Tel-Chai Nation

Michelle Malkin reports on the NYPD's investigation of terrorist threats against the subway system in the Big Apple.

One problem however, is just how seriously mayor Bloomberg is responding to the threat. The AP Wire reports that:

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his police chief insisted Friday they did the right thing by going public with a terrorist threat to bomb the New York subway, brushing aside suggestions from Washington that they overreacted to information of dubious credibility.

On the other hand, as Terrorism Unveiled points out:

Apparently a news outlet had information on this threat two days ago, but they were asked to hold the information, and they did. Most likely, this is because our law enforcement had to undertake operations or at least investigate without causing attention and tipping off the suspects.

"This is the first time we've had a threat with this level of specificity" comments Bloomberg as well as "If you see something, say something." As always, he's downplaying.

This really comes as no surprise. France just interdicted a threat that was to bomb their metro system and the Italian authorities have recently been practicing what to do in case of an attack---and there is information that Italy is a major target as well. Keep in mind it's also Ramadan, the period of victories for the Prophet Muhammad (such as the battle of Badr), and it takes on a special significance for Islamist terrorists.

The details of the threat are classified. If I knew the nationalities, I could provide more possibilities, but since I do not, following leads of threats in Europe would be conjecture.

So we can't be sure if Bloomberg is really trying to be convincing in his own efforts or not. And they're right, we need to know what the possible nationalities and backgrounds are in order to determine the possibilities.

Even before the news became official, this disturbing report came up, of an NBC-TV station that initially withheld the info:

The station decided to hold off, citing "the intensity of the level of the request," said Dan Forman, vice president of news. He said the officials stressed that they would not normally ask a media outlet to hold a story, but that people overseas could be placed in harm if it aired then.

"They were in the best position to know the nature of the threat," Forman said of the officials.

"We agreed to hold the story until it could be reported in a responsible fashion. We believed we served our viewers well. It was best for the city and the responsible thing to do."

I beg your pardon, Mr. Forman? Overseas or not, the safety of innocents everywhere counts, and the public has a right to know ASAP if something is wrong. So quit trying to sell us that derivative argument of yours, please.

Also available at Basil's Blog, Outside the Beltway, The Mudville Gazette, Jo's Cafe, Bright and Early, Cafe Oregano, Stop the ACLU, The Political Teen, Cao's Blog, Point Five, California Conservative, Big Dog's Weblog, Wizbang, Obligatory Anecdotes. Others on the subject include: Generation Why, Confederate Yankee, Urban Scrawl, Flopping Aces, The Bad Hedgehog, The Strata-Sphere, The Counterterrorism Blog, Ace of Spades.

Labels: New York, United States, war on terror