Times Strikes Again

Here's the New York Times headline about the busted Canadian train bomb plot:

Two Are Accused in Canada of Plotting Train Derailment

Uh, yeah, a train 'derailment' doesn't quite cover it. Trains derail in yards. A car falls over on its side. Some jump the tracks at speed carrying passengers but rarely does the death toll rival those of airplane or bus crashes.  But it might when a train falls off a bridge into raging rapids. 

What the Canadian Security folks busted was not simply a potential derailment but the possible destruction of one of the rail bridges spanning the Niagara River between Canada and New York State, likely the passenger route linking New York City and Toronto.  This bridge appears to carry automobiles as well.

That explains why the FBI was involved.  But somehow the Times didn't connect those dots, seeing it as a simple derailment up in the frozen north, something for the hosers to worry about.  But maybe if they had access to the Googles they could have called up a local Toronto paper.  Maybe then the FBI's involvement would have clicked.  Instead, this was the extent of their description:

Chief Superintendent Jennifer Strachan said the two men had studied train movements and rail lines in and around Toronto, and had been plotting to attack a train operated by Via Rail Canada, the government-owned rail system, within Canada.

The police declined to identify what train or train line the men had planned to target or to describe how the derailment was to have occurred. Via Rail, in conjunction with Amtrak, runs a train from Toronto to New York’s Penn Station.

Nothing to worry about, it was 'within Canada'--depending on which way the train flew off the bridge. 

The Times writer then goes on to question another nugget from the press conference:

Assistant Commissioner James Malizia said that the two suspects had received “direction and guidance” from “Al Qaeda elements living in Iran,” but that there was no evidence that the effort had been sponsored by the government of Iran.

Let's see, AQ has a long history of operatives in Iran, officially deemed under "house arrest" but nonetheless alive and kicking.  And if Iran knows about AQ operatives living there surely they are not clueless about their international terrorism actions.  So did they tip off the Canadians about these Toronto operatives?  Will the Iranian AQ cell be losing their heads soon or is it just another day in the Axis of Evil--Central?  The Times writer left the question dangling...must not get ahead of the press office!    Rush was so right.   

BACK TO BOSTON  4/23/13

White Hat is telling authorities "it was just us", defending Islam without any ties to international groups.  This will be a blast headline all over the MSM of course, without much speculation that the kid could be lying or simply telling them what they want to hear (that only happens when water goes down the nose).  

But riddle us this--why would the Russian FSB alert the FBI to a potential jihadi back in 2011--before Black Hat went to Dagestan for 6 months--if there was no connection to anyone?   Apparently that was triggered by his visits to a radical terror leader.  So perhaps the media might not want to jump to conclusions.