Obama: The system didn't work
President cites failures after attack
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President Obama said yesterday that a "mix of human and systemic failures" allowed a Nigerian student allegedly carrying an explosive to board an airplane on Christmas Day, and the president vowed to quickly fix flaws that could have doomed a flight carrying nearly 300 passengers and crew members.
The president and his top advisers now believe there is "some linkage" with al-Qaida, and the administration is "increasingly confident" that the terrorist group worked with suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to secure the deadly chemical mixture that he took aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253, a senior administration official said yesterday.
The government also had intelligence suggesting a possible attack on the United States by al-Qaida around Christmastime, White House officials said.
Obama's stark remarks came two days after his Homeland Security secretary, Janet Napolitano, said that information provided by the suspect's father before the failed bombing plot was so vague that it did not merit further investigation. Napolitano also said that "the system worked" in this incident, drawing a political outcry from GOP lawmakers and national security experts.
As the Obama administration reviewed the government's actions yesterday, investigators in Yemen visited an Arabic language institute attended by Abdulmutallab and asked about his ties to a mosque in the capital's historic section.
In the United States, FBI agents conducted fresh interviews of each passenger on the Detroit-bound flight and focused their attention on Abdulmutallab's past six months, a time when investigators suspect that the Nigerian student grew increasingly radicalized, according to two federal officials who spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to interfere with the ongoing investigation.
Over the past year, Abdulmutallab intensified electronic communications with the extremist Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Aulaqi, the federal sources said. Aulaqi also corresponded with the Army major accused of the Fort Hood massacre last month, officials have said.
From his vacation spot in Hawaii, the president blamed lapses in sharing information after Abdulmutallab's father alerted the U.S. embassy in Nigeria last month about his son, who had embraced radical views and cut off ties to the prosperous family. Government officials said they already have identified faulty systems and failures to follow procedure, and Obama has demanded preliminary results of a review by tomorrow.
"It now appears that, weeks ago, this information was passed to a component of our intelligence community but was not effectively distributed so as to get the suspect's name on a no-fly list," Obama said, adding, "Had this critical information been shared . . . the suspect would have never been allowed to board that plane for America."
The president added later, "A systemic failure has occurred, and I consider that totally unacceptable."
Intelligence officials said they were eager to improve their system to close whatever gaps the Abdulmutallab case may have exposed. But several expressed puzzlement and some irritation over Obama's reference to "bits of information available within the intelligence community" that, if "pieced together," might have "triggered (a) red flag" about the Nigerian.
"Abdulmutallab's father didn't say his son was a terrorist" when he visited the U.S. embassy in Nigeria, "let alone planning an attack. Not at all," one U.S. intelligence official said. "I'm not aware of some magic piece of intelligence that suddenly would have flagged this guy - whose name nobody even had until November - as a killer en route to America, let alone something that anybody withheld." (next page »)
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Happy New Years to those who are the Tip of the Spear when it comes to supporting our Founding Fathers, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
I am totally impressed with the work you guys do, day after day, pounding away at the opposition in support of the ideals of what make this Country great.
Tenacious pit bulls you are, never ending, never tiring, always vigilant in protecting our Liberties.
Hats off to you and let us pray that our elected leaders have the wisdom to guide this great nation through the troubled waters that lie ahead for the next three years.
millennia(#1 Pit Bull)
4Liberty (#2 Pit Bull)
Bruce Trivellini(The Buck Stops here)
Van(The Man)
DIRTY HARRY(Magnum Force)
sailmaker(cuts through the liberal bilge)
LIAMD2 (I dig that Acorn hat)
wayneinnh(point man)
And to the others who contribute their opinions in support of our Constitution and ideals.
Hunter Dan
mlareau
war205
DZ
Tim
Hankp
kenstcyr
NH_Native
Armyvet
to vote
ObamaSecurity: Personal preferences and modesty must be sacrificed to keep us all safe while traveling! Naked scanners will be used!
ObamaSecurity: is now considering full proof security, no mistakes. They now suggest MANDATORY exploding collars, to be locked-on, before boarding the aircraft, and to be remotely detonated from the ground, in case the cockpit is compromised.
This will ensure that "The system did work"
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Check the calendar of terror attacks on America...
1. September 11, 2001
We were then kept safe for eight years.
Our country remained without attack until....
2. November 5, 2009 when an army officer known to be a muslim radical who expressed hatred for Americans gunned downed 12 American citizens and shot 31 in a terrorist attack on American soil at Fort Hood of all places!
3. December 25, 2009 when a Nigerian terrorist set off explosives on a Northwest flight bound for Detroit. A man listed in a U.S. terrorism database last month after his father told State Department officials that he was worried about his son's radical beliefs and extremist connections. This known terrorist had sufficient explosives to blow up the plane and kill everyone on it.
4. January ?, 2010
Who's steering this ship???
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You're forgetting the anthrax attacks (still unsolved) and the shoe bomber -- interesting parallels regarding that one. December 2001, Bush on vacation, several days of silence--and then a free pass for the Prez.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/31049.html
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The shoe bomber incident was barely a year after the downing of the twin towers by terrorist thugs. Bush had declared a war on terror and we had a more competent homeland security team in place. Napolitano has referred to the 9-11 attack as a "man made disaster" and the Obama cabal refuses to treat this as a war and has returned to the police action scenario.......which will never work by the way.
So, Bush did not respond immediately as we had terror initiatives on every front. Basically, that was another incident which was already in the middle of a "war" on terror.
Obama took many days to speak out on the floods down South (just like Bush did on Kartrina) and none of your ilk (unpatriotic, America bashing and blaming extremists) care a damn about that.
Obama is worse than Bush in his understanding of world events and has absolutely no idea how to respond without the telepromter and and his handlers spelling it out for him. Poor leadership and poor judgment makes us much more at risk.
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Excuse me, but you and your ilk are the America bashing extremists. You are maligning the president and the majority that elected him. I have never seen a more unpatriotic crew in my life.
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And you folks did not malign Bush and the majority which elected him for eight years.
Your ilk bashes Amnerica.
Obama travels the world and apologizes for our prosperity and moral leadership.
You and your band of merry idealists are Hell bent on destroying everything which made this country the greatest country on the face of the Earth.
Excuse me, but your band of whiners and victims make all of us sick to our stomachs.
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That would be a good name for the country you'd like to have. A country that forgets its roots and its ideals and its recent past.
As for whiners and the victim mentality, I defy anyone to name bigger practitioners of those sins than today's conservatives.
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rhetoric from the resident Socialist. What roots are you pining for, Michael57? The roots of self determination, self destiny, sky is the limit opportunities? If so, progressives like yourself are destroying that, dismantling the best system in the world, piece by piece.
What ideals are you dreaming of Michael57? The ideals of Marx?
As far as those with a victim mentality? That concept defines you.
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Also, no one has any use for Marx anymore outside of college courses. Get with the times.
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a) I'm absolutely not a socialist--and by the way, why do you capitalize it?
b) American ideals which we are defending against reactionaries such as yourself
c) victim mentality? Please point to a post in which I come across sounding like a victim--poor pitiful me. I can point to dozens of yours, and those of your colleagues on these boards. Today's conservatism is defined by victimization and grievances--Sarah Palin is their poster child.
d) I hope you don't get too cold out demonstrating with those nut jobs from Kansas today.
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Michael57 I know those of you who have no defense of President Obama love to fall back on things that Bush did or didn't do. I think we can all agree on much of the incompetence and ineffectivness of Bush on many fronts. But I have a news flash for you...George W. Bush is NO LONGER our President. We have a new President and his name is Barack Obama. He was sworn into office on January 20, 2009. When is HE going to take responsibility for the nation he is charged with protecting?? How many terrorists attacks on American soil will it take? How many Americans must die? When will someone be held accountable for failure and heads roll? When will someone finally speak up and say, hey don't we have a pattern here that these terrorists are Muslim? Shouldn't we take a closer look at these guys, especially in the instance where their own father finds their behavior suspect?!!
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Your original point was that "Bush kept us safe." You can hardly complain that I refute your argument with reference to Bush.
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in the "war on terror". Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen. Maybe it has something to do with that fact?
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all these places posed no threat of a terrorist attack pre 2009?
silly!
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and perhaps getting sacked. But this Politico piece reminds us that in 2001, Bush waited 6 days before commenting publicly on Richard Reid, the "shoe bomber". And there was almost no criticism of Bush for his 6 days of silence, although the Reid attempt came just 3 months after 9/11. Here's the link:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/31049.html
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Joe Biden made a scathing comment on the silence and failure of the breach on Face the Nation just days later. Don't you love the irony? I'm sure glad he fixed the problem and quickly addressed the oversight now that he is second in charge! *eye roll*
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(Pre-recorded) Understatement of the year.
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Fire Security secretary, Janet Napolitano!!!!!
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Don't make her the Secritary of Fire Security,
Either you mean get rid of her, which he should, but that would admint he was wrong to hire her in the first place.
Or Obama has created a new cabinet position for more of his supporters.
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Better get those Prostates checked, if you do not shake a leg quick enough, you may be under suspicion for spending too much time in the lavatory.
Next step is probably shaking down your prostate! Or maybe they will be too busy shaking down Grandma to really care about your prostate issues.
ObamaSecurity representatives were proposing more repressive restrictions:
Full body cavity searches, and better hog tie everyone just in case, knock them out with sleeping gas, throw them in the overhead compartment, and put them in cryogenic sleep.
Other ObamaSecurity representatives were concerned that If they ban passengers from using bathrooms, there will be a sudden uptake of plastic bags for in-flight usage, and more deposits left behind as passengers leave the plane. Either that or the airline seats may become very wet and smelly..
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If ObamaSecurity cannot protect us, I cannot imagine what Obamacare will end up costing us!
Next thing we will hear from the ObamaSecurity crowd will be:
Underwear Bomber Renews Calls for 'Naked Scanners'
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The system that failed was put in place by Bush and Obama didn't do anything to fix it.
Doc.
"Everything I know I learned at my grandmothers knee and other low joints."
DA
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That blame was used for everything under the sun, has been around for how many years now?
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I've been doing my best to ignore your inane posts. Do you really want to tangle with me again, snitch?
Doc.
"Everything I know I learned at my grandmothers knee and other low joints."
DA
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"snitch, tangle with me again"
What I would expect from the Acorn crowd.
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Nah, I just don't care much for folks who run to the moderator when they get in over their heads. Which isn't too high in your case.
Doc.
"Everything I know I learned at my grandmothers knee and other low joints."
DA
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First of all, make sure you have the correct Army Vet or poster regarding your accusations to snitching.
Fair enough?
Second of all, I have no idea what you are talking about with respect to the snitching you speak of. I have never, ever reported anyone to the moderator, that game I do not play! I hope that I made myself clear enough on that topic.
Fair enough?
Doc, I respect you enough to tell you to your Avatar(face) if I had any problems with your postings, I would never go to the moderator with any complaints that I would have against you or anyone.
Fair enough?
So Doc, that is where I am coming from, so please make sure you can back up your accusation, because you have the wrong guy. As you can see from my postings(rantings) I am a straight shooter and I do not have to hide behind snitching to get my point across.
Fair enough?
And finally, speaking of snitching, someone reported me to the moderator in regards to my signature block that always ended with a Peter Schiff reference. Have you noticed I do not reference Peter Schiff anymore? That was because of someone who did not have the ballbearings to come to me first but instead complained to the moderator and considered it spam. I was told to knock it off. This happened a couple of weeks ago. And I know how you feel when someone goes behind your back and snitches on you.
I do consider my references to Peter Schiff as political and economic opinion and that is why I used it, but because someone snitched to the moderator, as you would say, I cannot use it. If that is the game some posters here want to use, I am powerless to stop them. Unfortunately that is the world we live in today.
So Doc, please give me a fair trial first before lynching me in Public, that is the least you can do if we are going to maintain at least some level of civility amongst ourselves.
Fair enough?
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"Reported"
By armyvet on Mon, 10/05/2009 - 08:14
"Your comments and personal attack has been reported to the editor of this posting board and will be removed. Stick to the subject Jerk."
Is that not you, or is there more than one armyvet around here? If there is I apologies. If not...
Doc.
"Everything I know I learned at my grandmothers knee and other low joints."
DA
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Or across your knee!
As you can see by the posting owner tags:
I am:
Doc, timeout!
By ArmyVet_72 on Wed, 12/30/2009 - 16:36
Your reference is to:
"Reported"
By armyvet on Mon, 10/05/2009 - 08:14
So your snitch is armyvet nor Armyvet_72.
Doc, I do appreciate you allowing me the opportunity to defend myself and also for being civil about this matter even though you and I sit on opposite sides of the fence.
There are just some things the moderator cannot police, that is, the standards that we set amongst ourselves.
Apology accepted, I like you was angry, I am glad we both remained civil to sort this out.
My advice to you, if you do not mind me saying, Take Armyvet out behind the woodshed.
Happy New Year and let us get back to the rantings.
P.S.
Doc, take a look over at today
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I get it - spread the blame around. Why not throw Nixon in too? Just as long as you can deflect some critism away from the chosen one. Why don't you take one for the team and say it's your fault? I've got an idea. You can claim to be the Obama appointed underwear scanner and you missed that pair.
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Somehow, I'm not surprised your heart still bleeds for Nixon.
Doc.
"Everything I know I learned at my grandmothers knee and other low joints."
DA
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Speaking of Nixon and Obama.
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had ties to far-right, antidemocratic cabals.
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His choice of Janet Napolitano for Homeland Security Chief is a joke. He just wanted to add a "certain type" of person to his cabinet. (By "certain type", I mean someone that was GLAAD approved.) Why not, he didn't have the right qualifications to be president, why should he expect the Homeland Security Chief to have the right qualifications. It's obvious that he couldn't care less about the lives of American citizens.
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I just could not resist!
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when obama announced biden as his running mate ( August 23, 2009) biden said that this guy obama has steel in his spine>
In fact biden mentioned it over and over on the campaign trail:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RzGTbfcL3w
That steel looks more like lead today, don't you think Michael?
...."the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry, & the fruits acquired by it." - Thomas Jefferson
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why don't we hire these guys:
"MOGADISHU, Somalia
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try reading those little folders outside your bedroom each morning. They may help with understanding the system.
"CIA admits tracking 'The Nigerian' before NorthWest terror attack From correspondents in Detroit From: NewsCore December 30, 2009 11:31AM Increase Text SizeDecrease Text SizePrintEmail Share
Add to DiggAdd to del.icio.usAdd to FacebookAdd to KwoffAdd to MyspaceAdd to NewsvineWhat are these?THE CIA was tracking a person of interest known as "The Nigerian" - who was in fact airline bomb suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab - as early as August, CBS News reports.
The connection between
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Maybe you think Obama--once he was briefed on "The Nigerian"--should have been on the plane waiting for him? Except instead of Obama it would have been Harrison Ford, and he would have wrestled the terrorist to the ground and then flown the plane to safety? I mean, what are you saying here?
The news story you are quoting echoes Obama's assessment that this was a catastrophic lapse in the DHS system.
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Gee Michael you really are showing your man crush for zippy.
I prefer Wesley Snipes actually. Passenger 57!
...."the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry, & the fruits acquired by it." - Thomas Jefferson
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Man crush? Nah.
Actually, most movies that involve airplanes are pretty cool. Even if they don't have Samuel L. Jackson.
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I will be in Hawaii.
But, if some kid gets smashed in the head with a surf board I will be over right away!
Should have been on TV Christmas night. After all, he's on when he shouldn't be on, but no where to be found when he should be in our face telling us that everything is alright and I am on it!
Too bad...for us!
...."the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry, & the fruits acquired by it." - Thomas Jefferson
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Obama, the worst president ever, thought his charm and constant apologies, would stop terrorism. Well the terrorists are coming at us more than ever since 9/11. I wonder what changed. Oh that is right -a very very weak president.
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Shocking parallels:
The Katrina oversight > The latest attempt to bring down an airliner.
Head of FEMA > Head of Homeland Security
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If this were the private sector, heads roll, bodies are thrown under the bus,
and replacements are drawn.
Clean house Obama, and clean it FAST.
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Mr. Janet Incompetano was not qualified for this position then and is not qualified now.
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Could you imagine Bush running around in a Speedo in Maui on vacation? All while the Republic crumbles?
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What happened to conservatives? I mean this as a serious question. Is the Republic crumbling because a nut carried a bomb onto an airplane? Or is it because the Senate is bickering? Or is it because there might be more government oversight on health insurance? I mean, which of these dire developments has today's crop of conservatives clutching their pearls and whimpering that the end is near?
Get a grip, conservatives. Summon your inner Reagan and your inner Thatcher. The end is not near just because a Democrat is in office. Man up, for Pete's sake. This hysteria is embarrassing.
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it's like the longest case of sore loser ever.
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" I presume there is always a threat from terrorism. In my speech, although I did not use the word "terrorism," I referred to "man-caused" disasters. That is perhaps only a nuance, but it demonstrates that we want to move away from the politics of fear toward a policy of being prepared for all risks that can occur."
"Man-caused" disasters? Hey Janet- they want to kill us.
I wouldn't want Napolitano in charge of a neighborhood watch.
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