OK, smoke is pouring out of an SUV and it smells of gunpowder and propane. Someone notices. And they're a fucking hero? Oh, Lord, we *are* a strange people. - Anthony Citrano

I kinda disagree. Perhaps hero is too grand a word, but truth be told, and this is especially true in NYC, most people would have completely ignored the smoking car. - Rene, Pro Button Pusher

Nono, the President called these guys and told them how k-rad awesome they were for what they did. People (inside the media and out) are using the words "prevented" and "hero". These guys didn't prevent anything. - Anthony Citrano

This was another case where we were fortunate that the explosives were not setup correctly and failed to go off as intended. - Brian

So, what did they do? - Rene, Pro Button Pusher

NY is also where we walk past bleeding, dying mugger-stoppers and ignore them, so yeah, i 'll like the fact that som.eone said something about a smoking car. - ωαřмaiden ☆Team O'Otto☆ from Android

@Warp - why? what difference did their actions make? - Anthony Citrano

I agree with Anthony. This reminds me of the Stupid Terrorist series of articles by Daniel Pipes: http://www.danielpipes.org/blog... and http://www.danielpipes.org/3005... - interesting reads - Aviv

well, if we have to count on human stupidity to protect us, we ought to be fine. :) - Anthony Citrano

To me their actions might have prevented the bomber making it back to Pakistan. Not saying they're heros, but they did help solve a crime (or attempted crime). If it had taken the authorities another 15 minutes he would have been gone. - Kenton

@Kenton: what version of the story did you hear? He *was* gone. Again - please tell me - how did they help? - Anthony Citrano

The Atlantic also agrees with you: http://www.theatlantic.com/interna... - Aviv