Faisal Shahzad
Following the failed Times Square bombing and the arrest of a Pakistani-American suspect named Faisal Shahzad, questions remain about his possible motivations. Some have suggested that the recent South Park controversy could have something to do with it: perhaps Mr. Shahzad was retaliating against Viacom, which owns Comedy Central. According to this theory, the grievance was over a depiction of the Prophet Muhammad by the satirical cartoon show South Park, which runs on Comedy Central. The Viacom building is in close proximity to the intended blast site.
The police have not ruled out this South Park angle (and I do not think they should), although officials have conceded that it is one out of a hundred possibilities. However, certain extreme right-wingers and anti-Islam ideologues (such as Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller) have invested a lot in this South Park-Times Square connection, and pray that it turns out to be true. It would certainly allow them to paint the Muslim community in the worst possible light: “Those crazy Moozlems bomb and kill innocent civilians simply for drawing a cartoon of their prophet!”
Proponents of the South Park-Times Square connection argue that both the (1) location and (2) timing fit. As for the location, it is said that the the parked SUV was in close proximity to the Viacom headquarters. This is true, but it is unlikely that the blast would have significantly damaged the Viacom building. Instead, it seems more likely that the intended target was the Marriott Hotel, which is right next to the blast site. Most importantly, the reaction of the emergency response teams gives us a strong indication of what the terrorists’ target was. It seems to have been the Marriott Hotel, which was evacuated and shut down. USA Today reports:
NYC’s Marriott Marquis partly evacuated due to car bomb scare Saturday
Update, 12:13 pm: Earlier this morning, I learned more about what Marriott Marquis guests experienced last night from Kathy Duffy, who handles public relations for Marriott’s New York hotels. Since the suspicious vehicle was parked on the 45th Street side of the Marquis, NYPD told the hotel to evacuate that side of the building. Since the hotel was sold out, that meant evacuating several hundred people who had rooms between floor 10 and 45, she said. The Marquis provided the guests with temporary cots and blankets in the banquet room (see CNN iReport photo link below), where they stayed until around 2 to 3 a.m., when they were allowed back to their rooms, Duffy told me.
Because the Marriott Hotel–and not the Viacom building–was evacuated, it seems pretty safe to say that the former was the target and not the latter. Furthermore, the attack was on Saturday night–after hours. The Viacom building would likely have been virtually empty. Wouldn’t a bloodthirsty terrorist have struck during peak office hours in order to kill as many Viacom employees as possible? The New York Times commented:
Times Square on a Saturday night is one of the busiest and most populated locations in the city, and has long been seen as a likely target for some kind of attack.
We can further reasonably assume that a bloodthirsty terrorist would want to kill as many people as possible, and therefore a “sold out” Marriott and a heavily “populated” Times Square were the more likely targets than the unoccupied Viacom building. If it was truly the Pakistani Taliban involved in the attack, the chosen target (the Marriott) would fit their M.O. This is not the first time the Marriott would have been targeted. In 2006, Islamic extremists detonated a bomb outside the Marriott in Karachi, the same city where Faisal Shahzad allegedly met with radicals. In 2008, the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad was bombed, as well as another Marriott in Jakarta. In 2003, the Marriott in South Jakarta was bombed. In addition to the Marriott, several other hotels have been bombed in Pakistan. In fact, two of the prime targets chosen by terrorists in Pakistan are consulates and hotels.
As for the timing of the attack, proponents of the South Park-Times Square connection argue that the bombing attempt occurred almost immediately following death threats made by Revolution Muslim. They argue: how can this just be a coincidence? However, it is in fact the incredibly short time duration–between when the South Park controversy took place and the attempted Times Square bombing–that works most against the South Park-Times Square theory. It is unlikely that the terrorists could have planned the attack so quickly. Furthermore, and most importantly, numerous reports have come out saying that Faisal Shahzad went to Pakistan to receive terrorist training. This happened long before the South Park controversy. Hence, something else radicalized him and convinced him to bomb his adopted country. If we assume that the Pakistani Taliban trained him (and instructed him to bomb NYC), then all this preceded the South Park affair. Mr. Shahzad, and his Taliban teachers, had intended to bomb us long time ago.
It is highly unlikely that Revolution Muslim has anything to do with the bombing, as they are under constant scrutiny by the FBI. They are known for their antics and tall talk, not for their actions and walk. And surely they would have bombed the place first, before announcing to the world their intention to do that and placing themselves under the watchful eye of the government.
It could be argued that Revolution Muslim issued the call and other extremists hearkened to it. However, as I discussed above, the bombing took place too soon afterward. Furthermore, the Pakistani Taliban–who claimed responsibility for the bombing–have not (to my knowledge) ever expressed outrage over the South Park cartoons. The South Park controversy seemed to be a decidedly North American affair, and it is unlikely that the Taliban took notice of it. If they had, where were their bellicose condemnations and flamboyant threats?
Lastly, there seems to be no motive to attack Viacom. Comedy Central had, to the dismay of the South Park creators, cowed to the threats from the Islamic extremists, and refused to show the Prophet Muhammad on their channel. Faisal Shahzad is a highly educated man; certainly, he would have known that it would makes no sense to attack Viacom or Comedy Central, considering they met the extremists’ demands. Had this recent bombing had anything to do with South Park, it would have been the creators of the show–not Viacom–whom would have been targeted.
In conclusion, it seems unlikely that the failed Times Square bombing had anything to do with the South Park controversy. This is so because neither the location, timing, or motive fits. Rather, the intended target seems to have been the Marriott Hotel and Times Square, both of which would have resulted in the greatest number of deaths. As such, it is extremely unlikely that the Times Square bombing had anything to do with a cartoon’s depiction of the Prophet Muhammad. I believe that the extreme right wing and anti-Islam camp wish to pin it on the South Park affair only to exploit the Times Square bombing to further their hate-filled agenda.
There is a concerted effort to hide the fact that our country’s horrific foreign policy–the interventionist policy in the Islamic world in general and the predator drone attacks in Pakistan in specific (which have killed hundreds of Pakistani civilians)–could be (and most likely is) what motivated the Times Square bombing. (I argue this here, and more convincingly here.) Instead, it is easier to blame it on a heathen religion.
Take a look at the comments section as well which Spencer claims is moderated. It shows the deep Islamophobia that is instilled in the hearts of Spencer’s followers and echo’s sentiments that Spencer himself holds but won’t dare to verbalize. According to them this is all “taqiyyah,” “stealth Jihad,” “fake.”
Some of the comments by luminaries on JihadWatch:
For so many reasons and for so many years Muslims have made me so deeply skeptical of Islam that I can’t help but look upon this relief effort as being prompted first and foremost not by noble compassion but rather by the desire to insure conversion. If this sounds too cynical, I plead innocent here and direct guilt towards the Islamic world, whose motives no person of sense should ever trust.
Taqiyya at best, looks like humanitarian aid, but disguised as making over the world for Allah’s supremacy and Sharia. Beware of Islamics bearing gifts. Cynical with cause.
Muslims dont help = Evil Muslims
Muslims help = Evil Muslims
A day or two ago, I mentioned that if Muslims were finally going to help with the relief effort in Haiti, then good for them.
I’m not usually so clueless—not anymore, anyway—but I have to admit, this being an opportunity for Da’wa did not really occur to me at the time.
Here’s a generally good article on the subject from Debbie Schlussel:
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/15625/haiti-islamic-relief-the-scientologists/
There is, however, a fair bit of silly moral equivalence between Islam and Scientology presented here. I *am not* a fan of Scientology, but there’s no death for apostasy with them if you decide you no longer want to hang out with Tom Cruise. I wish I could say the same about Islam.
From Hermit, above:
In my city in England, squads of muslims with islamic posters are out in force – stading outside shopping centres with buckets collecting for Haiti. ………………
I wonder how much of that money is actually going to Haiti, and how much will just be considered “Zakat”, and go for whatever Muslim cause—including Jihad—that the “charities” see fit?
Off you go back to Iran parasite, and stop sponging off us, workshy Mohammedan troll.
“Off you go back to Iran parasite, and stop sponging off us, workshy Mohammedan troll.”
Its good to see you disagree with what I said, so you think the Muslims who are helping haitians are not evil and are doing it out of the goodness of their heart, right?
I dont expect you to be able to put together a proper coherent reply which doesnt involve ad hominems and strange assumptions about my birthplace…but what the hell?
It just goes to show that charity is not a primary virtue.
It may be a secondary or tertiary virtue, or perhaps a value, but not a primary virtue as such.
Thugs and thieves are often fond of charitable giving as a way of making a respectable face in public and/or providing themselves with some ego grats for their material magnanimity.
In this particular case, Haiti is an open wound for the maggots to dig into and feed on.
By the way, why aren’t those bastards being run off?
Oh, oh … I forgot. Our Dear Leader, Red Hussein, has made a comittment to combating negative stereotypes of mohammedanism.
What do you want to be that he knows about this and possibly even had a hand in it.
Well, what do you expect? Followers of any totalitarian ideology when they are seemingly showing compassion should never be taken by sensible people as engaging in only charitable behavior. Sensible people know that ideologues (and yes, Muslims are as much ideologues as Marxists and Neo-Nazis) most always are motivated by a hidden agenda, i.e., the promotion of their belief system. Hey, this ain’t rocket science, just simple math, like your equations in your 12:16 P.M. post.
They are collecting in my city in England too. Same buckets and posters.
I wonder if they have registered with the UK authorities as a “charity”? Fake “charities” occur all the time. Perish the thought that those whom the Qur’an describes as the “best of people” would even think of doing such a thing.
I too, wonder where the money is actually going. Buckets with cash in them would be just too easy to “divert” to another cause.
“Hey, this ain’t rocket science, just simple math, like your equations in your 12:16 P.M. post.”
Exactly, if Muslims hadnt sent money they would have been trashed on here as evil Muslims and now that they have sent money they are trashed on here as evil muslims.
You are determined to remain clueless, aren’t you? Endeavor next time taking my full comment into account before commenting on it. Go ahead, try and rip my ENTIRE 3:37 P.M. post apart. Address all of it, not just a portion of it.
What’s so humorous here is that the equations you put forward are valid but you think they confirm narrow-mindedness by those who despise Islam, when, in fact, it is you who is the intellecutally diminutive one possessed of an insouciance that is risible in the first degree. My strong guess is that you’ll never get it. You haven’t to date, now have you?
“A few on the fringes” are all it takes.
“Well, what do you expect? Followers of any totalitarian ideology when they are seemingly showing compassion should never be taken by sensible people as engaging in only charitable behavior.”
Muslims, as followers of a totalitarian ideology, cannot be expected to exhibit purely altruistic behaviors. “Sensible people know that ideologues (and yes, Muslims are as much ideologues as Marxists and Neo-Nazis) most always are motivated by a hidden agenda, i.e., the promotion of their belief system.”
Muslims. as ideologues, are assumed to be motivated by proselytism, including in instance when they exhibit altruistic behavior.
What’s the deal with the Pepsi and Guinness banners?
Thank you for confirming my overall point which is that any Muslim generosity to non-Muslims is not motivated by a kind of Mother Teresa love but rather by an agenda. See why Islam is becoming more and more despised by more and more non-Muslims with each passing year?
Islam has had a run of it for a few decades now, whereby most ordinary Western folk were prepared to give it the benefit of the doubt, but those days are almost over (even a majority of the extremely tolerant Dutch are sick of Islam). 9/11, tedious Muslim arguments about the importance of “context,” Muslim word games with terms like “innocent,” actual reading of the Koran by non-believers (which has not only putrid sentiments in it but clearly erroneous ones such as Alexander the Great living to an old age (Sura 18) and the Jews believing that Ezra is the Messiah (Sura 9), Muslim terrorism worldwide on virtually a daily basis, and revelation of just how psychopathic and sexually perverted Mohammed actually was (confirmed by Muslim sources which stupidly brag about it) have all insured with each passing year that more millions of non-Muslims are aware of just how fucked up Islam really is.
And that’s why I think that Islam is eventually headed to oblivion, but not before it does a lot more damage, just as other totalitarian ideologies have before they have finally become the stuff for fringe human beings and for no one else. Islam’s final legacy is to be assigned to that collection pile which contains the greatest and stupidest of human errors. It’s so deserved.
After the initial earthquake in Haiti i’m not sure which of the two following aftershocks were the more harrowing for the survivors. The inevitable : Part 1 The luminaries of Film, Stage, Music rush forward to the first available TV network and tell us unaffected lay-abouts that we aren’t doing enough to help the poor souls of Hawaii (or where ever that AWFUL thing happened) so give money and lots of it and you might save many floundering careers into the bargin. Have these people never heard of anonymous donations ? – Of course not ! The inevitable : Part 2 The luminaries of the Muslim world, albeit slow off the mark, get in on the act by swapping bottles of water in return for a quick lecture as to why infidels have been so misguided all these years. Stepping on and over females to find a nice area to pray in, one does ask, who’s water were they giving out anyway ?
Some of them must have been watching the news, oh yea ! and the Jihadist’s.
Sorry, i forgot, a special thanks to Islamic Relief USA for the quite deliberate extended footage of the Guinness Beer Tent amidst the carnage.
“Islam doesn’t have a ghost of a chance establishing itself in the Caribbean.The Christian faith goes too deep. Maybe a few on the fringes may be persuaded.”
I would not be so quick to think that the scourge of Islam could not gain a strong foot hold in Haiti.
The Nation of Haiti has been infected with other demonic teachings, Voodoo.
An estimated 80 percent of Haiti’s 8.8 million people practice Voodoo to some extent, including many who claim to be Catholic or another religion.
“Muslims noticeable in cities”
“But followers of Islam have recently stepped into the public eye. Muslim men distinctive in their kufi headwear and finely groomed beards, and women in traditional scarves, are now seen on the streets of several cities.”
“Nawoon Marcellus, who comes from the northern city of San Raphael, recently became the first Muslim elected to the Chamber of Deputies, Haiti’s lower house of parliament.”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nygus/3684374231/
http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti/voodoo/islam.htm
http://www.islamawareness.net/Fastest/haiti.html
Voodoo and Islam both originate from the same source, the Devil himself.
baest wrote:
What’s the deal with the Pepsi and Guinness banners? ……………………..
A lot of companies helping with the relief effort have sent tents and trucks and other items emblazoned with their logos. Some people consider this a bit tacky, but it doesn’t really bother me that much. It’s not as though they are only helping victims who have been past customers or anything.
Often these are already existing items—like the tents—that the companies normally use for concerts and festivals.
“Voodoo and Islam both originate from the same source, the Devil himself.”
Agreed, CS.
Here is an interesting article concerning Haiti and voodoo.
http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message965211/pg1
Islamic Rituals Voodoo By Abul Kasem
http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message493957/pg1
For some reason the previous post with this link has a problem.
This one should be ok
http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message493957/pg1
“When Muhammad finished ablution, Gabriel sprinkled water on Muhammad’s private parts.”
Yeah, in your DREAMS I did that, Muhammad!!
Angrily, Gabriel
He should have sprinkled hydrochloric acid.
That would have ended Mohammed’s career as a child raping pedophile.
There is nothing untoward about criticizing Islamist groups using disaster relief to their own advantage.
Many have commented on this in the past.
Other concerns include: recruiting orphans for the jihad, weapons smuggling, misallocation of funds, money laundering, and harassment of other relief workers. This is a feature of Islamist operations that has been remarked on by the former President of Pakistan, among many others, but you, mp11, don’t know about it?
Twit. Muslims are there to spread Islam, not help. The only thing they’re supplying is Korans. Nothing else. They’re trying to spread the wicked teachings of Islam to Haiti and create there the sort of Saudi or Pakistani society you’d obviously like to see in the West. So off you go to Pakistan, Sharia-loving barbarian d**khead.
http://www.avraidire.eu/2010/01/fitna-version-francaise-geert-wilders-part-12/
Fitna, version française Geert Wilders part 1/2
sITE EVANGELIQUE FRANCOPHONE VIDEO
At least you undertsand.
Muslims going in to “hekp” while promoting Islam are like the Ku Klux Klan going in to “help” wearing hoods and brandishing burning crosses.
Indeed! …lol
Avraidire wrote:
Fitna, version française Geert Wilders part 1/2 ……………….
It’s good to know that Fitna is now available in French.
Avraidire, Robert Spencer is currently having his “Blogging the Qu’ran” series translated into Spanish. Perhaps you—or someone you know—could have the series translated into French?
Izloom’s propagation and proliferation strategy makes perfect sense, logistically. If there is one thing that these a-holes can think clearly about its about how to spread there message of submission to an ideology of barbarism.This might sound perverse but when these barbarians try to procreate with the Haitian natives they will be easy candidates for HIV themselves. This is the only redeeming quality to this invasion. BTW, I personally do not subscribe to the theory that Voodoo is about the “Devil”; the religion is not about this, but the bottom line here is that the “Devil” is a Christian concept so that negates the understanding that followers of voodoo are conjuring the “Devil”. I would say that if there is anything inherently “evil” about Haiti it is the evil of believing that political demagogues will somehow save the masses from their wretched lives. I would say that Haiti’s lack of up-to-par civilized modes of existence has to do with its subscribing to a belief system that says it is OK to be continually at the mercy of leaders whose only purpose is to use them as scapegoats and pawns for their own agendas. Now, izloom will be the next group of con-artists and whore-masters.
Christian Soldier, thanks for the above. I pasted it into the comments section of one of “Hijab” Heageny’s articles about Rifqa over at the Columbus Dispatch online. One guy already red it and thanked me for it. If we can expose the idiocy and super control of Islam in a way that makes people laugh, we may be onto something. This was superb. Again, thank you.
As you can see being a Muslim is not so easy. Many intricate rules to follow.
Except for bathing. Some simple dirt will do just fine.
“In Islam, it is not compulsory to bathe every day. It is quite all right not to bathe for the six days of a week. The only recommended bath is the bathing on Fridays, to attend the juma prayer, although a perfect ablution might do, in case there is shortage of water, or due to inconvenience. When no water is available tayammum will do. This procedure (tayammum) consists of rinsing oneself with dirt or dust. Imam Nasai (1.316) writes that a Muslim can bathe in dirt and dust simply by rolling his body as a camel or a beast does.”
For all the liberals out there that keeping saying “Islam is a religion of peace”, let us look at that peaceful book the Qur’an:
Sura 7:166 “When in their insolence they transgressed all prohibitions, we said the them “be ye apes, despised and rejected” the “religion of peace” speaking about Jewish people
Sura 2:65 “And well ye knew those amongst you who transgressed in the matter of the Sabbath: We said to them “Be ye apes, despised and rejected.” again, the “religion of peace” speaking about Jewish people
You Muslims are out of God’s will. May you come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. Your “friendly” Allah, will not and never will save ANYONE..