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OK…*Someone* Is Lying To Us About Terrorists

By: Dave Poff (haystack) (Diary)  |  January 7th, 2010 at 04:40 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

CBS News is reporting that the White House claims there was “No Xmas Day In-Flight Warning” and, further, that they refute the claims of an LA Times piece that suggested “border enforcement officials found information in a database suggesting the alleged terrorist, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, had extremist ties.” The Times piece, allegedly, goes on to suggest this:

“The people in Detroit were prepared to look at him in secondary inspection,” a senior law enforcement official told the Times. “The decision had been made. The [database] had picked up the State Department concern about this guy – that this guy may have been involved with extremist elements in Yemen.”

I say allegedly because the link appears to be “broken” now (page not found), and I can’t verify the read for myself. Couple this with the Detroit Free Press’ article that suggests (via the mysteriously missing LA Times piece):

[The] CBP learned after the flight had taken off that Abdulmutallab was on a watch list. But the administration official said all that was learned was what had been reported more than a week ago – that Abdulmutallab’s name was on the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, or TIDE list, of some 550,000 persons of interest. Even though his father had contacted the U.S. embassy in Nigeria to warn officials that his son may have been radicalized by extremists in Yemen, Abdulmutallab’s name had not been moved to the no-fly list or the so-called selectee list requiring additional security.

“As we have indicated before,” the official said, “there were bits and pieces of information about Abdulmutallab available in a variety of areas in the system prior to Dec. 25. There was no new information when the plane was in the air. All that happened is Customs and Border Protection followed its normal procedures and checks as it prepared for arriving passengers.”

Hunh.

So…we knew he was a bad guy, but nothing NEW came up as he boarded the plane headed toward martyrdom so we just blew it off, even though (once in the air) we decided we probably wanted to have a little sit-down with him once he landed in Detroit. Have I got this right?

How bad is it when you have to decide which liar isn’t lying-the LA Times or Barack Obama?

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COMMENTS

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  • spimnyborg
    • jnoeagle

      Probably someone employed at the Ministry could be characteriized as a “MOTley” person? Or maybe we should say “MOTish”? Let us not lose this Minstry of Truth idea – probably Mr Gibbs is at least an Undersecretary of the MoT.

  • http://vbushmills.blogtownhall.com/ vassar

    …but not excused, if we can get a time line, which apparently no one can.

    It’s a cover-up, of sorts.
    RPH

    • haystack

      but we’ll have to wait and see. I’m inclined to believe this Admin. learned nothing from 9/11 and the 9/11 commission they swore they would implement. Stovepipes, lack of intel sharing between departments, and-worst of all-us being asleep at the wheel..THAT is what I think we’re going to hear.

      Along with how it’s all Bush’s fault, of course.

      • http://vbushmills.blogtownhall.com/ vassar

        …not a political event…

        then make the politics fit,

        First, prove the lie, then, prove the motive.

        Good work, I’ve got RPH on it… he knows stuff about the inside of this sort of thing most people don’t look for.

  • Common_Cents
    • voxoreason

      Wouldn’t a “truth czar” edge a little too close to a government representative saying, “I’m here to help?”

      The obvious danger: someone like Obama might end up in the position. The only way you’re going to get the “truth” out of this guy is to reverse the meanings of his statements, eg, “The Health Care debate WON’T be aired on C-SPAN.”

      With Obama agreeing to one hour of C-SPAN coverage, this reversal is much closer to the truth than his oft-repeated promises (I use the term loosely whenever discussing Obama).

      Bill Clinton was the same way, but a much superior politician with the ability to grasp his limitations and self-correct when need be, eg, FINALLY passing Welfare Reform in ’96 (on its third pass through the Oval Office) after Dick Morris told him that he could then claim to have fulfilled his ’92 campaign promise to “end welfare as we know it.”

      It helped that Clinton ran basically unopposed in his ’96 campaign.

  • SalG

    http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-airline-terror7-2010jan07,0,7706989.story

    • haystack

      .

  • Old_Crow

    on international flights (bound for the U.S.) often don’t get transmitted until after the flight has departed but before arrival in the US. The system is called APIS (Advance Passenger Information System).

    Flights originating in the US bound for Europe have to transmit manifests prior to takeoff. I believe the difference has to do with Schengen agreement countries and EU procedures.

  • http://dezignworx-ae.com tsquare
  • Whitesands

    Brennan and Napolitano are blaming the agencies for systemic failure. The comment is “it was not the people it was the agency that failed”. Do people make up an agency. ? Again no responsibility taken. Now the government wants to run healthcare. Again it will be the AGENCIES fault when your bills increase, the AGENCIES fault when you cant get that test, the AGENCIES fault when your taxes go up on new entitelment spending. For god’s sake cant these politicians see the effect of unsensible and impractical legislation on a rational society. I would rather they admit we will do the best we can and stop the media event. With these people everything is an emergency and has to be done NOW as our freedoms are taken and scraped on the liberal altar of SAFETY.

    • bk

      but Obama is infallible so he certainly did absolutely nothing wrong.

    • jimnden

      Would you go to a doctor with the reputation of following procedures by rote and leaving behind a trail of dead patients? Ever take your car to a dealer who followed the manual but never seemed to fix your problem? Did you go back the next time you needed help?

      The only branch of the Federal Government that is mission driven is the military. Every other branch is process-driven. “We followed the process – the outcome just got away from us.” Hahahaha. Bull.

      They followed their process and the guy still got on the plane and nobody gets canned? It’s a classic governmental dodge that transcends party politics. It’s why we have limited government. Accountability is reading a teleprompter and mouthing another man’s catch phrase. Always has been.

  • Old_Crow

    over other agencies. They can just “ask politely” (quote from the IG report last Nov.) for other agencies to act or provide more information.

    This has been a fault of the system that, to my knowledge, has not been addressed.

    DHS is just a soup kettle that data flows into. Some agency needs to take the lead on terrorism and be given operational control so they can order action from supporting agencies.

    Kind of amazing that this is still a problem, but it is a fatal flaw.

  • fisk2521

    I don’t understand why there seems to be absolutely no discussion about why this man was issued a Visa. A close look at how Visa’s are issued, for whom and why needs to be addressed immediately.

    Hillary’s response the other day just didn’t seem to cut it.

    • avgamerican

      Because that’s the issue. You can’t have a discussion that will reveal
      this administrations’ lack of concern about terrorism. Forget the body scanners. That has nothing to do with why this guy was able to get on that plane. His visa should have been pulled and he should have been put on the “THIS GUY DOESN’T FLY LIST.” I noticed the same thing you did and have been asking the same questions.

  • saintgeorgegentile

    Despite all the failures across multiple agencies, not one of the Security/Intelligence heads thinks enough of his/her president to take the fall.

    • Old_Crow

      but we didn’t do anything wrong.

      Remember Nappy’s initial comments that the ‘suspect’ was screened properly, according to procedures…

      These are not leaders but government paperwork/policy droids.

  • socal92

    The story is still on the LA Times website – I just copied this link directly from the website 2 mins ago. http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-airline-terror7-2010jan07,0,7706989.story

    you might try actually going to the website and looking for the story before you again go off half cocked and WRONG!

    • http://www.redstate.com/tnjim TNJim

      And don’t call our contributors names. At this point it doesn’t matter if the link was changed on the LA times article mentioned. Your disrespect, in fact, may have gotten rid of your account as I type.

      • haystack

        horns are winning-people arguing link status don’t phase me tonight. As of time of publish, it was down-up now was already commented above…we shall hinz socal. :)

    • sarge324

      your facts are way off base.you do remember that terrorist tried to kill many americas.so before you go off half cocked and WRONG.lets try to make america safe,and find out what went wrong.

  • archer52

    I’ve talked about this at length. When I heard that the agencies managed to figure out this guy was on his way to the U.S. after tripping all the warning flares, you’d think Jack Bauer would pick up his trusty, never goes dead cell phone and call the pilot giving him the typical breathless warning. “Listen to me, you have a threat aboard your plane. Go look and tell me, Tell me NOW!”

    But not in Obama’s new world. I can only imagine there was someone in the pipeline going. “Well, just because he’s from Nigeria and young and African doesn’t mean he’s a terrorist. If we tell the plane they might OVERREACT and then if he’s just a regular guy we’ll get sued, or blamed, or….uh, fired!”

    There no other explanation if they are now admitting enough pieces came together to make such a huge bureaucracy actually make a decision in the five or six hours the plane was in flight.

    Or they are just lying and once more thinking it makes them sound smarter they tried the “We KNEW this was going to happen. See how smart we are!” Which is really worse, but they wouldn’t see that from up on the mountain.

    • avgamerican

      and never put him on the no fly list and this Administrations’ political correct view that there is no war on terror, I believe you are right.

  • roncdeweijze

    The left has been successful beyond imagination with instructing its voters and groupies in the recent past, at the expense of trustworthiness of anything coming from the top. Although this is deeply regrettable, we should welcome the opportunity to clean up democracy-the-real-meaning.

  • nunleigh

    about the Nigerian terrorist threat. Rumor?? I believe he was briefed by Brennen. What was he going to do, cancel his Hawaii vacation? Warn the American people? No, I am sure he told his people to stay on it. Did they? No! And, now, if it comes out that Obama knew ANYTHING prior to the attempt, he’s done, and everyone who knows the truth is done. Will they cover up for each other. Damn right! Did they discuss it? Hell yes! So, he took some blame, but now he wants the media to stop talking about terrorism and focus on jobs. Someday, all the truths will come out. Hopefully, it will be soon.

  • nunleigh

    about the Nigerian terrorist threat. Rumor?? I believe he was briefed by Brennen. What was he going to do, cancel his Hawaii vacation? Warn the American people? No, I am sure he told his people to stay on it. Did they? No! And, now, if it comes out that Obama knew ANYTHING prior to the attempt, he’s done, and everyone who knows the truth is done. Will they cover up for each other. Damn right! Did they discuss it? Hell yes! So, he took some blame, but now he wants the media to stop talking about terrorism and focus on jobs. Someday, all the truths will come out. Hopefully, it will be soon.

  • spiff

    I heard that the al-Quada flunky got on the aircraft without a passport!
    Is this true? If so, how could they(?) have found him on a Terrorist List search, and who was responsible – certainly not the trusty TSA…
    Spiff

  • olddog

    the Jihadists appear to have many friends in high places, in our country. but unfortunately the average American does not! We bend over backwards to avoid the appearance of racial profiling, but this has and will get more Americans killed, by those same people, on the battlefield and on our soil!
    Those in leadership positions, still don’t realize or won’t admit the purpose is the deaths of all Christians, Jews, and Hindu’s as stated by a very young man, in one of their training camps, in a film, they released. Too many, believe Jihad, is their way to their heaven.
    Support our Troops! they are our main defense.
    One Old Dog