A White House spokesman alerted the public to a speech in which President Obama would urge America to learn from the recent attempt to blow up an airliner over detroit. Reuters quoting White House spokesman Bill Burton reported that “He believes it is critical we learn from this incident and take the necessary measures to prevent future acts of terrorism, and he will reference the fact that we need to keep up the pressure on those who would attack our country.” He announced a series of reviews to identity the weaknesses in the security system and said:
“This incident demonstrates that an alert and courageous citizenry are far more resilient than an isolated extremist. As a nation, we will do everything in our power to protect our country. As Americans, we will never give in to fear or division. We will be guided by our hopes, our unity and our deeply held values. That’s who we are as Americans.”
Meanwhile, al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the actions of this isolated extremist. CNN reports that “Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for the attempted Christmas Day terrorist attack on a plane about to land in the United States, saying it was in retaliation for alleged U.S. strikes on Yemeni soil.”
In the statement, published on radical Islamist Web sites, the group hailed the “brother” who carried out the “heroic attack.” The group said it tested a “new kind of explosives” in the attack, and hailed the fact that the explosives “passed through security.”
The Online Times reports that Mutallab says he was just “the first of many” who will be sent to attack US targets.
A global search for accomplices in the Detroit airliner plot was under way yesterday 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.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a terrorist cell led by a former personal secretary to Osama bin Laden, issued a statement saying that the failed attack by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was a response to American-backed airstrikes on the group in Yemen this month. …
The fresh-faced engineering graduate was transferred yesterday from hospital in Detroit to a federal prison in Milan, Michigan, where agents questioning him said he told them that he was one of many bombers being groomed by the Yemeni alQaeda affiliate to attack American-bound aircraft, according to ABC News. …
The disclosures came as Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, said he doubted that Mr Abdulmutallab had acted alone, and Dutch military police announced that they were investigating a witness’s description of an accomplice who may have helped the young Nigerian to board the aircraft in Amsterdam.
Mutallab wasn’t so isolated. Maybe that’s lesson number one. Lesson number two may be that the President should take the enemy at their word when they say they have declared war on America; that they intend to kill all who stand in the way of their cause. It’s possible they mean it.
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