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Concealed Explosive Could Have Blown A Hole In Side of Northwest Flight, Officials Say By Carrie Johnson Washington Post Staff Writer December 28 A dangerous explosive allegedly concealed by Nigerian student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in his underwear could have blown a hole in the side of his Detroit-bound aircraft if it had been detonated, according to two federal sources briefed on the investigation. Authorities said they are still analyzing a badly damaged syringe that Abdulmutallab allegedly employed as a detonating device on Christmas Day. But preliminary conclusions indicate that he used 80 grams of PETN -- almost twice as much...

ABC has the pictures of Umar Farouk Abdulmutalla's underwear: And you can see for yourself none of the present day security at our airports would of protected us against that, except the technology our Congress is attempting to ban: Privacy advocates, for example, have tried to stop or at least slow the introduction of advanced checkpoint screening devices that use so-called millimeter waves to create an image of a passenger’s body, so officers can see under clothing to determine if a weapon or explosive has been hidden. Security officers, in a private area, review the images, which are not stored....

President Barack Obama prepared to outline immediate steps the government has taken to keep travelers safe as investigators around the globe worked to determine how the son of a Nigerian banker became the first person in eight years to try to set off an explosive aboard a U.S. commercial airliner. Meanwhile, the group al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for the attempted Christmas day attack, saying it was retaliation for a U.S. operation against the group in Yemen. In a statement posted on the Internet, the group said 23-year-old Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab coordinated with members of the...

In the latest press release by Al Qaeda where they took responsibility for the terrorist attempt on the plane in Detroit they said the following: “We call on every soldier working in the crusader armies and puppet governments to repent to allah and follow the example of the hero Moujahid brother Nidal Hasan, and kill with all available tools every crusader to bring victory to religion of allah and to keep his word in the land.” From the context of the press release by “every soldier” they mean “every muslim soldier working in the US military and other Western militaries”....

(24/3/09) The Obama administration appears to be backing away from the phrase "global war on terror," a signature rhetorical legacy of its predecessor. In a memo e-mailed this week to Pentagon staff members, the Defense Department's office of security review noted that "this administration prefers to avoid using the term 'Long War' or 'Global War on Terror' [GWOT.] Please use 'Overseas Contingency Operation.' ..."

VS. WHO: Yeffet Isaac, Former Director of El-Al Airlines Security -VS.- Ibrahim Hooper Executive Director of C.A.I.R.WHAT: A Well Overdue DEBATEWHEN: As Soon As PossibleWHERE: LIVE NATIONWIDE on American TV, CNN, FOX, Major Networks, Radio Stations, NPR, etc., With Studio Audience Able to Ask QuestionsWHY: America dodged a major bullet on Christmas Day in Detroit. Reports are that additional terrorist acts involving US airliners are probably on the way. El-Al has a clean record of never being attacked by Islamist Extremists. C.A.I.R. has stated that the US should not, at all costs, racially and religiously profile passengers in the...

SNIPPET: "Discussion: I first observed discussion of binary explosives on the al-Firdaws forum in January of 2007. In light of recent events I will post here my archive:" SNIPPET: "Implementation: On Christmas Day, 2009, Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab boards a flight in Amsterdam, bound for Detroit, and on final descent he attempts to set off what was most likely a binary explosive. Thank goodness he either screwed up or had bad instructions, because the chemicals he was working with were evidently quite good."

The Obama White House has been aggressive in its press outreach regarding the Northwest Airlines terrorist incident. Some of the earliest stories on accused terrorist Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab's attempt to set off an explosive device on board Northwest Flight 253 were sourced to the White House, and White House officials were quick to label the incident an "attempted act of terrorism." The White House wants the public to know that President Obama, on vacation at a luxurious oceanfront home in Hawaii, has received conference call updates and is keeping close tabs on the situation.

A POST SCRIPTS EXCLUSIVE, in this story... •We were warned well in advance •The Islamic extremist was in our data base •Visa contained clues of impending attack •Yemen connection and known terrorist associations •High explosive made it through best security screening •Terrorist fit the perfect "profile" but profiling is not allowed •Suspect granted permission to enter USA •Billion dollar security failed us. . . again! "On or about Oct 8th 2009, Dr. Umaru Abdul Mutallab, a wealthy banker and the father of airplane bomber Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, contacted US Counter-terrorism officials and said he was extremely concerned about his son's...

Man on Flight to Detroit Claims al Qaeda Ties; Obama Tightens Security WASHINGTON -- U.S. prosecutors charged a 23-year-old Nigerian man with attempting to carry out a Christmas Day terrorist bombing on a Northwest Airlines flight on its approach to Detroit. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was charged in a federal criminal complaint with placing a destructive device on Flight 253. Federal Bureau of Investigation analysts, in preliminary tests, determined the device contained PETN, also known as pentaerythritol, a highly explosive compound, the Justice Department said. In addition, FBI agents recovered what appear to be the remnants of the syringe from the...

Here is a video report from NBC News saying Scotland Yard is carrying out "raids in central London" this morning in connection with the attempted terrorist attack aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253. The attacker reportedly went to school there, and British authorities are looking for evidence. The report also discusses the attempted attack, and the way passengers acted to subdue the Nigerian attacker. . . .(VIDEO)

WASHINGTON — A call from a flight attendant to the pilots of the Northwest Airlines plane that overshot Minneapolis catapulted the cockpit crew from complacency to confusion. On Oct. 23, 2009 file image made from video and made available by KGW-TV in Portland, Ore., shows Northwest pilot Richard Cole at his home in Salem, Ore. Interviews with the flight crew and other documents released Wednesday by the National Transportation Safety Board indicate the pilots were completely unaware of their predicament until the moment the intercom rang. They were unaware that they had flown their Airbus A320 with 144 passenger more...

The Federal Aviation Administration violated its own rules by taking more than 40 minutes to alert the military after losing communication with a Northwest Airlines flight last week, according to officials familiar with internal reviews under way at several federal agencies. The delay has sparked consternation within the military, concern within the FAA and special oversight by the White House, these officials said, particularly because such time lags were supposed to be eliminated as a result of the lessons learned from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks... the man charged with protecting the skies above North America, U.S. Air Force...

Mystery deepens over what distracted pilots on plane that overshot by 150 miles The mystery of the Northwest Airlines plane that overshot Minneapolis by 150 miles has deepened after the first officer insisted that he and the pilot were not asleep or arguing. By Philip Sherwell in New York Published: 6:39PM BST 24 Oct 2009 The mystery of the Northwest Airlines plane that overshot Minneapolis by 150 miles has deepened after the first officer insisted that he and the pilot were not asleep or arguing. Pilots on the Northwest Airlines plane that overshot Minneapolis by 150 miles will not say...

Many a person has missed their stop on a bus or train at one time or another because they were engrossed in a weighty conversation or a book. But when the pilots of Northwest Airlines flight 188 became distracted it had more serious consequences as they overflew their Minneapolis destination by 150 miles. "They were in a heated discussion over airline policy and they lost situational awareness," the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) explained. When the pilots got their "situational awareness" back they turned the Airbus A320 around and landed it safely on Wednesday evening, apparently without any of...

Northwest flight attendants want Delta to offer bigger sizes of signature red dress uniform ATLANTA (AP) -- The union that represents flight attendants who worked for Northwest Airlines before it was bought by Delta Air Lines is crying foul over Delta's failure to offer bigger sizes for its signature red dress uniform designed by Richard Tyler. The Northwest chapter of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA has filed a grievance with the world's largest airline operator, asking it to offer the red dress up to size 28. The union hopes the grievance will go to mediation in August. The red dress...

http://www.pnwcc.info There's a new site up for you Freepers in the Pacific Northwest. Not attempting to take anything from FR, here, but to augment your ability to accomplish things. If you want a state or region based chapter or association to help you make a difference, I've built the site for you. It offers: 1. Forums 2. Blog space 3. Topical Archives of information 4. Real file storage It's time we got more active, and less "readers" than "doers". The site is currently configured for WA, OR, ID, but we'd be happy to add MT or AK if need be....

WATERLOO (KWWL) -- A Boeing 757 made an emergency landing at the Waterloo Regional Airport just after 10:00 a.m Tuesday morning. Northwest flight #335 took off around 8:30 a.m. Iowa time from Detroit due for Los Angeles. The airport was notified that there was smoke in the cockpit and the plane needed to land in Waterloo. The airport was notified when the plane was ten miles out. We have a crew on the scene and will bring you the latest on the KWWL News at Noon.

The financial woes facing Minnesota are the same financial woes facing the country as a whole. Themis, the author does an excellent job explaining what is wrong with the quick, non-thought-out solutions politicians are ready to jump and use rather than examine and address the causes of the problem.

Don’t blame a bird for the punch that the Northwest Airlines plane took in the nose on Sunday. Northwest is now examining the dented nose cone of a Boeing 757 jet that was damaged during a flight from Detroit to Tampa. Images snapped by passengers... show the front tip of the plane looking a bit like a beer cup smashed in after a football game. Kathleen Bergen, a spokeswoman for the F.A.A. in Atlanta, said pilots heard a bang when the plane was at 18,000 feet during its descent into Tampa. Its radar went out, prompting the crew to suspect...