AP today suggests that one possibility the FBI is exploring is this: the Times Square car bomb may have been an attempt to terrorize workers at Viacom:
The SUV was parked near offices of Viacom Inc., which owns Comedy Central. The network recently aired an episode of the animated show “South Park” that the group Revolution Muslim had complained insulted the Prophet Muhammad by depicting him in a bear costume.
Prometheus Unbound 
Well, the Taliban is claiming credit for it, but I have my doubts. Frankly, I have my doubts that it was an attack of any sort.
The “explosives” were cans of gasoline and some propane tanks in the trunk of the vehicle and there didn’t seem to be any detonator judging by the time it took for the police to finally decide to do a controlled detonation.
I think it’s more likely that, either someone wanted to pull a stunt and succeeded in doing so, or that some arsonist got cold feet on route to a job and just left the vehicle behind.
Jonolan:
If your theory is correct, it will have to account for the curious behavior of the guy changing clothes and leaving the scene. He seems to have parked, intended to detonate the car, but bungled it.
—Santi
Maybe, but the video doesn’t show the man leaving the SUV. It only shows a guy changing his shirt on a street corner.
I actually find the disparity between the local news reports from the scene and the national coverage somewhat amusing since the two have very little in common with each other.
Ah the joys of living in NYC. 😉
On follow-up / correction though. Earlier reports, which I was going by, made no mention of a detonator. Later reports from NYPD, which I just read, did say that there was a detonator but it failed to properly work.
Assuming that the MSM has the story correct, that shoots my hypothesis down right there.
Jonolan:
Well, the characteristic of a noble and vulnerable soul is a willingness to change hypotheses when the facts cease to fit well (which you did). I feared you might ad hoc the thing to death (like William Lane Craig does with Christianity).
—Santi
Nope. I’ll change a hypothesis or theory or even accepted and firmly held belief if the facts completely contradict it – at least on matters that can be addressed solely by facts; ideological positions are a completely different matter. 😉
But they caught the guy, Faisal Shahzad, who admitted to the attempted bombing. So it seems it was a Muslim terrorist after all.