What Was The Target of Times Square Bomb?

Were they targeting military recruiters?

The Nissan Pathfinder that contained a crude bomb was parked only yards from an Armed Forces recruiting station in Times Square that has been the target of an earlier anarchist attack and protests, lending credence to theories that the device was assembled by relative amateurs, not al-Qaeda-affiliated operatives.

But a laboratory examination of the bomb’s wiring will tell authorities much more about its origin, former counterterrorism officials say.

Police said the device, which included three propane canisters and two five-gallon cans of gasoline, was not sophisticated.

“Consumer-grade fireworks, resembling a model known as M-80s, were taped around the outside of the gasoline cans,” The New York Times reported, quoting “several people briefed on the contents of the car.”

“Two clocks with batteries, including one that resembled a child’s toy, were connected to the device by small wires,” the paper’s Web site said.

But investigators were also "trying to identify the contents of a heavy steel case found locked in the vehicle," The Post reported.

“The fireworks seem very screwy,” Charles Faddis, who headed the CIA Counterterrorism Center’s weapons of mass destruction unit when he retired in 2008, said by e-mail.

“The only rational reason to use a firework of some kind would be as a fuse. If you have a simple mechanical fuse, why do you have clocks? Either you are confused-inexperienced-crazy, or you are just messing with people for some reason,” Faddis added.

“Sounds like homegrown stuff to me …” said another senior former CIA official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because he still consults with the government on sensitive cases, “but if it is [al-Qaeda] related, they have lost significant capability if this is what they are reduced to.”

By: Brant