Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

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Somali Caught in Nov. With Detroit-Type Bomb

US officials are now aware of incident and probing connections

(Newser) - A man tried to board a commercial airliner in Mogadishu last month carrying powdered chemicals, liquid, and a syringe that could have caused an explosion in a case bearing chilling similarities to the Christmas terrorist plot, officials say. The Somali man was arrested by African Union peacekeeping troops before the...

US OKs Dutch Use of Full Body Scanners

US flights will be scanned with new, modest version within 3 weeks

(Newser) - The Netherlands will immediately begin using full body scanners for flights heading to the US, according to an announcement that comes with a report today on the failed Christmas airline bombing. The US opposed their use previously because of privacy concerns, but the Dutch interior minister says that the Obama...

CIA Had File on Detroit Bomber for a Month, Didn't Share

Agency wrote report after debriefing Abdulmutallab's dad

(Newser) - The "intelligence community" agency that President Obama said fumbled security in the Detroit bomb plot was apparently the CIA, which compiled a report on Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab after speaking to his father but sat on the file for 5 weeks instead of circulating it to other agencies, reports CNN....

Ft. Hood Shooter's Imam 'Blessed' Bomb Plot

Abdulmutallab says he was indoctrinated by Awlaki

(Newser) - Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab has told investigators that the radical imam who mentored Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan gave his blessing to the attempted Christmas Day attack, according to a law enforcement source. Anwar al-Awlaki indoctrinated Abdulmutallab and offered him encouragement during his al-Qaeda training in Yemen, the sources tell the...

Where's Our Brave New Technology, Brave New President?

Obama's response to Flight 253 smacks of Spock

(Newser) - The attempted Christmas terror attack leaves Maureen Dowd feeling that we're pathetically behind the curve on security—"patting down grannies and 5-year-olds, confiscating snow globes and lip glosses"—and the president's "listless" response didn't make her feel any safer. Obama once seemed like a leap into the...

No 'Magic Piece of Intelligence' Existed on Abdulmutallab

Official defends CIA handling of data

(Newser) - With the US intelligence community under fire from President Obama on down about what was known, and when, about would-be airline bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, one insider is taking exception. “Abdulmutallab’s father didn’t say his son was a terrorist, let alone planning an attack,” an unnamed...

Foiled Bomber Turned Radical at UK College

Abdulmutallab helped organize 'War on Terror' conference in London

(Newser) - The suspect in the foiled Christmas airliner bombing found radical Islam while in college in London, becoming president of the school’s Islamic society. Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab helped organize “War on Terror Week,” the Times reports, bringing in human-rights lawyers and former Guantanamo Bay detainees as speakers...

Obama Faults 'Systemic Failure' in US Security

He promises quick reviews over 'catastrophic' breach

(Newser) - President Obama today flatly declared that the US security system broke down ahead of Friday's attempted airline bombing. He blamed a "systemic failure" for leading to a "catastrophic breach of security" and promised reviews of both airport screening and the terror watch list. He said he wants preliminary...

Yemen Wants Help Fighting al-Qaeda
Yemen Wants Help Fighting al-Qaeda
Dec 29, 2009 12:57 PM CST

Yemen Wants Help Fighting al-Qaeda

Foreign minister estimates about 300 are in the country

(Newser) - Yemen is confident it can do away with the hundreds of al-Qaeda fighters operating within its borders, but it needs more support from the West. The call from the country’s foreign minister comes as investigators probe the link between the recent terror attempt on Northwest Flight 253 and al-Qaeda...

This Isn't '2001 All Over Again'
 This Isn't '2001 All Over Again' 
OPINION
Dec 29, 2009 12:29 PM CST

This Isn't '2001 All Over Again'

Ignore the alarmists and recall how safe the last 8 years have been

(Newser) - No matter how fear-mongers spin it, Friday’s terror attempt on Northwest Flight 253 “was not 2001 all over again,” Walter Shapiro writes. GOP Rep. Pete King and others can wax "apocalyptic" about what “would have been remembered forevermore as the Christmas Day massacre,” but...

Tightening Air Security Will Take a Toll

Most options come with costs Congress, or fliers, find unpalatable

(Newser) - The White House is talking tough about airline security after Friday's failed bombing, but many options for tightening up the system are either politically untenable, repugnant to travelers, or both. Josh Gerstein takes a look at a few possibilities, and their likelihood of becoming reality, in Politico .
  • Expand the no-fly
...

System to Protect Air Travelers Is Broken
 System to Protect 
 Air Travelers Is Broken 
OPINION
Dec 29, 2009 10:27 AM CST

System to Protect Air Travelers Is Broken

Latest attempt reveals fundamental flaws, Eugene Robinson writes

(Newser) - The attempted Christmas Day airliner attack reveals deep flaws in the security systems meant to prevent such incidents, Eugene Robinson writes in the Washington Post . We're "under the impression that removing our shoes at the airport and limiting ourselves to those tiny, trial-size containers of toothpaste…are enough,"...

Ex Gitmo Inmates Linked to Bomb

Al-Qaeda leaders did art therapy, were freed in Saudi Arabia

(Newser) - Two former Guantanamo Bay inmates are believed to be behind the plot to blow up the Northwest flight to Detroit, according to officials and Defense Department documents. Muhamad Attik al-Harbi—who now calls himself Muhamad al-Awfi—and Said Ali Shari were sent in 2007 to Saudi Arabia where they entered...

Bomber Taunts: 'There Are More Like Me'

Farouk discussed his loneliness, Islam online

(Newser) - The extremist accused of trying to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 has told investigators he is only the first of many. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab boasted to the FBI that he trained for a month in Yemen before the bombing attempt and that al-Qaeda has trained others like him who...

Explosives Could've Blown Hole in Jet
 Explosives Could've 
 Blown Hole in Jet 
HIDDEN IN UNDERWEAR
Dec 28, 2009 9:10 PM CST

Explosives Could've Blown Hole in Jet

Abdulmutallab carried more than shoe-bomber

(Newser) - The explosives Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab carried with him aboard Friday’s flight to Detroit were powerful enough to blow a hole in the side of the plane, sources tell the Washington Post . ABC News has obtained photos of the explosives, which were sewn into Abdulmutallab’s underwear. The package contained...

Napolitano Backtracks, Says System Failed

Homeland Security chief changes stance; visa oversight probed

(Newser) - Facing a storm of criticism for saying "the system worked" in the attempted bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253, Janet Napolitano reversed course today. "Our system did not work in this instance," the Homeland Security secretary said. She added, "No one is happy or satisfied with...

Al-Qaeda Offshoot Takes Responsibility for Northwest Incident

Attempted bombing was payback for air strikes in Yemen, group says

(Newser) - A group known as Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has claimed responsibility for the attempted attack on a US airliner on Christmas Day, saying it was retaliation for a US operation against the group in Yemen. In a statement posted on the Internet, the group said 23-year-old Nigerian Umar Farouk...

Yemen Is Newest Front in US Battle With al-Qaeda

Pentagon has quietly expanded anti-terror efforts over past year

(Newser) - The Christmas Day attempt to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight by suspect who claims to have been trained and armed in Yemen highlights that country's emerging role as a major battleground in the fight against Islamic extremism. The US has quietly opened up a covert offensive against a potent...

Terror Suspect Had Cut Off Ties With Family

Abdulmutallab's family was alarmed because it was out of character

(Newser) - The Nigerian man accused of trying to bring down a US airliner cut off contact with his family and disappeared from their lives until they awoke to news of the attempted Christmas Day attack, his family said today. A statement from the family of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab said his disappearance...

Prez Orders Air Security Review

Obama demands review of 'watch lists,' chemical detection

(Newser) - Despite US officials' insistence that the airline security system works, President Obama is demanding an investigation into how a Nigerian managed to sneak the incendiary chemical PETN onto a transatlantic Northwest flight to Detroit. Suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was on a US security watch list and a dossier had been...

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