Source:
AP via CBS newsNEW YORK - U.S. authorities declined to pursue a case against an "al Qaeda sympathizer" accused of plotting to bomb police stations and post offices in the New York area because they believed he was mentally unstable and incapable of pulling it off, two law enforcement officials said Monday.New York Police Department investigators sought to get the FBI involved
at least twice as their undercover investigation of Jose Pimentel unfolded, the officials said.
Both times, the FBI concluded that he wasn't a serious threat, they said.The FBI concluded that Pimentel "didn't have the predisposition or the ability to do anything on his own," one of the officials said.--snip--His lawyer Joseph Zablocki said his client's behavior leading up to the arrest was not that of a conspirator trying to conceal some violent scheme. Zablocki said Pimentel was public about his activities and was not trying to hide anything. "I don't believe that this case is nearly as strong as the people believe," Zablocki said. "He (Pimentel) has this very public online profile. ... This is not the way you go about committing a terrorist attack."
Read more:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57328792/ap-fbi-declined-to-pursue-nyc-bomb-plot/
Reporters at Bloomberg's press conference yesterday immediately jumped on the obvious question: If this was a terrorist plot, why wasn't the Federal government at the press conference? Neither Bloomberg nor Police Commissioner Ray Kelly had especially convincing answers. What answers they did provide attempted to paint Pimentel as both a "lone wolf" and as part of a larger al Qaeda sympathizer network.
They had kept Pimentel under investigation for
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/21/justice/new-york-terror-sidebar/?hpt=wo_c2">two and a half years and yet arrested him only a few days ago. The timing of the arrest, the lack of Federal involvement have raised questions about the use of this arrest as a tool to distract from Bloomberg's handling of Occupy Wall Street demonstrations.
There are other details which raise even more questions- including questions about how much expertise and material the police informant provided to Pimental in order to construct the explosive device which led to his arrest:
From
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/21/justice/new-york-terror-sidebar/?hpt=wo_c2">CNN:
In October, officials say, Pimentel's activities began to accelerate, when he began to acquire simple bomb-making materials. They say he began building his bomb in the apartment of the informant, rather than at his home, where he lived with his mother and grandmother.
The inconsistencies I point out in this OP are not meant as as defense of Pimentel: The construction of a pipe bomb, even a crude one, is a serious felony. Soon, as his case winds its way through the courts, we will all become even more familiar with his name.
A name you're not very likely to know, though, is Kevin William Harpham. Unlike Pimental, he constructed a
very sophisticated radio-controlled shape charge pipe bomb whose shrapnel was carefully coated with anti-coagulant so as to cause victims to bleed to death after it was detonated. In fact, he just plead guilty to setting the bomb which was thankfully uncovered before it could go off.
But you haven't likely heard much about
that pipe bomber in the national media. Why not? And, will Mayor Bloomberg use these recent terror "revelations" in order to enact or extend other controversial restrictions on Americans exercising their right to Free Speech in public places?
I think those are useful questions to ask or at least ponder.
PB
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