Posted on 12/29/2009 7:28:18 PM PST by kristinn
HONOLULU — President Obama declared Tuesday that there had been a “systemic failure” of the nation’s security apparatus after being told about more missed signals and uncorrelated intelligence that should have prevented a would-be bomber from boarding a flight for the United States.
The president was told during a private briefing on Tuesday morning while vacationing here in Hawaii that the government had a variety of information in its possession before the thwarted bombing that would have been a clear warning sign had it been shared among agencies, a senior official said.
Two officials said the government had intelligence from Yemen before Friday that leaders of a branch of Al Qaeda there were talking about “a Nigerian” being prepared for a terrorist attack. While the information did not include a name, officials said it would have been evident had it been compared to information about Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old Nigerian charged with trying to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight to Detroit on Christmas Day.
The government also had more information about where Mr. Abdulmutallab had been and what some of his plans were.
Some of the information at the time was partial or incomplete, and it was not obvious that it was connected, the official said, but in retrospect it now appears clear that had it all been examined together it would have pointed to the pending attack. The official said the administration was “increasingly confident” that Al Qaeda had a role in the attack, as the group’s Yemeni branch has publicly claimed.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
They are leaking this stuff to the NY Times so they can try to get ahead of the tsunami coming their way. Surf's up, Obama.
The official said the administration was “increasingly confident” that Al Qaeda had a role in the attack.”
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I thought this was an “isolated extremist”?!
THE MOOSELIMB LIES!
Four days later that assclown is just now being briefed on this? Please tell me I read that wrong!
That must be why he’s still on vacation in Hawaii.
Plotting...
(sarcasm)
BO is a systemic failure.
Excellent explanation! I couldn't figure out why the NY Times would say anything bad about this administration. For a fleeting moment, I harbored the thought that the reason might be because the administration is totally inept and the Times was just doing its Fourth Estate duty. Thanks for helping me to sober up.
Smart! Obomba is stepping ahead of the parade!
Bye bye Secretary Incompentano. For whatever reason, good or bad, I am grateful.
Living in the area near DTW, there is a whole lot of local reporting here. Been on broadcast (aerial) for over 3 days now.
The Democrats have the certificate of ownership on this. It’s solidly theirs.
Wondering if Gorelick is the least bit concerned?
How else can you figure?
Holder and his God’s decision to try terrorists in civilian courts in NYC is, likewise, a major screw up that will backfire big time.
Very interesting. The press covered for Obama on the Fort Hood shootings. The whole country knew that the killer shouted “Allahu Akbar!” Yet they still pretty well managed to handle that, with the press’s assiduous help.
I suspect that one difference here is that the CIA is really, really angry with Obama for giving them so much grief over the waterboarding and all the rest of it. And the CIA has some close connections with reporters at the Times that they have leaked to over the years.
Now it’s turning into a blame game. The White House is saying that the CIA is at fault. So the CIA is going to say, no, it’s Obama who is at fault. Or Napolitano. Or both.
Obama got away with his cold and limpid reactions before. After deploring the murder of George Tiller, he completely ignored the murder at a recruitment station that took place at almost the same time. And no one thought anything of it.
This time, though, he has the CIA to contend with.
People with the Obama mindset view common everyday people doing things like getting on planes in coach class, visiting family and celebrating Christmas with family as the enemy. They view people such as 23 year old Yemeni, angry radicalized banker's kids who have been educated in several countries and travel through 15 countries in five weeks as something to be celebrated and revered. That is the crux of the issue. To summarize, self loathing communists like Obama value the Yemeni bomber more than they value a dad from flyover.
I wonder when he’s going to throw Janet under the bus? You just know SOMEONE has to be the fall guy.
“No way to blame this on Bush”
I’m afraid they’ve begun the process of doing just that. Earlier today I heard a report that one of the men involved was released from Gitmo in 2007.
The NYT is finally figuring out that the Kenyan Klod would need teleprompter help to compete in a tic-tac-toe game.
Folks, the kid is stupid.
Period.
Likely they’ve been conducting polls and have discovered the American people are hopping mad about this.
Here is another PR opportunity the Republicans are missing. Every Republican politician should be saying the obvious — the #1 priority of government is to protect its citizens. The Detroit attempted bombing and the Fort Hood shooting demonstrate the government is not able to perform its most basic function. Until the administration can get its act together, we should defer all major new programs including health care.
Is anyone at RNC headquarters awake?
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