AP sources: Al-Qaida link in failed plane attack

[John317]

By LARRY MARGASAK and LARA JAKES, Associated Press Writer – 11 mins ago

WASHINGTON – A Northwest Airlines passenger from Nigeria, who said he was acting on al-Qaida's instructions, tried to blow up the plane Friday as it was landing in Detroit, law enforcement and national security officials said.

Passengers subdued the man and may have prevented him from detonating the explosives, the officials said.

"We believe this was an attempted act of terrorism," a White House official said.

Federal officials imposed stricter screening measures after the incident.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., ranking GOP member of the House Homeland Security Committee, identified the suspect as Abdul Mudallad, a Nigerian.

King said the flight began in Nigeria and went through Amsterdam en route to Detroit. There were 278 passengers aboard the Airbus 330.

There was nothing out of the ordinary until the flight was on final approach to Detroit, said Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory. That is when the pilot declared an emergency and landed without incident shortly thereafter, Cory said in an e-mail message. The plane landed at 11:51 a.m. EST.

One of the U.S. intelligence officials said the explosive device was a mix of powder and liquid. It failed when the passenger tried to detonate it.

The passenger was being questioned Friday evening. An intelligence source said the Nigerian passenger was being held and treated in an Ann Arbor, Mich., hospital.

All the sources spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing.

One law enforcement source said the man claimed to have been instructed by al-Qaida to detonate the plane over U.S. soil.

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

I had already put up a thread about this on Townhall, but this article has a little more info. You can delete mine if you want.

[phkrause]

"One law enforcement source said the man claimed to have been instructed by al-Qaida to detonate the plane over U.S. soil."

So I guess since he really messed up, no beavy of women for him?

pk

[Guest]

Why is he being treated at the hospital, did the passengers hurt the poor fellow?

[olger]

crazy people, crazy

g

[Tom Wetmore]

Why is he being treated at the hospital, did the passengers hurt the poor fellow?

According to the most recent reports, the man was badly burned what was apparently the explosives, or perhaps the ignition materials, that were attached to his legs. After he was subdued he was placed in a first row seat under arrest. The woman seated in the first row next to him said that his pant legs appeared to have been cut off and his legs were badly burned.

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

I can't figure out how he got past security with something like that attached to his legs!

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

By JIM IRWIN, Associated Press Writer

DETROIT – A prominent Nigerian banker said Saturday he feared his son was the man authorities say tried to blow up a plane as it prepared to land in Detroit before nearby passengers — who saw a glow and heard what sounded like firecrackers — tackled him.

The suspect tried ignite the explosive device onboard a Northwest Airlines plane from Amsterdam just before it landed in Detroit on Friday, officials said. Travelers who say they smelled smoke and heard a popping noise said at least one man climbed over a seat and jumped on the man.

An official said the U.S. had known for at least two years that that the suspect — identified as a Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab — could have had terrorist ties and was on a list that includes people with known or suspected ties to a terrorist organization.

Mutallab claimed to have been instructed by al-Qaida to detonate the plane over U.S. soil, said a U.S. law enforcement official. But others cautioned that such claims could not be verified immediately. All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing.

In Nigeria, the father told The Associated Press that his son, a former university student in London, had left Britain to travel abroad and may have gone to Yemen, an unstable country on the tip of the Arabian Peninsula where al-Qaida has increasingly found safe havens.

rest of story

[Bravus]

Yeah, my first reaction was that so far we only have this guy's word for the al Qaeda links - he could very easily be a lone loon with delusions...

[Guest]

He could just as easily be linked to al-Qaida.

[Bravus]

Of course - my point was that at this stage we just don't know, and should avoid jumping to conclusions until we have better evidence.

[phkrause]

"In Nigeria, the father told The Associated Press that his son, a former university student in London, had left Britain to travel abroad and may have gone to Yemen, an unstable country on the tip of the Arabian Peninsula where al-Qaida has increasingly found safe havens."

Its amazing how these guys go from one country to another. We go to Iraq to get them and they move to Afhganistan. Than we go in there to get them and it looks like now there in Yemen. Than well go in there and than which country will harbor them? It goes on and on.

pk

[olger]

Nigerian Bankers....I seem to have gotten several emails from them.....................................

:)

[BSW]

Here is another tid bit I found on the (cough)internet(cough)

Napolitano Sheepishly Acknowledges Security System Failed

Kurt Nimmo

December 28, 2009

Homeland Security boss Janet Napolitano has backtracked from statements over the weekend that all is well with the police state grid at airports, a control matrix supposedly set-up to protect us from the CIA and its demented and brainwashed Islamic minions.

“The secretary of homeland security, Janet Napolitano, said Monday that the thwarted bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner represented a failure of the nation’s aviation security system, not the success she and other administration officials had portrayed in comments over the weekend,” The New York Times reports today.

Thwarted? The dizzy bomber was escorted to the plane by a “sharp-dressed” man. He was allowed to board without a passport and was videotaped during an intelligence operation designed to kick-start the flagging war on manufactured terrorism and provide a pretext for further tweaks to the Gestapo-ization of airports and eventually all public buildings, malls, and street corners.

Ms. Napolitano said Monday on NBC’S “Today” that her remark the day before — “the system has worked really very, very smoothly over the course of the past several days” — had been taken out of context. “Our system did not work in this instance,” she said. “No one is happy or satisfied with that. An extensive review is under way.”

Actually Napolitano failed to check with her bosses before talking to the corporate media. If she had been properly briefed, she would have toted the company line — al-Qaeda is out there, reinvigorated, has a new platoon of brain-diminished converts (military and intelligence patsies) who are itching to kill third graders on international flights, so unfortunately the government will sadly be forced to turn wildly over-priced flights into flying maximum security prison cells.

Several days have passed since the absurd underwear non-bombing above Detroit and the government has had plenty of time to formulate its propaganda and talking points and these will now be dispensed from on-high to the lapdog corporate media. It is shaping up to be a repeat of 9/11 when numerous oddities and inconsistencies were swept into the memory hole and the doubters were stigmatized as crazy and dangerous conspiracy theorists who according to at least one mockingbird propaganda anchor should be tased and locked in concentration camps.

Part of this effort will be expanding the so-called “terror watchlists” that now contain the names of millions of innocent Americans. “Federal authorities met Monday to reassess the nation’s system of terror watchlists to determine how to avoid the type of lapse that allowed a man with explosives to board a flight to the U.S. even though he was flagged as a possible terrorist,” reports The Associated Press.

The White House press office said early Monday that President Obama would make a statement within hours from the Kaneohe Marine Base in Hawaii, according to The Associated Press.

Obama will issue obligatory platitudes and announce tweaks to the police state grid. He will also likely announce action to be taken against al-Qaeda in Yemen (sort of like al-Qaeda in Iraq used an excuse to kill 1.2 million Iraqis).

Expect more Hellfire missiles launched from CIA operated Predator drones against Muslim school children in the days to come.

It's amazing the difference of story , isn't it?

[phkrause]

Nigerian Bankers....I seem to have gotten several emails from them.....................................

LOL, I've gotten a few myself. :):):)