Loving the Bomb

Authorities are poo-pooing the claim that the Pakistan Taliban were behind the thwarted Big Kaboom in Times Square, and much stock is being placed in the pursuit of a single man--"white," 40ish--who was caught on surveillance cameras "acting strangely." "Still, " writes Robert Spencer,

even if no Muslim group had anything to do with the car bomb, it was noteworthy that only Muslim groups went on record praising it as a good thing. Recently I have received an increased number of emails and Facebook messages from Muslims telling me that I have completely misunderstood Islam and jihad, and that Islam is in fact the Religion of Peace of fable and fantasy. The only problem with all such messages, and with various windy pseudo-academic “refutations” of explanations by me and others of Islam’s doctrines of warfare against unbelievers and their subjugation under Sharia, is that however good they sound on paper, somehow the last people to be convinced seem to be Muslims themselves – Muslims like Younus Abdullah Muhammad and the Pakistani Taliban spokesman who claimed responsibility for the car bomb.

Update: Another "Pakistani Taliban" has stepped forward to take credit for the bomb. Oddly enough, he has the same last name as the previous "Pakistani Taliban" who wanted credit (from Aljazeera):

Video tapes have been released of what appears to be Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of the main Pakistani Taliban group, warning the US of multiple attacks on its citizens.

The tapes of Mehsud, who was reported dead in a January drone attack, emerged just a day after another Pakistani Taliban group claimed responsibility for a failed bombing in New York.

An unidentified voice purportedly belonging to Mehsud, said the Taliban takes "full responsibility for the recent attack in the USA" in a video released by SITE, a US-based group monitoring Taliban media.

The video, allegedly recorded on April 19, makes no specific reference to the attack in New York City, nor does it mention that the location or that it was a car bomb.

Mehsud was presumed to have been killed in a drone strike in northwestern Pakistan, but last week Pakistani intelligence officials suggested Mehsud may have survived the attack.

Dismissed claim

US authorities investigating the failed car bombing of New York's Times Square have dismissed the earlier claim of responsibility made over the internet by a group led by Qari Hussein Mehsud.

Sheesh, you need a scorecard to keep track of which Mehsud is up to bat.