Pakistan taliban behind Times Square bomb.

[Sickbag]

It would seem that the Times Square car bomb was an attempt, influenced or sponsored by the Pakistan Taliban (Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan)

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN062 ... arketsNews

To retaliate for the drone attacks that the US has been stepping up since Obama came to office, resulting in nearly 700 civilians being killed since 2006
( http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=21440 )

This would mark the first attempt by the TTP at an overseas attack.

Seems yet another nail to the lie that our leaders tell us we bomb these people to stop terror attacks happening at home, when simple common sense and events prove time and again the exact opposite.
So why are we there ?

[Sickbag]

I see Hilary Clinton has threatened "very severe consequences" to Pakistan over the TTP involvement in the Times square bomb attempt.
Maybe the US is going to bomb Pakistan?

Oh wait...

[PurduePilot]

So why are we there ?

To deliver sovereignty and democracy to an oppressed people and to purge their country of dangerous WMDs and oil?

[David Hilditch]

Seems yet another nail to the lie that our leaders tell us we bomb these people to stop terror attacks happening at home, when simple common sense and events prove time and again the exact opposite.
So why are we there ?

Some people think that the very incompetence of the Times Square bomber shows that the drone attacks may be - at least partly - successful, ie. we have been gradually removing the more skilled operatives from the field who can provide superior training, or potential recruits like Shahzad have to move around in the badlands more frequently since there are no reliable or stable training areas, and so on. Certainly, while we have been lucky, the quality of the terrorists we have been confronting in the US this past year has been poor. There's no simple answer, of course, on way or the other, as to whether drone attacks are good or bad, or successful or not. We won't know for years, if ever.

Another point : the killing by drones of so many operatives in the field (rather than capturing and interrogating them) may be leading to a loss of field intelligence when, given the growing connections between Pakistan and western citizens of Pakistani origin, we need all the information we can get.

[Marc 1]

So why are we there ?

To deliver sovereignty and democracy to an oppressed people and to purge their country of dangerous WMDs and oil?

I thought it could have been to increase spending in the military industrial sector and allow combat testing of new weapons platforms?

[Sickbag]

Some people think that the very incompetence of the Times Square bomber shows that the drone attacks may be - at least partly - successful, ie. we have been gradually removing the more skilled operatives from the field who can provide superior training, or potential recruits like Shahzad have to move around in the badlands more frequently since there are no reliable or stable training areas, and so on. Certainly, while we have been lucky, the quality of the terrorists we have been confronting in the US this past year has been poor. There's no simple answer, of course, on way or the other, as to whether drone attacks are good or bad, or successful or not. We won't know for years, if ever.

I'm sure some people will say that, most likely the ones who say we are winning in Afghanistan and Iraq .These people tend to be the leaders and heads of military of the countries that are deeply engaged in these disastrous strategies. If they really believe it though, I pity them and worry for all of us.