printIt worked like magic with the Unabomber’s brother, but not with the generic Abdul’s father. Not even a warning from dad could sway America to look upon a Muslim suspect with suspicion.
“FATHER OF TERROR SUSPECT REPORTED SON 6 MONTHS AGO.
“US Approved Passenger List.” NEWSWEEK is reporting that “Farouk Abdulmutallab (previously identified in the media as Abdul Mudallad), was entered into a database used by the government to deny or restrict U.S. … The fact that Abdulmutallab was not on the U.S. government’s ‘no fly list’ would help to explain why American authorities cleared the aircraft he boarded, Northwest Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit, for takeoff. As NEWSWEEK reported earlier today, Dutch authorities say their U.S. counterparts were given the passenger list for review before the flight left the gate and its departure was not approved until clearance was received from the U.S.”
All the Kings Horses and All The King’s Men—the agencies the government has created to protect us—possessed all the requisite information needed to stop or supervise this character closely, but didn’t. Yawn. “Your Government Jihadi Protection Program” at work. (That’s why we need the state apparatus to manage medicine.)
The WaPo confirms too that, “The suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was added to a catch-all terrorism-related database … Abdulmutallab was not placed on any watch list for flights into the United States, however, because there was ‘insufficient derogatory information available’ to include him, another administration official said.”
Maj. Nidad Hasan all over again?
Update I (Dec. 27): HAVE TUMMY TROUBLES WILL TRAVEL. Mass contagion ensues. A passenger lingers in the loo too long and is apprehended, but certified “Non-Threatening,” eventually. The man “spent about an hour in the bathroom and got upset when he was questioned by the crew of the flight from Amsterdam,” reports CNN.
The security alert aboard a Northwest Airlines jet Sunday was the result of a “non-serious” incident, and the man questioned in connection with the scare does not appear to be a threat, a law enforcement source said Sunday.
The crew of Northwest Flight 253 — the same Amsterdam, Netherlands-to-Detroit, Michigan flight targeted Friday in what prosecutors called a bomb plot — reported a “verbally disruptive” passenger Sunday and requested police meet the plane, airline and airport officials told CNN. The man was questioned by police after the plane landed in Detroit early Sunday afternoon.
If you thought you were hassled at the airport before, just you wait. The Nigerians manning America’s airport screening posts will be reacting against Oma from Omaha will a vengeance.
Update II (Dec. 28): The Transportation Security Administration (T.S.A) wasted no time in retaliating against the sheeple for an attempted attack by a profile in suspicious behavior:
The NYT: “the new T.S.A. measures required an additional round of searches, including body pat-downs at airport gates overseas.
International travelers were also told that they could not leave their seats for the last hour of a flight, during which time they also could not use a pillow or blanket. They were also limited to one piece of carry-on baggage, including a purse or briefcase, and that piece had to be stowed in an overhead compartment for the last hour of a flight.
Airlines were ordered to turn off in-flight entertainment systems with maps showing a plane’s location, and pilots and flight crews were told not to make comments about cities or landmarks below the flight path.
There also were unspecified measures at airports in the United States, where lines at screening machines grew long. At the Detroit airport, officers in bright blue vests marked “Police” walked through the check-in lobby. … Henry Chen, 48, a businessman who lives in San Francisco, said he was shocked to have a female flight attendant barge in on him in the restroom while he was washing his face during a flight from Seoul. “It was kind of weird, to have a lady try to get in,” he said. “She said that they had to watch people being in the restroom too long.”
Update III: SO MUCH FOR LISTS. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano “acknowledged that U.S. authorities had placed Abdulmutallab on a general counterterrorism watch list that contains about 550,000 names, which is shared with airlines and foreign security agencies. Administration officials acknowledged Abdulmutallab was placed on that list a month ago after his father, a respected Nigerian banker, went to U.S. authorities in Nigeria with concerns about his son’s ties to militants.
Napolitano said without specific and ‘credible’ evidence of suspicious activity, Abdulmutallab could not be classified as the kind of greater security risk that would bar him from traveling to the U.S.”
[SNIP]
What does a Muslim, bomb-carrying boy need to do in order to get American attention? Go on Oprah? This is a cry for help!
The “religion of peace” strikes again, and let me predict that there will be no outcry from co-religionists, as usual.
I am afraid it will take a major bloody nose before the American people – and their elected leaders – wake up to the reality of the situation. This worldwide problem will not be solved with negotiations and discussions or cultural exchanges and nice speeches of appeasement. This war will continue to be brought to our doorsteps – notice the increasing frequency, many unreported – until we take it seriously.
We need to truly believe that our existence is at stake. Signs that we do believe will be: (a) the Israeli approach is taken in airport security, (b) our borders will be secured, (c) we will stop mincing our words when speaking of the dangers, (d) we will take out the nuclear infrastructure in Iran, (e) we will put back the missile defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic, (f) we will stop participating in UN organizations run by dictatorships, (g) we will no longer tolerate the Saudi funding of radical training in the US via mosques.
There are also a whole set of domestic policies that undermine our nation from within – these, another time.
The government ignores Abdul and Hasan but investigated my late cat Buddy as part of a background investigation. It may be that the liberals’ nightmare may actually come to self-fulfilling fruition one day – namely:
(1) The economy tanks completely – 1989 Eastern Europe / Lehman Brothers style with ZERO left
(2) A lot of “angry” PTSD veterans and other “real Americans” who see that their house/savings/401-k etc. are ZERO get violent
(3) Unlike incompetent free-lancing shoebombers and FBI-manufactured Jihadists, we wind up with some REAL domestic terrorists who can do real damage.
As someone who has to interact with the affirmative-action, governmental politically correct “promote the incompetent” security, do not expect much real protection from Uncle Sam. They are too busy screaming at 3 year olds who walk through the machine with their shoes or confiscating my yogurt (my last 2 flights). As with recent Northwest 253 (and United 93!), ordinary people will have to provide their own security:
“Schuringa, a video producer, restrained Abdulmutallab as others used blankets and fire extinguishers to douse the flames. ”
The government’s attitude from Newsweek says it all:
“U.S. officials cautioned NEWSWEEK against connecting too many dots prematurely.”
It amazes how slow on the uptake the squares are. All the father had to do was whisper it about that his son was a Geert Wilders supporter or climate change denier, and there’d be code reds all over the place.
“We need to truly believe that our existence is at stake.” So says Haym.
I am always curious as to how people can believe that the very existence of the United States is threatened by Islamic Terrorists. Are they going to be dropping from the sky with parachutes, kalashnikov in hand, mowing down suburban america block by block? Or maybe they will just board every single plane one afternoon and simultaneously blow themselves up, and in the climatic aftermath we will all be too traumatized to go on with our own lives. Seriously.
Airport security in a nutshell: Six ounces of toothpaste: Bad. Two three ounce tubes of toothpaste: Good. Ninety five year old grandmother in a walker: Bad. Nineteen foreign nationals with box cutters and mostly expired immigration visas: Good.
It all makes perfect sense.
Is it just me, or does anyone else think that a few heads should roll at the State Department? Doesn’t punishing the people who let Abdulmutallab into the country seem more efficacious than harassing travelers?
In a sense, the Abdulmutallab incident is comforting. I do things that liberals don’t like, such as making politicllay incorrect comments on the web and owning firearms. Consequently, I’m almost certainly listed as an armed and dangerous right wing radical in a number of federal databases. It’s nice to know that nobody ever looks at those databases.
Mrs. Mercer,
What do you make of the idea that Muslim immigration into the US (and the West in general) should be several restricted, if not banned entirely? Personally I don’t see any other way to prevent these sort of things from happening.
[See “MUSLIM IMMIGRATION TIME BOMB IGNORED BY AMERICAN JEWS”]
For Haym: (1) Missile defense is just an unreliable contractor boondoggle, (2) if we hadn’t gotten stuck in Iraq/Af-Pak, we might have some leverage with Iran (3) right now, going after Iran might unleash more problems than it is worth, (4) none of your “solutions” addresses the idiots mismanaging aviation “security” who can’t even stop someone who was turned in by his father!
I regrettably listened to Matt Lauer and his Today show statist idiot-experts telling us why I can neither pee on an airplane or even appear to be uncomfortable because I have to pee on an airplane nor have a raisin on my lap, etc. How’s this: all hijackers have been humans? Just stop humans from flying and only let animals fly! I hate watching this country getting paranoid and handing more power over to the same incompetents who allowed Abdul to get a visa and board an airplane.
Once again, the ancient wisdom still holds true (attributed to Benjamin Franklin):
“Those who would give up ESSENTIAL LIBERTY to purchase a little TEMPORARY SAFETY, deserve neither LIBERTY nor SAFETY.”
Sadly, I have to fly for Government work next month. I would prefer to be on the no-fly list.