Thursday’s arrest in the World Trade Center bombing just goes to show the value of doing your homework.
Authorities had been saying it might take months to connect someone to the Feb. 26 blast beneath the New York twin skyscrapers that killed at least five and injured 1,000. But amid the rubble, investigators found the I.D. number of a van that had been rented in New Jersey and, they concluded, carried the explosives. The person who rented the van, a Muslim fundamentalist named Mohammed A. Salameh, had reported it stolen. When Salameh returned to the dealership to collect a $400 deposit, federal agents nabbed him. The rental papers reportedly were covered with an ingredient found in explosives.
The agents’ assignment won’t be completed until they have answered all the whos, hows and whys.
