[Reader-list] Shahzad is of Kashmiri descent ?

[Pawan Durani]

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1987126,00.html?xid=rss-topstories

The Times Square car bomb failed to detonate, but it could yet cause
political reverberations around two questions: Should the government
have known about the plot and its alleged perpetrator? And does using
the rules of the criminal-justice system against a man accused of
plotting a terror attack against America leave the country more
vulnerable? So far, the answers to both questions seem to be breaking
in favor of the Obama Administration, but it's early days yet. And
questions have been raised over how Faisal Shahzad managed to board
the Dubai-bound flight on which he was arrested shortly before takeoff
Tuesday at JFK International Airport despite being under surveillance
by the FBI.
The criminal complaint against Shahzad alleges that he received
bombmaking training in a militant camp in western Pakistan. Still, the
suspect appears not to have previously registered on the radar of the
U.S. security bureaucracy through any known association with terrorist
or radical groups.
(See pictures of the car bomb's discovery in Times Square.)
Pakistani government officials told TIME on Tuesday that Shahzad is of
Kashmiri descent and the son of a former top Pakistani air-force
officer. On his most recent Pakistani passport application, he had
given his nationality as Kashmiri — a fact that some analysts suspect
might tie him to militant groups based in Pakistan originally formed
to fight Indian control of the divided territory. An official in
Islamabad said Pakistani authorities are investigating whether he had
ties to any Kashmiri jihadist groups. During his latest spell in
Pakistan, Shahzad was also said to have spent significant time in
Peshawar, the capital of the North-West Frontier Province, where
Islamabad has waged a fierce war against Taliban militants.
A Pakistani government source, speaking on condition of anonymity,
told TIME on Tuesday that the suspect had had ties with militants
while in Pakistan. "He was here at a training camp," the source said.
The legal complaint against Shahzad, which charged him with terrorism
and attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, said he admitted
to receiving bombmaking training in Waziristan, the lawless tribal
hotbed of militancy. Pakistani officials claim that there have been a
number of arrests in Karachi of people suspected by authorities of
having a connection with the suspect. "There will be more arrests
before the night is out," a senior government source told TIME.
(See the TIME 100 list of the world's most influential people.)
But so far, the only indication that Shahzad had raised any suspicion
among U.S. officials is the fact that he underwent secondary screening
at the airport upon his return to the U.S. earlier this year.
According to Congresswoman Jane Harman, chairman of the Homeland
Security Subcommittee on Intelligence, Shahzad was pulled aside and
gave "critical contact information that was entered into the system
and used in his arrest yesterday."
At a press conference in Washington Tuesday, Homeland Security
Secretary Janet Napolitano said Shahzad had been screened "because
some of the targeting rules applied," but declined to elaborate. At
the same press conference, FBI deputy director John Pistole said,
"There are a number of steps that are taken to identify potential
terrorists, whether that's the country from which they originate, in
terms of terrorist training camps, or the individuals they associate
with." The fact that he appears to have briefly evaded surveillance to
buy a ticket and board a flight out of the country also raised concern
among legislators, although Attorney General Eric Holder insists there
was never any danger of Shahzad slipping through the net.
Despite the allegation that he trained in Waziristan, Shahzad can't
have been any jihadist professor's star student: the bomb contraption
he is alleged to have built was so dysfunctional that it could have
illustrated a how-not-to-build-a-bomb manual. Perhaps the good news is
that jihadist training may have deteriorated as networks based in
Afghanistan and Pakistan have come under sustained attack from the
U.S. and its allies.
More distressingly, the case could highlight a downside of the
U.S.-led war against terrorism since 9/11: while wars in Afghanistan
and Iraq — and drone strikes in Pakistan — have killed hundreds of
militants, those who survive tend to operate more independently, and
there are plenty more willing to join them.
"We haven't bent their determination one bit, but these are smaller,
lower-quality efforts," says Brian Jenkins, a terrorism expert at the
Rand Corp. "We have managed to break up their capability to conduct
large-scale, centrally directed operations," he adds. "Clearly there's
a quality-control problem. So they're exhorting violence by locals, to
do whatever they can, wherever they are." Instead of 9/11-style
attacks carried out under direct orders from Osama bin Laden and
lieutenants, recent efforts have been attempted by more amateurish
lone wolves.
And Americans should not take too much comfort from the ineptitude of
the Times Square bombmaker. "If Major [Nidal] Hasan had jumped up on
the desk at Fort Hood and shouted 'Allahu akbar' and his guns jammed,
he would have looked like a buffoon," says Ralph Peters, a retired
Army officer who writes often about terrorism. "But his guns didn't
jam. This guy didn't get it right — he didn't know how to do bombs —
but the next guy might know how to do bombs."
Coming after months of fierce debate between congressional Republicans
and the Administration over the appropriate legal strategy for dealing
with terror suspects, Shahzad's treatment after his arrest was always
going to be controversial. At Tuesday's press conference, Pistole said
that "Joint Terrorism Task Force agents and officers from NYPD
interviewed Mr. Shahzad last night and early this morning under the
public-safety exception to the Miranda rule. He was, as the Attorney
General noted, cooperative, and provided valuable intelligence and
evidence. He was eventually transported to another location,
Mirandized and continued talking."
Before hearing that Shahzad had been read his rights, Republican
Senator John McCain of Arizona said, "I don't believe [people like
Shahzad] should be given Miranda rights ... [in case] he gets lawyered
up and doesn't give any information. We need information to know how
this thing happened." Peter King, the senior Republican on the House
Homeland Security Committee, said the Attorney General should discuss
reading Shahzad his rights with the intelligence community before
doing so.
As details of the arrest began to emerge, legislators from both
parties were effusive in their praise for the efforts of the U.S.
law-enforcement community, though the GOP leadership has been more
circumspect on the issue of Shahzad's handling. Senate minority leader
Mitch McConnell said Tuesday, "Hopefully the appropriate officials are
using this opportunity to exploit as much intelligence as he may have
about his overseas connections and any other plots against Americans
either here or abroad."
But the controversy over Mirandizing terror suspects is unlikely to go
away: Connecticut independent Senator Joe Lieberman announced Tuesday
that he plans to propose a bill stripping the citizenship of those
Americans deemed by the U.S. intelligence community to have joined
foreign terror networks. Presumably the Shahzad case, as it unfolds,
will feature in that debate on Capitol Hill.
— With reporting by Katy Steinmetz / Washington; Omar Waraich / Islamabad


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