I’m not sure what to make of this.
An explosive device damaged a military recruiting station in Times Square early Thursday, and police blocked off the area to investigate.
The explosive device caused minor damage, and no one was injured, police said. The explosion shattered a glass entryway. …
Witnesses staying at a hotel in the area said they heard a “big bang” and could feel the building shake. A large plume of smoke was also visible after the explosion, they said.
The police may have a few leads:
The police have attributed the blast to an improvised explosive device, and police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said the device had been placed in an ammunition box like the kind that can be bought at a military supply store. Mr. Kelly spoke with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg at a news conference at 9:30 a.m. in Times Square. The authorities are looking into a possible connection to two earlier bombings at foreign consulates in Manhattan, in 2005 and 2007. Official said that in today’s attack, a man in a gray hooded sweatshirt was seen leaving the scene on a bicycle. Subways and traffic are running normally through Times Square.
I don’t believe this to be an act of a Islamic fanatic since it went off at 0345hrs, when nobody was around to get hurt and as Bob Owens shows, the bomb wasn’t that big:
The time of the blast was around 3:43 AM, when pedestrian traffic in the area is typically light and the recruiting station was closed. From the time of the blast and lack of shrapnel, we can make the guarded assumption that causing casualties was not the bomber’s intention.
We can also infer that the bomber had no intention of destroying the targeted building as well, as the blast was small, and the ammunition can that carried the device could have easily held far more explosives.
From the choice of target, lack of shrapnel, and low amount of explosives used, I think it only logical to conclude that the blast was political in nature, a violent though purposefully less-lethal bomb, if you can ever call an improvised explosive device “less lethal.” For these reasons, I doubt it was the act of Islamic extremists.
Now, if its political then we have to assume its the anti-war nuts that have been attacking recruiter stations all across the country:
Attacks against military recruiters and their offices are growing around the United States, spurred by anti-American anarchists who thrash the centers, assault and batter people, and intimidate those who want to serve their country.
Attackers throw rocks, chain themselves to doors, punch and kick, spray paint graffiti, break windows, yell, and generally vandalize recruiting centers across the nation in repeated attacks.
Code Pink, an anti-war group that gave more than $600,000 to terrorists’ families in Iraq, is calling for anti-military agitators to escalate attacks on U.S. Government offices where the military work with potential recruits on their futures. The group outlines ways for followers to terrorize recruiters, shut down recruiting stations and stop people from exercising the Constitutional rights to pursue their life’s goals.
Anti-war and anarchists groups have already attacked military recruiting centers in Washington, D.C., Berkeley, Calif.; Minneapolis, Minn.; Milwaukee, Wis.; Santa Monica, Calif.; Toledo, Ohio; Murfreesboro, Tenn.; Pittsburgh, Penn.; Haverhill, Mass., and New York, N.Y. This is a partial list.
So, based on the size of the explosive, the fact that it was placed at a time of the day in which no one was hurt, and the fact that it was placed at a spot which the anti-war nuts have been attacking for months now you have to assume its some unsophisticated youth who has brought off on their nuttery and built one of those IED lite’s shown on YouTube to make a statement.
As Ed Morrissey notes, this leads to a much more violent end:
Of course, the people responsible will claim that they bombed the office during the night to keep anyone from being hurt. That’s exactly the same kind of rationalization that people like the Weather Underground and the SLA used at first, anyway – that terrorism was justified by their politics. In fact, a few like William Ayers and Bernadette Dohrn still claim that.
And, like clockwork, the nuts on the left are saying its all a right-wing conspiracy:
It’s nothng [sic] new for the right to CAUSE or INCITE the violence, or to trigger arranged mob responses, and make sure it all gets pinned on the Left. And the right seems to be able to get the FBI and law enforcement to do this for them as well. Anarchy, chaos, property damage, physical harm, mayhem, murder, militarized police with massive crowd control equipment, are all ‘options’ the right are eager to use to shut down any potentially energizing movement.
Do they even know how foolish this kind of stuff makes them look?
UPDATE
Well, now we know a leftist group, or individual, did it:
Capitol Hill offices received letters Thursday containing a photo of the Times Square military recruiting office before it was bombed and including the claim “We Did It.”
The manila envelopes contained a photo of a man standing in front of the recruiting station before it was bombed. The photo was the kind commonly sent as a holiday greeting card, according to a Democratic aide who spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is under investigation.
The message on the card: “Happy New Year, We Did It.”
The envelope also contained a packet of approximately 10 sheets of paper that seemed to be a political manifesto railing against the Iraq war and a booklet. The aide didn’t know what the booklet was. A second aide, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said similar letters arrived in as many as 10 offices.
Lets all not forget this recent event.
See author page