ARRESTS IN TIMES SQUARE CASE – AT 7:26 P.M. ET:  Even as Attorney General Holder made a fool of himself before a congressional committee today (see post directly below), the real guys were out doing their jobs.  From AP:

WATERTOWN, Massachusetts — Federal agents conducted Thursday morning raids in Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey in connection with the failed Times Square car bomb and arrested two Pakistani men who provided money to suspect Faisal Shahzad, law enforcement officials said.

The searches were the product of evidence gathered in the investigation into the Times Square bomb attempt two weeks ago, but there was "no known immediate threat to the public or any active plot against the United States," FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz said.

The two Boston-area men had a "direct connection" to Pakistani-American suspect Faisal Shahzad, said a top Massachusetts law enforcement official. They are believed to have provided money to him, but investigators weren't sure whether they were witting accomplices or simply moving funds, as is common among people from the Middle East and Central Asia who live in the US, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

"These people might be completely innocent and not know what they were providing money for, but it's clear there's a connection," the official said.

COMMENT:  A well-informed observer noted in an off-the-record speech a few days ago that the terror groups used to transfer money electronically, before The New York Times irresponsibly revealed that we had developed a method of detecting those payments.  Now the terrorists use human couriers, who are far harder to detect.  Nice work, Mr. Sulzberger.

May 13, 2010