Times Square Suspect: the ‘Foreclosure Terrorist’?
It is fascinating to see how the authorities and the major media outlets avoid the words “Islam” and “Muslim” in connection to the failed Times Square bombing. In both this piece in Time and in this piece in the New York Times the word “Islam” is only used in the name of the city of Islamabad in Pakistan.
The Times uses the word “Muslim” once: “At his news conference, Mr. Bloomberg warned against any backlash against Pakistanis or Muslims in New York, saying, ‘We will not tolerate any bias.’”
The authorities — Holder, Napolitano, New York Police Commissioner Kelly — also avoided the words Islam and Muslim at their press conference. They spoke about “terrorism” but didn’t define the term.
So what kind of terrorist is Faisal Shahzad if he cannot be called a Muslim or an Islamic terrorist?
A CNN anchor said about the Pakistani-American suspect: “It can be confirmed that his house has been foreclosed in recent years. I mean, one would have to imagine that brought a lot of pressure and a lot of heartache on that family.”
Could this suspect be described as the “foreclosure terrorist”? As a true believer in the American dream and owning his own home, Faisal Shahzad had to act against the banks which foreclosed his property. If that is the case, why didn’t he park his SUV closer to Wall Street? If he was angry about losing his house, why didn’t he try to blow up his bank? Times Square doesn’t make sense for a foreclosure terrorist.
According to the authorities and the mainstream media, he cannot be called an Islamic terrorist. But if we are not allowed to call an Islamic terrorist an Islamic terrorist, and if we deny the religious essence of his motivation, the explanations for this kind of violent behavior will deal only with the external. The terrorists hate it when Jews build apartments in Jerusalem, so they blow up a train in Madrid. They don’t like us watching Lady Gaga videos, so they kill themselves together with dozens of children and women in Pakistani markets. In other words, if we avoid identifying the extreme religious and cultural part of their worldview, we agree with the terrorists’ own justifications. And we allow them to set the agenda.
The authorities and the media reject the idea that religious convictions can drive men to violence. They need justifications that fit within their progressive worldview, and this progressive worldview is focused on socioeconomic conditions. That’s why the CNN anchor comes up with the foreclosure story — it is a socioeconomic motivation the anchorman can understand.
Fine, we won’t call them Islamic Terrorists but we can call them the Geico Cavemen-Bombers.
“So easy a Caveman can do i_–Kaboom!”
Guess not.
“The authorities and the media reject the idea that religious convictions can drive men to violence.”
This sentence is completely off the mark. The authorities and the media are perfectly fine with the idea that Jewish Israeli settlers or Christian pro-life activists can be led to violence by their religious convictions – so much so that they find the need to fabricate the idea that this has actually occurred.
Only Islam is a pure, incorruptible religion that never leads men to violence, apparently.
Sharia law does not allow interest to be levied on loans, so it would be fairly easy for a radical mullah to convince this idiot that the non-Sharia law of the United States was the root cause of him losing his house.
People will believe anything that gives them an excuse for bad behavior. Want to sell your daughter? No problem. Blow up a car? Got the answer right here for you. Abuse women? Well the founder of our religion said it was OK.
Idiots will buy into almost anything.
The foreclosure seems to have followed his trip to Pakistan. It appears to be more a result of the bomber closing down his life in the US.
Leon,
There are a lot of reasons that the MSM is spinning the BS line about “Why he did it,” starting with the near-fatally mistaken Counter-Terrorism policy changes the Obama Administration has made.
Pay really close attention to the Fox News article at this link:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/05/04/apparent-links-times-square-suspect-zazi/
Faisal Shahzad had family and business connections to the Aurora, Co attempted NY Subway bomber Najibullah Zazi.
It was Bush Administration Dept of Justice and current US Military in Iraq & Afghanistan counter-terrorism policy to follow up on all the family-business connections of a known terrorist because Islamist terrorism organizes on the basis of blood.
Several domestic Islamist terrorist plots were broken up on that basis — See the Lakawana 6.
Someone in the Obama Administration DoJ had to actively decide not to follow up on Najibullah Zazi’s family connections in 2009 for Faisal Shahzad to get through to Times Square in 2010.
Based on that tib bit, the odds of another fully successful Islamist terrorist attack on American soil before the American November 2010 elections moved into the realm of near certainty.
Just so! These folks will tie themselves in socioeconomic knots to attempt to explain things without mentioning the rat in the soup.
Shahzad is now the foreclosure terrorist. So I guess a young MUSLIM male who returns home to Pakistan, a known hotbed of terrorist activity, doesn’t even rate being put on a “watch list” in this country. I guess a MUSLIM male who returns to Pakistan, brings his family back home even though he’s now an American citizen, and then leaves them there is not worth being placed on a watch list. I guess a MUSLIM male who goes back to Pakistan broke but then comes back to America full of cash to buy items for a terrorist attack no longer raises any eyebrows (By the way, how did he bring this cash back into the country? Did he carry it on him or did someone send it to him or give it to him personally here in the United States?). I guess a MUSLIM male who goes to an American airport and buys a one-way ticket to Dubai and pays for it in cash does not deserve to be held, searched more thoroughly, and at least asked a few questions about where he is going and why?
And is anybody in the mainstream media asking where this guy’s mosque was here in the United States and who attended that mosque? Don’t think some of these mosques are a hotbed of radical ISLAMIC jihadism? Well, just ask that blind imam from Jersey City who was convicted for conspiring against the United States in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing whether or not American mosques are useful recruiting tools for the jihadists.
But no, I guess none of these questions are important regarding young MUSLIM males who travel BACK to the Middle East but live here in the United States. But, hey, at least he was on a bank forclosure list. I guess that’s something!
I think you are being far to forgiving of the Main Stream Media. Most of them are religious zealots themselves, post-modern religious zealots serving at the pleasure of the elites in their ivory towers. Some remind of Justa Grata Honoria, so ambitious was she for power that she offered her hand in marriage to Attila the Hun, offering him the Roman Empire.
That’s what I feel about many in the main stream media, especially those that run it, they are willing to marry themselves to Islam’s, foolishly believing that once they tear down conservative Christianity and Judaism, that they will be safe from Islamic wrath. Anyone with a scintilla of historical knowledge will understand how wrong-headed this thinking is, but then, the whole of our Western media trades in wrong-headed thinking on a regular basis.
True, correct, complete. Accurate, brief, clear. Oh, how I wish I had written it!
Further, Islam is anti-christ and therefore anti-christian. We are to be converted and enslaved or murdered. If we convert, we must refuse to trust and obey our Lord, Jesus Christ, and so condemn ourselves to eternal punishment. If we do not convert, the scimitar awaits us. So the real choice in dealing with the satanic filth which is Islam, is whether we love and serve Jesus, or love and serve those led by Satan; who hate Jesus Christ.
Look at the differences between the Son of God, Who teaches love of God and neighbor, and Mohammed, the son of Allah, the babylonian moon “god”, who, when not molesting children or leading murderous raids to rob, rape and kill, taught that unbelievers must be killed, and women treated like things; not persons.
Islamists are satanists, preaching hate and conquest, calling Jesus Christ a liar, and denying His Nature and teachings. The choice is between Jesus and Islam. Take your pick.
It figures.
Anyone remember how the Fort Hood “Soldier of Allah” jihadist was said to have suffered from “second-hand post traumatic stress disorder” due to treating so many emotionally scarred soldiers.
Excellent article and as one poster above said, I wish I had written it. But, there is one thing missing and that is when he lost his house. I believe it was during the Bush presidency. Seems to me the MSM response now is to somehow blame Bush and deflect any blame from the Obama administration and Islam in general. The MSM is so invested in this president that there have been expressions of sadness that this bomber was not a Tea Partier. They will do anything to protect this president. Notice there is hardly a mention of the terrible floods in Tennessee and the fact that Obama has not been there?
The administration and Obama himself using ‘Teabagger’ which is offensive to many even if it is used by some Tea Partiers themselves. Clearly Obama has absolutely NO concerns about offending any TeaPartiers.
‘Islamist’ however is NEVER used by Obama OR anyone in his administration, as it might offend those trying to slaughter us.
Revealing.
And in the offices of Dhimmicrat Underclass,Daily Kuss,and Muffyngton Host,guts churn in virtual unison as the realization dawns that their carefully contrived narrative juxtaposing violence prone right wing tea partiers,and an ethnic Islamist who merely snapped from having his house foreclosed,slowly begins to melt away like a Popsicle left out in the sun by a careless child.
My God..what have we done!? The poor lad…so much promise..a loss to America.
We should all chip in and buy every new “muslim-American” a house outright..but what kind of house..? Perhaps a splitlevel ranch on a cul-de-sac within hearing distance of a neighborhood minaret? But what if he doesnt like his neighbors?…Okay..lets buy him muslim neighbors too. And no Jews..
anywhere around..of course, but what about his wife..if he wants to beat her a little for Allahs sake..we cant let the police interfere..so lets import
some Saudi religious police…and then some black slaves for house boys..surely the blacks will want to cooperate after all its for “Diversity”?
But best of all some nice white liberal girls from the local liberal arts college for harem duty..yes..now the picture is becoming much better
9. Trainwreck
Anyone remember how the Fort Hood “Soldier of Allah” jihadist was said to have suffered from “second-hand post traumatic stress disorder” due to treating so many emotionally scarred soldiers.
Was that before or after he was diagnosed with “pre-post traumatic stress disorder” because he was afraid of deploying to Iraq?
This has denial of the obvious has gotten so bad it’s like trying to play peek-a-boo with the bogeyman.
I would name this tortured logic/convoluted reasoning if it could be seen to reach such a level, instead the transparent silliness of Bloomberg, et al, along with the MSM,is mere middle school thinking.This would normally be laughed at if it didn’t have the potential to get a lotta people killed down the road.
How do we get these immature clown dancers out of office and out of media ? Not to mention the mediocrity of the Immigration Dept. employees. It is simply unacceptable to be made to suffer such fools.Egads.
Its difficult to believe that someone as stupid as de Winter not only exists, but can find people even stupider than he is to influence. I really did think that only Americans could reach the level of turgid idiocy.
What a magnificent example of a liberal’s notions of “debate.” Full of namecalling and ad hominems, signifying nothing.
C’mon, dustbin-dweller_ maybe you’d care to tell us WHAT you think is stupid about de Winter’s column? Perhaps you might share your thoughts on why Islam had nothing whatsoever to do with this in any way, nosiree bob?
Yes, he’s stupid because…. he spoke.. the Truth?
Substantiate, please.
““It can be confirmed that his house has been foreclosed in recent years. I mean, one would have to imagine that brought a lot of pressure and a lot of heartache on that family.””
Oh, my God, what disgusting, dishonest spin!
Our terrorist’s house went into foreclosure two months AFTER he bailed on it and his mortgage and moved with his family back to Pakistan. “pressure and heartache my ass!”
Maybe it’s not the religion.
Maybe it’s the ugly.
It’s rare that I’ve ever seen a good looking criminal in a mugshot.
Just an observation.
Is there an Affirmative Action program for ugly people yet?
“The foreclosure seems to have followed his trip to Pakistan. It appears to be more a result of the bomber closing down his life in the US. ~Wally”
Actually, the way I understand it, the bank sued to foreclose in Sept last year. Shahzad returned in Feb from a five month stay in Pakistan. That would indicate he left for Pakistan about the time the bank sued.
Yet….
His neighbors said he hadn’t lived in the house for a year.
J Milam
(I’m putting my name here because for the life of me I cannot find where to sign up for comment registration.)
Ah, yes.
In the list of countries that radical muslims hate, don’t forget the united kingdom. Britain basically single-handedly demolished the Ottoman Empire during the first world war (see Lawrence of Arabia or the book Seven Pillars of Wisdom), and drew the map of the Middle East as we see it today.
The man who shot Jews at the community center in Seattle had no hesitation mentioning his religion first and multiple times when explaining his actions.
Yet people were still eager to spin what the murderer himself would not, and claim he was merely frustrated, didn’t fit in, and felt persecuted because of his parents’ Pakistani background. At best they called it a hate crime, never mentioning Islam or Muslim except to say he wasn’t an Islamic terrorist.
Yes!! As did the Fort Hood shooter….
What part of “Allahu Akbar” don’t they understand???
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/06/fort-hood-shooter-alive
dumb dhimmmi APOLOGISTS FOR WANNABE MURDERERS–It is against Islamic sharia to pay interest- therefore he didn’t pay his mortgage on PURPOSE- HE KNEW he didn’t need to as his deed would be accomplished and he would be in Paksitan applauded as a HERO OF ISLAM before any foreclosure actions took place- and by his belief was was witholding money from the great satan’s banks- unless that is, Chase gave him an interest free sharia compliant loan- in which case the rest of Chase customers should make class action suit for discrimination-
the poverty/disffection excuses for ISLAMIC RAGE have all been debunked- pure bulldukey- there is only one reason allof these”go crazy” a mntal illness called ISLAM- itis what it is– denial of the truth, facts cannot be replaced by speculative wishful fantasy of the blind deaf and dumb press
Islam is privileged among left-wing academics because it is so irrational as to not require response from them. No left-wing person would actually defend misogyny or mass killing in the name of Mohamed unless they have a personality disorder. Fear of retribution is, of course, another major reason for keeping their left-wing mouths shut.
Christianity require a retort from the left because it insists upon altruism, which in effect undermines hedonism. However, there is no fear-factor when dealing with Christianity.
Judaism requires total rejection because it is a system that supports an active legal system that insists upon principles such as reciprocity, justification of one’s position in terms of principles that can be discussed, and subjugation of the law-makers to their own decisions (consistency).
Because, the guiding principle of the left is “the means justifies the end,” Judaism has to go and as soon as possible. Otherwise, no progress will be possible and the world will decline into oblivion. The strong Israeli army does in convoluted left-wing thinkers indeed threaten them.
“What can I do for you, Jack?” Nothing. His trigger finger added an exclamation point.
Last night, on “24,” Jack Bauer caught up with Dana, a Russian hired mole that had been placed in CTU. After turning over her evidence implicating the Russians in the death of an American ally, she was ready to deal with Jack. But Jack was through dealing with her. Crazed over the sniper killing of Jack’s FBI girl friend just hours before, Jack put two bullets in Dana. The first one because she needed killing. The second in the manner you put a dying animal on the side of the road out of its misery. To everything there is a season; Turn. Turn. Turn.
If a poll were taken, I estimate that 75/% of the audience of “24” would tell you that Dana didn’t expect Jack to kill her in cold blood. In the seconds before eternity took her, I didn’t see fear in Dana’s eyes. Neither did Jack.
America, religious radical Muslims want to kill you and your children. But I don’t think they’re afraid of us. I think they need to be. Some might argue the 75 virgins waiting for them negates the fear, but, in response, I’d say maybe it’s time to raise the ante. If you want to play for keeps in this high stakes terrorism game, and knock off Americans whenever the opportunity presents itself, then I think it’s time we presented to you a change of rules. If you fail to cover your tracks, and we find out who you are, here’s what we’ll do. We’ll go after your family, killing them one by one. How Un-American is that idea? Very. I do like the threat, though. Folks, I’ll put one other promise on the table. Of course, this is a post-Obama pledge. Because Obama loves this country like a long distance runner loves a blister. And would fight to defend the U.S. like a fish would fight to stay hooked.
If terrorists from your country attack the United States with weapons of mass destruction, we’ll unleash a full retaliatory response that’ll light you up for 75 years, one per virgin. You’ve heard of the Monroe Doctrine? We’ll, I’ll call this the Vapor Doctrine. Perhaps these proposals would cause countries that harbor terrorists, and terrorists, themselves, to look at the United States with a little more respect. At the least, we’ll get their attention.
Let’s face it, we’re not just living in a post-9/11 world. We’re living in a post-Miranda world where terrorists are concerned. Don’t kid yourselves. People like Obama and Holder either aren’t equipped to keep us safe. Or don’t really care about keeping us safe unless it affects them politically. The Mayor of New York said that the Times Square bomber probably was the equivalent of a Tea Partier who was mad about ObamaCare. One early New York Times headline talked about the suspect, Faisal Shahzad, as being a family man in foreclosure. Anything to avoid the truth. Out of the left we get nothing that keeps us safe. If the Times Square bomber were a supporter of SB 1070, the “reasonable suspicion” Arizona law, nothing would have made the left happier. Anyway, that’s the reality as I see it.
“24″ got canceled. I want to renew this nation for another 200 years. And then some. If we can survive the Obama fiasco, I think we have a shot at a future.
“Cultural studies have trained them in thinking that all cultures and traditions are equal and that Judeo-Christian culture is equal to colonialism, capitalism, slavery, and other vile practices.”
This sentence doesn’t make al lot of sense, does it? If all cultures are equal than the islamic culture is also “equal to colonialism, capitalism, slavery, and other vile practices”. Nevertheless, that’s just the kind of paradoxical perspective many postmodernists like to take. But I’m not sure whether De Winter really wanted to get this point across here.
The multiculti mantra that all cultures are equal but Judeo-Christian culture is uniquely oppressive and racist makes sense in an Orwellian Animal Farm-type way: “All animals are equal but some are more equal than others.”
In other words, even though all cultures are equal, non-European, non-white cultures are by far “more equal”. In left wing worldview, even the vilest aspects of these cultures can be explained away and excused in the name of tolerance and root causes, but Judeo-Christian culture/western civilization is tainted by eons of racism and oppression, that only its extermination can extirpate its historic guilt. This view animates the leaders of the Western world: the elites of Europe, Israel and America would be more than happy to let their white populations be annihilated at the hands of jihadis to equalize historic oppression. It’s the international Sista Souljah doctrine: “If [non-white] people kill [non-white] people every day, why not have a [week/decade/century] and kill white people?”
From everything I’ve read so far about Shahzad and his family, it appears that he quit his job, abandoned his house, and went back to Pakistan to be trained in explosives. How then, for God’s sake, are our so-called “government” and their lapdog media justified in saying he snapped because of foreclosure?
Why can’t they face the truth? The guy is a loser who got talked into jihad because he is precisely the kind of westernized Muslim that the jihadis are looking for, and the jihadis themselves are fanatic followers of a religion of violence and intolerance. It’s true, there are Muslims who don’t buy into the violence and intolerance, but by doing so, they merely make themselves the “wrong kind of Muslim”, and potential victims like the rest of us. That’s how some Muslims justify killing other Muslims (which they have done by the hundreds of thousands).
As for those apologists who will bleat that Christians and Jews did the same… yes, they did, some centuries before we got to the 21st. The European Enlightenment, the subsequent rise of democracy, and Pax Americana were supposed to put an end to all that. If Islam can’t live with that, then Islam should die as the bad idea it apparently means to be.
How many people in the US who have lost their houses, land, jobs have decided to blow something up? I think that is a lame excuse. I will call them what they are, Islamic terrorists!
It reminds me of the late 60′s/early 70′s, where the enlightened “progressives” told us that violent criminals shouldn’t be punished — they should be “understood”, with compassion. After all, they were probably that way because of social injustice and a bad upbringing. If you disagreed, you were considered a heartless reactionary. All this started to change in the late 70′s after NYC became a no-man’s-land and the “progressives” started becoming the victims. Then the saying came, “A conservative is a liberal who has been mugged”.
The more things change, the more things stay the same. Wrong then, wrong now, and the “progressives” won’t change their minds until enough of them become the victims.
“We will not tolerate any bias.”
Pity that Bloomberg won’t extend that courtesy to we so-called “Tea-Baggers”.
Hey, at least they have put back the word “terrorist” into their vocabulary. Remember a few months ago when “Big Sis” Janet said we will no longer refer to them as terrorists. If their boss wasn’t a [former?] Muslim, you would see Islamic terrorist all over their statements.
Hilarous. Worthy of South Park or Family Guy. Don’t tell the public that the Faisal Shahzad guy is a certified sand-bunny. They’ll never figure it out if you don’t.
This is a real unintended consequences situation. If The mainstream media and the pols do this sort of thing such credibility as they have left, which is not much, will be squandered.
Maybe he was just upset about Toyota automobiles being unsafe and wanted to take it out on his Pathfinder.
Makes about as much sense as the foreclosure excuse…
Rachel Peepers #26 said it best. We have no idea what the threat is until we feel it. With nukes and bio-chem weapons, ‘feeling’ it means certain death, if not extermination. The average American simply does not comprehend the threat.
We’re going to one day look back fondly on the Bush II presidency, even with all of his foibles. He understood the threat, and never downplayed nor diminished it for the sake of political correctness.
Nothing exemplifies Liberal moonbat thinking and attitudes and this disgusting REGIME in power in America more than the two current crisis.
1) The Gulf oil spill caused by an ACCIDENT.
Regime response DEMONIZE BRITISH Petroleum and big Oil and vow to keep their Left Wing NAZI JACKBOOTS on this venerable respectable companies neck. A company who are doing everything possible to resolve the problem.
2)The Times Square PAKISTANI MOHAMMEDAN bomber.
Regime response first do everything you can to try and pin it on a white middle class Tea Party type using your lapdog MSM and idiotic moonbats to further spread the idea. Then when it is revealed that it was a Pakistani and Muslim who not only confessed but a Terrorist organization claiming to be PKISTANI TALIBAN also confessed to the plot, never ever mention the word Islam in connection with the plot and issue appeals not to have any backlash against Pakistanis or Muslims.
No JACKBOOTS on the necks of Mohammedan Terrorists who DELIBERATELY and openly state that they did it and STILL want to do it again oh no JACKBOOTS are reserved for respectable companies like BRITISH Petroleum owned by and American ALLY who suffer an ACCIDENT .
Full of namecalling and ad hominems, signifying nothing.
Again. None of you understand what ad hominem is. You’ve all been using it for so long to protect yourself from what is the obvious product of your ridiculous ideas–being called “stupid”. Understand this moron. If your argument is stupid, and I point that out, then its not ad hominem to also question your intelligence. Idiot.
Again. Pick any paragraph at random. It literally indicts itself, appealing to innuendo and prejudice rather than supplying any facts or reasonable argument:
According to the authorities and the mainstream media, he cannot be called an Islamic terrorist. But if we are not allowed to call an Islamic terrorist an Islamic terrorist, and if we deny the religious essence of his motivation, the explanations for this kind of violent behavior will deal only with the external.
This is called circular logic. The saddest thing is that you all seem to believe that this is a cogent argument. Embarrassing.
So you feel that correctly identifying the motivation behind an act of terrorism is not conducive to combatting it? What people here are referring to is the fact that some people try to whitewash Islamic extremism and assign alternative motivating factors to terrorist acts committed by Moslims. A lot of this comes through a Marxist reading of history that has remained to some extent despite the failures of Marxism. Marx interpreted history as a clash between economic classes. That is why some people are so keen on finding an underlying economic reason to explain why Faisal Shahzad did what he did without looking at the obvious; maybe economic struggles were not what motivated him. The media had no problem delving into the apocalyptic religious beliefs of the Hutaree, but our society is uncomfortable with applying the same standards to Islamism. We have to break this taboo.
Take the plot to bomb London’s Ministry of Sound nightclub for example. Due to police recordings, we know that this attempt was jihad related. One guy even commented that no one would consider the party goers innocent victims because of “those slags dancing around.” Should we try to stretch ourselves into a pretzel to assume that these guys were all jilted lovers, or was this supposed to be a jihadi act of war aimed at a cultural icon of British decadence?
I’m pretty sure you need to look at your “logic” before you start handing out advice. Ad hominem attacks are no way to win serious arguments, but they are the overwhelming majority of your posts. There is a word in German that has no direct translation in English: Fremdschämen. It is when you feel overwhelmingly embarrassed for someone else, which is currently how I feel for you.
President Odumbo praised the stall holder who did his citizens duty and reported what appeared to be a breach of the United States Law in Times Square.
Good job it wasn’t in ARIZONA because there Odumbo the Dems the Hollywood cretins and the MSM and the rest of the moonbats want you to LOOK THE OTHER WAY an say NOTHING.
just watch the mumbai documentary on hbo. you will have stains on your underwear for the next three weeks. progressive asshats should be tied to chairs and forced to watch it. they won’t get it until there’s blood spray on their faces.
So you feel that correctly identifying the motivation behind an act of terrorism is not conducive to combatting it?
Incredible. Someone so incredibly stupid that they respond to a post about circular logic, with circular logic.
I suggest you look up circular logic; you don’t seem to understand what it is. For your own benefit, take my statement apart and show how this is, in your opinion, circular logic. First, I have to warn you of something. I teach argumentation to business professionals; you are wrong and you will not win this one, so my advice to you is to run, not walk away from this.
#41 oscar le grouche hilariously projecting again as usual and being his usual unbearable smug conceited but ever so wrong self yet again.
poor booboo…the news said he had financial problems (and decided to hurt other people) and his wife would not make up with him,puke
..sounds like a country song to be..