Janet Napolitano says the system worked. No, we were brave and lucky.
A U.S. government that has barred the phrase “war on terror” has nonetheless acknowledged that a failed Christmas day bomb attack on an airliner was a terrorist attempt. Can we all now drop the pretense that we stopped fighting a war once Dick Cheney and George W. Bush left the White House?
Instead of body scanners and ethnic profiling we need patience and resilience to tackle terrorism
Not long after the attacks of 11 September 2001, I went to hear the Arab-American stand-up comedian Ahmed Ahmed riff on the perils of airport security. “All you white people have it easy,” he joked with the crowd. “You guys get to the airport like an hour, two hours before your flight. It takes me a month and a half.”
Editor’s note: Fareed Zakaria is an author and foreign affairs analyst who hosts “Fareed Zakaria GPS” on CNN U.S. on Sundays at 1 and 5 p.m. ET and CNN International 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. CET / 5 p.m. Abu Dhabi / 9 p.m. HK
New York (CNN) — In the wake of the failed Christmas Day airplane bombing, President Obama ordered speedy reviews of how the air security system failed and the Transportation Security Administration began enhanced screening for passengers traveling through 14 nations.
Ever since 9/11, the west has been haunted by the spectre of a repeat. On Christmas Day, the date surely not chosen at random, that second attack very nearly succeeded. Only the combination of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s fumbling and the bravery of the passengers and crew of Northwest 253 foiled the attempt to bring down the Airbus A330 and its 278 passengers on the descent into Detroit. If the bomber had succeeded, he would have achieved the sum of all post-9/11 fears. The consequences would have been prodigious. Those on board NW253 are not the only ones who have had a very narrow escape indeed.
Though President Obama continues his Hawaiian vacation, White House officials are busy painting a picture of a president who is constantly engaged in dealing with the fall out from the failed terrorist attack aboard NW flight 253 on Christmas Day, careful to show Obama is balancing his leisure activities with appropriate attention to his job. A senior White House official says Obama continues to receive the preliminary results from the terrorism reviews he ordered on Sunday. The deadline was today.
HONOLULU — President Barack Obama laid blame Saturday on an al-Qaida affiliate for a Christmas Day terrorist attack that has prompted a top-to-bottom review of how the nation’s intelligence agencies failed to prevent the botched bombing aboard a Detroit-bound airliner.
In his most direct public language to date, the president described the path through Yemen of 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian accused of trying to destroy Northwest Flight 253. The president also emphasized that the United States would continue its partnerships with friendly countries – citing Yemen, in particular – to fight terrorists and extremist groups around the globe.
First Published: 8:00AM BST 30 May 2009
A Taliban-trained terrorist was part of a cell sent to bomb Britain as revenge for their presence in Afghanistan, it has emerged.
The terrorist informant has told prosecutors he was trained by Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistan Taliban, and was planning a series of suicide attacks with 11 other men.
Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula has claimed responsibility for the attempted bombing of a Northwest Airlines passenger jet on Christmas Day, and the man who carried out the mission acknowledged that he was trained and outfitted in Yemen, where the group is headquartered. Meanwhile, the al-Qaida affiliate made a posting in the most recent issue of its Web-based magazine that recommended the use of small bombs for terrorist attacks. What else can I read about in al-Qaida’s magazine? All things jihadi. Over nearly two years and 11 issues, Sada al-Malahim (PDF) (“The Echo of Battles”) has published interviews with terrorist leaders, fighter biographies, tips on how to become a better al-Qaida foot soldier, lists of terrorists held by the Yemeni government, and thought pieces on the role of women in jihad. It also publishes fan mail. (Letters might celebrate the announcement of a successful strike against al-Qaida’s enemies.) The magazine has given out several Gmail addresses—most now abandoned or shut down—for reader comments.
DETROIT — A Northwest Airlines flight crew sought emergency assistance Sunday for a disruptive passenger who was taken into custody as the plane landed in Detroit, an airline official said.
Amid heightened global security concerns, the disturbance occurred on the same Northwest Flight 253 that was attacked by a terror suspect on Christmas Day.
On the flight, which arrived in Detroit from Amsterdam at 12:34 pm (1834 GMT), “there was a verbally disruptive passenger, and out of an abundance of caution the flight crew requested law enforcement meet the aircraft,” Susan Elliott, a spokeswoman for Delta, told AFP.
In the wake of the terrorism attempt Friday on a Northwest Airlines flight, federal officials on Saturday imposed a new layer of restrictions on travelers that could lengthen lines at airports and limit the ability of international passengers to move about an airplane. Among other steps being imposed, passengers on international flights coming to the United States will apparently have to remain in their seats for the last hour of a flight without any personal items on their laps. Overseas passengers will be restricted to only one carry-on item aboard the plane, and domestic passengers will probably face longer security lines.
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