Heroes and Villains

The villain of the NY attempted-SUV-bomb (and have you noticed, every single time it's written or said, they always mention the SUV?) was a naturalized citizen who was living the 'Dream' then defaulted on his mortgage and got all pissed, went to Pakistan - they held him at the door and said, "uh sure... right, so you want to be a terrorist? Uh, go home and blow something up to prove it! Then you can join the club, kay, bye."

So he did. He went to the Home Depot, like any American would - bought some non-explosive manure, some fireworks, and a propane tank. Somehow he found parking in Times Square. He forgot to turn on the propane tank, but something in there was on fire. And he failed. Lucky for us! Can you imagine the carnage of the theater going tourists who would have stampeded like a heard of buffalo to be the first to put the car bomb on their Facebook page? Do you!?

So why did traitor to his country Faisal Shahzad fail? Aliou Niasse. A Senagalese Muslim immigrant who works as a photograph vendor on Times Square

Aliou Niasse, who sells framed photographs of New York, said that he was the first to spot the car containing the bomb, which pulled up right in front of his cart on the corner of 45th street and Broadway next to the Marriott hotel.

“I didn’t see the car pull up or notice the driver because I was busy with customers. But when I looked up I saw that smoke appeared to be coming from the car. This would have been around 6.30pm.”

“I thought I should call 911, but my English is not very good and I had no credit left on my phone, so I walked over to Lance, who has the T-shirt stall next to mine, and told him. He said we shouldn’t call 911. Immediately he alerted a police officer near by,” said Mr Niasse, who is originally from Senegal and who has been a vendor in Times Square for about eight years.

Don't forget, for every Villain, there are fifty Heroes who DO love the U.S.A. And right now, we got very lucky that Shahzad was about as effective as a Scooby Doo bad guy. Next time, we will not be so lucky. Hopefully, with encouragement, great people like Aliou will continue to defend his new country and help his countrymen defeat our enemies - foreign and domestic.

Aliou Niasse, I think YOU should be given the Congressional Medal of Honor, and are my HERO of the Week! Salaam alaykum!