New York ‘lone wolf’ was one hour away from finishing his bomb
She also praised the New York Police Department, saying, “I think they handled it well.”
Officials with the NYPD, which conducted the undercover investigation using a confidential informant and a bugged apartment, said the department had to move quickly because Pimentel was about to test a pipe bomb made out of match heads, nails and other ingredients bought at neighborhood hardware and discount stores.
Two law enforcement officials said Monday that the NYPD’s Intelligence Division had sought to get the FBI involved at least twice as the investigation unfolded. Both times, the FBI concluded that Pimentel lacked the mental capacity to act on his own, they said.
The FBI thought Pimentel “didn’t have the predisposition or the ability to do anything on his own,” one of the officials said.
The officials were not authorized to speak about the case and spoke on condition of anonymity. The FBI’s New York office and the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan both declined to comment on Monday.
Pimentel’s lawyer, Joseph Zablocki, said his client was never a true threat.
“If the goal here is to be stopping terror … I’m not sure that this is where we should be spending our resources,” he said.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly defended the handling of the case Monday, saying the NYPD kept federal authorities in the loop “all along” before circumstances forced investigators to take swift measures using state charges.
“No question in my mind that we had to take this case down,” Kelly said. “There was an imminent threat.”
Added Kelly: “This is a classic case of what we’ve been talking about �� the lone wolf, an individual, self-radicalized. This is the needle in the haystack problem we face as a country and as a city.”
Authorities described Pimentel as an unemployed U.S. citizen and “al-Qaida sympathizer” who was born in the Dominican Republic. He had lived most of his life in Manhattan, aside from about five years in the upstate city of Schenectady, where authorities say he had an arrested for credit card fraud.
His mother said he was raised Roman Catholic. But he converted to Islam in 2004 and went by the name Muhammad Yusuf, authorities said.
Using a tip from police in Albany, the NYPD had been watching Pimentel using a confidential informant for the past year. Investigators learned that he was energized and motivated to carry out his plan by the Sept. 30 killing of al-Qaida’s U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, police said.
Pimentel was under constant surveillance as he shopped for the pipe bombmaterials. He also was overheard talking about attacking police patrol cars and postal facilities, killing soldiers returning home from abroad andbombing a police station in Bayonne, N.J., authorizes said.
Presidential Election (as a current event- watch the tone or it's gone)
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Can we pleeeeeaaaase have like one topic about the US 08 Presidential Race?
It’s so close and everything and so groundbreaking …
We wouldn’t have to bring back PD but just have like 1 topic about it. :roll: -
i second that. I think its a good idea and its only one topic and is sorta important.
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It can’t be close yet, we’ve only had one primary election, we don’t even know who the final candidates are going to be yet!
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I gota say I would have loved to discuss a “caucus” with someone who has been to one, especialy a Democratic one.
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Only been one Caucus so far. There’s another one on Saturday.
So far, however, Huckabee and Obama are leading. Runner ups are Romney and Edwards (yea, you read that right, Clinton is in THIRD place, amazing isn’t it?)
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wait, i thought political discustions wern’t allowed hear. how can you have a discusion about the presidental election with out that?
or is this a one time situation deal? -
AJ’s calling for a one thread deal just about the candidates of the election.
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has a presidence been set for this before? what i mean has any one asked and been aproved or denied on this kind of thing before.
i think it’s a good idea but some ground rules may need to be set before it’s started.
like no be littleing of people based on any reason expetally there views (canidents though are fair game).
some other “controls” would be good too. -
Yea, in 1999 the Political Boards were created to discuss the election and aftermath of the election between George Bush and Algore
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As I see it so far this is a current events discussion, I may be out voted, but I think as long as we can avoid discussing political oppinion it’s ok with me. Notice I haven’t mentioned who my favorite is or how he did…
I think the process in interesting, from a cultural stand point.
Jen, when I said “been to a caucus” I meant ever, as in previous years. It sounds like fun to me, but since I’ve never been to one I wouldn’t know.
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i don’t think you can have this kind of talk with out it turnning political as it is a political race.
as for your (dezrtfish) edit of Jen’s statment above, i think she was meaning that it’s amazing that she got 3rd and not higher with all the media around her and the Clinton publicity machine behind her. i’m not saying my political view on this, just that it’s strange that she fell to 3rd and not 2nd at lowest… expetally with her being the Dem fav.I gota say I would have loved to discuss a “caucus” with someone who has been to one, especialy a Democratic one.
if any thing this seams to me to be more political then Jen’s statment as you brought a perticular party up. is it because you would want to go to the Dem Caucus because you support the Dems or because you would get a good laugh out of it. ether interpritation would be political.
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i don’t think you can have this kind of talk with out it turnning political as it is a political race.
as for your (dezrtfish) edit of Jen’s statment above, i think she was meaning that it’s amazing that she got 3rd and not higher with all the media around her and the Clinton publicity machine behind her. i’m not saying my political view on this, just that it’s strange that she fell to 3rd and not 2nd at lowest… expetally with her being the Dem fav.I gota say I would have loved to discuss a “caucus” with someone who has been to one, especialy a Democratic one.
if any thing this seams to me to be more political then Jen’s statment as you brought a perticular party up. is it because you would want to go to the Dem Caucus because you support the Dems or because you would get a good laugh out of it. ether interpritation would be political.
why does it matter? no one is going to die pervavita. the only reason political discussion was band was because it got out of hand and degenerated into name calling. We should be creatures of reason not of law. (bad things happen when people care more about what the law is than what is right) If we don’t degrade to insulting each other then this discussion should be fine. This is just my opinion though.
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Dezrt didn’t edit anything out of my statement, he just pointed out that some may take my statement as “politically motivated” not what it is, amazement that after all the talk of her being inevitable and guaranteed to be on the ballot in November that she came in third place in the first primary. Not saying she’ll win or lose or that she should win or lose, just kinda shocked at how poor her results were given all the media hype.
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How about a temporary board to discuss the election…just about everyone here is already talking about it.
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I am running with DF on this one…
Major current event, discuss away. It is an important topic, and there is a lot of practical and worthwhile stuff to discuss regarding this mass of primaries that will effectively select the candidates by Feb 5.
However, if it becomes the type of worthless diatribe that pervaded the previous PD, it will be locked and sealed away hidden immediately (no name calling, none of the grandiose stereotype statements, etc.)
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Good, then other then me, who else was utterly shocked that Hillary came in THIRD!?!? I mean, Obama in First or Hillary in First with the other in second I was expecting. But Hillary in Third? That was a major surprise and a huge upset for the Clintons.
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Par for the course with the Clintons in Iowa. As I recall, Bill did terribly there in 92. Though Bill also did not actively campaign there. And Hillary does not have Bill’s charisma.
I am surprised that Obama beat Edwards in Iowa. Even though he narrowly edged Hillary for 2nd place, I think that just about finishes Edwards. Anything other than a solid win in New Hampshire and he is toast.
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My honest opinion was that Edwards wasn’t going to place in the top two in any state, let alone the first one.
Dunno how well Billy did. I have been told that Ronald lost the Iowa caucus his first time out. Then again, even if that was true, Iowa’s not exactly known as a bastion for Republican glory, if you know what I mean.
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i’ll chime in by saying this. i hope, i hope, i just freaking hope we have an election in
Nov 08 & a new president in Jan 09. thats not asking for too much is it? -
Kinda depends on the personality of the loser and how close the election is. Not how close the VOTE is, how close the ELECTION is. There is a difference. It’s happened any number of times that the president lost the vote, but won the election.
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