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. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the Northwest bombing in a Monday statement that vowed more attacks on Americans.
American officials agreed to send the two terrorists from Guantanamo to Saudi Arabia where they entered into an "art therapy rehabilitation program" and were set free, according to U.S. and Saudi officials.
They were released in 2007 to Saudi Arabia.
al-Qaeda is having a field day with this and taking credit for the failed attempt to kill a plane full of people.
ABC again:
Al Qaeda took credit Monday for the attempted bombing, boasted of its ability to overcome U.S. intelligence and airport security, and promised new attacks.
Go to the link above for photos of the bomb materials in the underwear.
More news related to this is that in June, the House of Representatives passed a bill which would prohibit the "primary" use of a whole-body imaging system, one that would have clearly shown the bomb materials in Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's underwear.
The House of Representatives voted 310 to 118 in June to pass a measure that prohibits the TSA from using whole-body imaging as a primary means for screening passengers. The legislation’s prime sponsor, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, said Sunday that he stands by the measure. “I believe there’s technology out there that can identify bomb-type materials without necessarily, overly invading our privacy,” he told the Salt Lake Tribune.
“Yes, there is some brief violation of privacy with a full-body scan,” Rep. Peter King, the top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, told Face the Nation. “But on the other hand, if we can save thousands of lives, to me, we have to make that decision, and we have to come down on the side of saving thousands of lives.”
Liberals claim the system is invasive to their privacy.... guess death isn't as invasive huh?
This whole thing leaves us with a few questions... first and foremost, is Obama still planning to release Gitmo terror suspects to Saudi Arabia for "art therapy" so that they can come back and plan more attacks against America?
As of May, that was the plan, at least 100 of them.
This morning in Riyadh, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he spoke to Saudi Assistant Minister of the Interior Muhammed bin Nayaf about sending the roughly 100 Yemeni detainees currently in the detainee center at Guantanamo Bay to Saudi Arabia to the Saudi government's rehabilitation program for jihadis.
Secondly, is Obama still going to bring these very same people onto U.S. soil, as he is doing with Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-described mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks?
The decision, announced by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., could mean one of the highest-profile and highest-security terrorism trials in history would be set just blocks from where hijackers for Al Qaeda destroyed the World Trade Center, killing nearly 2,750 people.
Mr. Holder said he would instruct prosecutors to seek death sentences for Mr. Mohammed and four accused Sept. 11 co-conspirators who would be tried alongside him.
But while the civilian system would handle those cases, he said five other detainees would be prosecuted before a military commission.
Then the obvious question of how much privacy are people willing to compromise on so that a terrorist cannot board a plane with bomb materials sewed into his underwear?
TSA gives information about those privacy concerns:
Facial features” (and, presumably, other body parts) “are blurred when our officers see the images.
TSA will not keep, store or transmit images. Once deleted, they are gone forever. For additional privacy, the officer viewing the image is in a separate room and will never see the passenger and the officer attending to the passenger will never see the image. The officers have 2-way radios to communicate with other in case a threat object is identified.
Obama is "talking" tough but at this point that is all it is, "talking", he still plans to close Gitmo despite the fact that an overwhelming majority of Americans do not support his decision, and that was on Decemeber 16th, 2009, before this latest terror plot against America.
I guess the only real question left is whether anyone actually believes that al-Qaeda and people like Abdulmutallab are going to magically stop trying to attack our airlines or our country?
If you are one that does think they will stop... I have a bridge in Brooklyn I want to sell, interested?
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