Times Square car bombing that it must urgently move against the nexus of Islamic militancy in the country’s lawless tribal regions, American and Pakistani officials said.
The American military commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, met with the Pakistani military chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, at his headquarters here on Friday and urged Pakistan to move more quickly in beginning a military offensive against the Pakistani Taliban and Al Qaeda in North Waziristan, Americans and Pakistanis familiar with the visit said. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of continuing diplomatic efforts here.
The new pressure from Washington was characterized by both the Pakistani and American officials as a sharp turnaround from the relatively polite encouragement adopted by the Obama administration in recent months. And it comes amid increasing debate within the administration about how to expand the American military’s influence — and even a boots-on-the-ground presence — on Pakistani soil.
Though the bombing in Times Square failed, Mr. Shahzad’s ability to move back and forth between the United States and Pakistan has heightened fears in the Obama administration that another attempt at a terrorist attack could succeed.
“We are saying, ‘Sorry, if there is a successful attack, we will have to act’ ” within Pakistan, one of the American officials said.
That issue has been a source of growing tension between the countries. Pakistani officials, already alarmed by the increase in American drone aircraft attacks against militants in northwestern Pakistan, have been extremely sensitive about any hint that American ground troops could become involved in the fight. And attempts by the United States to increase the presence of Special Operations forces there even in an advisory or training role have been met with great resistance by the Pakistanis.
General Kayani, with whom General McChrystal has forged a positive relationship, was essentially told, “ ‘You can’t pretend any longer that this is not going on,’ ” another American official said. “ ‘We are saying you have got to go into North Waziristan.’ ”
The American ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson, met Pakistan’s president, Asif Ali Zardari, after the failed bombing and used “forceful” language to convey the American point that the Pakistanis had to move more assertively against the militants threaded through the society, a Pakistani official said.
US is also master of hoax and using things like that to blackmail us they should be told to stop it and if they don’t then leave the so called war on terror for these blackmailers to fight themselves and stop their supply lines they are using. Then the Taliaban and themselves fight their war and see what the kabli pathans do to them. Don’t these thugs blackmail you with the hoax plot of time square. Shame on blackmailers