Richard Reid Returns from Doom.
Major news spin alert for the Obama administration on Christmas Day. Watching for the Homeland Security Team to do full pressers on Saturday 26, and for HomeSec Napolitano to get in front of the camera and repeat how the investiagtion is ongoing. The facts are scrambled and generally useless at this point. A man. Perhaps Nigerian, perhaps anything. Inbound to USA on Delta/Northwest Flight 253, an Airbus 330 with reported 278 passengers. Why the first reports of firecrackers? Anecdotes from other passengers to say that the suspect was tackled. Just like Richard Reid, the Shoe Bomber of 2001. The Obama team now faced with walking backward the man's route, what airports and when, who passed him through, how he was connected to an inbound USA flight? Already there is word of increased airport security immediately, suggesting additional copy-cat attacks. You will recall that Richard Reid was sentenced to life in prison in March 2003, and that he swore eternal allegiance to Bin Laden at the time. Where does Mr. Delta Detroit go now? Not GITMO South. Not GITMO North. Federal detention in Detroit forever? We need lots of information. I will be speaking much of this incident on Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 with my professionals. Everything about the suspect, said to be 23-year-old Nigerian Abdul Mutallad (or Abdulmutallab), is critical to determine, confirm and walk backwards. Especially the explosives, especially what the suspect says in the first interrogations. So far from frightening the suspect, it is useful to make him comfortable forever. What he knows is real time useful intelligence. Bill Roggio, Long War Journal, told me Wednesday 23 that the Predators and Reapers have been active in North Waziritstan since last summer because of a general sense that Al Q was on a major op prep. A Christmas Day strike on Delta inbound would have been major.
Unlucky POTUS.
Detroit terror suspect steps all over the healthcare story and wrecks the Obama Hawaii retreat. Because there are so few stories, the attack on the Pope and the Detroit terror (and now Charlie Sheen busted in Aspen) will grow and grow. The terror story trumps all others because all the vacationers must now fly home through brutal security. TSA ("Thousands Standing Around" is what Jeff Bliss reminds it is called) will now conduct a major exercise in reality airport security. With POTUS out of the White House, can White House Oahu handle the requests? Can Janet Napolitano handle the press demands in DC? Consider the scale of what we don't know, and that the Sunday morning shows may now toss aside healthcare and go with wall to wall Shoe Bomber II. POTUS is unlucky. Does this help or hurt the polling on national security. The guy was nabbed by what looks like luck, a repeat of the Millennium Bomber grab in 1999. The FBI is now saying the suspect suffered severe burns on his leg, not life-threatening. Get him a lawyer, start the interrogation with flattery and watch him chat. Lots of heroes, lots to learn:
'Flight passenger Syed Jafry, a U.S. citizen who had flown from the United Arab Emirates, said he was seated three rows behind when he saw a glow and smelled smoke. He said, "A young man behind me jumped on him (the suspect)."'
(1)
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AL QAEDA ATTRIBUTED AVIATION TERRORISM ATTEMPT
INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR----PAPER NO. 594
B.RAMAN
It is too early to assess definitively the failed attempt by a person of Nigerian origin to create an explosion on board a North-west Airlines flight (Airbus 330 with 278 passengers) from Amsterdam to Detroit as it was about to land in Detroit on Christmas Day on December 25,2009.
2.The attack seems to have failed due to the mal-functioning of what was intended by the suspect to be an explosive mixture and the prompt intervention of fellow-passengers, who managed to overpower the suspect after he had unsuccessfully tried to cause a detonation. While official sources in the US have characterised the incident as an attempted terrorist attack, the US Attorney-General has not yet done so.
3. A tentative assessment on the basis of available details would indicate that this could be an attempt by Al Qaeda to cause an explosion on board an aircraft by concealing a powder in the groin of a passenger posing as a diabetic patient and injecting a chemical trigger carried without being detected by the security inside an insulin capsule.
4. Two serious breaches of security have come to notice: Failure to detect a person with a previous suspicious background as a terrorist despite the fact that his name figured in databases of terrorist suspects and failure to detect the concealment of a suspicious-looking powder in the groin of the suspect. The attempted use of medicines such as insulin for concealing chemical triggers, if corroborated, shows the continuing evolution of the modus operandi tried/used by the terrorists to escape detection.
5.The available details of the incident from open sources are given below:
(a). Identity of the suspect: A senior law enforcement source speaking to CBS News has identified the suspect as Nigerian national Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23. ABC News named the suspect as Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, who was said to be an engineering student at the University College of London.
(b). His background: US media reported that the passenger told investigators he was affiliated with Al Qaeda. CNN and other broadcast channels said the man told investigators he had acquired the explosive device in Yemen, along with instructions as to when it should be used. Peter King, a Republican Party member of the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, told Fox News that the suspect "definitely has terror connections". "My understanding is ... that he does have Al-Qaeda connections, certainly extremist terrorist connections, and his name popped up pretty quickly" in a search of intelligence databases. The CBS News reported that the suspect was on a U.S. government watch list of people with suspected terrorist ties. It said that a senior administration official declined to elaborate on how a man on a U.S. terrorist watch list was able to board the airline
( c ): Where did he get into the flight. At Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport. According to “The Sun”,the man, who flew from Nigeria to Amsterdam and then Detroit, was taken into custody at the Detroit airport.
(d). What kind of explosive or incendiary device he carried and how did he conceal it?: According to the Associated Press, one of the U.S. intelligence officials said the explosive device was a mix of powder and liquid. It failed when the passenger tried to detonate it. It added that a law enforcement source said the explosives may have been strapped to the man's body but investigators weren't immediately certain, partly because of the struggle with other passengers. According to the Agence France Presse, the explosive, which was apparently carried onto the flight from its originating airport in Amsterdam, was originally believed to be a small firecracker, but a US official said the device was "more complicated than gunpowder firecracker" and caught fire as the man tried to set it off. According to a report on the ABC television network, the suspect told the authorities he had had explosive powder taped to his leg and used a syringe of chemicals to mix with the powder that was to cause explosion. Another US intelligence official quoted by AP said an explosive device had been used consisting of a "mix of powder and liquid". The CBS reported that the explosive material was apparently taped to the man's leg and lit the lower part of his body. He was immediately subdued and restrained and was later transported to a hospital unit. He reportedly told US investigators that he picked up the explosive material in Yemen and was instructed to set it off on board an airplane. Those claims could not immediately be verified. One law enforcement source said the man claimed to have been instructed by Al Qaeda to detonate the plane over U.S. soil. A high-ranking law enforcement official told CBS News that the suspect apparently used a syringe to inject a chemical into a powder located near his groin, a technique not seen in previous attempted attacks. It's possible, the source said, that this incident was a test of whether the materials could pass screening and how effective they might be at causing damage. (26-12-09)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
This story makes me mad. And it looks like it’s making other people mad as well. In any case, it’s set to run its all too predictable course in the national press for a couple of days and then be forgotten. In the meantime we can expect to hear that Islam is a peaceful religion; that Muslims have contributed more to mankind than perhaps all other religions combined; that we here in the West are singularly to blame for their anger; that until and unless there is social justice in the world, we can expect to be targeted. We will be told that our president is doing all he can to bow to and appease all those who hate us; that he will boldly re-double his efforts to reward Middle Eastern hotbeds with our largesse and expertise, and revive previously failed efforts to forge critical contacts (perhaps banking John Kerry’s wide expertise in global affairs) to nudge ourselves into Tehran’s benevolent orbit.
Meanwhile, the American news media will be careful to never show the man’s face, for he might look like a Muslim. Instead, they will only show the plane; as is their bent, only to show selective inanimate objects that fit the classification of what we are allowed to hate: SUVs, guns, Caucasian males, unborn fetuses and grandmothers.
In the meantime, all the rest of us must endure increased scrutiny at airports, especially Caucasian males, children and grandmothers while politically-correct sensibility is allowed to shrug off obvious clues such as ethnicity, political affiliation, age, and circumstance. (Sorry, we’re only allowed to check the no-fly list if we know you’re not on it.)
Now that we’ve caught one, let’s make sure he’s comfortable. Let’s give him the best of what’s left of our medical care. Perhaps he’ll tell us more of what we don’t really want to know out of his now boundless gratitude to us. We’ll have to apologize and beg forgiveness for all those ruffians on the plane who might have inadvertently given him a fat lip, neglected to read him his rights, or failed to let him have his one phone call to Osama.
Meanwhile, after a couple of days, we won’t mention it again just like 9/11, the global warming e-mails, Obama’s birth certificate, Letterman’s infidelities, Clinton’s infidelities, Reid’s unconstitutional bribes; Pelosi’s brutal arm-twisting, and everything else that’s uncomfortable for the Stalinist Left to live with.
In the mean time, we’ll just keep yelling BUSH; Cheney; Bush, CHENEY, Rove, Rumsfeld …on and on, forever, Amen.
http://peterkoelliker.blogspot.com/
Great post, Peter.
And the story of the day that you guys are missing is the story of Jasper Schuringa. Geert Wilders will nominate him for a royal award. http://the-right-guy.blogspot.com/2009/12/hero-of-day-jasper-schuringa.html
Peter, that day of reckoning is coming. I heard Pat Caddell on the Mark Simone Show (he worked for McGovern, Carter and Jerry Brown) and he said the dems are finished, and the GOP is right behind them. Come 2010 and 2012, it's going to be like 1856 and 1860, not 1912. The anger of the american people has been largely underestimated by both parties, and the Tea Party could supplant the GOP, if the GOP continues it's imitation of being an Ostrich. The GOP is also just as guilty of earmarks, bribes and corruption as the dems. People have gotten around to figuring out they both stink and as PAt said, 2012 will make Ross Perot in 1992 look like nothing. I tend to agree, even at the sneer of such brahmin republicans as JB.
Good catch on Schuringa. Interesting that the media have referred to the heroism of "passengers," rather than the quickness and heroism of one particular Dutchman.
Now I suppose that the TSA and Homeland Security will, having once again demonstrated their utter worthlessness, devise new ways to harass and bully passengers.
I have questions. According to FOX News, at least one authority states that his seat was one of two where an explosion could have caused maximum damage. Reminds me of the pre-9/11 airliner attacks where the bomb maker(wasn't he also involved in the 9/11 attacks) was trying to take down planes in Indonesia using simple components , and the reason only one passaenger died in the attempt was the seat was too far away from the fuel tanks. This seat was near bulk head, by fuel tank near thin skin of plane.
On 8-27-09 Terrorist Asiri, with ties to Yemen and AQ, attempted to kill Saudi bin Nayif using an "underwear" bomb, is this a pattern?
I could go back and review the notes I've taken over the years to spell out this stuff more specifically, but if a nobody like me is "seeing" threads which may be connected, I am puzzled why those who presumably follow this stuff every day aren't being more outspoken.
Jasper Schuringa is truly a hero and acted without regard to his own personal safety. I understand the others in the area may have been in "shock", but it is disturing to imagine what might have happend if he did not jump in. Are we all sheep? The fact that he acted alone is very troubling.
I am getting tired of everyone seeming content to sit back an comment on what is happening, where are the people of action? Have we lost the ability to act? Are we fighting for liberty with our hands tied behind our backs?
SEAT 19 A
The pattern of using this middle seating area -- above the (largest) fuel tank -- seems to have been the same area where the fire began that caused the plane crash off Long Island -- which was thought, at one time, to have been a missile attack -- which was not adequately explained. Also, how Ramzi Yousef planned in the Philippines to blow up several planes over the Pacific. So why not make this middle area the place where food prep is done? The weakness of this area is known. That nothing is being done about it makes this similar to the lack of reinforcing the cockpit door to (until 9/11) which was also known to be a weakness.
Most people are pusillanimous today. Too much computers, cell phones, cubicles and McDonalds. Too much easy life.
I am from Long Island and I remember clearly that right after the incident channel 12 had a reporter at the scene on a beach and a man that said he was a pilot with the 106th air rescue at Gabreski said he saw a missile contrail and knew what one looked like. I never heard nor saw that man interviewed or quoted again. Could be he wasn't who he said he was, or it could he was and he had the wrong narrative. I am surprised no one asked any questions about this since.
DID THE SUICIDE BOMBER TAKE DRUGS?
This would explain the suicide bomber's calm demeanor, especially after being severely burnt.
>where are the people of action? Have we lost the ability to act? Are we fighting for liberty with our hands tied behind our backs?
All good questions. In fact, I can't think of better ones.
Centralized states such as ours have little use for the initiative of free men and women, save as taxpayers and cannon fodder. Courage and initiative are actively discouraged, since they threaten the estabished order.
For nearly seventy years the USSR sought to create the New Soviet Man, and instead presented an appalled world with eleven times zones populated largely by thieves, drunks, and ">*stukachi*..
And our own Federal welfare schemes, rather than end poverty and promote equality, have produced fecund generations of illiterates who do nothing but consume junk food, watch television, and commit violent crimes.
Not that many decades ago ">*Americans such as these* would have had no need to await orders from Headquartes before they dealt with terrorism on their own. But now this country’s vast National Security State, which spends more money on warfare and weapons than all the other military establishments in the world put together, has largely succeeded in its goal of rendering the populace sufficiently bovine so as to be easy prey for a mere handful of lightly armed terrorists.
Such a system must sooner or later collapse under the weight of its own bloated immensity. Myself, I predict sooner rather than later.
The explanation of it not being a missile attack went something like this: The jet fuel fumes from the tank to the engines, which caught fire, gave the appearance of being hit by a missile. Sounds reasonable, but is it true?
Did the alleged bomber get milk and cookies? Were they Halal? Did he get a warm blanket?
Did CNN pay the Father of the alleged bomber, a peaceful and pius Muslim from the peace-loving country of Nigeria? Did the BBC treat the alleged suspec'st Imam with due respect worthy of a learned and peaceful spiritual leader?
Has the Alleged bomber had constitutionally guaranteed access to a Lawyer, Social worker, Massage therapist, media spokesperson, PR team, and a stylist?
What did the Bush Administration do to encourage such a violent act by aggrieved and poor third worlders?
I think many people rise to acts of heroism given the opportunity. You never know until you're in the moment how you're going to react.
I agree that the American public is very upset about the healthcare bill, and will vote the Dems out of office in large numbers in 2010; however, once again, the idea that they are going to vote out both the Dems and Repubs makes absolutely no sense to me. Look, there's an 800-message thread over on Politico that has been people's reaction to the passage of the Reid Bill on 12/24 and it must be 90% strongly opposed to the bill. And those opposing aren't saying "Vote them all out of office", they're saying "Vote these Democratic so-and-so's out of office." Also, they are furious about the bill itself. Furious, just furious. And they are all swearing that this time they will not forget, etc. Now, you tell me: if the Republicans stood united against the Reid Bill, and people by and large dislike the Reid Bill, why would this not bode well for Republicans currently in office? Put another way, if you dislike the legislation, and you already have someone in Congress who's fought it tooth and nail, why would you take a chance and send someone else there instead?
I think the only Republicans who stand a chance of losing in 2010 are those who evince the slightest sympathy for the Reid Bill. Here's what will happen: They'll be asked to essentially take an oath to try everything within their power to reverse the legislation (assuming it passes through Conference, that is). If they refuse to take that oath, then the local citizens will replace them with a candidate who will take the oath. It's going to be very grass roots, very deliberate, and very, very, emotionally charged.
And it's going to result in a Republican landslide.
Anyone care to go on record now and tell me I'm wrong, is gonna be eating a lot of crow in November, because I'm going to print out the responses and check back in to see how we all did.
Lou - I'm not familiar with POLITICO. I'm going to assume it's a left-of-center blog. Yes, I agree that the overwhelming majority hates this (health care) bill. But we don't all hate it for the same reasons. The Left actually thinks it doesn't go far enough. Additionally, an 'oath' required by Republicans will essentially amount to another litmus test - like abortion. And we've all seen where this gets us.
Peter, both parties could suffer next year. I wish I had the transcript of the Pat Caddell interview. JB could probably get it or the tape, but it was prescient, even if it is a little self-serving for me. I am telling you that Palin may figure into this and to all her detractors may turn out dumb as a fox. It's going to be interesting.
Peter, politico/livepulse has been a very up-to-the-minute resource for the goings-on in Senate. I've only recently discovered it. I'd say it's more right of center than left of center. I should have clarified, the 90% that hate the bill are almost all people who hate it from the right (both independents and republicans.)
When I come back to this website, I find it very pleasant, very peaceful, and just a bit out of touch with reality. Now, you can all get your panties in a bunch and take this as an insult, or you can take my words to heart, as someone who wishes we would all open our eyes, and find out about politico. In the time it took you to respond to me gently telling me why I was wrong, you could have checked out politico and found out why I was exactly right.
I also don't have a problem with litmus tests. I have to admit that I'm not exactly sure what you mean when you say "we all have seen where that gets us", perhaps you could educate me. In the meantime, I absolutely would not vote for, or work for, any candidate who didn't have a big problem with the pending legislation. Would you?
Anyway, on a lighter note, I just discovered a great website, zazzle.com, that has a bunch of conservative bumper stickers and tee-shirts. I selected a bumper sticker that has a picture of Harry Reid and the caption "Too bad cars don't run on stupidity".
God bless you, Lou! I would never presume to say you are wrong. One can never be wrong until after what one may have predicted doesn't happen. Also, when I wrote 'litmus test' I was thinking 'abortion'. Don't get me wrong, I hate the very concept (for some very sound reasons). But, above and beyond, I do wish I had a dollar for every time someone I happened to be arguing with, about some completely unrelated matter, threw 'abortion’ in my face as if that automatically makes conservatives wrong in every other instance.
If we could just get the country back to the point where abortion is the most important thing we have to argue about, I'll be thrilled. Speaking just for myself, if I owe a million bucks in national debt by the time the doctor slaps me then bring on the HCN.
LF
Lou:
I think the national debt comes out to something around $40,000 a person. I am sure I am conservative with that. The 2008 per capita income in the US was $40,208. We are probably upside down at this point. If an optimal maximum debt ratio for an individual is 33-35% (I know this isn't like buying a home but I am using the figure as an illustration), how the hell can we get out of this? You'd have to mortgage this shit out for 50 years and still tax us to death and hope that we don't incur anymore debt. In that light, it becomes obvious that it is insane to take on Obama's fabian socialist programs. Where is Ross Perot with his pie charts? Americans really, really don't get this at all. If anything, we need to do two things and I would like to see a third: Progressively cut federal spending over a 4 year period beginning with 20% the first year, and 10% each year after. Go to zero based budgeting, AND my extra, limit the possible next years budget at a percentage of taxes collected in the previous year (like 75-80% at most) and implement a flat tax of 10% for individuals and businesses, no deductions, thereby pegging the budget and knowing what you will get. Some will say I am nuts, but it seems more rational and fiscally responsible. With this scenario, the IRS would essentially go away. It would also limit how congress can bribe us with our own money. After this, get them to agree to term limits. Any takers? May be when the people come with pitchforks...
Jim, yes, you are correct with the $40K per person figure as of the moment. However, I am citing from a speech made by Senator Tom Coburn of OK during the health care debate. He said that if we continue to go into debt at the rate we're going (including the Medicare train wreck around the corner) that 20 years from now, everyone under the age of 45 in the U.S. will have a debt in excess of $1M. I realize that this is hyperbole to some extent but he is a fairly responsible speaker and I'm sure he's basing it on something. It was the $1M projection 20 years from now that I was referencing in my post. I really recommend that everyone listen to that Coburn speech, it was excellent. High point of the debate, along with Baucus' alleged "drunken" speech on the 23rd.
Jim, this administration wouldn't even dream of diminishing the government's payroll (by removing the IRS). A flat tax would be the most fair, but wouldn't help the irresponsible deadbeats among us. They would all cry fowl and demand their usual something for nothing. Lest we forget, Obama came to power on the backs of the taxpayers. In fact, he's ridden that pony his whole adult life.