Posted on 12/26/2009 12:44:44 AM PST by bd476
Voice of America News
US Calls Explosion on Airplane 'Attempted Act of Terrorism'
The United States is increasing security for air travel across the country after a Nigerian man set off a small explosion aboard a flight bound for the U.S. city of Detroit. White House officials are calling it "an attempted act of terrorism."
Jeff Seldin | Washington
26 December 2009
The United States is increasing security for air travel across the country after a Nigerian man set off a small explosion aboard a flight bound for the U.S. city of Detroit. White House officials are calling it "an attempted act of terrorism."
The incident happened just about twenty minutes before Northwest Airlines Flight 253, flying from Amsterdam, landed in Detroit.
"We heard a loud pop and a bit of smoke and then some flames, and then yelling and screaming," one passenger said.
"It was scary," said another. "It was a loud firecracker that went off, and there was a fire in the plane after a few seconds. It was very scary for everyone," the passenger said.
One passenger immediately sprang into action when it appeared something was wrong.
"There was one guy who sat on the other side, on the right side of the wing," recounted a passenger who observed the heroic act. "This was on the left side of the wing. He jumped over all the other people and he took care of it, so the fire went out."
No one was injured and once the plane landed the suspect was taken into custody.
U.S. counterterrorism officials say he is a 23-year-old Nigerian named Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab and that he was trying to blow up the plane. They also say his name does appear on a U.S. intelligence watch list, but not on a no-fly list that would have prevented him from boarding the flight.
Mutallab suffered third-degree burns, but still managed to tell investigators he was acting on behalf of al-Qaida. Those claims have yet to be confirmed.
"We have real concerns here, because we know that Nigeria is a source of terrorist activity, al-Qaida connected activity," said New York Congressman Peter King, a ranking Republican on the Homeland Security Committee.
The Republican congressman said critical questions will have to be answered, and answered quickly.
"How he was able to get on in Nigeria, what happened in Amsterdam, which is a visa waiver country, how he was able to get through and make it this far with the devices he had, these are all issues that have to be resolved."
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says additional security measures are being put into place for all flights, and is encouraging passengers to be observant and report any suspicious activity.
IntelCenter, a U.S.-based terrorism monitoring group that works with the U.S. government, says the incident appears to be a serious attempt against the United States, with connections to Yemen and Nigeria. It also says the possibility of additional attempts over the next day or two cannot be ruled out.
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 68%
male: 75.7%
female: 60.6% (2003 est.)
.........
Reverse the male/female percentages and the figures are probably better than this country.
Certainly some segments of the population.
Yes, that was how we reacted when we heard about this incident - goodness, allegedly an attempted act of manmade disaster - which is probably the reason why the prez was not informed for 4 hours - although perhaps investigators were worried that they’d be called off the “crime” scene were he to learn anything about it.
Bozo didn't stop anything. What stopped the attack was a poorly constructed bomb and a fast acting passenger.How anyone could even remotely say this attack was stopped by Bozo is a mystery to me, unless you are an Obamabot.
Yeah I guess he stopped it 3 hours after he was finally notified of the attack...While he was looking at, (and putting the final touches) on his BC in Hawaii...
Brag, nothin’...He can’t claim crap...
But we will hear soon that we should not jump to any conclusions...I don’t think he’ll utter those words, but you can bet that a whole slag of mouthpieces will say that for him...
Dude should not have been able to get on the plane with the devices. Also it seems it failed to work so more likely the hand of Providence than any calculated effort to stop the terrorist. Finally,he was subdued by citizens,not any government agency. All in all,it would seem that any credit talking by Barrack,certainly possible,would be quite a reach and maybe too transparent for his way of doing things.
Although normally I’d argue for immediately informing the pres— ent, I do see advantages to keeping B.O. in the dark and allowing law enforcement to actually do their jobs unrestrained before he sticks his big nose into it.
I understand the frustration, but just curious to know how it will go over when questionaires are started regarding ones religion before buying a ticket or boarding a plane?
The CIA fact book post.
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