Archive for the ‘Terrorism’ Category
Jon Stewart On The Crotchbomber
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010Jokes are obvious, because well, the whole freaking attack was OBVIOUS:
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Podcast: The Take That! Wrap-Up Of Chrysler, The Crotchbomber And Poor Ben Nelson
Sunday, January 3rd, 2010
The “crotchbomber”, Chrysler, Blackwater, Healthcare, and the fact that Ben Nelson is in serious trouble are the topics of this week’s show.
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The Crotch Bomber Smoking Gun: People And Policy Let This Guy Through AND There’s A Second Bomber On Board?
Thursday, December 31st, 2009This story just gets worse and more distressing. First, the government failed miserably as A.J. Strata demonstrates in a must-read piece. Here’s his conclusion:
The NCTC has computer connections to State, CIA, FBI etc. They see their reports almost as they are being entered. Their databases are being updated constantly.
The other detail is devastating. Now we add to all the connections I noted above that would have easily been caught by 1990’s computer (Abdulmutallab, Yemen, Nigeria, al-Aulaqi) one more data item that clearly makes it impossible that the dots were never connected:
The U.S. also had intelligence that between August and October of this year, extremists in Yemen were talking about operations. Someone known as “the Nigerian” was mentioned, and they had a partial name — Umar Farouk.
As in Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. No computer is going to miss that one. These dots had to be ignored by a human generated policy that overrides the output of the computer. Someone had to actively dismiss the evidence – no way that it was never connected. The computers could not miss connecting this data – unless they have been faulty for nearly 10 years now and never connected a single dot in all their years of operation and testing.
Second, a lawyer and witness on this flight insists that there is a co-conspirator involved and the government is covering it up. [Once again, MSM collusion. You'd think this would be a big scoop if any of them cared to investigate.] From MLive and the passenger and lawyer Kurt Haskell [another must-read post]:
Seriously Mr. Ron Smith, how stupid do you think the American public is?
Mr. Ron Smith’s third version of the story is an absolute inplausible joke. I encourage you, Mr. Ron Smith, to debate me anytime, anywhere, and anyplace in public to let the American people see who is credible and who is not.
I ask, isn’t this the more plausible story:
1. Customs/FBI realized that they screwed up and don’t want to admit that they left flight 253 passengers on a flight with a live bomb on the runway for 20 minutes.
2. Customs/FBI realized that they screwed up and don’t want to admit that they left flight 253 passengers in customs for 1 hour with a live bomb in a carry on bag.
3. Customs/FBI realize that the man in orange points to a greater involvement then the lone wolf theory that they have been promoting.Mr. Ron Smith I encourage you to come out of your cubicle and come up with a more plausible version number 4 of your story.”
Go read the whole thing.
Taken together, not only did the government egregiously screw up (yoo hoo? where is Hilary Clinton?), but the government is now covering up what appears to be a more extensive plot. This was not, it seems, a case of a lone bomber.
Podcast: TSA, Iran & President Obama’s Lack Of Leadership
Wednesday, December 30th, 2009Caleb Howe of RedState joins me to discuss this mess.
Caleb Howe of RedState joins Melissa to discuss terrorism, the TSA, the President’s leadership and America’s standing in the world.
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When Melissa isn’t on the radio, you can find her at melissaclouthier.com and on Twitter. Her username is MelissaTweets.
Terrorism On Northwest Airlines flight 253: Rage Renewed
Monday, December 28th, 2009Remember how you felt after 9/11? I do. The bile still boils into my throat thinking about those soulless bastards enjoying sucking life out of a vital, trusting, open America. That feeling was renewed as I read the account of this American family returning from Ethiopia after adopting two children, ages 6 and 8, who had never flown in a plane:
But then, the gravity of the situation came over the whole family.
“As the seriousness progressed, and we knew that this could possibly be it, my husband and daughter put their hand through their seats and we all held hands in a circle and sang ‘Jesus Loves Me’ and we prayed, and we just made it as much of a game as we could and make them completely innocent as to what was happening.”
“The holding hands gave us a real sense of peace. If it happened that point, it would happen. We were ready. We just weren’t ready for it to happen for the kids. We just kept thinking, ‘God didn’t bring us this far, to go through all of this, to shorten these kids’ lives,’ and sure enough, He didn’t.”
Once the flight attendants told everyone that the suspect was under control, and the fire was contained, Patricia said that most of the people handled the rest of the flight “fabulous.”
“We all sat in our seats. We stayed calm, other than (hearing) crying. Shortly thereafter, the captain said they were making an emergency landing.
The terrorists succeeded. Do you get that? They succeeded. They terrorized a whole plane of people. Killing them all would have been a huge bonus, but not necessary. The terrorists consider their worthless lives forfeit, anyway. They are brain-washed into loving death. They are black. Empty. Void. So to die or to not die means nothing. To terrorize, now that’s exciting.
And it makes me angry. Enraged. And it should make you angry, too. This could be your family. This could be your child.
These bad guy scum need to be expunged from existence. Period. Anything less than annihilation and we will have to live with this sort of threat forever.
Napolitano’s TSA: Grab Those Evil Rich White Women, They’re Threatening
Sunday, December 27th, 2009
Good grief.
UPDATED:
Amy Alkon has more [Read the whole thing.] She says:
Clearly, in TSA-think, the way to remedy this is not to do better on catching the obvious terrorists; it’s to make Granny Johnson diaper up before getting on a plane, because she’ll no longer be able to get up in the final hour of flight to use the restroom. Or keep a personal item in her lap. Or bring more than one carry-on. And never mind that all of these new measures would have done zippo to stop this particular member of the “religion of peace,” had his explosive underpanties been wired by people a little less incompetent.
Obama Keeps Congress In The Dark On War On Terror
Sunday, December 27th, 2009Oh, that’s right. There’s no longer a War On Terror.
UPDATED: Via Tom Elia remember “man-caused disasters?. Says Napolitano to Der Spiegel online:
In my speech, although I did not use the word “terrorism,” I referred to “man-caused” disasters. That is perhaps only a nuance, but it demonstrates that we want to move away from the politics of fear toward a policy of being prepared for all risks that can occur.
And:
Napolitano: Our policies will be guided by authoritative information. We also have assets at our disposal now that we did not have prior to 9/11. For example, we are much better able to keep track of travellers coming into the US than we were before. The third thing is to work with our international partners and allies to make sure that we are getting information and sharing information in an appropriate and real-time fashion.
So, this Man-Caused Disaster would be prevented by the way Napolitano would keep track of travelers. Right. UPDATED AGAIN: Jonah Goldberg says Napolitano should go.
Back to the story.
From the Politico:
Hoekstra said the Pentagon has prepared a new report on recidivism among Guantanamo detainees and is keeping the report classified despite repeated Congressional requests to make it public.
While Hoekstra and King were briefed by the White House about the Detroit incident, the pair were also chafing yesterday at what they said was the Obama Administration’s tight control on information about the Detroit incident. As with the shooting at Ft. Hood in November, the White House has ordered federal agencies not to provide briefings or answer inquiries from members of Congress, leaving all such contacts to be handled by the White House.
“I don’t think I ever saw that throughout President Bush’s time in the White House. I could call directly to the director of the CIA or the [National Counterterrorism Center] and get whatever briefings I wanted,” Hoekstra said. He called the briefing limits “totally inappropriate,” but said the White House maintained the orders were needed because of the ongoing criminal investigation.
So the terrorists released from Guantanamo Bay are causing more problems. They are going back home, committing more terrorism and the White House wants to keep that information from everyone.
Just another day in the life of the most transparent, ethical Presidency ever.
Americans, You’re On Your Own: Obama Golfs, Napolitano Duffs, The Press Carries Water
Sunday, December 27th, 2009
The Obama administration reacted to the terrorist attack on Christmas day with its usual aplomb: that is, they are tone deaf and in denial yet again.
President Obama has blithely continued his vacation, which even displeases liberals:
Some things are too important to delegate to a subordinate, or manage through a blackberry.
It’s December 27th, and people are getting ready to travel for New Years Day. They’re going to get patted down, sniffed and searched. They will not be able to get up for the last hour of their flight. And God knows what else.
They will be inconvenienced, in a way that I’m sure every sane human being on the face of the Earth hoped that Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab had been.
And even if it were only for appearances – even if it were simply to make people know the Commander-In-Chief was in front of whatever buttons and levers are at his disposal to act and react to threats to this nation – the President should have been inconvenienced as well.
And the underlings are saying crazy, unbelievable baloney:
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says investigators did not have enough information to keep a terror suspect from boarding a flight bound for Detroit and that the system worked as it should have.
The bomber was banned from Britain. I don’t think the security worked as it should.
Just in case you’re a little unnerved about the governments non-response response, the press is here to sooth you. Marc Ambimber does it best:
There is a reason why Obama hasn’t given a public statement. It’s strategy.
Here’s the theory: a two-bit mook is sent by Al Qaeda to do a dastardly deed. He winds up neutering himself. Literally.
Authorities respond appropriately; the President (as this president is want to to) presides over the federal response. His senior aides speak for him, letting reporters know that he’s videoconferencing regularly, that he’s ordering a review of terrorist watch lists, that he’s discoursing with his Secretary of Homeland Security.
But an in-person Obama statement isn’t needed; Indeed, a message expressing command, control, outrage and anger might elevate the importance of the deed, would generate panic (because Obama usually DOESN’T talk about the specifics of cases like this, and so him deciding to do so would cue the American people to respond in a way that exacerbates the situation.
Ooooh, strategy…. Sounds so official and mysterious and important…or the President doesn’t think terrorism is a big deal and really, he preferred to go golfing. Or that.
This reaction demonstrates more weakness. Being a President is as much symbolism as it is substance. I would like to remind our political betters, the nuanced ones, on the left that all of America rallied behind President Bush for his handling of 9/11. They liked tough words. They liked tough action.
Americans are more terrorism-savvy now, but this sort of thing alarms everyone. This is another confirmation that we are, in fact, at war. Ignoring the war while on the fourth tee does not mean that it is not happening.
The President and his underlings look ineffectual or worse, uncaring. The American people won’t get the relentless pictures portraying an indifferent Bush after Katrina because the press still loves Obama. But the American people are wise to that too as the approval ratings show.
Worst of all, this weakness emboldens America’s enemies. They know President Obama doesn’t have the stomach for war. They know he’s trying to appease Muslims. But again, his condescension reins. This war was never with Muslims generally (America saved countless Muslims in Iraq and they know it), it was with terrorists (rich terrorists) and the states that support them specifically. But the left conflated this reality and fed the bile which fed the enemy propaganda machine.
So, is the President willing to back-pedal yet again? If his golfing is any indication, no. His administration has decided to pretend. The moment is already lost.
Americans are left with a fear greater than fear of terrorists: That America lacks leadership and experience. No suicidal jihadist provokes as much fear as a weak President.
Americans, you’re on your own.
TSA: It’s Called Profiling, Do It–UPDATED
Saturday, December 26th, 2009
So, the TSA’s brilliant plan is to torture (in the liberal use of the word) all passengers to give us more of an illusion of safety. We weren’t safe before. Any moron would know that. And most people flying get that which is why they think about their own safety when boarding a plane. People take mental note now, of passengers, and go on with life–ready to act if necessary.
The solution to the terrorist problem is profiling. And then, actually use the profile.*
That’s right. Profiling. If a psychotic band of Christian, blond, blue-eyed teenage girls joined a death cult intent on killing people with laser beams blasting from their bras, guess what? I’d say search every blond teenage girl and leave the rest of the passengers stuck with airline travel alone.
As it is, this terror candidate was fairly obvious profile-wise. The UK Telegraph notes:
How can a Muslim student, whose name appears on a US law enforcement database, be granted a visa to travel to America, allegedly acquire an explosive device from Yemen, a country awash with al-Qaeda terrorists, and avoid detection from the world’s most sophisticated spy agencies?
Gee, why didn’t he make it easier and plaster a sign on his chest? But the thing is, TSA agents can’t be politically incorrect. Oh no! That might offend the sensibilities of middle eastern, Muslim garbed students everywhere. So granny gets X-rayed and searched and Abdullah, wearing Yemeni suicide bomber underwear makes it through he screening process unscathed.
After the Ft. Hood Muslim terrorist shooter basically trumpeted his intentions and was ignored by the military, I’d say it’s time to reevaluate our assessment of threat assessments.
It’s not enough to be on a watch list if no one is watching. It’s not enough to understand the terrorist profile if no one uses the profiling for fear of being called a bigot.
The enemy will get more subtle. Michael Haltman says:
Abdul Mutallab was charged today with trying to blow up an aircraft, and with willfully putting a destructive device onboard. The chemical that he had taped to his lower exteemities is PETN, also know as pentaerythritol. This chemical is reported to be one of the most powerful explosives, typically used in such devices as land mines.
In a test for future airport screening, the chemical was not picked up by magnetometers, and he was not forced to undergo a full body scan. The liquid that was used to attempt and ignite the chemical was below the ounce limit that would have prohibited it from be carried onboard.
I wonder how many old ladies or mothers were forced to do a full body scan. Why? Why the charade? We all know who is perpetrating these attacks. We cannot be blind to other possibilities. Still, for now, young Muslim, educated men seem to be the weapon of choice.
It’s called profiling. Do it.
*Please note that I get that this is an international flight. Still, shouldn’t America bear some responsibility for who we let fly into our country. We cannot rely on foreigners to value our lives like we value our lives. Also, this guy was a posterboy for terrorism. Obvious.
UPDATED:
And Donald Douglas skewers the left for their predictable, mindless response to this attack:
But even in the absence of evidence of al Qaeda’s ties to the Abdul Mutallab, we know the nature of al Qaeda’s threat has been transformed significantly since September 11, 2001. Audrey Kurth Cronin, an expert on international terrorism, and the author of “How al-Qaida Ends: The Decline and Demise of Terrorist Groups,” has noted recently that al Qaeda today is a fractured organization with a decentralized leadership. The group is more of an idea than an actual entity. As such, there’s little doubt of the seriousness of the threat, since follow-on organizations will likely take up the initative where Osama bin Laden left off. Indeed, Kurth Cronin suggests that while al Qaeda’s capabilities have been significantly weakened, and Western leaders have indeed suffered from an over-emphasis on leadership decapitation, “Even in its diminished state, al Qaeda and its franchises remain armed and dangerous.”
Read the whole thing.
UPDATED AGAIN:
Kathleen has a new site KathleenMcKinley.com and also a link to the CNN interview with one of the people who subdued the terrorist. But really, I can’t help but noticing Fredrika Whitfield’s belt. Really, Fredrika? I mean if the First Lady jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you jump, too?
Gitmo To Chicago
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009For your consideration:
Alexander Statement on Proposal to Relocate Gitmo Detainees to American Soil
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, today issued the following statement on the administration’s proposal to move detainees from Guantanamo Bay to the United States:
“Congress made it very clear to the administration that bringing dangerous terrorists onto American soil is not only the wrong thing to do, but goes against the wishes of the American people. I have yet to hear one good reason why moving these terrorists from off our shores right into the heart of our country makes us safer.”
Safer isn’t the point. Political appeasement is the point.
UPDATED:
Mike Pence’s thoughts:
“By moving known terrorists to American soil, the Obama Administration is putting international public relations ahead of public safety. How does closing Guantanamo Bay make us safer? How does moving over seventy known terrorists, to a facility in my beloved heartland of this country, make our families more safe? And how does it even make sense? Mr. President: rescind this order; reconsider your decision, put the safety and security of the American people ahead of international public opinion.” –Mike Pence
