The wake-up call from Flight 253
Michael Ejercito
by Jeff Jacoby
The Boston Globe
December 30, 2009
http://www.jeffjacoby.com/6739/the-wake-up-call-from-flight-253
AFTER THE SEPT. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, it was widely asserted at
the time, nothing would be the same. What Pearl Harbor had been for
our parents and grandparents, 9/11 would be for us: a shattering
national wake-up call revealing both the gaping holes in America's
homeland security and the reality that we were at war with an
implacable enemy whose defeat would require years of sacrifice and
resolve.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who attempted to blow up Northwest Flight
253 on Christmas Day, was reportedly trained by al-Qaeda in Yemen
But it became clear after a while that for many Americans, 9/11 had
not marked a break with old ways of thinking. As the near-unanimity of
9/11 receded, Americans divided into what the Weekly Standard's Fred
Barnes dubbed September 12 people, for whom 9/11 had changed
everything, and September 10 people, who believed the terrorist threat
was being exaggerated by the Bush administration and who regarded the
fight against Islamist extremism as chiefly a matter of law
enforcement.
Would that divide have closed if Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had
succeeded in blowing up Northwest Airlines flight 253 over Detroit on
Christmas Day? If al-Qaeda, which reportedly trained Abdulmutallab in
Yemen and is claiming responsibility for the thwarted attack, had
succeeded in carrying out another 9/11, would the short-lived unity
and moral clarity of that terrible day in 2001 have returned?
Had Flight 253 ended in the mass-murder the bomb plotters intended,
Americans would today be filled with grief and fury. They would also
be grappling with some hard lessons -- lessons that in recent years
too many had been inclined to dismiss. Among them:
* Terrorism isn't caused by poverty and ignorance. Abdulmutallab
came from a wealthy and privileged family, and had studied at one of
Britain's top universities. He wasn't trying to kill hundreds of
Americans out of socioeconomic despair. Like the 9/11 hijackers and
countless other jihadists, Abdulmutallab was motivated by ideological
and religious fanaticism. The teachings of militant Islam may seem
monstrous to outsiders, but that is no reason to doubt that their
adherents genuinely believe them, or that by giving their lives for
jihad they hope to change the world.
* The global jihad is real. Homeland Security Secretary Janet
Napolitano was widely derided for initially insisting that Flight 253
wasn't blown up in mid-air because "the system worked" and "the whole
process went very smoothly." Far more troubling, however, was her
effort to downplay the suggestion that Abdulmutallab's attempted
attack was "part of anything larger" -- this even after he had
terrorist acknowledged his ties to al-Qaeda. Of course Abdulmutallab
is part of something larger: He is part of the global jihad -- the
relentless assault by Islamist radicals whose deadly serious goal is
the submission of America and the West to Islamic law. If government
officials like Napolitano cannot bring themselves to speak plainly
about the jihadists' ambitions, how will they ever succeed in crushing
them?
* Terrorists can always adapt to new restrictions. After 9/11,
knives and sharp metal objects were banned from carry-on luggage, so
Richard Reid attempted to detonate a shoe bomb. Thereafter everyone's
shoes were checked, so the 2006 Heathrow plotters planned to use
liquid-based explosives. Now liquids are strictly limited, so
Abdulmutallab smuggled PETN, an explosive powder, in his underwear.
There is no physical constraint that determined jihadists cannot find
a way to circumvent. Yet US airport security remains obstinately
reactive -- focused on intercepting dangerous things, instead of
intercepting dangerous people. Unwilling to incorporate ethnic and
religious profiling in our air-travel security procedures, we have
saddled ourselves with a mediocre security system that inconveniences
everyone while protecting no one.
* The Patriot Act was not a reckless overreaction. Security in a
post 9/11 world has not come from pressing a "reset button," sending
Guantanamo inmates off to Yemen, or refusing to use terms like "war on
terrorism." It has come from stepped-up surveillance and stronger
intelligence-gathering tools, and from working to pre-empt terror
attacks in advance, rather than prosecuting them after the fact.
Congress was not out of its mind when it enacted the Patriot Act in
2001, and the Bush administration was not trampling the Constitution
when it deployed the expanded powers the law gave it: They were trying
to prevent another 9/11 -- and they succeeded. President Obama has
repeatedly and ostentatiously criticized his predecessor's approach.
Perhaps it is not just a coincidence that Obama's first year in office
has also seen an unprecedented surge in terrorist threats on US soil.
We came fearfully close to having to re-learn those lessons the hard
way last week. Only the failure of Abdulmutallab's explosive to ignite
and the bravery of the passenger and flight attendants who rushed him
prevented what would have been the bloodiest attack on US soil in more
than eight years. The world remains extremely dangerous, and the war
against radical Islam is far from over. Flight 253 was another wake-up
call. Did the September 10 people hear it?
(Jeff Jacoby is a columnist for The Boston Globe.)
chatnoir
> The wake-up call from Flight 253
>
> by Jeff Jacoby
> The Boston Globe
> December 30, 2009
>
> http://www.jeffjacoby.com/6739/the-wake-up-call-from-flight-253
>
> AFTER THE SEPT. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, it was widely asserted at
> the time, nothing would be the same. What Pearl Harbor had been for
> our parents and grandparents, 9/11 would be for us: a shattering
> national wake-up call revealing both the gaping holes in America's
> homeland security and the reality that we were at war with an
> implacable enemy whose defeat would require years of sacrifice and
> resolve.
>
> Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who attempted to blow up Northwest Flight
> 253 on Christmas Day, was reportedly trained by al-Qaeda in Yemen
> But it became clear after a while that for many Americans, 9/11 had
> not marked a break with old ways of thinking. As the near-unanimity of
> 9/11 receded, Americans divided into what the Weekly Standard's Fred
> Barnes dubbed September 12 people, for whom 9/11 had changed
> everything, and September 10 people, who believed the terrorist threat
> was being exaggerated by the Bush administration and who regarded the
> fight against Islamist extremism as chiefly a matter of law
> enforcement.
>
Guess what, the US knew that the terrorist was coming and like 9/11
failed to inform everybody that should of been informed!
This comes up to the 9/11 situation where intelligence agencies and
other agencies could not or would not communicate with each other =
The problem remains!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8434805.stm
headline:
US aware 'Nigerian' prepared for terror attack
The US was aware that "a Nigerian" in Yemen was being prepared for a
terrorist attack - weeks before an attempted bombing on a US plane.
ABC News and the New York Times say there was intelligence to this
effect, but its source is unclear.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab flew from Lagos to Amsterdam before
changing
planes for a flight to Detroit on which he allegedly tried to
detonate
a bomb.
The Netherlands is to introduce body scanners on US flights within
weeks.
Dutch Interior Minister Guusje Ter Horst said Mr Abdulmutallab did
not
raise any concerns as he passed through Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport
to board the flight.
She said the airport would be able to use body scanners on all
flights
to the US from the airport in three weeks, adding that they would be
a
permanent fixture.
Obama denounces lapses ... (cont)
chatnoir
>
> - Show quoted text -
CIA admits tracking 'The Nigerian' before NorthWest terror attack From
correspondents in Detroit From: NewsCore December 30, 2009 11:31AM
Increase Text SizeDecrease Text SizePrintEmail Share
THE CIA was tracking a person of interest known as "The Nigerian" -
who was in fact airline bomb suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab - as
early as August, CBS News reports.
The connection between “The Nigerian” and Mr Abdulmutallab was not
made when the 23-year-old's father contacted the US embassy in Nigeria
in November to warn them of his son’s radicalisation.
CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said the intelligence agency did not
have Mr Abdulmutallab’s name until November.
And they did not know he was “The Nigerian” until after his attempt to
blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit on
Christmas Day.
"In November, we worked with the embassy to ensure he was in the
Government's terrorist database-including mention of his possible
extremist connections in Yemen,” Mr Gimigliano said.
Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.
.End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.
“We also forwarded key biographical information about him to the
National Counter-terrorism Center.
"This agency, like others in our Government, is reviewing all data to
which it had access - not just what we ourselves may have collected -
to determine if more could have been done to stop Abdulmutallab."
US authorities yesterday displayed the underwear Mr Abdulmutallab was
wearing on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day.
Explosives had been sewn into them.
As the plane approached Detroit the material ignited, shooting 1.8m
flames up the cabin wall.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which has claimed the attack, said
the device failed because of a "faulty detonator".
Unknown
meje...@hotmail.com says...
> The wake-up call from Flight 253
>
Unknown
wolfb...@mindspring.com says...
> Guess what, the US knew that the terrorist was coming
>
chatnoir
> In article <da462e34-a12e-4ffb-b77e-553815d8d...@34g2000yqp.googlegroups.com>,
> mejer...@hotmail.com says...> The wake-up call from Flight 253
>
> http://www.omencity.com/nuke-palestine.jpg
That looks like your head!