Saturday, December 26, 2009

CHRISTMAS DAY, 2009: AL QAEDA MEMBER TRIES TO BLOW UP DELTA FLIGHT ABOVE DETROIT

UPDATED AND BUMPED TO TOP FOR NOW

From Fox News:

U.S. officials say a Northwest Airlines passenger from Nigeria said he was acting on behalf of Al Qaeda when he tried to blow up a flight Friday as it landed in Detroit.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., identified the suspect as Abdul Mudallad, a Nigerian. King said the flight began in Nigeria and went through Amsterdam en route to Detroit.

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.

Both of the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing.

The motive of the Christmas Day attack was not immediately clear.

"He appears to have had some kind of incendiary device he tried to ignite," said one of the U.S. officials.

Authorities initially believed the passenger had set off firecrackers that caused some minor injuries.

Delta Air Lines spokeswoman Susan Elliott said the passenger was subdued immediately. She had no details on the injuries. Delta and Northwest have merged.

One passenger from the flight was taken to the University of Michigan Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Tracy Justice said. She didn't know the person's condition, or whether the person was a man or woman. She referred all inquiries to the FBI.

An FBI spokeswoman said the incident is being investigated. It came just as the flight, an Airbus 330 carrying 278 passengers, was arriving in Detroit from Amsterdam.

Passenger Syed Jafri, a U.S. citizen who had flown from the United Arab Emirates, said the incident happened during the plane's descent. Jafri said he was seated three rows behind the passenger and said he saw a glow, and noticed a smoke smell. Then, he said, "a young man behind me jumped on him."

"Next thing you know, there was a lot of panic," he said.

Rich Griffith, a passenger, said he was seated too far in the back to see what had happened. But he said he didn't mind being detained on the plane for several hours.

"It's frustrating if you don't want to keep your country safe," he said. "We can't have what's going on everywhere else happening here."

President Barack Obama was notified of the incident and discussed it with security officials, the White House said. It said he is monitoring the situation and receiving regular updates from his vacation spot in Hawaii.

J.P. Karas, 55, said he was driving down a road near the airport and saw a Delta jet at the end of the runway, surrounded by police cars, an ambulance, a bus and some TV trucks.

"I don't ever recall seeing a plane on that runway ever before and I pass by there frequently," he said.

Karas said it was difficult to tell what was going on, but it looked like the front wheel was off the runway.

The Homeland Security Department said passengers may see additional screening measures on domestic and international flights because of the incident.

"We encourage those with future travel plans to stay in touch with their airline and to visit www.tsa.gov for updates," the department said.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has been briefed on the incident and is closely monitoring the situation.

The department encouraged travelers to be observant and aware of their surroundings and report any suspicious behavior to law enforcement officials.



UPDATE:

"The man was apparently already on the government’s no-fly list of suspected terrorists, according to a senior intelligence official."

The suspect told authorities that he had explosive powder taped to his leg and used a syringe of chemicals to mix with the powder that was to cause explosion. This is of concert because it is a method of mixing that is consistent with terror techniques."ABC


More:

"The 23-year-old suspect lighted a powdery substance as the aircraft was preparing for landing,around noon, a federal counterterrorism official said. Two other passengers on the flight noticed, and a third person jumped on the man, the official said."Niger1.com


More:

Delta releases official statement

"Upon approach to Detroit, a passenger caused a disturbance onboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253. The passenger was subdued immediately and the crew requested that law enforcement meet the flight upon arrival. The flight, operated by Northwest using an Airbus 330-300 aircraft with 278 passengers onboard, landed safely. The passenger was taken into custody and questioned by law enforcement authorities. Delta is cooperating fully with authorities and additional questions should be directed to law enforcement officials who are leading the investigation."

Delta Air Lines

CONTACT: Corporate Communications, Delta Air Lines, +1-404-715-2554

Web Site: http://www.delta.com/


MORE:

Rep. Peter King: Nigerian Man Who Tried to Bomb Plane Over Detroit Had "Significant Terrorist Connections"...

According to the AP, the overseas contingency operator's name is Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, thereby crushing the left's hopes that this guy wasn't a follower of the Religion of Peace...

(The Hill)- The suspect in an alleged attempted bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas was on a list "indicating significant terrorist connections," Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said Friday.

King, the top Republican member of the House Homeland Security Committee, described the suspect in the attempted bombing of a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit as a 23-year-old Nigerian national with potential ties to al-Qaeda.

...“He is a 23 year old Nigerian who is also – it’s been confirmed to me – while he was not on a no fly list, his name was on a list for having terrorist connections,” King said during an interview Christmas evening on CNN.

“His name was in a database indicating significant terrorist connections,” King said.

"There's a real worry about terrorist activity in Nigeria, so much so that last year the American government gave body detection technology to Nigeria for their airports," King said. "Their level of security, we felt was not comprable to others."



From Reliapundit at the Astute Bloggers:
WAS INTELLIGENCE ABOUT TODAY'S ATTEMPTED AIRLINE-BOMBING WHAT REALLY CLOSED THE CHUNNEL AND NYC'S PENN STATION?
ON WEDNESDAY WE ASKED:
WEATHER? ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS? OR, TERROR THREATS?
FIRST THE CHUNNEL SHUT DOWN - DUE TO "WINTRY WEATHER".

NOW PENN STATION - DUE TO "ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS".

COINCIDENCE!? OR TERROR THREAT?

ARE WE BEING TOLD THE TRUTH!?
NOBODY ELSE ASKED THESE QUESTIONS.

AND TODAY, THERE WAS AN ATTEMPTED ATTACK ON A JETLINER, OUT OF EUROPE.

[MORE HERE.]

*******CONGRESSMAN KING:
. . . it was a fairly sophisticated device. I would say we dropped the ball on this one."
*******MORE FROM KING:
Of the device used on Friday, he said, “It appears to be different from explosive devices that have been used before. That is perhaps why it escaped detection. Maybe that is why it made it through.”

MIGHT IT BE CONNECTED TO THE CHUNNEL CLOSING OR TO THE CLOSING OF NYC'S PENN STATION?

WERE THESE CLOSING BECAUSE OF SOME SKETCHY INTELLIGENCE ABOUT AN IMPENDING ATTACK ON MASS TRANSIT? AND WAS TODAY'S EVENT THE ACTUAL ATTEMPTED ATTACK?

WE NEED THE MSM TO ASK THE QUESTIONS SO WE GET SOME ANSWERS...

ALSO: HOW WERE THESE CHEMICALS SMUGGLED ON-BOARD?

COULD THESE CHEMICALS HAVE BEEN RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CATASTROPHIC "CRAHSES" OF ADAM AIR FLIGHT KI 574 AND/OR AIR FRANCE 447?
I would also ask if this ATTACK ON AMERICA was related to the recent Jihadist Dry Runs:

Hmmm . . . Yet Another Dry Run?: United 227 Sounds Just Like AirTran 297


The curious case of Air Tran flight 297



MORE:

From jihadwatch.org The suspect travelled to the US on a suspiciously generous "2 year VISA for a "religious ceremony"".[Spencer adds that ABC amended their report to reflect it was for a seminar]

". . .The visa office should have asked just what "ceremony" that was. Even Lent is only 6 weeks, and Ramadan a month. "

“He didn’t say anything,” said Dennis, who lives in Europe and was connecting to a flight to Arizona. “He was burned very severely on his leg.… He was very calm


CNN's Ali Velshi stops Rep. King from naming Northwest Airlines terrorist

CNN has image/video report of Farouk wrapped in blanket being removed from plane


from pjmedia 100. Ellison:


The Nigerian Al-Qaeda operative, Abdul Farouk Umar Abdulmutallab, is the 23-year-old son of Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, former First Bank chairman and former minister.

Six months ago the prominent banker reported his son’s extremist views and activities to United States’ Embassy, Abuja and Nigerian security agencies.

Nevertheless, a source close to the father of the Muslim jihadist said the father was surprised that after his reports to the US authorities, the young man was allowed to travel to the United States.

A surprise to the father, perhaps, but no surprise at all to the wide-awake US citizens living under the highly aberrational and anti-American Obama regime.

Fascist governments work by design not incompetence.

24 comments:

revereridesagain said...

OMG, all day they were saying it was "firecrackers" and I was too zoned out from the family, eggnog, White Christmas/Twilight Zone/National Lampoon/Star Wars marathons to pay proper attention. When did the news break that it was definitely a jihad attempt?

Anonymous said...

"The man was apparently already on the government’s no-fly list of suspected terrorists, according to a senior intelligence official."

The suspect told authorities that he had explosive powder taped to his leg and used a syringe of chemicals to mix with the powder that was to cause explosion. This is of concert because it is a method of mixing that is consistent with terror techniques."ABC

Anonymous said...

"The 23-year-old suspect lighted a powdery substance as the aircraft was preparing for landing,around noon, a federal counterterrorism official said. Two other passengers on the flight noticed, and a third person jumped on the man, the official said."Niger1.com

Anonymous said...

Delta releases official statement

"Upon approach to Detroit, a passenger caused a disturbance onboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253. The passenger was subdued immediately and the crew requested that law enforcement meet the flight upon arrival. The flight, operated by Northwest using an Airbus 330-300 aircraft with 278 passengers onboard, landed safely. The passenger was taken into custody and questioned by law enforcement authorities. Delta is cooperating fully with authorities and additional questions should be directed to law enforcement officials who are leading the investigation."

Delta Air Lines

CONTACT: Corporate Communications, Delta Air Lines, +1-404-715-2554

Web Site: http://www.delta.com/

Anonymous said...

nothing to see here move along.

just a law inforcement issue./

midnight rider said...

Swell. Daughter #1 surprised us yesterday. She & fiance flew home from Alaska 2 days early to be here for Christmas (the best Christmas present ever).

On Northwest. Stopover in Minneapolis.

Fiance needs to return early part of the week. On Northwest. Through Minneapolis.

Vigilance is an understatement.

revereridesagain said...

Does anyone else get the feeling that this may have been yet another "dry run", given that there was an experimental quality to the attempt? Especially in the wake of the two "disruptions" on planes over the past few weeks. From AQ's pov, if it worked then Allahu Akbastard, if not, they can scratch that technique off the list.

"Shoe Bomber" Richard Reid's attempt might have succeeded in bringing down that plane had he not been stopped. It will be interesting to see if further analysis shows the same for this one. If the shaheed fails to fatallly damage the plane, this at least shows them what else does not work. This one got on board with the bomb makings on his person and his name on a no-fly list. Will they shift tactics in response to any increased security?

Obama had better mean what he says about increasing the security. It looks as if the game may be very much afoot. Bad pun intended.

revereridesagain said...

MR, I know how you feel. Got an only nephew in the sky with Jet Blue, flight attendant. They are an excellent airline and I hope that extends to their security.

Anonymous said...

At Ace, reliapundit speculates:
THIS IS RELATED TO THE TEMP CHUNNEL CLOSING AND NY'S PENN STATION TEMP CLOSING I BETCHYA...

THE WEATHER/ELECTRICAL PROBS WERE A COVER STORY.


THEY KNEW SOMETHING WAS UP, JUST NOT WHERE...

********************** &
someone at Hotair just posted that the guy was flying on a one-way ticket.

Anonymous said...

The money quote:

The motive of the Christmas Day attack was not immediately clear.

To whom!
one-way ticket from Nigeria and his name is Abdul.

revereridesagain said...

Apparently the Chunnel problem had to do with snow getting through the louvre system that's supposed to keep it out, then melting on the electrical system. It has happened before but on a smaller scale.

Electrical problems on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor are no surprise to anybody, it's been going on for years.

Still, having both go out virtually at the same time was a bit of a coincidence.

Anonymous said...

"Does anyone else find the prominence of one “Syed Jafry” in virtually all coverage interesting? I have now seen his name appear in at least six or seven separate online articles and have heard him interviewed on CNN, FOX, and a local Detroit station. He has been quoted gushing “how proud I am to be an American!” in several places already.

Curious.

Though this Muslim-sounding man (in both name and by his thick ME accent) had nothing to do with the take-down, didn’t have a very good view of the incident, provides vague imprecise data, and was one among hundreds of passengers, this is the man the media chooses to interview repeatedly?

Is news about this incident being stage managed to make a positive counter-impression about Muslims???
" via from PajamasMedia comments

Pastorius said...

Anonymous,
I do, indeed, find it strange.

Anonymous said...

Muslims planning further attacks http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8244065.stm

Anonymous said...

From jihadwatch.org The suspect travelled to the US on a suspiciously generous "2 year VISA for a "religious ceremony"".[Spencer adds that ABC amended their report to reflect it was for a seminar]

". . .The visa office should have asked just what "ceremony" that was. Even Lent is only 6 weeks, and Ramadan a month. "

Anonymous said...

“He didn’t say anything,” said Dennis, who lives in Europe and was connecting to a flight to Arizona. “He was burned very severely on his leg.… He was very calm and didn’t show any reaction to pain.”

Obviously he wasn't burned severely enough. The passengers on that plane are the most patient tolerant heros around today. Being this event took place during Christmas, his crispy fried carcass would have been shoved down a mosque chimney at his destination - in a pigskin sack.
Hope those burns render this wannabe terrorist painfully impotent in the here and now and he's proven himself utterly impotent to the jihadist afterlife.

Anonymous said...

JAWA links to explosive video demonstrating the potential of this new powder/injectable liquid concoction. . .

"Officials have described the device as a mixture of powder and liquid which failed to go off properly.
I received a copy of this video the other day. The 23rd to be exact. It was the subject of some chatter on a the boards talking about "Was it really safe to fly". No kidding.



clickable 2 vid

If you click through and watch the video its clear there was a potential danger.

AN. EFFING. SERIOUS. ONE.

We can just be thankful that...

A. Mr Abdulmutallab is an idiot.

B. Baby Jesus was watching over us.

It seems to me to be likely that if the mixture had been allowed time to set propely the device may have worked and al-Qaeda would have been able to claim a large number of murders on Christmas.

revereridesagain said...

O.M.G.

He had it mixed and tried to light it before it set. Did he think he was observed and panicked or is he an idiot who can't follow directions?

Security is going to have to require passengers to fly stark naked at the rate things are going. That's excluding the whole issue of butt bombs, of course.

revereridesagain said...

It has to set for 30 minutes. How long does it remain viable after that? Can it be detonated at any point over the next few hours?

Bad enough airline travel. This is going to be absolute hell for ground transportation. They can't body search everyone getting on the subway. The only truly effective weapon against this is the incompetence of the one using it.

Anonymous said...

CNN's Ali Velshi stops Rep. King from naming Northwest Airlines terrorist

Anonymous said...

CNN has image/video report of Farouk wrapped in blanket being removed from plane

Brooke said...

Another major security gaff under Obama's administration?

Don't worry, though. He's got his eye on things.

And I'm sure his dithering in Afghanistan and Iraq has nothing to do with emboldening Islamists to this point.

Riiiiiiiiight.

Anonymous said...

from pjmedia 100. Ellison:


The Nigerian Al-Qaeda operative, Abdul Farouk Umar Abdulmutallab, is the 23-year-old son of Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, former First Bank chairman and former minister.

Six months ago the prominent banker reported his son’s extremist views and activities to United States’ Embassy, Abuja and Nigerian security agencies.

Nevertheless, a source close to the father of the Muslim jihadist said the father was surprised that after his reports to the US authorities, the young man was allowed to travel to the United States.

A surprise to the father, perhaps, but no surprise at all to the wide-awake US citizens living under the highly aberrational and anti-American Obama regime.

Fascist governments work by design not incompetence.

revereridesagain said...

Fascist governments work by design not incompetence.

Agreed. Wonder what the response would have been had he succeeded.