What Did the Times Square Bomber Really Hope to Accomplish?

Readers of this blog and my book Dealing With Danger -- Be Prepared, Aware and Decisive will know that I preach the concept of always being aware of what is going on around us and making a point to question what we see in relation to how it might affect us personally. In this way, we can act in time to avoid a lot a bad things that may be coming our way.

The NYPD officer who first noticed something wrong with the parked Nissan Pathfinder and correctly and decisively invoked the plan to evacuate Times Square is a hero. He did everything right that was within his control.

But it seems to me that many officials including the Mayor are deluding themselves that somehow, they dodged the bullet because they are so smart and the terrorists are so stupid.

Underestimating your enemy is a very dangerous thing to do.

General Custer did it at the Little Big Horn, and the Indians wiped out his command.

Do we really know what the true goal of alleged terrorist bomber Faisal Jahzad was when he built his car bomb and placed it in New York's Times Square? Here is a man who appears to have connections to radical terrorist groups, and who is educated and intelligent. But according to statements made in New York, he built a bomb that was "amateurish".

We cannot rule out the possibility that the main purpose of planting the device was not to create an explosion, but to learn how security forces would respond to such a threat. It is not inconceivable that, as in other parts of the world such as the middle east, the larger plan would be to attract police into the area by planting a small device and then trigger a much larger bomb.

The most important lesson we can learn from this incident is that if we really want to know what our enemies have in store for us, we must look at what they are already doing successfully in other parts of the world. Terrorists swap ideas and training amongst different groups. Whatever works in Iraq or Afghanistan, Beirut or Israel will eventually be tried in the USA and the UK.