Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security Secretary on terrorist incident from Friday:
When asked if Mr. Abdulmutallab was part of a bigger plot or whether he was a "lone wolf"?
Ms. Napolitano replied, "Well, right now, we have no indication that it’s part of anything larger, but obviously the investigation continues."
Two days later, we have another incident. The same flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, involving yet another Nigerian. The passenger became "verbally disruptive" and locked himself in the bathroom.
From the NY Times article: Ms. Napolitano was pressed on CNN as well as other Sunday news programs why Mr. Abdulmutallab, whose name was in the American intelligence community’s central repository of information on known or suspected international terrorists, had been allowed to board the trans-Atlantic flight in Amsterdam. Mr. Abdulmutallab, the son of a prominent Nigerian banker, was put in the database last month because
his father had recently warned officials at the United States Embassy in Nigeria that he was concerned about his son’s increasingly extremist religious views.Napolitano: "You have to understand that you need information that is specific and credible if you are going to actually bar someone from air travel. He was on a general list, which over half a million people — everybody had access to it. But there was not the kind of credible information, in the sense derogatory information, that would move him up the list."
The terrorists father is "concerned about his son's increasingly extremist religious views" -
is that NOT specific and credible enough?Friday's attack was eight years to the day of the failed efforts of the notorious Richard Reid, or how most remember him, the "Shoe bomber" - the man to blame for ALL of the world's travelers having to remove their footwear to travel.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, from Friday's attack, had trained with al-Qaida, plotted with other known terrorists in the terrorist hotbed of Yeman and yet, with the father's concerns, allowed to fly.
In October, al-Qaida's network in Yemen released the 11th edition of its official magazine. In it, top commander Abu Basir al-Wahishi advised supporters to use all available weapons at their disposal to kill Westerners who were "apostates," or unbelievers. Two suggested venues: "In airports in the western crusade countries that participated in the war against Muslims; or on their planes."
The terrorists have an "official magazine" and reveal details of plots - no one pays attention?!?!?
The magazine is Sada al-Malahim -- read some here:
http://www.jihadica.com/new-issue-of-sada-al-malahim/Check out the pictures on the original document in Arabic:
http://www.jihadica.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/01-19-09-faloja-sada-al-salahim-7.pdfSo years later our government seems to always find ways to trip over their own feet. Perhaps this is a couple of "lone wolves", perhaps not. It just seems that a series of red flags should have been raised prior to the incident, but we aren't paying attention or choosing not to notice.
I firmly believe that political correctness was the root cause of the Ft. Hood shooting and God Bless the passengers and crew that were saved from a horrible fate with these two potential disasters.
Let's just hope that our leaders, especially at Homeland Security, get the hints.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/28/us/politics/w28talk.htmlhttp://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/alleged-bomber-umar-farouk-abdulmutallab-trained-with-al-qaida/story-e6frg6so-1225813985946http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/26/AR2009122601311.html?hpid=topnews
