Archive for the ‘World War 4’ Category
The U.S. Justice Department charged [Umar Farouk] Abdulmutallab on Saturday, and many legal experts expect the case to be tried before a jury in Detroit.
But some prominent political leaders have begun to question whether Abdulmutallab should be turned over to the military as an enemy combatant.
Murdoc says because of the place, the target, and who captured him, he’s a criminal. He’s obviously a soldier in the war, but I think he should be tried as a civilian.
If he’s secretly flown to an undisclosed location for questioning by a non-government agency, though, it’s probably okay.
UPDATE: One thing I meant to comment on the other day but forgot about is that I read the maximum penalty for attempting to blow up a plane seems to be $250,000 and up to 20 years. IANAL, but can’t they get him for nearly 300 counts of attempted murder? Or something?
One would think that responding to a terror attack with less moral clarity and forcefulness than that displayed after the Fort Hood attack would have taken some doing. But the Obami have managed to pull it off. Between Janet Napolitano and the president, they’ve managed to convey confusion, denial, and willful indifference to the nature of our enemies.
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I would think that Democrats must be awfully nervous. They’ve spent years and years trying to live down the reputation as being ”weak on defense” and then along comes a president who seems at best a reluctant commander in chief and at worst devoted to returning to a pre-9/11 mentality – which, after all, left us vulnerable on 9/11 in the first place.
Actually, they seem intent on a pre-9/11 mentality regarding our enemies but a post-9/11 mentality when it comes to your average American citizen.
This is from the AP, not The Onion:
Big first year leaves Obama tired
After a sleepless, overnight flight to Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month, President Barack Obama made a not altogether surprising admission. He was tired.Who could blame him?
It goes on to talk about how hard the decisions about the recession and the auto workers union bailout and the health care bill.
Amid golf, tennis, gym workouts and dinner, Obama has been called on to monitor the airliner attack in Detroit last Friday and what appeared to be another attack on Sunday — that incident turned out to be a false alarm. On Monday, Obama worked out in the morning and played tennis before making his first public remarks on airline security, then hit the golf course.
So much for putting aside the stress of work.
Poor guy. They also seem to laud Obama for getting by on six hours of sleep or less when Bush made getting eight hours a priority. (Note that they don’t say Bush stopped working to make sure he got eight hours, they just hope you think it.)
The article reads like satire.
Poor guy got pulled away from a golf game because a terrorist attack failed. And then again, a couple of days later.
Bush only had to deal with terrorist attacks one day. No wonder he could make eight hours of sleep a priority.
Oh, yeah. Fire Janet Napolitano. The White House could at least try to look like they care. But an administration that seems to put appearance over substance can’t even be bothered to keep up appearances on the war.
I’ll start worrying more about Americans without jobs or health care when I’m confident I can worry less about Americans getting killed in the war. The White House apparently sees it the other way around.
Today on ABC: Muslim Cleric Anwar Awlak Linked to Ft. Hood, Northwest Flight 253 Terror Attacks
After several years of preaching an extreme version of Islam across mosques in the United States, the 36-year-old imam left the U.S. in 2002 following a decision that forced federal authorities to rescind a warrant issued for his arrest related to alleged passport fraud.
Once in Yemen, Awlaki, a U.S. citizen born in New Mexico, hooked up with the local branch of international terror syndicate al Qaeda, according to U.S. authorities. Despite moving to the Middle East, through his Web site and audio recordings he preached a message of violence and hate that became popular with a new generation of Muslims raised outside the Arabian Peninsula.
This is all interesting and all, but how can we have a serious discussion about religious influence on international terrorism if we aren’t even going to mention the Mennonite extremists, the Amish suicide bombers, and the Baptist international terror syndicate?
Dutch authorities are investigating a report by Michigan attorney Kurt Haskell that a “well-dressed man” help the bomber board last Friday’s Northwest Flight 253 without a passport.
The demolition of the 'Taliban Hotel,' a safehouse utilized by insurgent fighters infiltrating Afghanistan, Dec. 18. An explosive ordnance disposal team from the 707th EOD unit, out of Fort Lewis, Wash., partnered with soldiers from the 1st Squadron, 40th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, out of Fort Richardson, Alaska, and Afghan national security forces to explosively level the safehouse. Photo by Staff Sgt. Stephen Otero
Story: Taliban Hotel Destroyed in Khost
Donkeys carried 300 pounds of C-4 to the remote location for the remodeling job.
Remember when the New York Times wouldn’t run stories on the ClimateGate emails because those were “never intended for the public eye”?
Eric Schmitt, Robert F. Worth, and the Gray Lady ran this today:
U.S. quietly takes terror war to Yemen
In the midst of two unfinished major wars, the United States has quietly opened a third, largely covert front against Al Qaeda in Yemen.
A “largely covert” war being covered in the New York Times. If global warming research funding is threatened, can’t run the story. But if it’s only US troops and foreign policy jeopardized, go with it. I mean, what’s so secret about a secret war, anyway?
Fire Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano.
Nothing that anyone in the US government says about anything related to security can be taken at all seriously until she is kicked out on the street.
Fire her immediately.
Fire Janet Napolitano Now
She shouldn’t be fired because a terrorist almost blew up an airliner on Friday. She should be fired because she says “the system is working.” She went on national television and told America that everything is under control.
If the system was working, a terrorists would not have almost blown up an airliner on Friday.
A couple of hours after she reassured everyone, another guy from the same place on the same flight locked himself in the bathroom and then became “unruly.” Instead of shooting him they arrested him.
Fire Janet Napolitano. Until they do, nothing the Federal government says about security can be taken seriously.
Was arrest of sick man aboard plane justified, or was it overreaction?
A Nigerian businessman became ill on the flight and refused to leave the plane’s bathroom. Passengers described him as unruly and the plane’s crew contacted the necessary authorities. The man was arrested shortly after.
I would have given him two seconds to exit with hands up or had him shot dead on the spot.
If he took three seconds to exit, I would have had him shot dead on the spot.
If he exited the bathroom suspiciously, say with hands not up, I would have had him shot dead on the spot.
If he acted in any way “unruly” after exiting, I would have had him shot dead on the spot.
His arrest is a sign that we will continue to under-react. The only reason previous under-reactions didn’t cost us big on Friday was because that idiot didn’t build a good bomb. Or, maybe more likely, he didn’t do a good job putting it together on the plane. If he had taken one extra second, maybe he would have seen the problem and fixed it before hitting the button.
UPDATE: Fighting a war with police officers and lawyers:
But the [Dec. 25] terrorist will be convicted at trial (this “case” tees up like a slam-dunk), so the administration will put it in the books as a success … just like the Clinton folks did after the ‘93 WTC bombers and the embassy bombers were convicted. In their minds, litigation success equals national security success.
It is a dangerously absurd viewpoint, but it was clear during the campaign that it was Obama’s viewpoint. The American people — only seven years after 9/11 — elected him anyway.
Second man arrested on jet in Detroit
Officials say passenger on Sunday flight was ill, posed no threat
The FBI insists that he locked himself in the bathroom for an hour because he was sick.
Murdoc does not believe it for one second. Murdoc thinks the FBI is lying to us.
If Murdoc was in charge, all flights from Amsterdam into the US would be immediately banned. Planes in the air would have to divert. No passengers from Nigeria would be allowed into the US. US citizens in Nigeria would have seven days to return. That would buy time to formulate permanent responses.
Some will say that Murdoc would be overreacting. Murdoc says “overreacting” would be shooting down all flights from Amsterdam. Murdoc wouldn’t do that until there was a third incident.
These people are at war. Sooner or later, we’re going to have to start acting like we are, too.
UPDATE: Written after the first incident on Friday:
This all has a feeling of deja vu to it. We are going to spend the next days and weeks discussing all the things that we discussed eight years ago. The same stupid arguments will be made that are refuted by politically incorrect reality, but at the end, airline travel will be even more onerous, fewer will choose to fly for short trips, the airlines will take it in the shorts again (and probably need another bailout), and the incompetents at the TSA will be rewarded. We will be less free and, in that hoary old phrase, the terrorists will have won, without blowing up a single plane.
Apparently the “firecrackers” a Northwest/Delta passenger lit earlier today at Detroit airport were a lot more than just firecrackers. Fortunately, the incendiary bomb fizzled.
U.S. officials say a Northwest Airlines passenger from Nigeria said he was acting on behalf of al-Qaida 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.
Murdoc’s just a dumb blogger, but he wonders if the guy’s motivation may have anything to do with the war.
