BBC: So it was Al-Qaeda?
Al-Qaeda claims Christmas Day US flight bomb plot. “The accused, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, had co-ordinated the plot with members of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, said the statement, according to US monitor SITE Intelligence. Officials said at the weekend that the 23-year-old had told US investigators al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen had supplied him with the bomb and trained him in how to detonate it.” The government’s paranoia over this is perfectly understandable. There are some problems here, that absolutely must be itching our intelligence services. For instance, why Detroit, of all godforsaken places? Is there some symbolism in the choice of Detroit? Why were there not multiple operations, as on 9/11?
Bad news for Britain too, however. Looks like Abdulmutallab went over to the ‘dark side’ in London.
Comments:
My other comment, which I deleted, was: “Perhaps the decentralized nature of Al Qaeda is operating against them. They freelanced out to a newbie, and got what they paid for. Without sleeper cells, their ability to succeed drops.”
Makes it sound like I’m rooting for sleeper cell success, which I’m not. Didn’t have time to rephrase.
Chris Floyd makes a couple salient points:
And it must be true, right? I mean, just look at how well-sourced the NYT story is. “A law enforcement official”—Police captain? State trooper? G-Man? Traffic cop?—said that the alleged attempted terrorist said he’d got his “explosive chemicals” from Yemen. (Elsewhere in the paper, other unnamed officials told NYT reporters that the alleged material strapped to the alleged attempted terrorist was “incendiary,” not explosive. But who cares? “Bomb, Terror, Yemen!")
..and..
Well, it doesn’t get more solid than that, does it? They nailed that story down so tight you couldn’t pry it open with God’s own crowbar. An anonymous source confirmed the plausibility of his own claim. Man, that’s ironclad. It’s certainly good enough to light up the media firmament with headlines linking “terror in the Heartland” with the empire’s newest killing field in a volatile foreign land.
Next entry: ars technica: In mutation, more is not necessarily better for survival. >>
Please stop conflating this crazy with an invented worldwide “terrorism” organization.
The problems here aren’t with “intelligence” services - it’s physics. Setting off an explosive *inside* an airplane with the intent of bringing it down requires an inordinate amount of engineering - leaving things like seat assignment, etc to chance means the probability of a successful event drops to nearly zero. This clueless zero is apparently not up to the task.
The better question: where are all the highly motivated, intelligent (as in: guys that can be taught to pilot an airliner) men that were required to pull off 9/11?
I repeat: blowing a hole in an aircraft fuselage *from the inside* requires some serious acumen AND explosives. If someone’s intent is to create a hole, the best thing to do is use your body to punch out one of the windows (it can be done.) The vacuum effect alone should rip a sizeable hole - no explosives required.
The US gov’t has be be very careful how they disseminate information. Imagine the outcry if he’d been reported to originate in Afghanistan (what’s the point of the occupation if they’re still sending bombs over?) or Iraq. Instead, we get some trailer-park dolt from....wait for it...YEMEN. **AGAIN!** (remember where the 9/11 guys hailed from?)
While surely terrifying for the people onboard, this is really a non-event.