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.
List of countries USA has bombed since 1945
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Watching this like a hawk. But carry on.
For Russia, I think it would be more honest to include the regimes they supplied weapons to as well. You could do the same to the US-supported regimes.
GG
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@Guerrilla:
Watching this like a hawk. But carry on.
For Russia, I think it would be more honest to include the regimes they supplied weapons to as well. You could do the same to the US-supported regimes.
GG
Well, if you are going to that far than you could expand the list to every country that has an arms industry… and who they sell/give weapons to. Here’s looking at you France, UK, India, Iran, China, etc.
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Was Indonesia bombed by the US? Was that when they invaded New Guinea?
This thread reminds me of a book i saw at Waterstones. I cant remember the name, but it was about all the countries ever invaded by the British. I believe it was about 180 countries!
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I am surprised about Indonesia … never heard about this before.
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Ex - DDR ,Eastern part of Germany was bombed by tactical Rasin-Bombers from the U.S…
They scared the sulphates out of the Germans, very scarry though…scandalous…
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Gar & Others,
I was thinking about this the other day… and started making a list of countries the USA has bombed since 1945. Note that this list does not include the following military invasions, interventions, occupations, or assassinations.
The list is also incomplete, and if anyone can help me add in the missing countries, please do so! :P––Here’s something for you to consider. Since the grounds of a nations foreign embassies are considered as sovereign territory of that nation,…I’ll add FRANCE to your list and explain why.
––President Ronald Reagan ordered an airstrike from England against Colonel Quadafi’s Libya. France refused the requested overflight of it’s territory(France) by F-111s on the way to strike Libya making it an extremely long flight around France. One of the laser guided missiles with pin-point accuracy “accidently” impacted the French Embassy building in Libya. A friendly associate of mine was(is) a big wheel at Texas Instruments computers and had an “advisory” position with the Armed services. After the strike when we mentioned to him that one of the missiles had missed it’s target, he responded,…“We hit everything we AIMED for!” We knew better than to ask for any further info as he said he couldn’t say any more about it.
“Tall Paul”
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If I’m not mistaken, the U.S. supplied air support to french troops in Vietnam when it was still French.
They almost provided nuclear support too under the name operation Condor.
In regards to the validation of this thread…
I am surprised about Indonesia … never heard about this before.
This is exactly what I was hoping to see. People learning and enjoying thier OWN history! :P
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This is exactly what I was hoping to see. People learning and enjoying thier OWN history! :P
What makes you think I’m Indonesian?
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I wonder how many nations the Taliban bombed?
Probably like triple the list…
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@Imperious:
I wonder how many nations the Taliban bombed?
Probably like triple the list…
maybe change it to Al Qaida or Hamas.
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@Imperious:
I wonder how many nations the Taliban bombed?
Probably like triple the list…
Taliban? Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran. Also, US and coalition-led troops when we (speaking of the US) were in Afghanistan hunting Osama Bin Laden.
GG
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They bombed IN:
Spain
France
UK
Italy
US
Russia
and pretty much most every African and Middle-eastern nation -
I was thinking about this the other day… and started making a list of countries the USA has bombed since 1945.
Someone was watching Battle Royal 2 weren’t they :wink:
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I agree with BJCard, I think some people confuse Taliban with Al Qaeda, although I would not include Hamas, their activity is pretty much limited to Israel, although some Egyptian security forces have been killed by smugglers with probable Hamas connections in that little border skirmish last year. I think it was GG who mentioned the three the Taliban has bombed, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran. If other countries have been bombed by the Taliban its news to me and I would require citation of this in order to believe the accuracy of those other claims.
Garg, at least Canada had a part in those bombing missions, I am sure we made some components to those weapon systems. My buddy machines parts for hellfire missiles and another machines parts for landing gear. Talk about vicarious glory……
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Canada builds the bombs, then the Americans deliver.
I thought everyone knew that? ;)
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Let’s add the United States to the list.
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@Herr:
Let’s add the United States to the list.
I hate to be crude but… LOL, that was quite an ingenious plan.
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@Herr:
Let’s add the United States to the list.
Clever.
Atleast they have bombed less countries then the amount they have invaded…
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This was always a favorite of mine.
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In the same vein as this stuff I would like to add a map (because lists take a long time.) Of countries with permanent US military bases.
As well as a clip that I think sums up the whole US military bombing/occupying lots of different places around the world:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWVxI6XZAuE
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