Passenger Ignites Explosive on Delta Flight, Al Qaeda Connection Reported

[MuffyBee]

Sorry, couldn't help myself 

    

[MuffyBee]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/12/30/fingerpointing-begins-aftermath-attempted-terror-attack/

Updated December 30, 2009
Agencies On Defensive in Aftermath of Failed Terror Attack

The failed Christmas Day terror attack has put intelligence, diplomatic and security officials on the defensive, as they try to explain what went wrong while lawmakers point fingers and Obama calls for "accountability."

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, in particular, is under fire for claiming Sunday that the "system worked." On Tuesday, Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., demanded her resignation for the "bizarre" claim -- though Napolitano has survived past calls for her ouster, and an administration official said the president "absolutely" has confidence in her.

President Obama declared Tuesday that a "systemic failure" allowed the suspect in the failed attack to carry explosives onto a plane bound for Detroit, and he signaled that his review will dig deep into the many warning signs that were missed at multiple levels of the federal bureaucracy.

"The warning signs would have triggered red flags and the suspect would have never been allowed to board that plane for America," Obama said.

Within hours of his remarks, new information trickled out about who knew what, and when. And it didn't look good for some agencies.

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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6791337.html

Islamic school confirms terror suspect studied in Houston
By SUSAN CARROLL
Copyright 2009 HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Dec. 30, 2009, 7:56PM


Mike Rimmer AP

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (shown during a trip to London) took classes at an Islamic school in Houston.


The Nigerian man accused of trying to bomb an airliner on Christmas Day attended an intensive, Islamic education seminar in Houston last year designed for top student scholars, an organization confirmed Wednesday.

Shaykh Waleed Basyouni, vice president for the AlMaghrib Institute in Houston, said 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was living in London in the summer of 2008 when he attended the nonprofit institute's annual “IlmSummit” here with about 150 other students.

Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian-born son of a prominent banker, is accused of attempting to blow up a flight bound for Detroit on Christmas Day.

Shaykh Waleed Basyouni, vice president for the AlMaghrib Institute in Houston, said 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was living in London in the summer of 2008 when he attended the nonprofit institute's annual “IlmSummit” here with about 150 other students.

Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian-born son of a prominent banker, is accused of attempting to blow up a flight bound for Detroit on Christmas Day.

Basyouni said other participants in the seminar, which was held in Houston during the first two weeks of August 2008, remembered Abdulmutallab as being very quiet and keeping to himself.

“From what we witnessed, he showed no signs of extremism,” Basyouni said.

Advertisements for the summit describe it as selecting top students for specialized study of the sciences of Islam, with teachings ranging from the compilation of the Quran to the history of the rise and fall of Muslim Spain.

Basyouni said the seminar's primary topics included manners, interpretation of Islamic texts, history and family life.
Condemns violence

Basyouni said that once he and other leaders of the AlMaghrib Institute in Houston were told this week that Abdulmutallab may have attended the institute, they started searching for records of his attendance.

They were able to confirm Wednesday that he had attended the seminar, and they were cooperating with authorities, Basyouni said.

Basyouni added that his teachings — and the institute's — run contrary to the alleged actions of Abdulmutallab.

“Our institute's stance against extremism, violence and other related subjects has always been clear,” he said. “We unequivocally condemn it in all its forms.”

The AlMaghrib Institute has a student body totaling more than 20,000 and conducts seminars in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom, Basyouni said. The organization has administrative offices in west Houston but holds seminars and other programs in larger venues, such as hotels.

The dates provided by the AlMaghrib Institute for Abdulmutallab's attendance at the summit correspond with those provided by the Department of Homeland Security for his visit to Houston.

Also Wednesday, State Department spokesman Darby Holladay confirmed that Abdulmutallab had made a prior trip to the U.S. in 2004. A DHS official confirmed that Abdulmutallab flew into Washington Dulles International Airport on July 25 and left on Aug. 5 .

Records obtained by the Houston Chronicle suggest that Abdulmutallab said he attended a Global Youth and Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C., in 2004. The foundation that administers that program declined comment, and the FBI referred comment to the Department of Justice, which did not return phone calls.
‘Not happy with this'

Abdur Rahman T. Adesokan, the imam of Masjid-ul-Mumineen, the main Nigerian Muslim association in Houston, said he had not spoken to any members of the Nigerian Muslim community who had met Abdulmutallab. He also said he didn't believe that Abdulmutallab visited the community's mosque here.

“We are not happy with this, none of our community is happy with what happened or that he's Nigerian,” Adesokan said. “It is bad, bad, bad.”

Reporter Moises Mendoza contributed to this report.

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704320104575014980302880598.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLTopStories

    * JANUARY 21, 2010

Intelligence Chief Slams Handling of Christmas-Bomb Case

By CAM SIMPSON And EVAN PEREZ

The nation's intelligence chief said the man accused of trying to blow up an airliner on Christmas Day should have been questioned by a special interrogation team instead of being handled as an ordinary criminal suspect.

Dennis Blair, the director of national intelligence, told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Wednesday that officials botched the handling of terror suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who is accused of working with a Yemen-based offshoot of al Qaeda to try to bring down the Detroit-bound jet carrying 290 passengers and crew.

A new panel charged with designating so-called high-value terrorism suspects for special interrogations should have been used in the case and the suspect should have been questioned by an elite group of interrogators, said Mr. Blair, who used the expression "duh" to emphasize his point.
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http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/02/18/passengers.to.bomb.suspect/

Passengers who flew with accused Christmas Day bomber speak out
(Interactive:  Hear Passengers on Plane-(in article)
SLIDE SHOW IN ARTICLE
By Jessica Ravitz, CNN
February 18, 2010
(CNN) -- The weeks have passed and, in most cases, their nerves have calmed. What began as shock, that they were almost victims of an in-flight terrorist attack, has morphed for many into contemplation. There are those who are still talking about what happened to them on Christmas Day, and there are others who are determined to put the incident behind them.

The passengers of Northwest Flight 253 may have been one faulty explosive away from disaster.

The suspect in that incident, Nigerian-born Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, 23, pleaded not guilty in January to six federal terrorism charges. And he has been talking to authorities, thanks to help from his own family members.

But what if the passengers could be part of that conversation? What would they want to know or say to AbdulMutallab, the government, the world? CNN reached out by phone and e-mail to find out.
More...