Failed Terror Attack in heart of New York

Man made disaster avoided. The real victims are the religion-members of the failed assailants. Quick, Miranda rights and Gitmo closure before it's too late... (sarc)

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/05/01/2010-05-01_times_square_evacuated_after_smoking_vehicle_sparks_emergency_probe.html#ixzz0mn4Y5FXpTime Square car bomb: Cops evacuate heart of NYC after 'potential terrorist attack'

Three heroic cops and a quick-thinking street vendor stopped a madman from detonating a car bomb in the heart of Times Square Saturday night, law enforcement officials told the Daily News.

"It looked like someone tried to detonate it and we got to it in time," a police source said. "This is a big deal. It has the makings of a real car bomb."

The federal government views the incident a "potential terrorist attack," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Sunday.

"We're taking this very seriously," Napolitano told CNN's "State of the Union" program. "We're treating it as if it could be a potential terrorist attack."

Cops evacuated and shut down the Times Square are Saturday night, but all streets were reopened by 7:30 a.m. Sunday.

The T-shirt vendor - a Vietnam vet - told Officer Wayne Rhatigan there was smoke coming from a Nissan SUV on the southwest corner of 45th St. and Broadway about 6:30 p.m., sources said.

Rhatigan approached the car, saw the smoke and sprang into action.

"I did a lap around the vehicle. The inside was smoking," Rhatigan told the Daily News. "I smelled gunpowder and knew it might blow. I thought it might blow any second."

He alerted two rookie female cops patrolling the area. Together, they pushed hundreds of people away from the scene as they called for backup, he said.

The Fire Department and bomb squad rushed to the scene.

What they found was stunning: a running SUV packed with three propane tanks, two red 5-gallon plastic jugs of gasoline, a clock, electrical components and a canister of gunpowder, police sources said.

Must be tools of worship for some. We're lucky this country isn't at war with those who perpetrate these actions. We should alert Code Pink for further consultation on how to deal with these people.

Thank god no one was hurt. A clear case of more luck then brains.