This Fox News report on the dirty bomb plot has more details, plus a photo of Jose "Abdullah al Muhajir" Padilla, a 31-year old New York native raised in Chicago. Two other conspirators are in custody in Pakistan in connection with the plot: one Benjamin Ahmed Mohammed and another, unnamed person. The information about Padilla and the plot came from Abu Zubayda, which isn't much of a surprise.
Tapped has a couple of posts expressing suspicion about the timing of the announcement and skepticism about the seriousness of the "dirty bomb" angle. "This whole thing stinks," they write, alleging that authorities are "hyping the threat this man posed" solely to deflect attention from their own failings. Tapped may indeed have a point about the timing, though it shouldn't be surprising that the embattled intelligence and law enforcement agencies would try to make the most of a notable success in the midst of so much attention on their failures. But the connection of this guy to al Qaeda isn't trumped up, and al Qaeda's aspirations to use "radiological dispersion devices" in terror attacks are well-documented. There's no question that Padilla and his ilk are dangerous. According to Fox News, he was carrying plans for a dirty bomb when he was arrested at the airport in Chicago. "How close he was to actually making a dirty bomb" isn't the most important factor here; I'm just glad they caught this guy at the airport, before he could get any closer. Aren't you?
My God, man, they uncover a plot to build a radiological bomb for the purposes of attacking an American target; they capture an enemy agent and two associates before the plan could be executed; and all you can say about it is that it "stinks" because it slightly undermines the contention that the Bushies are a bunch of incompetent bums and because it might "put the Democrats on the defensive." I'm sorry, but that's carrying partisanship a bit too far.
Posted by Dr. Frank at June 10, 2002 04:12 PM | TrackBack