Freewheeling Reporting And Wild Speculation . . .

Maybe the NYPD Intelligence Division should just start blogging:

The NYPD’s unsanctioned report, which was widely circulated by media outlets, including CNN, stunned officials on both continents. It not only contradicted the view of the Kenyans and global investigators that the terrorists had been killed, but suggested the Kenyans had bungled the response to the bloodshed.

The schism was so deep that the U.S. State Department tried to assuage the Kenyans by issuing a rare public rebuke of the New York Police Department.

Within days of the controversial NYPD report, Linda Greenfield-Thomas, the top State Department official for Africa, officially announced that the NYPD opinion did not reflect the U.S. government position.

If There Weren’t Al Qaeda Bombmakers, We’d Have To Invent Them

The guy the NYPD picked up was perhaps stoned on weed when he made incriminating remarks:

But it was the informer’s role, and that of his police handlers, that have now been cited as among the reasons the F.B.I., which had its own parallel investigation of Mr. Pimentel, did not pursue the case, which was announced on Sunday night in a news conference at City Hall. Terrorism cases are generally handled by federal authorities.

There was concern that the informer might have played too active a role in helping Mr. Pimentel, said several people who were briefed on the case, who all spoke on the condition of anonymity, either because of the tense relations between the Intelligence Division and the F.B.I. or because the case was continuing.

. . .

Mr. Pimentel, 27, who lived with his uncle in the Hamilton Heights neighborhood after his mother threw him out recently, appears to be unstable, according to several of the people briefed on the case, three of whom said he had tried to circumcise himself.

And Mr. Pimentel, several of the people said, also smoked marijuana with the confidential informant, and some recordings in which he makes incriminating statements were made after the men had done so. His lawyer, Joseph Zablocki, did not return a call on Monday seeking comment.

. . .

As late as Saturday, after Mr. Pimentel was arrested, the Intelligence Division invited the task force to interview Mr. Pimentel and view the partially constructed incendiary device, a person briefed on the investigation said.

In the task force, investigators were concerned that the case raised some entrapment questions, two people said. They added that some investigators wondered whether Mr. Pimentel had the even small amount of money or technical know-how necessary to produce a pipe bomb on his own, had he not received help from the informer.

Entrapment is a word that has come up before in these high-profile busts.

Murray Weiss’ piece is also instructive, and a little more to the point: “The problem can be simply put: How much of Pimentel’s interest in bomb making and attacking New York targets was of his own making, and how much was facilitated by an NYPD informant keeping tabs on him?”

Maybe Peter Vallone Jr. Is Comfortable With The Fact That The NYPD Has Shit That Can Take Down A Jet But Most Of Us Feel Like, Honestly, It’s A Little Fucked Up

And I am so sick of the Live-Free-Or-Die-esque “we can’t rely on the feds to save us” argument; you’re insane if you think a city bureaucracy of 40,000 isn’t capable of being compromised in some way:

The NYPD can take down terror planes from the skies, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Sunday night.

The city’s top cop answered with a firm “Yes” when “60 Minutes” interviewer Scott Pelley asked if the New York City police had the equipment and training to do so.

“Do you mean to say that the NYPD has the means to take down an aircraft?” asked Pelley.

“Yes, I prefer not to get into the details, but obviously this would be in a very extreme situation,” Kelly answered.

After Evaluating Terror Threat, Authorities Move To Protect Area Golf Courses; On Lookout For Something With Feathers That Likes To Shit On The Green At 14

“Al Qaeda Terror Threat Looking More Like a ‘Goose Chase'”:

A possible Al Qaeda plot to launch an attack during the 10th anniversary weekend of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks is “looking more and more like a goose chase,” a senior U.S. official told Fox News on Saturday.

Federal authorities have been questioning all day the credibility of a tip from a previously reliable source that that Al Qaeda had planned to attack Washington or New York, putting though both cities on high alert.

But authorities have not been able to corroborate any of the information from the source.

“The threat is looking less and less credible,” the official said, adding that the entire plot as outlined by the source “doesn’t seem feasible.”

“The time frame doesn’t make sense for when these operatives would have been moving into position,” the official said. “We are going back to the original source. The president will be briefed on it again in the morning, but people are questioning the credibility of this information at this time. Something is not adding up.”

Thank You, Anniversary!

I almost forgot how it feels to get freaked out transferring at Grand Central:

Because the three would-be terrorists have common names, cops have been unable to pinpoint their exact location, sources said.

The operatives are allegedly targeting transit hubs with car bombs — and not a chemical attack or so-called nuclear-laced “dirty bomb.”

Intel also suggests the Al Qaeda operatives were planning the strike for Sunday, the 10-year anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.