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Mutallab Defended 9/11

Posted by Defend America on Sunday, December 27, 2009 10:55:45 PM

Abdulmutallab's bomb plans began with classroom defence of 9/11

The son of one of Africa’s richest families was called "Imam" by fellow students as he descended into fanaticism

Dominic Kennedy, Investigations Editor

The rich kid with a brilliant school record was a ticking time bomb even before he turned up as an international student living in his father’s mansion block apartment in Britain.

Classmates remember Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab as such a pious youth that he was nicknamed “the Pope”.

Suicide bombers typically take half a dozen years to descend from religious fanaticism to “martyrdom”, which appears to be the case for this young Nigerian, a security expert said.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6969075.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=797093



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Mutallab Had an Aide?

Posted by Defend America on Sunday, December 27, 2009 10:52:49 PM

Flight 253 passenger: Sharp-dressed man aided terror suspect Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab onto plane without passport (MLive.com exclusive)

By Sheena Harrison | MLive.com

December 26, 2009, 2:22PM

A Michigan man who was aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 says he witnessed Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab trying to board the plane in Amsterdam without a passport.

Kurt Haskell of Newport, Mich., who posted an earlier comment about his experience, talked exclusively with MLive.com and confirmed he was on the flight by sending a picture of his boarding pass. He and his wife, Lori, were returning from a safari in Uganda when they boarded the NWA flight on Friday.

Haskell said he and his wife were sitting on the ground near their boarding gate in Amsterdam, which is when they saw Mutallab approach the gate with an unidentified man.

Kurt and Lori Haskell are attorneys with Haskell Law Firm in Taylor. Their expertise includes bankruptcy, family law and estate planning.

While Mutallab was poorly dressed, his friend was dressed in an expensive suit, Haskell said. He says the suited man asked ticket agents whether Mutallab could board without a passport. “The guy said, 'He's from Sudan and we do this all the time.'”

Mutallab is Nigerian. Haskell believes the man may have been trying to garner sympathy for Mutallab's lack of documents by portraying him as a Sudanese refugee.

The ticket agent referred Mutallab and his companion to her manager down the hall, and Haskell didn't see Mutallab again until after he allegedly tried to detonate an explosive on the plane.

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2009/12/flight_253_passenger_says_at_l.html

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More to Come Very Soon?

Posted by Defend America on Sunday, December 27, 2009 10:51:03 PM

25 Brits in jet bomb plots

By ANTHONY FRANCE
Crime Reporter
and ALEX WEST

Published: Today

COPS fear that 25 British-born Muslims are plotting to bomb Western airliners.

The fanatics, in five groups, are now training at secret terror camps in Yemen.

It was there London-educated Umar Abdulmutallab, 23, prepared for his Christmas Day bid to blow up a US jet.

The British extremists in Yemen are in their early 20s and from Bradford, Luton and Leytonstone, East London.

They are due to return to the UK early in 2010 and will then await internet instructions from al-Qaeda on when to strike.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2785733.ece

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Death Toll Rises

Posted by Defend America on Sunday, December 27, 2009 7:57:29 PM

Death Toll Rises to 10 as Clashes in Iran Intensify


By ROBERT F. WORTH and NAZILA FATHI
Published: December 27, 2009

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Iranian police opened fire into crowds of protesters on Sunday, killing at least 10 people, witnesses and opposition Web sites said, and setting off a day of chaotic street battles that seemed poised to deepen the country’s civil unrest.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/28/world/middleeast/28iran.html?_r=2&hp


Tags: Iran  
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Senator Baucus Drunk on the Senate Floor

Posted by Defend America on Sunday, December 27, 2009 7:34:31 PM
Tags: baucus  
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Another Incident on Same Flight Number as Thwarted Terrorist Attack and the Man was Also from Nigeria Carrying No Luggage (Updated)

Posted by Defend America on Sunday, December 27, 2009 2:55:08 PM

Police Arrest 'Disruptive' Passenger Aboard Plane at Detroit Airport

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Police have arrested a Nigerian man who reportedly became verbally disruptive and barricaded himself in the bathroom of a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight on Sunday.

Several police vehicles and a police command unit have surrounded a plane at Detroit's Metro Airport, after the pilot of a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight requested emergency help.

Two sources tell Fox News that the suspect boarded a plan in Lagos with no baggage, and said the FBI has already sent an email alert to other federal agencies notifying them of the incident.

The source said the man taken into custody at the Detroit airport was a Nigerian man in his 30s. Federal officials know who the suspect is, but won't provide any more details. He allegedly barricaded himself in the plane's bathroom for an hour.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,581232,00.html


Update: It is being reported now that the incident is a "non-event." The passenger was just a sick passenger.
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Napolitano has to Go Immediately

Posted by Defend America on Sunday, December 27, 2009 12:44:03 PM
Jonah Goldberg at The Corner blog on National Review Online nails it right on the head:

Fire Napolitano    [Jonah Goldberg]

Understandbly, the White House is trying very hard to get out in front of the would-be Christmas bomber story. The head of the Department of Homeland Security isn't helping. I watched her on three shows and each time she was more annoying, maddening and absurd than the pevious appearance. It is her basic position that the "system worked" because the bureaucrats responded properly after the attack. That the attack was "foiled" by a bad detonator and some civilian passengers is proof, she claims, that her agency is doing everything right. That is just about the dumbest thing she could say, on the merits and politically. I would wager that not one percent of Americans think the system is "working" when terrorists successfully get bombs onto planes (and succeed in activating them). Probably even fewer think it's fair that they have to take off their shoes, endure delays and madness while a known Islamic radical — turned in by his own father — can waltz onto a plane (and into the country). DHS had no role whatsoever in assuring that this bomb didn't go off. By her logic if the bomb had gone off, the system would have "worked" since it has done everything right.

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YTY0Y2E2NWQ3Nzc2MjYzMWMwOGJlNzE2NDVlMGUwZjM=



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Protesters Continue to Fight off the Police

Posted by Defend America on Sunday, December 27, 2009 12:40:37 PM

Fierce Clashes Break Out in Tehran


By CHIP CUMMINS


DUBAI -- Clashes between opposition protesters and Iranian authorities erupted Sunday in Tehran, with unconfirmed reports that four protesters – including the nephew of Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi – were killed in fighting.

The clashes erupted despite a heavy deployment early in the day of police and other security forces around the capital, according to opposition Web sites. Authorities had braced for large-scale protests marking the culmination Sunday of an important Shiite Muslim commemoration.

The aide to Mr. Mousavi said the nephew, Ali Mousavi, died of wounds in a hospital on Sunday, the Associated Press reported. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because of fears of reprisals from the government. A reformist Web site, Parlemannews.ir, also said Mr. Mousavi's nephew was killed..

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126190470303706251.html


Tags: Iran  
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Fannie and Freddie to be Continued to be Bailed Out

Posted by Defend America on Saturday, December 26, 2009 3:39:30 PM

U.S. Move to Cover Fannie, Freddie Losses Stirs Controversy


By JAMES R. HAGERTY and JESSICA HOLZER

The Obama administration's decision to cover an unlimited amount of losses at the mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the next three years stirred controversy over the holiday.

The Treasury announced Thursday it was removing the caps that limited the amount of available capital to the companies to $200 billion each.

Unlimited access to bailout funds through 2012 was "necessary for preserving the continued strength and stability of the mortgage market," the Treasury said. Fannie and Freddie purchase or guarantee most U.S. home mortgages and have run up huge losses stemming from the worst wave of defaults since the 1930s.

"The timing of this executive order giving Fannie and Freddie a blank check is no coincidence," said Rep. Spencer Bachus of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the House Financial Services Committee. He said the Christmas Eve announcement was designed "to prevent the general public from taking note."

Treasury officials couldn't be reached for comment Friday.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126168307200704747.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLTopStories


Tags: Bailout   obama  
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Al-Qaeda in Yemen Planned the Plot in Detroit

Posted by Defend America on Saturday, December 26, 2009 3:13:53 PM

Investigators: Northwest Bomb Plot Planned by al Qaeda in Yemen

Officials Say Bomb Materials Sewn Into Suspect's Underwear by Top Terror Bomb Maker

By RICHARD ESPOSITO and BRIAN ROSS
Dec. 26, 2009

The plot to blow up an American passenger jet over Detroit was organized and launched by al Qaeda leaders in Yemen who apparently sewed bomb materials into the suspect's underwear before sending him on his mission, federal authorities tell ABC News.

Investigators say the suspect had more than 80 grams of PETN, a compound related to nitro-glycerin used by the military. The so-called shoe bomber, Richard Reid, had only about 50 grams kin his failed attempt in 2001 to blow up a U.S.-bound jet. Yesterday's bomb failed because the detonator may have been too small or was not in "proper contact" with the explosive material, investigators told ABC News.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/northwest-bomb-plot-planned-al-qaeda-yemen/story?id=9426085
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Hero Who Thwarted the Attempted Terrorist Attack in Detroit

Posted by Defend America on Saturday, December 26, 2009 2:46:34 PM

Dutch Passenger Hurls Into Action to Stop Alleged Terrorist on Plane

Saturday, December 26, 2009

A Dutch airline passenger told The Post how he leapt into action when an alleged Muslim terrorist tried to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner packed with 300 people just moments before landing.

Chaos erupted as alleged terrorist Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, 23, tried to set off a sophisticated explosive device strapped to his body.

"Suddenly, we hear a bang. It sounded like a firecracker went off," said Jasper Schuringa, a film director who was traveling to the US to visit friends.

"When [it] went off, everybody panicked ... Then someone screamed, ‘Fire! Fire!’"

Schuringa, sitting in seat 20J, in the right-most section of the Airbus 330, looked to his left. "I saw smoke rising from a seat ... I didn’t hesitate. I just jumped," he said.

Schuringa dove over four passengers to reach Abdul Mutallab’s seat. The suspect had a blanket on his lap. "It was smoking and there were flames coming from beneath his legs."

"I searched on his body parts and he had his pants open. He had something strapped to his legs."

The unassuming hero ripped the flaming, molten object — which resembled a small, white shampoo bottle — off Abdul Mutallab’s left leg, near his crotch. He said he put out the fire with his bare hands.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,581178,00.html


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Still Have Not Improved Since 9/11

Posted by Defend America on Saturday, December 26, 2009 1:10:10 PM

Official: U.S. Knew for 2 Years Suspect Could Have Terror Ties

Saturday, December 26, 2009

An official briefed on the foiled attack on a Detroit airliner says the U.S. has known for at least two years that the suspect could have terrorist ties.

The official tells The Associated Press that the suspect, Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, has been on a list that includes people with known or suspected contact or ties to a terrorist or terrorist organization.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,581180,00.html


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Obama Gets a Poor Grade from Democrat Senator Russ Feingold

Posted by Defend America on Saturday, December 26, 2009 12:44:42 PM

Obama falls short on pledge to curtail earmarks, fiscal hawks say

By Walter Alarkon - 12/26/09 08:04 AM ET
Fiscal hawks in Congress say President Barack Obama hasn't followed through on a pledge to lower federal spending on local projects.

Earmarks are expected to total nearly $12 billion in fiscal 2010, according to fiscal watchdog groups. While that number is less than the $15 billion total in 2009, lawmakers from both parties said Obama hasn’t kept up the kind of pressure he showed during his first weeks in office or that he promised as a candidate.

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) said Obama made earmark reform "a very big part of [his] campaign" but still signed this month two massive spending measures that both included approximately $4 billion in earmarks.

Feingold, who broke with his party to oppose both the $447 billion 2010 omnibus spending bill and the $636 billion 2010 Pentagon spending bill, said the president could have used his veto pen to reject the measures and force lawmakers to cut earmark funding.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/73617-obama-falls-short-on-pledge-to-curtail-earmarks-fiscal-hawks-say
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Only a Few Changes

Posted by Defend America on Saturday, December 26, 2009 10:34:27 AM

Centrists set strict guidelines for Senate-House healthcare talks

By Alexander Bolton - 12/25/09 08:07 AM ET
Democratic centrists have informed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) they will accept few changes in the final healthcare bill negotiated between the House and Senate.

Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) have made clear there is little room to deviate from the bill the Senate passed on Christmas Eve.

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/73607-centrists-set-strict-guidelines-for-senate-house-health-talks
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Thanks to the Passengers

Posted by Defend America on Saturday, December 26, 2009 10:31:02 AM
Passengers help foil attack on Detroit-bound plane

Dec 26, 8:49 AM (ET)

By JIM IRWIN

ROMULUS, Mich. (AP) - An attempted terrorist attack on a Christmas Day flight began with a pop and a puff of smoke - sending passengers scrambling to subdue a Nigerian man who claimed to be acting on orders from al-Qaida to blow up the airliner, officials and travelers said.

The commotion began as Northwest Airlines Flight 253, carrying 278 passengers and 11 crew members from Amsterdam, prepared to land in Detroit just before noon Friday. Travelers said they smelled smoke, saw a glow, and heard what sounded like firecrackers. At least one person climbed over others and jumped on the man, who officials say was trying to ignite an explosive device.

"It sounded like a firecracker in a pillowcase," said Peter Smith, a passenger from the Netherlands. "First there was a pop, and then (there) was smoke."

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20091226/D9CR18JO0.html


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