80
Grams of explosives were sewn into Abdul's grundies
Items are archived in order of
discovery . . .
Passengers Prevent "Man-Caused Disaster"
As Obama kicks back in Hawaii,
brother Abdul Farouk Abdul-Mutallab (a/k/a Umar Farouk Abdul Mudallad),
a 23 year-old Nigerian national, who is reportedly an engineering
student at University College in London, UK, is the primary suspect in
the attempt to
detonate an explosive, a mix of powder and liquid, aboard
Delta-Northwest Flight 253 as it prepared to land at Detroit
Metropolitan Airport just before noon on Christmas Day.
The
Nigerian Muslim
said he was acting as an agent for al Qaeda, and tried to blow up
the Northwest Airlines plane as it was preparing to land in Detroit, but
travelers who smelled smoke and heard what sounded like firecrackers
rushed to subdue him, passengers and federal officials said. The device
was acquired in Yemen along with instructions as to when it should be
used," a federal situational awareness bulletin stated.
A senior
U.S. counter-terror official said Abdul-Mutallab attempted to blow up
the plane but the explosive device failed, burning his legs. Passengers
vigorously subdued the man and may have prevented him from detonating
the explosives, the officials said.
Law enforcement officials
stated that federal officials are "extremely interested" in how the
suspect was able to circumvent security and bring the explosive device
aboard the aircraft. Although security in Nigeria and at European
airports is less restrictive [than inside the U.S], "this is most
definitely something that should have attracted the attention of airport
security, without any doubt whatsoever." According to this source,
federal authorities are looking at other possible scenarios on how the
device made it aboard, and whether any of its components might have
already been aboard the connecting flight.
An in-flight emergency
was declared when a fire indicator light when on in the cockpit,
according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The pilot asked for
airport rescue and firefighting services, and for law enforcement to
meet the flight at gate, the TSA said.
Fox News
reports that Barack Obama, vacationing in Hawaii, is keeping up to
date on what's described as a terror attempt on board a Northwest
Airlines plane that was about to land in Detroit.
Deputy White
House Press Secretary Bill Burton released a statement following the
incident Friday, saying Obama, "...was notified of the incident this
morning between 9:00 and 9:30 Hawaii time by the President's military
aide. Obama subsequently convened a secure conference call with John
Brennan, his Homeland Security and Counter-terrorism Adviser, and Denis
McDonough, NSS Chief of Staff.
"He asked to arrange a subsequent
secure call and in that call instructed that all appropriate measures be
taken to increase security for air travel. The President is actively
monitoring the situation and receiving regular updates. There is
currently no change to his schedule."
The Department of Homeland
Security said Friday that Secretary Janet Napolitano is monitoring the
situation "closely."
A White
House official said the incident was an attempted act of terrorism --
naturally, not Janet Napolitano, who does not use the word "terrorism,"
preferring to refer to such events as "man-caused" disasters. That is
perhaps only a nuance, but it demonstrates that Napolitano wants to move
away from the politics of fear toward a policy of being prepared for all
risks that can occur -- she really said that!
And, of course,
Obama, had his usual jihad-related comment -- "I'm not commenting on
that."
Connect The Dots
The Hill blog
reports Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) said that the attempted bombing
of a Northwest Airlines flight bound for Detroit should "connect the
dots" for the Obama administration.
Hoekstra, on Fox News on
Saturday, said his biggest concern is that the intelligence community
seems to have missed "red flags" about the suspect's ties to al Qaeda
and Yemen that had been known to U.S. officials for the past two years.
"The Fort Hood shooter had
ties to Yemen. Are we starting to see a pattern here? Has
the al Qaeda franchise made it part of their strategic plans to attack
the United States however it can?"
"Are we seeing a breakdown in
our intelligence community so that when we see these red flags we aren't
recognizing them? That's something that's going to have to be
investigated in our committees," he said.
When asked what the
specific red flags were, Hoekstra said he didn't know yet. But he
said the White House has "been totally unwilling" to share information
with lawmakers about red flags that could have prevented terrorist acts.
For example, Hoekstra said officials knew about emails sent from Army
Major Nidal Hasan before he opened fire at Fort Hood.
"Congress
needs to push to get access to this information to answer these
questions," he said. "Al Qaeda doesn't take a holiday and neither
should we."
Why Was Abdulmutallab Flying?
John at Powerline blog
says
we now know that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (spellings vary; all are
phonetically derived from the Arabic) has been on a U.S. government list
of persons with known or suspected ties to terrorist organizations for
at least the past two years. This apparently has led the
oh-so-cerebral Obama administration to engage in a bit of
soul-searching:
Barack Obama's aides are pondering how the
government is using terror watch lists after the botched airliner
attack in Detroit on Christmas Day.
Obama's national security
and policy advisers are asking questions such as: How is the
intelligence community integrating itself? Did the assumptions
used to make terror watch list choices lead to the correct
decisions? Were the right criteria used to reach conclusions?
Such internal questions among Obama's team marked the informal
start to what would likely become a formal executive branch inquiry
into an attack that failed -- not because of the intelligence
community but because, it appears, the suspect's material failed to
ignite.
Pardon me if I'm being overly cynical here, but we know the Obama
administration has backed off on any number of the Bush administration's
anti-terror policies on the ground that they were too draconian.
In pursuit of Obama's policy of "engagement" with those who hate us, has
the administration loosened no-fly restrictions? Has it allowed
people like Abdulmutallab to take international flights to the U.S. on
the ground they are merely misunderstood ambassadors for a peaceful
movement? Is the administration's soon to be embarked upon review
of how the "intelligence community" is "integrating itself" the
precursor to a massive transfer of blame from Obama's radical staffers
to intelligence professionals?
Hey, at this point it's just a
hunch. Stay tuned.
Richy Rich Goes All Jihad
Despite all the evidence to the contrary, one of the ObamaMedia's
favorite memes is that poverty is driving jihad. Well here's
another Muslim "Soldier of Allah," and this one comes from privilege
with a capital "P."
With his wealth, privilege and education at
one of Britain's leading universities, Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab had
the world at his feet -- able to choose from a range of futures in which
to make his mark on the world.
Abdul's home in London
Instead, the son of one of Nigeria's most important figures opted to
make his impact in a very different way -- by detonating 80 grams of
explosives sewn into his underpants, and trying to destroy a passenger
jet as it came in to land at Detroit Airport on Christmas Day.
With his wealth, privilege and education at one of Britain's leading
universities, Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab had the world at his feet --
able to choose from a range of futures in which to make his mark on the
world.
Instead, the son of one of Nigeria's most important
figures opted to make his impact in a very different way -- by
detonating 80 grams of explosives sewn into his underpants, and trying
to destroy a passenger jet as it came in to land at Detroit Airport on
Christmas Day.
Abdulmutallab's father, Umaru, is the former
economics minister of Nigeria. He retired earlier this month as
the chairman of the First Bank of Nigeria but is still on the boards of
several of Nigeria's biggest firms, including Jaiz International, a
holding company for the Islamic Bank. The 70-year-old, who was
also educated in London, holds the Commander of the Order of the Niger
as well as the Italian Order of Merit.
Dr Mutallab said he was
planning to meet with police in Nigeria last night after realizing his
son had joined the notorious roster of al-Qa'ida terrorists, and is said
to have warned the US authorities about his son's extreme views six
months ago.
The White House Web site has not been updated since
Thursday, Christmas Eve.
Following the refusal of Barack
Obama to personally address the Christmas Day terror attack on
Northwest Airlines flight 253, the Obama administration has not
posted one word about the attack at
WhiteHouse.gov. Zip. Zilch. Nada.
It's
like Obama can't be bothered. And really, he can't.
Today, he
played. The man has his priorities. He went to the
gym, played basketball, had a picnic at the beach as part of his
$4000 per day Hawaii vacation. In the evening, the Obamas had
dinner at Alan Wong's restaurant on King Street, causing quite a
stir on the Pali Highway. Some motorists
reported they just shut off their engines while roads were
closed along the way as Obama, in his larger than normal motorcade,
made his way from Kailua to town.
The White House leaked to
reporters this evening that Obama will make some remarks on the
terror attack, oh, in a couple of days -- "You will see him out
there in the course of the next couple of days," the official said,
adding that Obama will
address the attempted attack on an airliner as it landed in
Detroit on Christmas day.
Well, that's mighty presidential of
him.
Obama was celebrated by the media for his use of the
Internet during his presidential campaign. Obama engaged his
supporters with a steady stream of e-mail updates and video messages
from his campaign -- and still do. He promised that his
supporters would be the first to know his pick for vice president,
via text message and e-mail.
But when faced with a terror
attack that came within a moment of murdering 289 innocents, Obama's
Web savviness is gone.
Three days of silence (now four) by
Obama when our nation at war is attacked on the home front.
This is a failure of leadership by a man who thinks he is too cool
to be president.
Reality Check
Chalk up another outright failure for the Obama administration.
According to Brian Ross at ABC News in a report filed yesterday, the
unsuccessful terrorist attack designed to bring down a Northwest
Airlines Airbus 330 over Detroit, Michigan was planned and launched by
Al Qaeda leaders in Yemen. Five days before the plan failed on
Christmas Morning, Barack Obama’s Justice Department approved the
transfer and actually transferred a dozen terrorist detainees from the
U.S. detainee facility at Guantanamo Bay -- according to a December 20
Bloomberg report, half of the 12 transferred terrorists went to
Afghanistan and Somaliland, while the other half . . . you guessed it .
. . went home to Yemen.
Even better, according to Politico, the
administration was hoping to send 80 more Yemeni terrorist detainees
back home to Yemen from Guantanamo Bay, the secure facility specifically
designed to house such creatures. This, of course, will complicate
things to say the least. From the Politico piece:
Since Yemenis represent almost half of the
roughly 200 remaining prisoners at Gitmo, new hurdles to their
resettlement could spell more trouble for President Barack Obama’s
plan to close the island prison while transferring a limited number
of detainees to a prison in the U.S. Six Yemeni nationals were
returned home earlier this month, and officials hoped more transfers
would follow.
The relatively weak central government has been
working, with U.S. military and diplomatic support, to counter two
separate insurgencies, and the nation, Osama Bin Laden’s ancestral
home, has become a haven for some members of Al Qaeda. That
instability has contributed to concerns within the Obama
administration and from its domestic critics about returning
prisoners there for repatriation.
The Nigerian man charged
with the Christmas Day bombing attempt aboard Northwest Flight 253,
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, reportedly spent time in Yemen after
graduating from a London university in 2008. According to ABC
News, Abdulmutallab has told authorities that, while in Yemen, Al
Qaeda operatives crafted the explosive device which was sewn into
Abdulmutallab’s underwear.
We know the recidivism rate among former inmates at
Gitmo. We know that approximately one in every seven detainees
released return to the battlefield to fight, hurt and kill Americans.
We know this, and yet this administration still plans to carry out
civilian show trials for 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and five
others in Lower Manhattan, and still aims to shutter the detainee
facility at Guantanamo Bay in favor of a retrofitted federal prison in
Illinois -- a plan
that would pose an increased security risk according to a senior
Department of Defense official.
The Telegraph (UK) is
reporting that a second Nigerian man has been arrested on a
Northwest Airlines jet heading towards Detroit, just 48 hours after Umar
Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to blow up the same flight -- a day earlier.
Sunday's flight -- Northwest Airlines 253 -- was exactly the same
route that Abdulmutallab targeted on Christmas Day -- and you know
al-Qaeda likes to do things in bunches.
The pilot alerted the
authorities and the plane made an emergency landing and was met by
police on its arrival in Detroit. Police took the passenger,
described as "verbally disruptive," into custody for questioning.
The man, who is in his 30s, reportedly locked himself in a toilet
for more than an hour as the plane flew over the US. Before
locking himself in to the toilet the man had already been up and down to
the same cubicle several times. Cabin crew became increasingly
suspicious, broke the door down and dragged him out. He is then
said to have become irate and verbally aggressive. He was subdued
and the pilot contacted the airport to say there was an emergency on
board. Emergency vehicles gathered on the runway to meet the
plane.
The passengers and crew were evacuated from the plane and
the man was formally arrested. Officials said no explosive device
had been found on the suspect, who had boarded the flight with no
luggage.
A senior US official told Fox News that the man
arrested on Sunday was simply a "sick passenger." Another official
told CNN the incident appeared to be "non-serious" and that the
disruptive passenger, "does not appear to be a threat." The FBI
gave the all-clear within hours of the latest alert.
-- the usual stuff.
Like Abdulmutallab, the passenger had flown from Nigeria to
Amsterdam and then picked up Flight 253 to Detroit. Abdulmutallab,
who had studied engineering in London until last year, disappeared into
a toilet for a long period of time before trying to set off his device.
The flight, which had 257 passengers and 12 crew on board,
landed safely in Detroit at 12.35pm local time. The plane was
removed to a secure area of the airport for additional searches by bomb
experts.
"More Like Me"
The Sun (UK) reports failed plane bomber Umar Abdulmutallab has
bragged to FBI agents that there are more young men plotting to
launch attacks on the West. The 23-year-old Nigerian has told
security chiefs of a sinister network in Yemen who are ready and waiting
to strike.
The reports come after The Sun revealed that cops
fear that 25 British-born Muslims are plotting to bomb Western
airliners. The fanatics, in five groups, are now training at
secret terror camps in Yemen.
They are due to return to the UK
early in 2010 and will then await internet instructions from al-Qaeda on
when to strike. A Scotland Yard source said: "The great fear is
Abdulmutallab is the first of many ready to attack planes and kill tens
of thousands. We know there are four or five radicalized British
Muslim cells in the Yemen." -- and
there's a couple or three American cells.
Yemen has become
a principal al Qaeda training ground and the accused suicide bomber told
the FBI he was trained for more than a month in Yemen, given 80 grams of
a high explosive cleverly sewn into his underpants, undetected by
standard security screening.
"They know that this is a weakness
and an Achilles' heel in our airport security system,"
said ABC News consultant and former counterterrorism czar Richard
Clarke.
Law enforcement authorities say tragedy was averted only
because the bomb's detonator did not work.
Was It Really A "Failed" Attack?
Debbie Schussel
suggests people should stop calling Islamic Terrorist Umar Farouk
Abdulmutallab’s attack on Northwest Flight 253 a "failed attack," or an
"unsuccessful attack."
Abdulmutallab may not have taken any
lives, but Al-Qaeda (which has come forward to claim credit) and
Abdulmutallab seem to have been pretty successful to me. I think
this picture shows just how successful.
Al-Qaeda’s "Failed," "Unsuccessful" Attack Was
Pretty Damned Successful
Instead of profiling people --
especially Muslim and Arab people -- Americans all over the country
missed their flights, missed out on cruises, and had to wait in line for
hours, arriving at the airport hours ahead of flights and throwing out
lip gloss, toothpaste, and orange juice.
So was it really a
"failed" attack? Not really. It was actually pretty damn
successful.
Al-Qaeda Press Release
The "Al Falojah"
terrorist
forum just posted a press release from "Al Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula," (Yemen and Saudi Arabia), taking responsibility for the
terrorist attempt on the Northwest flight to Detroit.
Beginning
of the
translation by FReeper J Veritas:
The Operation by Brother
Moujahed Omar Al Farouq Al Nigiree As A Retaliation Against the American
Aggression Against Yemen
By the grace of Allah the brother and
Moujahed hero Omar Al Farouq performed a quality act on the board of an
American plane, taking off from the city of the Dutch city of Amsterdam
to American city of Detroit, during the celebrations of "Christmas"
holidays on Friday, December 25, 2009. He overcame all their
advanced technological devices and security barriers installed in world
airports and he did it with courage, bravery, and no fear of death,
relying on Allah, destroying the great myth of U.S. and international
intelligence, showing its fragility, forcing its nose in the dirt,
making what they spent in the development of security techniques grief
to them.
The unity of faith and Islamic brotherhood prompted
this young rich man from Nigerian roots, brother Moujahedd Omar Al
Farouq to retaliate directly against the oppressive American aggression
against the Arabian Peninsula, and by the grace of Allah through direct
coordination with the moujahideen in the Arabian Peninsula after the
brutal bombing using cluster bombs and cruise missiles launched from
U.S. ships territories which occupy the Gulf of Aden against the proud
Yemeni tribes in Abeen, Arhabm and finally in Shibuwa, and killing
dozens of Muslim women and children and where entire families were
killed, and these operations were a Yemeni-US-Saudi coordination as well
as coordination with a number of neighboring countries.
The
brothers Moujahideen in the manufacturing department were able to
manufacture by the grace of Allah an explosive device with advanced
technology that has been tested and proven effective and has been able
to overcome detectors. Borther Umar was able to reach his target
by the grace of Allah, but by Allah will technical error prevented a
full explosion but we will continue the way Allah willing until we get
what we want, and religion is all for Allah.
We call on every
Muslim who are zealots for their religion and dogma to remove the
infidels from the Arabian Peninsula, by killing all the crusader working
in the embassies and other places, and declare it a total war against
each crusader on the island of Muhammad in the land, sea and air.
We call on every soldier working in the crusader armies and puppet
governments to repent to Allah and follow the example of the hero
Moujahid brother Nidal Hassan, and
kill with all available tools every crusader to bring victory to
religion of Allah and to keep his word in the land.
Therefore, we
say to the American people that because you support your leaders and are
standing behind them to kill our women and children then be ready for
the worst we came to slaughter you and we prepared for you men love
death as you love life, and Allah willing we will bring what you have
not seen before, just as you kill you will be killed but tomorrow is
very near.
Oh Allah strengthen brother Moujahed Omar Al Farouq
to be on the side of the truth, and give him serenity and patience and
persistence many folds of the suffering that fell upon him , Oh Allah
take his worry and agony, and give him an relief soon. Oh Allah
free him and the other Muslim prisoners from East to West, Oh Allah give
victory to your moujahideen in every place and defeat the people of
polytheism, and a prayer to thank Allah the lord of the universe.
Al Qaeda in The Arabian Peninsula
Saturday 9 Mouhrarem 1431
Hijra (Saturday December 26 2009)
End of the Translation
Gitmo Grads Behind Crotch Bomber
Two of the four leaders allegedly behind the al Qaeda plot to blow
up a Northwest Airlines passenger jet over Detroit were released by the
U.S. from the Guantanamo prison in November, 2007, ABC News is
reporting, quoting American officials and citing Department of Defense
documents.
American officials agreed to send the two terrorists
to Saudi Arabia where they entered into an "art therapy rehabilitation
program" and were set free, according to U.S. and Saudi officials, ABC
News reported.
Guantanamo prisoner
#333, Muhamad Attik al-Harbi, and prisoner
#372, Said Ali Shari (on right), were sent to Saudi Arabia on Nov.
9, 2007, according to the Defense Department log of detainees who were
released from American custody. Al-Harbi has since changed his
name to Muhamad al-Awfi.
According
to Politico, Obama is
planning
to send 80 more Yemeni terrorist detainees back home to Yemen from
Guantanamo Bay -- good plan Barry, just what Yemen needs, 80 more
terrorists -- now go take some sun, where you can do limited
damage -- besides, you're beginning to look a little pale -- and we
can't have that.
"Isolated Extremist"
Obama's knee-jerk reaction to al Qaeda's attempted Christmas Day
bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 was to
minimize the threat -- again. Homeland Security Secretary
Janet Napolitano declared that the attempted bombing was not connected
to a larger terrorist plot. Business as usual, nothing to see
here, move along, happy holidays.
Not quite.
Obama's
reference to the "alleged" Crotch Bomber as an "isolated extremist," and
Napolitano saying there was "no indication" that the attack was "part of
anything larger," seems to be Obama's default setting when faced with
terrorism. He said as much about the Nov. 5 Fort Hood massacre,
even though the FBI had previously monitored communications between
shooter Nidal Hasan and
Anwar al-Awlaki,
the radical imam and al Qaeda commander born in New Mexico and believed
to be in Yemen.
The Crotch Bomber also reportedly is one of al-Awlaki's
followers and said he was one of many bombers trained by al-Qaeda in the
Arabian Peninsula who will seek to attack the United States. Other
evidence pointing to a larger plot includes a report that the
Crotch Bomber had an accomplice in Amsterdam, the sophistication of the
bomb design, and al Qaeda's admission that it was behind the
attempt. Note also that the Crotch Bomber was placed on a
terrorist watch list after his father reported to U.S. authorities in
Nigeria that his son had fallen in with a group of dangerous radicals.
Somebody should tell Obama that the Crotch Bomber has
bragged to FBI agents that there are more young men plotting to
launch attacks on the West. The 23-year-old Nigerian has told
security chiefs of a sinister network of isolated extremists in
Yemen who are ready and waiting to strike.
The impulse to deny
that attacks such as the Crotch-Bomber's jihad and Fort Hood massacre
are part of larger plots displays a shocking ignorance of the nature of
21st-century globally networked terrorism. Terrorists work through
highly dispersed, decentralized cell structures that are designed to be
difficult to track. Investigators probably won't find an
operations order signed by Osama bin Laden directing an attack on Flight
253, but it is easy to connect the dots. Minimizing the threat
won't make it go away. As recent history has shown, it may
embolden the terrorists to keep trying.
So Obama pleaded, "let's not jump
to any conclusions" -- lied, "the system worked" -- and deflected, "lax
airport procedures are based on those approved by the previous
administration" -- it's Bush's fault -- what a weasel.
And
yes, Janet, there is terror, there are terrorists, they are waging war
on all things not Islam, and they mean to murder as many Americans as
they can.
Yup! It's Al-Qaeda
It only took a week for the Obamamessiah to come to the conclusion
most thinking Americans reached almost immediately.
Yesterday,
between the movies and the shaved ice, Barack Obama
said it appeared the man
suspected of trying to bomb a Detroit-bound plane on Christmas was a
member of al Qaeda and had been trained and equipped by the Islamic
militant network, and ordered into air travel screening procedures and a
"terrorist watch list system."
He called for an immediate study
of what he termed "human and systemic failures," and repeated his
warning that anyone involved in the Christmas Day attack would be held
accountable -- excepting only himself from repercussions.
Appearing on the defensive, Obama used much of his address to outline
his administration's actions to keep the country safe, including
withdrawing troops from Iraq, boosting troop levels in Afghanistan and
strengthening ties with Yemen, where the suspect spent time before the
attack.
"I've directed my counterterrorism and homeland security
advisor at the White House, John Brennan, to lead these reviews going
forward and to present the final results and recommendations to me in
the days to come," Obama said.
Report To Shock Americans
Mark Hemingway
says that national security adviser James Jones tells USA Today that
a report to be released Thursday on the Christmas Day terrorist attack
will "shock" the American people:
White House national security
adviser James Jones says Americans will feel "a certain shock" when they
read an account being released Thursday of the missed clues that could
have prevented the alleged Christmas Day bomber from ever boarding the
plane.
Obama "is legitimately and correctly alarmed that things
that were available, bits of information that were available, patterns
of behavior that were available, were not acted on," Jones said in an
interview Wednesday with USA TODAY.
"That's two strikes," Obama's
top White House aide on defense and foreign policy issues said,
referring to the foiled bombing of the Detroit-bound airliner and the
shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, in November. In that case,
too, officials failed to act when red flags were raised about an Army
psychiatrist, Maj. Nidal Hasan.
He has been charged with killing 13 people and wounding 32.
Jones
said Obama "certainly doesn't want that third strike, and neither does
anybody else."
It's hard to tell whether if the White House is
trying to be forthright or manage expectations somehow with this
announcement. Considering we already know that the TSA, CIA, DNI,
State Department, and White House all appear to have had significant
roles in what Obama pronounced a "catastrophic" national security
failure, it's hard to tell how much more shocking information about the
incident there is to reveal. But if there is even more damning
information to come out, it will not reflect well on the White House and
our already tarnished national security apparatus -- to put it mildly
Wooooa Nellie! Someone needs to remind national security
adviser James Jones that the
Crotch-Bomber was at least the third strike -- maybe the forty-third
-- it's been going on for
years.
Jones is conveniently
forgetting
the 23-year old Army recruiter who was murdered by a Muslim fanatic
outside an army recruiting station in Arkansas in June. A fellow
soldier was wounded in the ambush. The soldiers had just completed
their basic training and were talking to potential recruits. The
jihadist, Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad was targeting U.S. soldiers,
"because of what they had done to Muslims in the past," and was angry
about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
And,
Obama will use this "crisis"
as cover for the Democrat's midnight passage of the hated ObamaCare.
100 Hours
Obama finally addresses the Christmas Day terror incident (01:17)
The ad shows Obama playing golf at key points during the 100 hours,
and that he waited 97 hours to make any public statement about the
Crotch-Bomber incident.
In fact, within three hours of making that statement, he was
back on the links as if nothing ever happened.
What Happened At The Airport
Associated Content News is
reporting that the Crotch Bomber was babysat by the Customs and
Border Protection Police (CBP).
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was
babysat by CBP police and whisked away immediately to the hospital at
the University of Michigan Medical Center's burn unit after his terror
attempt. These were the first, official (mis)judgments of the
government's response (if you can call it that) to the Crotch Bomber's
terror attack, in what has now been revealed to be a continuous series
of failures.
In an exclusive interview with the AP -- using,
however, anonymous law enforcement sources -- US officials detailed the
specifics of the Crotch Bomber's arrest at Detroit Metro Airport.
Abdulmutallab was "badly burned and bleeding" and given to the CBP
after he was stripped bare and restrained by the crew and passengers of
the flight. However, what should really and instantly startle any
reader who's serious about homeland security is that the first action
these cops undertook after receiving Abdulmutallab was to -- I kid you
not, though at this point I may well wish I was -- bring him to a
hospital courtesy of an ambulance crew. The cops -- clearly not
equipped to handle a proper response to a terror attempt since they're
not the military -- were more concerned with his well-being than
with...oh, I don't know...maybe handing him over to the military for
interrogation to make sure every bit of intelligence is extracted from
him!!
Once at the hospital, not only is Mr. Wannabe-terrorist
given an actual guard consisting of CBP officers, but he's also
spilling, apparently, all kinds of information concerning his terror
attempt, yet no qualified interrogator/intel-gatherer is there because
it's the cops, and they've decided to take him to the hospital instead!
Wonderful...just wonderful! Another very important note of fact
here is that even if qualified officials were there, because this whole
"response" was maltreated as a domestic law enforcement matter, there
would actually be legal problems for the prosecutor who would
theoretically want to bring charges against Abdulmutallab. Because
what Abdulmutallab spilled was information obtained while getting
medical treatment, it could actually invalidate the admissibility of the
information...at least according to some judges.
Finally, at
about 2:15 PM, the Johnny-come-latelys at the FBI's Detroit bureau come
to the hospital; waiting another hour or so (you know, it's never polite
to interrupt terrorists with questioning when they're getting their
medical treatment, darn it!!) until 3:30 PM, they then begin to ask
Abdulmutallab some questions.
This "interview" lasted for about
50 minutes, and it's noteworthy to highlight that during this period,
the FBI agents failed to give him his already undue Miranda rights.
Good move, you opine? Terrorists don't deserve said Miranda rights
after all, right? In this case, however, failing to read
Abdulmutallab his Miranda rights would actually be counterproductive
because as a criminal suspect in a law enforcement case, he's
technically entitled to them. The overall point is that the 50
minutes of questioning can be basically rendered totally useless as
there's a real jeopardy now that some judge would rule his statements
inadmissible due to failure to have his Miranda warning. All this
complicated drama could've been avoided, however, if the Obama
Administration had just continued the Bush policy of treating terrorists
like enemy combatants and recognizing that this is war, doggone it!
Confirming this system of thought, FBI bosses in Washington decided
to withdraw this first team of FBI agents and send in a -- I kid you not
-- so-called "clean team" to essentially try to erase the errancy of the
first team's failure to provide Abdulmutallab with Miranda rights.
Before that, though, Abdulmutallab was again, unduly, treated with kid
gloves by the first team who actually ended their interview with him
early so he could rest and have the effects of medication wear off!
Again, what's with all this coddling of a terrorist who just tried to
mass-murder hundreds of people?!
Despite the machinations of the
FBI, all was for naught as when the second FBI team finally told
Abdulmutallab about the Miranda rights, he naturally took them and
stopped chatting and spilling information.
The moral of the story
is that Abdulmutallab should never have been incorrectly treated as
though he was a mere criminal suspect. He should've been handed
over to the military immediately and interrogated, not treated like a
little baby-waby who needed his little burns in his groin area tended
to! Under Obama, terrorists are treated with kid gloves like this
sorry shame of an episode proves, all because Obama refused to follow
the successful, Bush standard of treating terrorists like enemy
combatants. Remember when, under Bush, terrorists actually were
scared, terror plots were actually foiled, and terrorists knew they
would be treated as enemy combatants? I sure miss those days of a
Republican president who was morally clear in the War on Terror.
Terrorism? War?
In Obama's delayed speech yesterday, I heard The Emasculated One use
the "T" word. I heard Obama utter the word "terrorism." I
heard Obama say, "we are at war?" Wow!
Terrorists have been
attacking us for years, but, NOW, that terrorism has become a direct
threat to Obama -- PERSONALLY -- it's terrorism -- it's war.
Its also bovine excrement.
If we are at war, then puzzle me
this? Why is the Crotch-Bomber
heading to court
today with all the rights of an American citizen, and represented by
a taxpayer-paid attorney?
The word is that the
Crotch-Bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, will be offered a plea deal.
The prosecutor said her goal was to show the world that Abdulmutallab
will get a fair trial -- she really said that.
We are so screwed.
AlMaghrib Institute
In August of 2008, Abdulmutallab, an
Islamist student made his way from London to Houston to attend a
two-week program put on by the
AlMaghrib Institute. This was his third course with the
Institute, including two in London. On Christmas Day 2009, the
very same student, Omar Farouk Abdulmutallab, tried to blow up a
transatlantic flight with a suicide bomb he had sewn into his
underpants.
AlMaghrib's Houston-based director of the 2008
program and national Dean of Academic Affairs,
Yasir Qadhi,
expressed immediate concern for the aspiring terrorist's feelings of
alienation and hatred of the West.
The AlMaghrib program offered
"mainstream
Islamic stuff," Qadhi told CNN in an interview that
did not challenge the claim.
"At some level," he added,
"we did not convince him of the validity of our views, and that is cause
for regret."
An examination of the views expressed by Qadhi and
others at AlMaghrib, however, shows that they are far from moderate and
the institute exhorts followers to carry out jihad and not integrate
with the West. Such views are exposed to a wide audience, as the CNN
report noted that 30,000 students have attended AlMaghrib courses
throughout the English-speaking world.
On one hand, Qadhi told
CNN that he and AlMaghrib are "trying to carve out a Western Muslim
identity among conservative Muslims -- for Muslims to integrate into
Western society but maintain their Islamic identity." Yet such
statements don't match the rhetoric heard on audio and video collected
by the Investigative Project on Terrorism.
The
videos show Qadhi's hatred of non-Muslims, contempt for Western
society, and glorification of jihad.
Obama's Isolated Extremist -- Updated
An "isolated extremist" -- that's how Barack Obama described the
Crotch Bomber -- an "isolated extremist."
Janet Napolitano said
there was "no indication" that the attack was "part of anything larger."
This seems to be Obama's default setting when faced with
terrorism. He said as much about the Nov. 5 Fort Hood massacre.
The Crotch Bomber turns out
to be one of
al-Awlaki's followers and was just one of many bombers trained by
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula who, he says, will seek to attack the
United States. Other evidence pointing to a larger plot includes a
report that the Crotch Bomber had an accomplice in Amsterdam, the
sophistication of the bomb design, and al Qaeda's admission that it was
behind the attempt.
And, now, the AP is
reporting that Osama bin Laden has surfaced again in a new audio
tape, and claims responsibility for the failed bombing attempt of
Northwest Airlines Flight 253.
Al Jazeera aired the tape on
Sunday, in which a voice reported to be Osama bin Laden states: "The
message delivered to you through the plane of the heroic warrior Umar
Farouk Abdulmutallab was a confirmation of the previous messages sent by
the heroes of September 11," he said.
But, now that Osama bin
Laden, himself, is claiming credit for Abdulmutallab's attack, Obama --
not to be confused with Osama -- will have to admit what the rest of us
have know all along -- the Crotch Bomber incident was not an "isolated"
anything -- it was just one more, of what will become an endless string
of these jihad events.
Related: Associated Content News is
reporting that the Crotch Bomber was babysat by the Customs and Border
Protection Police (CBP) before being
whisked away to the hospital for treatment after his bombing attempt.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was babysat by CBP police and whisked
away immediately to the hospital at the University of Michigan Medical
Center's burn unit after his terror attempt. These were the first,
official (mis)judgments of the government's response to the terror
attack, in what has now been revealed to have been a continuous series
of blunders and failures.
You really need to read this AP exclusive interview here
. . .
Update: 1/25/10 --
Flopping Aces reports that
when the Crotch Bomber was taken into custody after his plot to blow up
Northwest Airlines flight 253 over Detroit, he talked to local FBI
agents, not terrorism experts, for only 50 minutes.
On Sunday,
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs defended the decision to read
so-called Crotch Bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, his Miranda rights
after 50 minutes of interrogation, saying that "FBI interrogators
believe they got valuable intelligence and were able to get all that
they could out of him."
"That decision was made by the Justice
Department -- that's Obama's guy, Eric Holder -- and the FBI by
experienced FBI interrogators, Gibbs said on "Fox News Sunday."
"But make no mistake Abdulmutallab was interrogated and valuable
information was gotten by those experienced interrogators."
After
he was read his rights, Abdulmutallab stopped cooperating with
investigators.
Holder Says He Made Crotch Bomber Decision
9/11 Families for a Safe & Strong America
comment on
Attorney General Eric Holder saying he made the decision to charge the
Crotch Bomber terror suspect in
the civilian system with no objection from all the other relevant
departments of the government. In a letter to Senate Republican
Leader Mitch McConnell, the attorney general says that the FBI told its
partners in the intelligence community on Christmas Day and again the
next day that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab would be charged criminally.
Mr. Holder apparently misunderstands his oath of office:
"I (name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that
I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States
against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true
faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely
without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I
will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which
I am about to enter. So help me God."
Nowhere within those words or our Constitution are
the enemies of the United States afforded the rights of American
citizens. It is reckless to unilaterally provide a fair fight to
those waging war against our troops abroad and civilians here at home.
Holder should resign and Obama should replace him with someone
with no interest in defending the enemy’s "rights."
In an
interview with 60 Minutes last spring, Obama discussed the handling of
captured terrorists and challenged those who claimed the "American
system of justice was not up to the task of dealing with these
terrorists." Obama said: "I fundamentally disagree with that.
Now -- do these folks deserve Miranda rights? Do they deserve to
be treated like a shoplifter -- down the block? Of course not."
I don't believe Holder made
that decision. Holder, the Attorney General, and Gates, the
Secretary of Defense are peers -- equals. Both report to Barack
Obama. Gates can't order Holder to do anything. Holder can't
order Gates to do anything.
The Honorable Barack H. Obama President
of the United States White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President,
During my tenure
on the Senate Intelligence Committee, I have worked with the Executive
Branch to stem the disclosure of sensitive information. In 2006,
for example, I introduced legislation that would aid the Executive
Branch in prosecuting individuals engaged in leaks of classified
information. In the realm of national security, sometimes it is
necessary to withhold critical information from the public that may be
used by our enemies to harm the American people.
Accordingly, I
am deeply disturbed with the official handling of vital national
security information regarding the recent cooperation by the Christmas
Day bomber Umar Farouq Abdulmutallab.
On Monday afternoon, the leadership of the Senate Intelligence Committee
received notification from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
concerning Abdulmutallab’s recent willingness to provide critical
information. FBI officials stressed the importance of not
disclosing the fact of his cooperation in order to protect on-going and
follow-on operations to neutralize additional threats to the American
public; FBI Director Bob Mueller personally stressed to me that keeping
the fact of his cooperation quiet was vital to preventing future attacks
against the United States. Handling this information in such a
sensitive manner struck me as entirely appropriate.
Twenty-four
hours later, however, White House staff assembled members of the media
to announce Abdulmutallab’s cooperation and to laud the events that led
to his decision to cooperate with law enforcement personnel. This
information immediately hit the air waves globally and, no doubt,
reached the ears of our enemies abroad.
At the Senate
Intelligence Committee’s Annual World Wide Threats Hearing Tuesday, the
Director of National Intelligence, the FBI Director, the Director of the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the Director of the Defense
Intelligence Agency all stated they believe terrorists will attempt
another attack on America within the next few months. I cannot
understand, Mr. President, why the sudden cooperation by Abdulmutallab
would be broadcast publicly to the media in detail when your
intelligence chiefs are unanimously warning that another attack on our
country is imminent. The release of this sensitive information has
no doubt been helpful to his terrorist cohorts around the world.
It is deeply disturbing to me that the Intelligence Committee would
be advised of sensitive information, and told of the vital imperative to
keep such information secret for the sake of national security, only to
see this information -- less than twenty-four hours later -- broadcast
to the world from the White House. This distortion of the
congressional notification process suggests that other considerations
are taking precedence over keeping timely and sensitive information away
from our enemies.
Some have tried to use Abdulmutallab’s sudden
cooperation as a justification for prosecuting this foreign terrorist in
an Article III court, but I believe this development supports an
opposing view. Because we treated him in this fashion, we followed
Miranda and advised him of his right to remain silent, losing five
crucial weeks for obtaining imminent threat information. Miranda
is issued when statements from the accused are needed to obtain a
conviction, but in this case we did not need his own statements as the
chemical evidence he was wearing and over 200 witnesses would ably
suffice; hence, the decision to mirandize made no sense on a practical
or strategic level. Additionally, Abdulmutallab’s family was key
in gaining his cooperation, and in most cases the suicide bomber does
not have a moderate Islamic family willing to work with the United
States; in fact, the opposite is most often the case (as with the
suicide bomber that killed seven CIA officers in Khost, whose wife
applauded her husband’s actions).
I urge you, Mr. President, to
consider the consequences of publicly disseminating sensitive
information vital to the defense of the American people. I do not
believe the American people want this information jeopardized to further
political arguments. The American people rightfully expect the
government’s first priority to be their security. It is also
critical that our courageous law enforcement and intelligence
professionals know that they can trust that sensitive information vital
to their efforts to protect the American people will not be disclosed.
Sincerely,
Christopher S. Bond United States Senator
Obama's Spook Lies
Last Sunday, Obama's spook, John Brennan, who got his job because he
scrubbed Obama's passport files, was interviewed by Fox News' Chris
Wallace about the circumstances surrounding the events of Christmas and
the Crotch Bomber (transcript).
Yesterday, Pete Hoekstra said Brennan lied about the facts in his
interview with Wallace.
Rep. Hoekstra (R-MI) disputes Brennan's claims about Christmas
briefing (05:01)
At 3:29 in the video, during
a previous interview (03:29) with Perky, Katie Couric asks Obama if he
has ruled out conducting the KSM trial in the Big Apple. Obama
responds, "I have not ruled it out."
He didn't say the
attorney general has not ruled it out. I contend that
confirms my opinion from the previous item.
New Video Of Training, Martyrdom
Statements
ABC News
reports that new videos produced by al Qaeda in Yemen show the
accused underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and others in his
training class firing weapons at a desert camp whose targets included
the Jewish star, the British Union Jack and the letters "UN."
The videos, to be broadcast Monday on ABC World News with Diane Sawyer,
appear to support Abdulmutallab's statements to the FBI that there are
"others like me" who also trained with him in Yemen to carry out attacks
against U.S. and western targets.
The tape also includes an
apparent martyrdom statement in Arabic from the 23-year old Nigerian
justifying his actions against "the Jews and the Christians and their
agents." He says, "the enemy is in your lands with their armies,
the Jews and the Christians and their agents." He reads several
passages from the Koran and adds, "God said if you do not fight back, He
will punish you and replace you."
Abdulmutallab was arrested on
Christmas Day in Detroit after he allegedly attempted to set off a bomb
on a Northwest Airlines jet. He has pleaded not guilty to criminal
charges but U.S. authorities say he is now cooperating in the
investigation.
