Posted by
John Caile on Friday, December 25, 2009 9:45:36 PM
You've doubtless heard by now about the attempted bombing of Delta Airlines flight 253 by a Nigerian national just prior to landing at Detroit. Thankfully, the young terrorist was stopped and disarmed by passengers and crew, and while several people, including the would-be bomber, were burned, the bomb did not detonate as planned.
It is interesting that, while the mainstream media have been giving their usual wall-to-wall coverage of the event, not one of them has pointed out that this is the first official terrorist attack on the U.S. by a foreigner in more than 8 years.
Then again, these are the same media types who bent over backwards trying to avoid calling the recent Ft. Hood massacre a terrorist act at all, in spite of that fact that it was perpetrated by an American Muslim who shouted "Alahu-akbar!" - the signature battle cry of Muslim jihadists worldwide - as he opened fire.
The obvious failings of our ludicrously dopey airport "security" procedures aside (not only did he have a bomb, but the young man was boarded even though he was apparently on several terrorist watch lists), I have the nagging feeling that this latest incident may very well have been some kind of test.
The 23-year old Nigerian who attempted to detonate what may turn out to be a binary explosive, was a bit too quick to give rather detailed information, both about his affiliation and the device itself. He immediately claimed to have connections with Al-Qaeda, and then volunteered that he obtained the explosive device from Yemen. If true, then it is clear that he is not just a "free-lance" jihadist who took actions on his own.
More to the point, he claimed that his Yemeni contacts gave him "explicit instructions on what to do and when." The fact that he waited to arm the bomb until the aircraft was on final approach would support this claim - his handlers likely wanted to be sure that the attack occurred on American soil, for maximum propaganda effect.
Now, one would presume that his Yemeni mentors also gave him instructions as to what to do (and say) if he were to have been discovered before being able to carry out his "mission." So his eagerness to let all the world know that he was working closely with collaborators from Yemen is rather puzzling.
Unless they wanted him to.
Coming on the heels of Iran's firing of a long range missile, clearly thumbing their noses at the Obama administration, is it really much of a stretch to think that Al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen might just want to see what the United States is going to do about the first attack on an American airliner since 9/11, when we are clearly told who is responsible?
We have cautioned that President Obama's obsequious behavior before numerous heads of state, combined with his endless apologizing for his own country, can only lead to a lack of confidence in our allies that we have the stomach for dealing with terrorists. We also warned that, as a result, Al-Qaeda and terrorists everywhere would be emboldened. This latest venture may very well be a chess move - sacrificing a pawn just to gauge the American President's next move.
The passengers and crew of Delta flight 253 responded to this latest threat quickly and decisively, preventing a catastrophe - and just maybe deterring future attempts. If it does turn out that Yemen has been involved in the attack, either directly or by tacitly tolerating Al-Qaeda operations from its homeland, Mr. Obama's weak record on matters of national security gives little hope that his response will be either quick or decisive...