Oops! Freed Gitmo alumni plotted airline bombing.
From ABC News:
Two of the four leaders allegedly behind the al Qaeda plot to blow up a Northwest Airlines passenger jet over Detroit were released by the U.S. from the Guantanamo prison in November, 2007, according to American officials and Department of Defense documents.
American officials agreed to send the two terrorists to Saudi Arabia where they entered into an “art therapy rehabilitation program” and were set free, according to U.S. and Saudi officials.
Gee, who would have expected “art therapy” to fail on terrorists?
Charging of Plane Bombing Suspect Highlights Obama’s Inconsistencies
The Obama administration’s decision to try the Nigerian man suspected of attempting to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas as an ordinary civilian criminal rather than as an “unprivileged enemy belligerent” in a military commission, as the 9/11 hijackers initially were, highlights the inconsistent approach taken by both the current and previous administrations, civil libertarians and defense lawyers say.
The Justice Department appears to have immediately treated the case of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian who claims he trained in Yemen with al-Qaeda, in the way it has long treated suspected terrorism: as a criminal act to be prosecuted in a civilian federal court.
Arrested on Friday, Abdulmutallab was charged the next day, while being treated for burns in a hospital room in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He was charged with attempting to blow up Northwest Flight 253, which left from Amsterdam and was headed for Detroit.
Asked why the Department of Justice treated Abdulmutallab as a civilian rather than a suspected belligerent, DOJ spokesman Dean Boyd said: “At this time, we have no comment on the ongoing investigation or any prosecutorial deliberations — beyond the public charging documents that have been filed in the case.” The criminal complaint is here.
Defense lawyers who represent Guantanamo detainees who have not been treated as civilians applauded the Obama administration’s move, but noted the lack of a coherent rationale for continuing to treat other alleged terrorist plots as acts of war.
“There is something striking about fact that they treated the 9/11 attacks as an act of war but treat somebody who’s trying to blow up a plane as an ordinary criminal,” said David Remes, legal director of Appeal for Justice who represents almost a dozen Yemeni men still detained at Guantanamo Bay. “What is the basis of the distinction?”
‘Hundreds of al-Qaeda militants planning attacks from Yemen’
Hundreds of al-Qaeda militants are planning terror attacks from Yemen, the country’s Foreign Minister said today.
Abu Bakr al-Qirbi appealed for more help from the international community to help to train and equip counter-terrorist forces.
His plea came after an al-Qaeda group based in Yemen claimed responsibility for the failed Christmas Day airliner bomb plot.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, alleged to be behind the attempt to blow up an American-bound aircraft, spent time in Yemen with al-Qaeda and was in the country only days before the failed attack.
Underwear Bomb Revealed as Terror Suspect Warns More Attacks Coming
The underwear worn by terror suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on a Christmas flight from the Netherlands to Detroit contained the charred remains of the explosives he allegedly packed inside them in hopes of blowing up the airliner, authorities said.
Photographs of the briefs were revealed Monday night.
The bomb, seen for the first time, is reported to have contained a six-inch pack of highly-explosive powder called PETN, which weighed about 80 grams (less than 3 ounces) and was sewn into the briefs.
According to ABC News, a government test with 50 grams of PETN blew a hole in the side of an airliner — the same amount carried by so-called shoe bomber Richard Reid over Christmas in 2001.
A global search for accomplices in the Detroit airliner plot is under way after an Al Qaeda group based in Yemen claimed responsibility for the operation and the would-be bomber was reported to have said that more attacks were being planned.
Metal Detectors Useless in Finding Powerful Explosive PETN
The man who authorities say strapped a highly powerful explosive to his torso and tried to detonate it in midair never would have gotten aboard the plane if a different security detector had been used when he boarded the flight, security experts and officials say.
“Puffer” machines, full-body imaging scanners, a simple frisk or bomb-sniffing dogs all would likely have detected the chemical explosive PETN, experts say. But Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old Nigerian suspected of trying to blow up Northwest Flight 253 on Christmas Day, encountered none of those deterrents when he traveled from Nigeria to Amsterdam and ultimately to Detroit.
Abdulmutallab may likely have passed through a magnetometer, the conventional metal detector used at most airports. It’s a sophisticated device that detects firearms, box-cutters, belt buckles and nail clippers — but it’s useless in finding a small amount of powder capable of bringing down an airliner packed with passengers.
Increasing Attacks. Do terrorists think the U.S. has gone soft?
White House under fire for response to foiled terror attack
“Janet Napolitano couldn’t lead Tiger Woods to a free weekend at the Mustang Ranch.”
‘State of Constant Denial’. What the security breakdown in airline bombing attempt taught us
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