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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@Cmdr:
@Amon:
you just forget Guantanamo Bay
it’s rented from Cuba, Castro just don’t cash the checks. the lease ends though at some point, i can’t remember when though.
Never, actually. It is not leased. It is American soil. We got it as payment for freeing Cuba from Spain.
so US soil it is you say
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Actually, we just kept it back in Teddy Roosevelt’s time, and when Castro took over in Cuba, we fortified the snot out of it :-)
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@Cmdr:
It’s much better to make life so hard on illegals they decide to leave on their own. It’s what the Mexican Government’s been doing and why we have this problem in the first place. If we just arrest our own guys for committing felonies, and seize their assets to sell at auction, we get others not to commit those felonies and we can use the profits from the arrests to fund the government,
Yes, it’s good that we have such honest government officials that can be trusted with the power to arrest people, seize their assets, and sell said assets off at auction.
If you believe in honest government officials too, send me money and a picture of your daughter to:
Iamanhonestgovernmentofficial
Arealnotmadeupcity
Nigeria:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)
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no, im sure it’s on lease. i know Castro makes a big deal that he don’t cash the cheaks.
any one see the debate last night?
how about New York times artical that just came out saying in the Editers notes (or something like that) that all the Republicans are horible but McCain was the best there is.
hear is the artical. i don’t know, the Times is about as left as they come as papers go and they endorce the guy. i think that says a lot. -
@ncscswitch:
Actually, we just kept it back in Teddy Roosevelt’s time, and when Castro took over in Cuba, we fortified the snot out of it :-)
Exactly. But we did write it into a treaty. Guantanamo Bay is akin to Midway and Guam. US Soil, but not a US State.
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@Cmdr:
It’s much better to make life so hard on illegals they decide to leave on their own. It’s what the Mexican Government’s been doing and why we have this problem in the first place. If we just arrest our own guys for committing felonies, and seize their assets to sell at auction, we get others not to commit those felonies and we can use the profits from the arrests to fund the government,
Yes, it’s good that we have such honest government officials that can be trusted with the power to arrest people, seize their assets, and sell said assets off at auction.
If you believe in honest government officials too, send me money and a picture of your daughter to:
Iamanhonestgovernmentofficial
Arealnotmadeupcity
Nigeria:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)
Yes, but they already HAVE that power. I just want to focus it on companies committing felonies by hiring illegals. Common, yer a liberal, you can get behind this! We’re going to punish “the evil corporate empires!” Big business is the enemy, right? Well, let’s go get them! :evil:
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@Cmdr:
@Cmdr:
It’s much better to make life so hard on illegals they decide to leave on their own. It’s what the Mexican Government’s been doing and why we have this problem in the first place. If we just arrest our own guys for committing felonies, and seize their assets to sell at auction, we get others not to commit those felonies and we can use the profits from the arrests to fund the government,
Yes, it’s good that we have such honest government officials that can be trusted with the power to arrest people, seize their assets, and sell said assets off at auction.
If you believe in honest government officials too, send me money and a picture of your daughter to:
Iamanhonestgovernmentofficial
Arealnotmadeupcity
Nigeria:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)
Yes, but they already HAVE that power. I just want to focus it on companies committing felonies by hiring illegals. Common, yer a liberal, you can get behind this! We’re going to punish “the evil corporate empires!” Big business is the enemy, right? Well, let’s go get them! :evil:
I’m with you on that. Burn em.
As well as the outsourcing folks too. -
so then we have no jobs. great.
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We have lots of jobs, Balung. We are only going after the evil companies that hire illegals or outsource their labor to foreign nations. =)
In fact, shouldn’t we have MORE jobs?
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Back to the candidates folks…
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Kucinich dropped out today.
Anyone remember that he was running?
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@Cmdr:
Kucinich dropped out today.
Anyone remember that he was running?
I thought he was a hold over still running from 2004… :evil:
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Yeah the stakes are pretty interesting on both sides…
5 Republicans, 4 Democrats, 7 Considered Front Runners, one “maverick” loaded with cash (Paul), and only one candidate that is without a doubt unable to win (Gravel).
And look, the Guerrilla is at 3000 posts… :|
GG
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Three Republicans, Three Democrats AFAIK are running:
Mitt Romney
John McCain
Mike HuckabeeBarrack Obama
Hillary Clinton
John EdwardsThough, the third one in each list is running for Vice President, I think.
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@Cmdr:
Kucinich dropped out today.
Anyone remember that he was running?
I hadn’t heard that yet. He was a pipe dream, anyway…to fringe. But I will never forget his wife. 8-)
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so, obama with the beatdown.
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Interesting but super tuesday is really all that matters at this point
cant wait for that! although it may not even determine a front runner in the republican race lol -
so, obama with the beatdown.
obama is now sligtly ahead after dominating south carolina. he might became to use taht to give himself a slight advantage for super tuesday. it really is anyone’s race for either primary. (assuming Rudy doesn’t lose in florida) anyone ever told him not to put all your eggs in one basket. I still hate all the nominees though.
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South Carolina is already being “spun” to downgrade Obama’s large victory, and is being spun effectively I might add. Only 25% of the “white vote” but 80% of the “black vote” is being portrayed as Obama being “The Black Candidate” in the same way that Jackson was 20 years ago. Back then Jackson was considered an “also ran” candidate, with polling somewhere between where Kusinich was when he dropped out and Edwards; but he won South Carolina TWICE on “the black vote”. South Carolina keeps Obama in the race, but only until Super Tuesday unless by then he can broaden his appeal and he gets victories or at least strong showings in places with smaller minority populations and/or among hispanics.
Edwards is now out of it, but will hang on at least until Super Tuesday in order to keep gaining delegates, and may even officially remain in the race but with suspended campaigning (as he has done before) in an effort to have as much leverage as possible in the event the Democratic Nomination comes down to a brokered convention. If that happens… if Hillary fails to lock up the nomination with 50%+1 of the delegates, expect Edwards to put his delegates behind Hillary in exchange for either the VP slot, or a Cabinet position.
As for the Republicans…
Unless Guilianni or Huckabee pull off a miracle in Florida (Guiliani a win, Huckabee at least a strong second place), then the Republican race will come down to McCain versus Romney on Super Tuesday. A clear winner on Super Tuesday will effectively put an end to the Republican challenge. And if that clear winner would be McCain, Romney’s campaign then becomes the equivalent of Pat Robertson’s campaign… simply an effort to keep the Right Wing issues front and center in an effort to pull the front running a bit more to the Right. -
Yea, but to be honest, S. Carolina was being spun by the Clintons as a racist state for Obama long before the vote. They had written it off before even campaigning there.
It is interesting that the Rich White guys are tearing down the Black Man while attempting to claim they are the party to fight the (allegedly) racist republicans.
McCain and Romney would be very smart to bring that fact up over, and over, and over again if Hillary is their opponent.
As for Guilliani and Huckabee, they’re dead in the water. I don’t even think Florida can save them, they’ve been loosing too much and too often now to change their image to winners.
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