Bomb in Times Square

A terrorist attack on American soil, the most feared scenario by Washington and the American people, was about to come true last Saturday. Authorities detected a car bomb in the heart of Times Square, one of the most visited tourist sites in the world and a symbol of the city of New York.

Fortunately, the device capable of generating a ball of fire and many victims did not explode, and in Michael Bloomberg’s (the mayor of the Big Apple) words, “a very deadly event” was avoided. Although without the power to topple a building, the “dirty bomb” would have exploded in the middle of one of the most striking attractions in New York City, the center of Broadway’s theater district, home of distinctive neon signs, transfer point for about 300,000 daily users of the majority of subway trains and visiting place of about 36 million tourists yearly.

Although an Islamic group called the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the event as revenge for the death of several al-Qaeda leaders, Washington does not give much credence to this claim. Had it exploded, the car bomb in Times Square would have been the third terrorist attempt sustained by the iconic New York City following the World Trade Center attack in 1993 and the planes on September 11, 2001. This failed attempt confirms that the U.S. territory remains in the crosshairs of terrorism.

More than 10 threats on American soil have been dismantled in just over a year. From the young Nigerian who wished to detonate a bomb on a flight to Detroit to a conspiracy to attack a military base in the state of New York, to a series of planned attacks on synagogues and a potential suicide attempt in New York City’s metro. According to experts, the chances that one of these plans might succeed during the Barack Obama administration are not low.

However, behind the fear unleashed last weekend in New York City, one can find the key to civil resistance against terror: A peddler alerted police about the smoke from the car bomb; the city’s security protocols were activated to clear the area and the government mobilized its intelligence agencies to track those responsible. And most importantly, only 12 hours following the evacuation, thousands of tourists and New Yorkers returned to Times Square, restoring life to the mythical neon fair where, as the song says “Seventh Avenue meets Broadway.”