Well, I'm very surprised no one has brought this up:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8658888.stm

So, of Pakistani origin, and recently returned from a trip there. Is al-Qaede back on the table?

This is the first I have heard as far as an arrest being made. The news stated a man was caught on video and was being sought, but I had heard nothing else.

Some interesting connections being made (or made up?), and will be an interesting case to follow.

The only real surprise in this so far is that it took this long for another attempt at wreaking havoc.

The oil blob headed to shore is far more news worthy at the moment.

I really think if it was al-Qaede, the bomb would of worked. They are not hacks/rookies, they want to blow something up, they usually are successful on an epic scale.

I really think if it was al-Qaede, the bomb would of worked. They are not hacks/rookies, they want to blow something up, they usually are successful on an epic scale.

I was thinking similarly. I feel like we've heard of a lot of failed attempts to blow stuff up since 2001, but no successes. I doubt it is for lack of trying, too - I just bet our intelligence agencies have been pretty on top of these things.

I've been following it, but there doesn't seem to be anything to talk about yet...facts are a bit sketchy. The Pakistani group claiming ties is tenuous. On another forum someone pointed out that the area is covered in cameras, so hopefully there's more intelligence out there that hasn't been released to the media yet.

'I've been following it, but there doesn't seem to be anything to talk about yet...facts are a bit sketchy'

- Has that ever stopped us before? :D

He was able to board an Emirates flight and his passport was not flagged. Fail.

Cameras, fail. No fly list, fail. Mass data mining, fail.

People calling cops, win.

He was able to board an Emirates flight and his passport was not flagged. Fail.
It's still under investigation, but it sounds like Emirates was in compliance - they didn't have to pull him off the list for 24 hours.

People calling cops, win.

Not only that, but: http://thinkprogress.org/2010/05/05/senagalese-muslim-vendor/

Awesome job Mr. Niasse! give that man some citizenship!

Lets some credit where its due. not so easy to discover the plot the way it was constructed and never will be. but once discovered it was pretty impressive on how quickly they puzzled it out and got thier guy. the first layer of the no fly list failed sure. but it was a re-check by the TSA not the airline that got him.

Really I want to thank God, Allah, Shiva, Buddah and the FSM that this fucktard was an incompetent human. but really we all know that it was the touch of his noodely appendage that de-fused the bomb.

What kills me is that the media is pointing out every last detail of how they caught him and every mistake he made. Now future bombers will be sure to avoid making those same mistakes. :(