Police say the man suspected of planting a failed car bomb in Times Square on Saturday has implicated himself in the attack and indicated that he acted alone.

Faisal Shahzad, 30, was pulled off of a plane headed for Dubai on Monday. A gun was found in the car that he drove to the airport. Law enforcement officials say they are still investigating whether the attack was linked to an international terrorist organization.

According to the New York Times:

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., in an early morning statement, confirmed Mr. Shahzad's arrest for driving a 1993 Nissan Pathfinder found loaded with gasoline, propane, fireworks and fertilizer into the heart of Times Square on Saturday night. Mr. Shahzad is believed to have bought the vehicle from a Connecticut woman within the last three weeks for $1,300, a person briefed on the investigation said, and it was that transaction that eventually led to his dramatic arrest on the airport tarmac.

The law enforcement official who said Mr. Shahzad had implicated himself also revealed more details of the transaction. He said authorities had found Mr. Shahzad through the email address he had given the seller. He said the two had met in a parking lot in Connecticut, that Mr. Shahzad had given the Pathfinder a test drive, and the he'd negotiated the price down to $1,300 from the $1,800 initially sought by the seller.

While Mr. Shahzad said he had acted alone, law enforcement officials have said the investigation is, in the words of one, "very much ongoing," and the F.B.I. agents and police detectives from the Joint Terrorist Task Force who arrested him have not developed evidence to either prove or disprove his claims. Charges against Mr. Shahzad were not announced, but he was expected to be charged Tuesday in federal court. "Over the course of the day today, we have gathered significant additional evidence that led to tonight's arrest," Mr. Holder said. "The investigation is ongoing, as are our attempts to gather useful intelligence, and we continue to pursue a number of leads." He continued, "But it's clear that the intent behind this terrorist act was to kill Americans."



Shazad is a naturalized U.S. citizen from Pakistan who had just returned after spending five months there. Neighbors in Connecticut said he and his wife spoke limited English and that his family of two children kept to themselves. He went to work dressed professionally in the morning and told neighbors he worked on Wall Street.

The failed bombing demonstrates the insidious nature of terror. Shazad was quietly living in Connecticut. He appeared fine by most accounts thus far. The only reason we aren't mourning deaths in Times Square is because we got lucky. Shazad used the wrong type of fertilizer and an alert vendor noticed the smoking vehicle.

The question now is are intelligence organizations looking for the right signs? Shazad should have never made it on to the plane. Also, the amount of time he spent in Pakistan might have made him a possible suspect for monitoring. Shazad obviously was trained on how to assemble a car bomb.

The bombing is also a sober reminder that the effort to complete a successful terrorist attack on American soil continues. On more than one occasion, we have averted disaster. Luck has been a big factor in these failed attempts. The failed plan to bomb a plane on Christmas Day and the arrest of a man who tried to bomb New York City's subways are just two examples. Authorities must be vigilant and so should the American public.