THE ISSUE: The arrest of Faisal Shahzad for Saturday’s attempted car-bombing in Times Square.
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Faisal Shahzad comes from a middle-class background and enjoyed all the benefits America has to offer (“Why He Did It,” May 5).
Still, he chose to attempt murder for jihad.
We can put to bed the notion that poverty and the evils of capitalism, as the left likes to suggest, are the causes of Islamist terrorism.
If the Obama administration doesn’t take note of the terrorists’ change of tactics — recruiting Americans — many will die before we get a handle on this new method.
Robert Sanfilippo
Roslyn Heights
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This extreme political correctness has to stop.
The terrorism threat to the United States must be clearly defined and dealt with. Pretending that it is not there will only do us harm.
Remember, those who forget or deny the past are doomed to repeat it.
Jim Lynam
River Edge, NJ
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How did this terrorist get through airport security?
Didn’t the FBI put his name on a watch list right away? It should have been flagged when he showed up at Emirates for his boarding pass.
Why can’t these agencies coordinate?
As a travel agent, I am supposed to supply the exact name and date of birth of each passenger to the airline when making a reservation.
This is supposedly to avoid people like this one from ever boarding. Obviously, it does not, and there is something greatly lacking here.
Barbara Ness
Manhattan
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New York City, the greatest city in the world, has again proven to be a target for these maniacs known as terrorists.
Our federal government should look to keep it safe and prospering. More federal funding for New York City is needed to support the safety of its subways, landmarks and airlines.
We, as New Yorkers, must not let these threats recede into the back of our minds. We must, as proven by the heroes on Saturday night, remain vigilant and alert.
Harvey Wielstein
Scarsdale
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The multimillions we spend on homeland security seem to be useless.
Once again, a civilian stepped in to save the day from a potentially catastrophic terrorist attack.
Callum Francis
Manhattan
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Now that we have been reminded how much Islamist terrorists hate Americans, are liberals finally going to stop living in a fantasy world made of rainbows and hemp lollypops?
Unfortunately, within a few weeks, the reality of the war that we are in will fade. The Democrats will call Republicans racist, and Republicans will call President Obama a socialist.
All the while, terrorists are plotting yet another attack.
Matthew Nugent
Staten Island
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Shahzad may have loused up the job, but it isn’t as if he was stopped. We got lucky that he wasn’t proficient enough in bomb-making.
As we know, the Taliban and other terrorist organizations have plenty of good bomb people. Next time, they’ll learn from this mistake and send a competent guy to do the job.
This type of thing won’t stop until we leave that area of the world and stop making war on those people.
Tom Dilberger
Belmar, NJ
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Shahzad recently became an American citizen, which means he came here voluntarily, and he will get the same rights as each of us overworked fools.
He’ll have his trial in Manhattan, and we can show the world that we are a nation of laws — yet our government refuses to enforce immigration law to protect its citizens.
Sen. Chuck Schumer can go to Washington and be shown on the news begging for federal funding for this trial, and Mayor Bloomberg can go back to worrying about the salt content in our food.
Mario Costanza
Woodstock