According to the Telegraph, Detroit terror attack: bomber 'assisted by second man':
American lawyer Kurt Haskell, who was standing in line with his wife Lori on Christmas morning at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, said Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was with a man aged about 50 of Indian appearance in an expensive suit talking with a ticket agent.
Mr Haskell claims that the second man told the ticket agent Abdulmutallab was from Sudan and did not have a passport. The ticket agent then referred the men to her manager down the hall, and Mr Haskell did not see the suspect against until after the failed bombing attempt.
According to METRO DETROIT LOCAL NEWS & TALK, Commenter says he was aboard NWA Flight 253, saw suspected terrorist board the plane.
Kurt Haskell, who commented under the name, Pug, reported:
An Indian man in a nicely dressed suit around age 50 approached the check in counter with the terrorist and said "This man needs to get on this flight and he has no passport." The two of them were an odd pair as the terrorist is a short, black man that looked like he was very poor and looks around age 17(Although I think he is 23 he doesn't look it). It did not cross my mind that they were terrorists, only that the two looked weird together. The ticket taker said "you can't board without a passport". The Indian man then replied, "He is from Sudan, we do this all the time". I can only take from this to mean that it is difficult to get passports from Sudan and this was some sort of sympathy ploy. The ticket taker then said "You will have to talk to my manager", and sent the two down a hallway. I never saw the Indian man again as he wasn't on the flight. It was also weird that the terrorist never said a word in this exchange. Anyway, somehow, the terrorist still made it onto the plane. I am not sure if it was a bribe or just sympathy from the security manager.
It is weird that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab didn't say a word during this exchange.
In the NY Daily News article, Jasper Schuringa, Dutchman who subdued Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on Flight 253, recalls moment:
Schuringa said that throughout the terrifying plane ordeal, Abdulmutallab appeared to be "in a trance."
"He was staring into nothing," Schuringa said. "The whole plane was screaming, but the suspect, he didn't say a word."
I hope that the FBI took urine and blood samples from the suspect to determine whether he may have been drugged, because it certainly sounds like it.
If it is true that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab didn't have a passport and a well dressed man helped him get on anyway, then security at airports really needs to be improved! We all have to take off our shoes and have our bags x-rayed, but they would allow someone to go on without a passport?
Why didn't he have his passport?
Wouldn't you think that if he had gone to all of that trouble, he would have remembered to have his passport!
Mr. Haskell also reported
:
FBI also arrested a different Indian man while we were held in customs after a bomb sniffing dog detected a bomb in his carry on bag and he was searched after we landed. This was later confirmed while we were in customs when an FBI agent said to us "You are being moved to another area because this area is not safe. Read between the lines. Some of you saw what just happened."(The arrest of the other Indian man). I am not sure why this hasn't made it into any news story, but I stood about 15-20 feet away from the other Indian man when he was cuffed and arrested after his search.
What also didn't make the news is that we were held on the plane for 20 minutes AFTER IT LANDED!. A bomb could have gone off then. This wasn't too smart of security to not let us off the plane immediately.
You can see what time I am writing this as I am having a hard time sleeping tonight. Just thought some of you would like to know what I saw, Merry Christmas."
Why didn't the bomb in the carry on make the news? Why were the passengers kept on the plane for 20 minutes?
What about the bomb sniffing dog's find? Why haven't we heard about that?
Bomb sniffing dogs are really what is needed. Lots of them. Woozles don't make as many mistakes as humans. Their noses are pretty amazing.
Joe Lieberman, who is chairman of Homeland Security, has a lot of explaining to do, but instead he is on the warpath again against yet another country, Yemen.
In Joe Lieberman: How About Another War?, the Nation's John Nichols reported:
Referencing his own travels to Yemen, and meetings with unnamed U.S. officials, the senator chirped: "Iraq was yesterday's war, Afghanistan is today's war. If we don't act preemptively, Yemen will be tomorrow's war."
Nichols suggests:
Perhaps instead of getting all excited about starting another war, Lieberman would do better to focus in on the fact that the troubles on Christmas Day did not exactly reflect positive on the homeland security operations for which he is supposed to provide oversight and guidance.
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Update 1: Thank you to commenter, Penguins in Burma, for NPR tip. I've tried to embed the interview by Robert Siegel with Kurt Haskell here:
In case the embed code doesn't work, here is the link: Could Terror Suspect Have Had Outside Help?Dutch probe claims of Nigerian bomber accomplice
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Update 2 & 3: A commenter provided a link, which I followed, and the linked website contained this Reuters News Story link:
Dutch probe claims of Nigerian bomber accomplice
The spokesman added that the military police and the counter-terrorism agency NCTb were reviewing CCTV video and other evidence to see if the accomplice story bears out.
The military police have already said Abdulmutallab did not go through passport control at Schiphol when he arrived from Lagos.
But the spokesman said it would be unlikely the man could board the plane without showing his passport at some point in the boarding process.
The military police have verified that Abdulmutallab did not go through passport control at Schiphol when he arrived from Lagos, according to Reuters, which is not a right wing news outlet, which is not good. This is a definite red flag and breach of security and needs to be addressed for the sake of our homeland security.