Posted on 12/25/2009 9:47:21 PM PST by cold start
Romulus, Michigan (CNN) -- A passenger on an international flight bound for the United States Friday ignited a small explosive device shortly before landing in a move the White House called an attempted terrorist attack, a senior administration official said.
Another passenger on the Northwest flight from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Detroit, Michigan, quickly helped subdue and isolate the young male suspect with the aid of the cabin crew, passenger Syed Jafry said.
The suspect, identified by a U.S. government official as 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was placed in custody and is being treated for second- and third-degree burns on his thighs, according to federal law enforcement and airline security sources.
The sources said the suspect flew into Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam on a KLM flight from Lagos, Nigeria, and is not believed to be on any "no fly" list, although his name does appear in a U.S. database of people with suspect connections. He did not undergo secondary security screening in Amsterdam, the administration official said.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Clarification: things are going to get a lot funnier up here from the perspective of “I told you so!” hill in the future. In other words, things will get far uglier, IMO.
but no where in the whole US would be better for him to be than Detroit
This is true.
agreed
And even that would be too kind.
You are probably right, because I just don't see that AQ would absentmindedly give him a defective explosive. AQ in Nigeria can have as many bomb factories and as many tests as it wants and nobody would bat an eye. But here we are.
So what can we conclude? Only one thing. AQ did not intend to destroy the flight, and they intentionally furnished their patsy with a minimally dangerous device; from what I read, it was two orders of magnitude weaker than necessary to do some real harm - something like a defective laptop battery. It takes intent to build such a weak thing, because a stick of dynamite is easier to get: Nigeria has lots of mines, and it's a Muslim country.
A reason for going through all that would be to demonstrate that all airplanes that were not personally checked by the USA should be seen as suspect. This will result in all kinds of security rearrangements, which ultimately further isolate the USA from the rest of the world. For example, only direct flights will be permitted; or TSA screeners will have to be sent to Europe; and so on. It won't be a major problem, but it will cost money and it will annoy travelers (on top what they suffer already.)
That's the only conclusion I can think of at the moment. AQ could certainly bring this airplane down if only they gave him a working explosive. The fact that it didn't happen must mean something.
Agreed. That’s why I’m out in the middle of nowhere.
This is my United States of whatever (see tagline)!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3XiW9goo1U
(the way that President Bush should have handled our enemies)
If my fellow countrymen want to go on playing little social games with the girls instead of going to war, they can suffer the consequences without me. I’ll be up on this hill laughing like a maniac and yelling, “I told you so! I told you so! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!”
CNN first reported the guy tried lighting a firecracker. LOL!
Me too, and I’m a Grandmother of six.
BTW, the tune is by some young punk named Liam Lynch. Anyway, it appears by our leaders’ policies, that we’ll probably be set back a little before long.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOLd1jxK62c
With any luck the third degree burns are in the area between his thighs.
Hopefully there will be no pain medication given in order not to interfere with interrogation.
"Additional Strip Search Screening for Everyone- unless you're arabic!"
Obammy needs to apologize. It’s obvious America made him try this stunt./s
I hope that most American citizens are aware that two elected members of Congress (House and Senate) passed a law in the 70s or 80s literally outlawing the sharing of information among the US intelligence agencies.
If I could remember their names, I would join in an effort to impeach them for treason!
As far as I know, the law is still in force.
It's not a matter of "wherewithall". It's a simple matter of not allowing the insane to rule the asylum.
The certain results of failing to change that simpleminded state of affairs is one or more repetitions of mass murder similar to 911.
A PBS program,The Spy Factory, Written and produced by James Bamford, provides a glimpse of the contradiction between "rights" and safety; this program first aired 2/03/09.
It displays clearly how the issue is often reduced to the "rights" of a few neurotics, vs the safety of 308,000,000 residents of the USA.
Under certain circumstances, they are utterly and permanently mutually exclusive.
In my view, the safety of the country is task one of any elected national government. Absent that primary job, no other "achievement" is worth a bucketful of spit.
Air FranceFlight 447 was from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.
There are much too many factors to discuss to realize that this is an invalid comparison.
France is an ally at best, and an enabler at worst of the Muslim Mass Murderers.
It would make no sense even to insane muslims to attack France.
The center of muslim hatred will always remain Israel first and USA second.
Resident Obama immediately cautioned all veterans, patriots and other bitter gun and bible clingers not to jump to conclusions and get themselves all wee-wee’d up.
I hope the burn treatment is from a salt shaker!
It wouldn’t have been “small” if he’d actually gotten the device to go off. Apparently it depended on mixing two chemicals (in containers strapped to his leg) and he was unable to get the device to function, resulting only in burns to himself and the passengers who tackled him and prevented him from being successful.
I think the press is trying to minimize it.
Guess that speech in Cairo didn't work, huh?
Hat's off to the American Heroes who took this guy down. Unfortunately, Mr. jihad freak will probably find lawyers to sue them.
BTW, about that 3rd degree burn: make sure to clean out the wound with some Ajax or Comet first. After all, this is America. We don't torture.
The first string media are now pissed off because many of them now have to cut their vacations short.
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