Faisal Shahzad Succeeds in Making a Global Mess

For an incompetent terrorist, alleged Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad sure is provoking a lot of international incidents.

  • Was Shahzad an agent of the Pakistani Taliban? Sources hedge in the Times, saying it's "very likely" the group "played a role," in the sense that they "helped inspire and train Mr. Shahzad." Which is just vague enough to be true, perhaps? The Pakistani Taliban itself says "This is a noble job and we pray that all the Muslim youths should follow Faisal Shahzad. But he is not part of our network."

  • Cops in Pakistan are also questioning members of another group, Jaish-e-Mohammad, about possible connections with the attempted bombing.

  • This, of course, will cause the US government to pressure Pakistan's government to "crack down" on radical groups. Good luck with that.

  • And you know who is pissed? Emirates Airline. They feel like US officials are blaming them for allowing Shahzad to board his flight (which was brought back to the gate). They are like, maybe the US should be stricter about its own procedures, hmm? Faisal Shahzad has successfully sparked an international econopolitical spat!

  • Apparently Shahzad is just talking and talking to interrogators. The Attorney General says he's providing lots of "useful information." We shudder to think why that might be.

  • Although he wasn't doing so hot before this whole incident, either; his house was foreclosed on, and his family was selling off furniture to make ends meet. And his bachelor pad wasn't so awesome, either.