Posted on Wednesday, 30th December 2009 by Bruce
It’s becoming clear that the events that led up to Al Qaeda operative Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab boarding a Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas Day and nearly blowing 300 people out of the sky on final approach (with a faulty Al Qaeda-built bomb, of course) was nothing less than a complete breakdown in the intelligence network entrusted with the task of keeping Americans safe.
In fact, we now know that U.S. intelligence bureaucrats received word that “a Nigerian” being trained in Yemen was plotting the Christmas Day attack weeks in advance, but were apparently too powerless (or unmotivated) to thwart the attack.
The British Daily Telegraph’s U.S. Editor, Toby Harnden, assesses the situation and assigns blame. And, in Harnden’s opinion, the responsibility for the “systemic breakdown” rests squarely on the shoulders of that hoop-shooting hipster, international pop star, Mr. Hope and Change himself, Barack Hussein Soetoro-Obama:
“In his studied desire to be the unBush by responding coolly to events like this, Obama is dangerously close to failing as a leader. Yes, it is good not to shoot from the hip and make broad assertions without the facts. But Obama took three days before speaking to the American people, emerging on Monday in between golf and tennis games in Hawaii to deliver a rather tepid address that significantly underplayed what happened. He described Abdulmutallab as an “isolated extremist” who “allegedly tried to ignite an explosive device on his body” – phrases that indicate a legalistic, downplaying approach that alarms rather than reassures. Today’s words showed a lot more fire and desire to get on top of things – we’ll see whether Obama follows through with action. In the meantime, he went snorkelling.There has been a pattern developing with the Obama administration trying to minimise terrorist attacks. We saw it with Abdul Hakim Mujahid Muhammad, a Muslim convert who murdered a US Army recruit in Little Rock, Arkansas in June. We saw it with Major Nidal Malik Hassan, a Muslim with Palestinian roots who slaughtered 13 at Fort Hood, Texas last month. In both cases, there were Yemen connections. Obama began to take the same approach with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. We’ll see whether this incident shakes him out of that complacency. Whether it’s called the war on terror or not, it’s clear that the US is at war against al-Qaeda and radical Islamists.
Janet Napolitano, Obama’s Homeland Security Chief, has been a distaster in this, exhibiting the kind of bureaucratic complacency that makes ordinary citizens want to go postal. On Sunday, she told CNN that “one thing I’d like to point out is that the system worked” and ABC News that “once the incident occurred, the system worked”. A day later, she grumbled that quoted “out of context” before reversing herself, telling NBC: “Our system did not work in this instance. No one is happy or satisfied with that. An extensive review is under way.” The “system worked” comment was a “heckuva job, Brownie” moment. Is she up to the job?”
Check out the rest of Harnden’s opinion piece at this link.
Posted in Home | Comments (14)
14 Responses to “Paper: Obama gets an “F” for protecting Americans”
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December 30th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
We can only hope that in 2010 and 2012 we can sweep out the spacey emo-kids from office and put some much needed grown adults into those positions.
December 30th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Hey, it only took Barry 3 days to respond from his Hawaiian vacation… What more can you expect? The man’s tired from his year as Savior.
December 30th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
On my blog, I have had a interesting conversation from a air marshal. He gives some good insight about how the system works from his perspective.
http://lasvegasbadger.blogspot.com/2009/12/boise-idaho-hotbed-of-terrorism.html
December 30th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
As the person you (Dan) were interacting with on your blog made clear, the threat is best stopped BEFORE it boards the aircraft. Political correctness is the major problem in this equation. TSA, with the approval of the Obama administration, needs to appoint a good City Police boss to head the agency. One who comes with excellent street smarts and a demonstrated record of getting the job done. That person will hire others who have those same qualities and can, from their experience as active coppers, distinguish the threat prior to boarding. Will some people’s feelings get hurt? Who really gives a shit as long as the bad guys don’t get on the plane. Of course, this will never happen under an Obama lefty administration nor will it ever happen under any administration more worried about people having their feelings hurt than they are about safe airline travel.
Air marshals were established to take care of the overt threats such as the kind used during the 9-11 hijackings. What happened during the Detroit incident was dumb luck and reacted to by a fast acting passenger who was close to the threat and who did the right thing. Had an Air marshal been on that flight and been seated anywhere farther away than the hero, the Air marshal wouldn’t have been able to do anymore than was done and would have also had to depend on the dumb luck of the explosive not detonating just as everyone else on that plane.
Aggressive intelligence, and active sharing of information by intell agencies, coupled with aggressive TSA screening, to include profiling, is the solution to this problem. And you can’t hire people with no real police experience for that kind of work. The “profilers” shouldn’t be doing the mundane TSA duties of checking passengers in or checking their bags either. The “profilers” need to be in the immediate vicinity of the screening location; wandering the airport terminal; and even monitoring the perimeter of the terminal where passengers enter the terminal. A good street cop will see things that civilians will never notice and can initiate “secondary screenings” by a uniformed TSA agent without the suspicious person ever knowing why he’s being given a second look.
December 30th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Unhhh…Glenn…
Saw another idea on a different website. How about this:
FIRE most of the TSA people. Put the responsibility for allowing/disallowing boarding on the airlines. Let them hire a bunch of Israeli El-Al security people to run the business, with only a few TSA people at each airport w/database access, arrest/detention authority, etc.
IOW, get Gummint out of it–mostly.
December 30th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
Followup: that also allows for the retired street-cop people, who could be hired by the airlines as well.
No PC bullshit problems. You don’t like profiling? Fly another airline. Of course, you could also walk, or drive, or swim.
December 30th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
Barry is losing Maureen Dowd.
December 30th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
10-4 dad29. I like it. I also have a plan that includes former Navy Seals, but that one is classified.
December 31st, 2009 at 12:37 am
I have seen a better idea, segregate Muslims, Democrats, and Congressional staffers to one set of flights. Put everyone else on the rest of the flights. One load of Democrats taken out by a panty bomber will force the Democrats to wake up to the fact we are at war, and them surrendering isn’t going to save them.
December 31st, 2009 at 9:11 am
I saw a news report where the woman from Oconomowoc who was on the flight with her children said she has compassion for the bomber. There’s got to be a name for that illness. At least with Stockholm Syndrome you get to interact with your potential killer(s),
December 31st, 2009 at 11:47 am
I also have a plan that includes former Navy Seals, but that one is classified
So you’d have to shoot me if you told me about it?
Geez. Should I still show up at DR/Sunday party?
December 31st, 2009 at 11:52 am
Hey, be careful about disclosing any highly-sensitive information, gentlemen.
You might get subpoenaed.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/12/31/business/AP-US-Airliner-Attack-TSA-Supeonas.html
December 31st, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Wasn’t it The NYTimes that disclosed how we were tracking Bin Laden?
January 1st, 2010 at 12:11 pm
But I thought she was doing such a good job…