Explosion in Manhattan

CNN.com - At least 50 injured in Manhattan blast - April 25, 2002

The explosion happened in a building housing the offices of Kaltech Industries, a manufacturer of fabricated interior and exterior signs, authorities said, and no foul play was suspected. Authorities said plumbers were working on a boiler in the basement and that "may have had something to do with it."

OK, I don't understand this. Why is no foul play suspected? If they don't even know whether the boiler had anything to do with it, why would they not at least suspect terrorism? I understand boilers can explode, but really... all the reports I saw on this emphasized, from before the authorities said anything about plumbers in the basement, that they didn't think it was terrorism. And there are some contradictory things... one eyewitness stated

"I just ducked because all the glass and flames and fire was coming toward me," said Steve Jaisingh, who works in the basement of the Kaltech building. "If I didn't duck, I would have died."

But people on the scene now say there is no smoke and no flames (which, I suppose, would be consistent with a boiler explosion). It certainly could be a boiler explosion (actually, though, that still doesn't rule out foul play, even if it makes terrorism less likely), and I don't know enough about such things to say for sure (but shouldn't there be water everywhere? If not, then I really don't understand the concept).

Which brings me to my point: the authorities are awfully quick to dismiss terrorism as a cause for anything these days (or at most, they claim it is domestic, vis a vis anthrax attacks). Are they afraid of riots in the streets? I should think not, there weren't riots on 9/11/2001, why would there be riots now for a much lesser event? No, if that's the reason then they are truly being very silly. I do have a theory, and it has something to do with this. The Administration does not want the "American Street" to rise up and demand a true accounting from the Saudis. Today in particular would be a bad day for terrorism, as the Shrub is meeting with his Master, the Crown Prince Abdullah. I'm positive I will have a lot to say about that particular issue if things develop the way I expect them to. However, now I've really strayed from the topic at hand, so I'll save that for later.