“Times Square Bombing Investigation Focuses on Suspected Role of Pakistani Army Major” “Allegations about the major, if confirmed, would deepen U.S. concerns about the role of the Pakistani military and intelligence in the fight against terrorism. Figures linked to the Pakistani armed forces and intelligence agencies have surfaced in previous terror cases, especially those involving Punjab-based extremist groups that target India and have a history of ties to the security forces. In January, federal prosecutors in Chicago indicted a retired Pakistani major who allegedly worked with a Pakistani-American businessman and al-Qaida operatives in a plot against the Danish newspaper that published the caricatures of the prophet Mohamed in 2005.

The potential involvement of a military man in an attack against New York City would set a troubling precedent. The news of the arrest comes during a visit to Pakistan by National Security Advisor James Jones and CIA director Leon Panetta. The U.S. officials were in Pakistan to discuss stepping up cooperation in the Times Square investigation, and the larger battle against al-Qaida and its allies, with Pakistani leaders. …President Obama’s counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, said Shahzad is the latest in a series of American terror suspects who allegedly got training and support from militant networks overseas.

“They took advantage of their U.S. personage and their U.S citizenship and were operating in many respects not necessarily alone, but in manners that made it more difficult for us to detect,” Brennan said during a policy dinner Tuesday sponsored by The Nixon Center. He added: “These are the ones I am concerned about.”

The intelligence community is poring over thousands of e-mails Shahzad sent to friends and associates in Pakistan. Some communications allude to his desire to carry out an attack. Many of his claims are being corroborated through suspects in custody in Pakistan who are also cooperating, according to an official familiar with the investigation.

It was Shahzad’s statements to investigators that led to the arrest of the former major in Pakistan. “

Newsflash: nobody engaged in these movements wants his “demise.” Believe me, I’ve covered them exhaustively–nobody. It’s called political dissent and it happens to every president who occupies to Oval Office.

But WTF is going on these past 20 years re Muslims and US? The Pakistani guy may have been mentally ill, subjected to some sort of programming; or this could be a false flag operation. Or he could really have meant it. Nobody knows yet. I gather most of you are probably too young to recall, but the U.S. never had any major probs with Muslims prior to the 1979 Iranian crisis. I should have realized my Connecticut Jewish boyfriend (and classmate of Arlo Guthrie) was on to something when he took me to that Communist rally at Columbia and we were treated to a balcony full of good-looking (I thought so) Iranian students singing the Internationale. It was a rousing good performance, their cause was “joost” (boyfriend’s rendering of their pronunciation) and we all wished them well, but, hey, the Gang of Four had been apprehended, Vietnam was finished, China was opening up and the forces of Good win! 30+ years on, I see what was what. China was opening up for Big Business; Iran meant business in a big way, and my boyfriend is now a bourgois businessman. That steel mill he was working in (a doctor’s son, he had to join the working class), has shut its doors and is now exploiting workers in China instead of Baltimore. I think the singing Iranians were all deported. Speaking as someone whose family has been in this country for centuries, I’d say a lot of immigrants have more emotional connection to it, and sense of what it means, than I do. One doesn’t HAVE to be born here. OTOH, many born here may hate it for reasons both rational and “joost” or just plain insane.

Prayers for President O’s “demise” are the usual impeachment rumblings to which every president since Nixon has been heir. Don’t believe those urban legends about evil Republicans uttering racial epithets on the steps of the Capital. Good leftist press as it may be, times have changed since Birth of a Nation and if there’s an epithet around, a mike is sure to locate it and destroy the career of the perp (and rightfully so.) There were far more open threats and vain imaginings of Bush Jr.’s demise. Working on Capital Hill you would have been privy to any number of Bush-bashings in the early years of this century.. And I am also among those who thinks he “knew.” Or rather those handling him knew. Presidents are among the least free agents in the political world.

Should the current one ‘demise’ anytime soon, his nay-sayers would be facing his Muslim name emblazoned on half the buildings in D.C. for the next several centuries. You think they want that? They seem to insist on him producing his official birth certificate like I had to, when I was being security-cleared at near ground-level. I dunno why he doesn’t. Guess he lost it. Personally I can overlook that since so much of the Constitution has been overlooked by other presidents recently, but I’d appreciate it if he wouldn’t go around bowing deeply to Muslim potentates and psychopathic Korean dicatators. I get the strangest feeling that they are all laughing at each other, at us, and at the world of true believers in general. A certain amount of humiliation is good for the American soul, but come on. enough already. I say one should stand as near as one can get to proud and don’t apologize for your country (whatever one it may be)–all countries have done good and bad, and we should stop spreading so much democracy. It’s not a peanut butter sandwich. We must work to make things better and more joost.

Pakistani Military has long been the patron of a number of jihadi organisations, whom it mentored, supported and funded to be utilised in their proxy wars. They were indispensable tools in Pak Army’s bid to gain the upper hand in Afghanistan, and to destabilise a much stronger enemy using deniable, asymmetric tactics. This dates back at least to the first Kashmir war of 1948, and the pattern continues till this day. These organisations have never targetted Pakistan itself in the past, and all was well till the Americans got involved.

‘Jihad fi sibillilah’ still remains a strong ideological pillar of the army, even though it now finds itself in a war against it’s former allies (eg the recent Khalid Khwaja/ Col Imam kidnapping drama), which it is conducting in a reluctant and selective way, because after decades of serious radicalisation, it might find itself fighting insurmountable numbers of it’s own citizens in case it is not careful about defining the enemy. Hence the kid glove treatment to the more ‘India centric’ organisations.

There is a long list of illustrious Pakistani army officers with close links to Jihadi organisations of various descriptions. David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur H Rana were alumni of the cadet college in Hasan Abdal. I feel that an association with the Pakistan Army is a strong, additive risk factor for having extremist leanings. The parents must be extremely embarrassed though, as evidenced by this news item

Comedy Central caved like a stack of wet cardboard over that South Park episode. However they apparently have no fear of being attacked by members of other religions….

Comedy Central developing Jesus Christ cartoon Comedy Central might censor every image of the Prophet Muhammad on “South Park,” yet the network is developing a whole animated series around Jesus Christ. As part of the network’s upfront presentation to advertisers (full slate here), Comedy Central is set to announce “JC,” a half-hour show about Christ wanting to escape the shadow of his “powerful but apathetic father” and live a regular life in New York City. http://livefeed.hollywoodreporter.com/2010/05/comedy-central-developing-jesus-christ-cartoon-series.html

Because you want to. Damn-the-Wall-Street-fat-cats would have made sense if the attempt was downtown rather than times square. (Although one could argue, that times square has its share of financial organizations, Nasdaq, MS, Reuters, etc)