On its editorial page today, the Washington Times provides readers with a reminder concerning terror attacks on U.S. soil. It is critical that Americans do not forget that Islamic fundamentalist terrorists keep trying to kill them.
Saturday’s failed car bombing in Times Square was a reminder that the terror war is still on, if a reminder was needed. And as with the Christmas Day bomb plot, America only avoided catastrophe because of terrorist incompetence.
Investigators on the case have found leads pointing to foreign terrorists. It’s possible the hit was ordered or inspired by Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud, thought slain in a Predator strike but seen this week in a new video declaring that the United States is his organization’s main target. Considering coalition forces have been trying to kill him for some time, it makes sense that he or others might seek some form of direct revenge, but whether they’re capable of doing this remains to be seen.
The fact remains that America is a prime terrorist target, and the plots and attacks keep coming. Add the Times Square car bomb to a growing list that includes: the June 2009 fatal shooting at an Army recruiting station in Arkansas by Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, a homegrown, Yemeni-trained Muslim; Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, a Jordanian illegal alien arrested in September 2009 for planning to car-bomb a Dallas office tower; Michael Finton, an American convert to Islam, is charged with attempting to bomb the Paul Findley Federal Building in Springfield, Ill., in September 2009; the November 2009 Fort Hood massacre; the December 2009 arrest of five men from Northern Virginia in Pakistan for terrorism-related activities; Christmas Day 2009 would-be underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab; and lethal ladies Colleen LaRose, aka Jihad Jane, of Pennsylvania and Jamie Paulin-Ramirez of Colorado, charged with various terrorism related-crimes. Brooklyn-born Betim Kaziu and 12 others were charged in 2009 with supporting the al Qaeda-affiliated al Shabab group; and last week, Brooklyn residents Wesam el-Hanafi and Sabirhan Hasanoff were indicted on charges of trying to help al Qaeda with modernization efforts.
New York has been the target of several attack plans in the past year. In May 2009, four men were arrested for plotting to blow up a New York City synagogue and use an anti-aircraft weapon to attack military aircraft in Newburgh, N.Y. Najibullah Zazi and two others planned to conduct a suicide attack on Grand Central Station in September 2009. Queens-born Bryant Neal Vinas, aka Ben Yameen al-Kanadeeis, received al Qaeda training in Pakistan and agreed to plan an attack on the Long Island Railroad before being apprehended by Pakistan authorities.
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