I dimly remembered that Mohammed Atta and at least three of his brothers (a big word in Islam) had been known to security agencies at least a year before 9/11 as "likely members of a cell of Al Qaeda operating in the United States." This quote is from an August 9, 2005 article written by ace- investigator-of-intricate-matters Douglas Jehl for the New York Times. I also recall that, within days of the catastrophe, news seeped out that the terrorists who entered the airline network in Portland, Maine and then Boston made it past a watch list that should have functioned as a dragnet for them.
Well, apparently, the same thing was true with yesterday's Christmas terrorist. According to an Associated Press dispatch by Jim Irwin, "An official said the U.S. had known for at least two years" that the suspect--identified as Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab--could have had terrorist ties and was on a list that includes people with known or suspected ties to a terrorist organization. One list being bruited about is said to have more than a half a million names. But this should be no obstacle to a computer and computer program.
The social profile of this man was, of course, hardly the one that the half-sympathetic explicators of terrorism project. Instead, his father, who happened to have been the chairman of the First Bank of Nigeria, described a young man of 23 who lived in a "posh" neighborhood of London (the apartment was said to be worth $4 million) and was studying mechanical engineering at elite University College, London. According to Samuel Goldsmith of the N.Y. Daily News, family members told The Day, a Nigerian newspaper, that the father was stunned that his son was even allowed to fly.
Arthur Max, another writer for A.P., reports that the "US seeks global security stepup on US-bound travel." It's about time. For what were we waiting? The Northwest flight bound for Detroit began its journey in Amsterdam. But Abdul Mutallab began his travels in Lagos, a very dangerous place. For years, American airports displayed panels warning against going to Lagos.
TIME has an intriguing report by Stephen Gray on the "Detroit Terror Suspect: The Nigerian Connection." The would-be murderer of 278 passengers (plus staff), it is said, was trained in Yemen, a country in the vortex of jihadist Islam, where the Obama administration has sent prisoners from Guantanamo for rehabilitation and re-education. Fat chance. Nigeria itself is a hot-bed of religious fanaticism, both Christian and Muslim, to be fair. But the country is mostly Muslim and intolerantly Muslim. Recall 40 years ago the crucifixion of the Christian Ibos of Biafra. Gray poses the prospect of Nigeria becoming a rich recruiting ground for Al Qaeda.
But, of course, as someone commenting on the attempted mass killing observed, "Islam is a peaceful religion and does not encourage the killing of innocents."
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COMMENTS (7)
I'm with you, Marty; it's very frustrating. A lot of people invested significant time and money in developing a sophisticated electronic wall ... a digital jail, if you will, designed to cordon off people with extremist, antisocial views and keep them isolated from the innocent citizens of our country. That system was called "The Spine" and, as you can see, it has failed us.
I'm with you, Marty; it's very frustrating. A lot of people invested significant time and money in developing a sophisticated electronic wall ... a digital jail, if you will, designed to cordon off people with extremist, antisocial views and keep them isolated from the innocent citizens of our country. That system was called "The Spine" and, as you can see, it has failed us.
It's quite astonishing. I was almost with you until the last paragraph. And then, wham! I am neither Muslim nor Arab, not even particularly liberal when it comes to security issues, but these gratuitous broadsides belong in the gutter, not in TNR.
Crucifiction of a Christian 40 years ago in Biafra? Are you for fucking real? Let me see now. 40 years ago the US was napalming Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. So much for peaceful Christianity. And there was that incident in Golgotha ... perhaps that crucifiction should also be put at the foot of all Jews everywhere for all time?
It's quite astonishing. I was almost with you until the last paragraph. And then, wham! I am neither Muslim nor Arab, not even particularly liberal when it comes to security issues, but these gratuitous broadsides belong in the gutter, not in TNR.
Crucifiction of a Christian 40 years ago in Biafra? Are you for fucking real? Let me see now. 40 years ago the US was napalming Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. So much for peaceful Christianity. And there was that incident in Golgotha ... perhaps that crucifiction should also be put at the foot of all Jews everywhere for all time?
Even without his name appearing on a "watch list", Mutallab should have popped red flags all over the place had airport security personnel screened for suspicious profiles, not objects.
An Israeli airport security expert in a radio interview this morning observed that current airport security procedures (outside of Israel & ElAl) focus 100% effort on 100% of the passengers. This is wasteful, expensive, and ultimately not effective. Instead 90% of the effort should be expended on 10% of the passengers, i.e., focused on those whose behavior, background & profile trigger suspicions of being witting or unwitting potential terrorists.
A story demonstrating proper profiling:
... view full comment
Even without his name appearing on a "watch list", Mutallab should have popped red flags all over the place had airport security personnel screened for suspicious profiles, not objects.
An Israeli airport security expert in a radio interview this morning observed that current airport security procedures (outside of Israel & ElAl) focus 100% effort on 100% of the passengers. This is wasteful, expensive, and ultimately not effective. Instead 90% of the effort should be expended on 10% of the passengers, i.e., focused on those whose behavior, background & profile trigger suspicions of being witting or unwitting potential terrorists.
A story demonstrating proper profiling:
Before Richard Ried, the infamous shoe-bomber, did his deed over the Atlantic, he was sent to Israel by al Qaeda to feel out Israel's airport security. They wanted to see if Reid, a Brit, traveling on a British passport, not carrying any suspicious or forbidden objects, would nonetheless be tagged as suspicious by Israeli airport security. So Reid flew to Israel, spent few days or a week here and then returned to the airport to fly back to Merrye Olde Englande.
Sure enough, between a check of his passport and his answers to the screener's questions Reid was tagged as highly suspicious. He and his possessions were thoroughly searched, down to his underwear. He came out clean but security was still concerned. So they quickly arranged for whoever was supposed to sit next to Reid to get a sudden upgrade to business class and had a plain clothes, but armed, security person be assigned to the seat next to Reid. Just in case.
He was harmless on is Israeli round trip because he was instructed to be harmless. But had he been on a Mutallab-like mission or simply the same shoe-bomb that he tried using on the Paris-USA flight, he probably would have been flagged & the bomb identified. Probably. Nothing is 100% & so the name of the game is to improve the odds of detection.
One more thing. Screeners and airport security personnel in general in Israel do not come from the bottom of society. They are typically university students (actual or headed in that direction) with above average intelligence who are earning good money to finance their education. They are all IDF graduates, mostly from combat units, often from elite units with more advanced training. Candidates for airport security jobs then undergo several months of additional training run by the GSS (Israel's FBI equivalent) that focuses on the specifics of airport security needs, including (for those designated to carry weapons like the plainclothes, undercover security personnel who wander around the airport looking like travelers) accurate shooting at targets in a crowd when you want to avoid hitting innocent bystanders.
You get what you pay for, if you spend the money wisely and realistically.
Hershel Ginsburg
Jerusalem / Efrata
icarusr: "the Christian Ibos" are not not a "a Christian ... in Biafra," but rather an entire ethnic group, who were starved nearly to the point of genocide, in the war for Biafran independence.
icarusr: "the Christian Ibos" are not not a "a Christian ... in Biafra," but rather an entire ethnic group, who were starved nearly to the point of genocide, in the war for Biafran independence.
Nothing in Mr. Peretz's vision, of course, about the run-up to the Biafran war, or it's characteristics: the January 1966 Ibo-led military coup that virtually decapitated the federal government, the fact that the leader of the federal army, Yakubu Gowon (the son of Christian missionaries), and much of the general staff, during the war were Christians...
Nah, it all has to be the fault of those dirty Muslims.
"...the half-sympathetic explicators of terrorism..."
Of course. Far better to be able to kill Muslims promiscuously and ignorantly, without running the risk of understanding why some become terrorists.
Nothing in Mr. Peretz's vision, of course, about the run-up to the Biafran war, or it's characteristics: the January 1966 Ibo-led military coup that virtually decapitated the federal government, the fact that the leader of the federal army, Yakubu Gowon (the son of Christian missionaries), and much of the general staff, during the war were Christians...
Nah, it all has to be the fault of those dirty Muslims.
"...the half-sympathetic explicators of terrorism..."
Of course. Far better to be able to kill Muslims promiscuously and ignorantly, without running the risk of understanding why some become terrorists.
Typical SMacEachern2 inversion of reality:
"Of course. Far better to be able to kill Muslims promiscuously and ignorantly, without running the risk of understanding why some become terrorists."
You would never know from this that most of the people being killed, even when the victims are Muslims, are being killed by Muslim Jihadists.
"the January 1966 Ibo-led military coup that virtually decapitated the federal government, the fact that the leader..."
Oh yes, this is a perefclty good reason for trying to exterminate the Ibos.
Mac never tires of making apologies for his murdering Muslim brothers.
Typical SMacEachern2 inversion of reality:
"Of course. Far better to be able to kill Muslims promiscuously and ignorantly, without running the risk of understanding why some become terrorists."
You would never know from this that most of the people being killed, even when the victims are Muslims, are being killed by Muslim Jihadists.
"the January 1966 Ibo-led military coup that virtually decapitated the federal government, the fact that the leader..."
Oh yes, this is a perefclty good reason for trying to exterminate the Ibos.
Mac never tires of making apologies for his murdering Muslim brothers.
"... his murdering Muslim brothers."
Yeah, I know - for you, Peretz et al, they are all just dirty Arabushim, and ripe for killing. You care not one whit how many Muslim victims there are in any of these conflicts... the more the better, in fact, pour décourager les autres.
As for the Biafran war, it wasn't significantly a religious war, but a war between ethnic blocs for control over the country. There are plenty of Muslim Ibo, plenty of Christian northerners, and the Yoruba who fought on the side of the federal government are mostly Christian. As I said, the first attempt at a takeover dominated by Ibo was a military coup in which the civilian government were systematically hunted down and ... view full comment
"... his murdering Muslim brothers."
Yeah, I know - for you, Peretz et al, they are all just dirty Arabushim, and ripe for killing. You care not one whit how many Muslim victims there are in any of these conflicts... the more the better, in fact, pour décourager les autres.
As for the Biafran war, it wasn't significantly a religious war, but a war between ethnic blocs for control over the country. There are plenty of Muslim Ibo, plenty of Christian northerners, and the Yoruba who fought on the side of the federal government are mostly Christian. As I said, the first attempt at a takeover dominated by Ibo was a military coup in which the civilian government were systematically hunted down and eliminated. There was a northern counter-coup a year later, reprisals on both sides, and that was the cycle of violence that led to the atrocities of the war itself.
But who the hell cares, eh? For you folks, it's all just grist for the mill: what matters isn't the actual facts, it's coming up with cheap propaganda to keep the hatred against Muslims flowing.