Praised be Aliou Niasse, the Senegalese Muslim immigrant working as a street vendor in Manhattan, who first alerted the police to the car bomb in Times Square. This man should receive a special award from Mayor Bloomberg for saving the lives of countless human beings. The car bomb, comprised of three propane tanks, consumer-grade fireworks, two filled 5-gallon petrol containers, two clocks and electrical wire, could have created a huge fireball and killed dozens of people.
It's not surprising that the American media’s narrative about the failed bombing is ignoring the fact that the man who was responsible for police finding the bomb was Muslim. The UK’s Times Online reports:
Aliou Niasse, a street vendor selling 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.
This highlights the importance of integrating the immigrant communities into our society, and understanding that they can contribute significantly in the fight against terrorism. As the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights notes:
South Asian, and Muslim communities may yield useful information to those fighting terrorism. Arabs and Arab Americans also offer the government an important source of Arabic speakers and translators. The singling out of Arabs, South Asians, Muslims, and Sikhs for investigation regardless of whether any credible evidence links them to terrorism will simply alienate these individuals and compromise the anti-terrorism effort. In particular, to the extent that federal authorities use the anti-terrorism effort as a pretext for detaining or deporting immigration law violators, individuals who might have information that is useful against terrorism may be afraid to come forward.
