McVeigh Wannabee

6 May 2005



New York Bomb Probably Not Al Qaeda

Around 3.35 am yesterday, there was an explosion in Manhattan. Since September 11, 2001, every loud noise has been suspected by hard-bitten, seen-it-all "New Yawkahz" as another possible terrorist attack. Up until yesterday morning, they had been manhole explosions caused by odd gasses that build up in the sewers, substation troubles with power company Con Ed, or something equally nerve-rattling. Yesterday, though, a crude improvised explosive device exploded outside 845 Third Avenue, home of the British Consulate. Very little information is in the public domain at the moment, but one thing is 99.9% certain -- some local bozo and not an Al Qaeda sleeper cell is (ir)responsible.

The device, according to the police, was a "toy" grenade, which someone had opened, filled with gunpowder and set off using a fuse not too different from a firecracker's. There is some debate about whether there were two explosions or whether the buildings in the area might have played acoustical tricks on ear-witnesses. The extent of the damage was a foot-long slab of concrete flying through some plate glass windows. No one was hurt.

Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who bought the office with his personal fortune and isn't in a position to know more than anyone else at this point, told the city there were no suspects, and that no one should jump to conclusions. Confident that the 17 closed circuit security cameras (there are a lot of banks and shops in the East 50s) in the area caught a glimpse of the bomber, the police have custody of the tapes and are reviewing them. What they won't find on the tape is some Muslim immigrant with a yearning to get to paradise. Some jackass from the Bronx with a Celtic surname and an American passport is much more likely -- all the more likely because the explosion took place on the 24th annivesary of IRA hunger-striker Bobby Sands' death.

Al Qaeda is not interested in setting off little blasts that don't accomplish anything. Following the September 11 attacks with an overstuffed firecracker would be humiliating. While they are terrorists, they are professional terrorists. A blast that kills and destroys significant property followed (or even preceded) by a phone call claiming responsibility is their style. An anonymous blast just before the bars close (New York is open late) is not in keeping with their idiom. A less likely source is hard to find. And if the target truly was the UK on election day, New York is a silly place to hit.

However, there are, in the US, professional Irishmen, who by some strange quirk of fate has never left the USA, or indeed, the northeast of America. They have spent many years outside the UK's consulate protesting the British occupation of the northern six counties on the Emerald Isle, drinking green beer on March 17 (which no self-respecting son of Ireland would do), and carrying on as if Black '47 had been a first-person experience. The Ireland they adore vanished a good century or so ago and hasn't a patch on the vibrant and glorious place the Republic of Ireland has become in the last generation. It's "Danny Boy" versus U2, and these guys picked the wrong tune.

The likely bomber is an American IRA wannabee -- real IRA types would never launch an attack in the US because it dries up all that lovely money. Taking a swipe at Blair's New Labour, if that is the intention, would better have been done in London, Liverpool or Londonderry. Instead, this was an idiot playing at a serious game, a clown who didn't really know what he was doing. But a good long stretch in Sing Sing might learn him a thing or two.


© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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