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Detroit Bomber 'Providing Intelligence about al-Qaida'
The Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day has been providing fresh intelligence in several terrorism investigations, officials have said.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. (Photograph: US marshals/EPA) Umar
Farouk Abdulmutallab, who had a bomb hidden in his underwear, is said
to have been co-operating with investigators since last week.
The Obama administration had been under fire for giving Abdulmutallab the right to remain silent rather than interrogating him as a military prisoner.
In the days following the failed bombing, a pair of FBI agents flew to Nigeria and persuaded Abdulmutallab's family to help them. They brought family members back to the US, according to a senior administration official briefed on the case. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.
FBI officials continued to question Abdulmutallab, working with the CIA and other intelligence authorities, the official said, and Obama was receiving regular updates.
A law enforcement official, also speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to discuss the case, said Abdulmutallab had provided information about his contacts in Yemen, where an al-Qaida branch has claimed responsibility for the failed attack.
Authorities had hoped to keep Abdulmutallab's co-operation secret while they continued to investigate his leads but details began to trickle out during testimony on Capitol Hill by the FBI director, Robert Mueller, and director of national intelligence, Dennis Blair.
The Senate intelligence committee chairwoman, Dianne Feinstein, asked Mueller: "It is also my understanding that Mr. Abdulmutallab has provided valuable information. Is that correct?"
"Yes," Mueller replied.
Mueller then confirmed that the interrogation had continued despite the suspect being advised of his right to have a lawyer and remain silent.
- Posted in
35 Comments so far
Show All"Mueller then confirmed that the interrogation had continued despite the suspect being advised of his right to have a lawyer and remain silent."
This story looks more and more like propaganda. Not only does it continue the "bad people don't deserve human rights" theme of the original non-event, but it's also full of easy-to-remember sexual titilation - just so that busy working-class people are sure to talk about it.
"Underwear!" LOL military industrial complex media.
"human rights" so your contention is that a terroist taken in the act should be accorded the same rights as a burgler? In which case that would give him his "human rights"?
Or an accused child killer, rapist, gunnut who went on a shooting spree, drunk driver...
Yes. The reason being isn't that you want to protect the guy who did the crime, but the one who didn't. If the accused doesn't have any rights, none of us do.
Moreover, sinking to the level of a lawless terrorist doesn't do a bit of good. Torturing them just fuels their recruitment campaigns and makes it easier for the terrorist group to find willing human bombs. It does not, and can not, give the police any actionable 'intelligence'. The 'ticking time bomb' scenario makes for good tv, but doesn't exist in the real world where a terrorist would still be motivated to kill people even if he/she were caught.
Saturnalia
Intelligently and persuasively well stated.
The rule of law was our greatest freedom. Without it, we'll soon have nothing left. Yet time and time again, we see Washington no longer upholding the rule of law, the Constitution, or even the concept of representative government. At this point, I am much more afraid of them than the threat of a terrorist attack. No attack, not even the one they assure us is coming, could destroy our country any more surely than the federal government is doing. If I were a terrorist, I'd just sit back and watch the Ds and the Rs fight over our carcass.
[If I were a terrorist, I'd just sit back and watch the Ds and the Rs fight over our carcass.]
Which is exactly what the terrorists are doing. There was an article a few weeks/months ago asking 'is Osama winning', and the clear answer is yes, he is. You're quite right about the loss of the 'rule of law', in the future history students will write long papers denouncing the idiots who led the usa away from the ideals it long professed (even if they didn't always practice what they preached, they did inspire others with that preaching...).
Saturnalia
"You're quite right about the loss of the 'rule of law"
We haven't lost it quite yet. Its just been bent by a string of slimeballs. They haven't won yet. Those that have been abusing it are beginning to lose I think.
So you saying murderers, rapist and armed robbers should be considered terrorists and not be given any human right?
Nope, I wasn't saying anything. I was asking a question. Asking for clarification. Reading my post again I see exactly that.
But I'll try to put it this way just in case.
Is he a civilian or a POW?
If a terrorist is taken in the act or after is he to be accorded the same rights as a criminal that is a citizen, like the guy that robs a 7/11. Is that a human right? Our protections under the law?
Is a terrorist the same as a criminal? Or are they the same as a POW? And if you treat them differently as required by our law is that a denial of his human rights?
"Is he a civilian or a POW?"
He's a civilian. The USA is not officially at war with his nation state, and he isn't a soldier.
The idea that a USA president can just say the word "war" (War on Drugs, War on Terror) and then suspend normal human rights and legal procedures, demonstrates why US power is so hated abroad - especially by the people who live under American-funded dictators.
For the sake of power accumuulation, the USA's oligarchy is willing to throw away the rights of everyone else.
qatzelok
Thanks! I wasn't quite sure of your context. Appreciate your taking the time.
One wonders if the Nigerian's interrogators had ever decided to ask him the basic question of why he had decided to do what he did. Could it possibly have had anything to do with the foreign policy of the United States and its militant approach in dealing with under developed countries?
Erroll: that indeed would have been a good question for his interrogators to ask; but of course "why you did it" is not in the repertoire of questions usually asked of suspects by interrogation agents. Another good question which, for different reasons, I doubt they asked was about the identity of that "sharp dressed" man that a witness at the Amsterdam saw interceding on his behalf to get on the plane to Detroit even though he was said to have been lacking a passport. As Justin Raimondo today in Anti-war.com and many other commentators have suggested, the "sharp dressed" man, if he existed, could be a window into an understanding of the important question for both 9/11 and Detroit, of who may have "helped al-Qaida" in these operations. Of course our government interrogators would not be expected to comment on the possible involvement of "friendly" agents (some of whom have been known to be sharp dressers). Nor would the AP reporters be likely to dig for such vital information, given AP's practice of being a reliable stenographer for whatever version of reality government agents hand out to them.
This is the question that Helen Thomas kept asking. They never gave her a real reason.
Joe
When people are going through torture in such a Star Chamber atmosphere, they will say anything to stop the torture., This doesn't prove a damn thong except the US mainstream media is an echo chamber for the US national security complex.
AD
Maybe it's propaganda; but then it's also evidence that you can get good information w/o torture. How about that!
Touche', hamster.
Problem for me is I don't believe a damn word they say one way or the other about anything.
I don't even believe this alleged attempt was real, or this person is who they claim he is.
They just throw shit out and jump up and down. But we never get to see or hear
the alleged "terrorists." Nothing. Just gotta take their word on everything.
That doesn't fly with me anymore. For all I know this guy could be CIA.
Everything they do is behind a veil of secrecy, so I don't believe anything.
Exactly. We have to take their word on everything, and their word isn't any good. I don't believe any of it. Especially when they're out saying we're going to get hit again within the next few months and the terrist will come from where ever they want to invade next, most likely Iran. They have enough intelligence to know this but not enough to stop it. And then there's always the question "who benefits?" In this case Chertoff and the scammer manufacturers got paid to take a little bit more of our freedom.
What we have is a new concept of "underwear undercover", or "lets not wash our underwear in public". Where is the color code system telling us things are really bad? This must be at least a purple, or the entire rainbow at once. Or is it a coalition?
This entire thwarted "attack" is hysterical.
The masters of propaganda are really having to dig deep these days.
Keep digging, fellas. There's a sucker born every day.
Still, my all time favorite was in the winter of 2001, the late Tim Russert devoted an entire prime time program to a rendition of Bin Laden's high tech, multi level, 4 star cave dwelling. Our tour guide was none other than the Minister of Propaganda, Donald Rumsfeld. I remember laughing at it then, and I can laugh about it now.
It sure is a joke. This terrorist wannabe has everybody shaking in their shorts! Somebody should check the CIA's ties to "al-Qaida". By the way, there is no "al-Qaida", just like there is no Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, or freedom & democracy.
AMEN!
I am willing to bet that this was allowed to happen to get more of your remaining rights taken away...And the security industry make more money.....just follow the money trail...where it leads will be shocking to most Americans...
Listening to eyewitness that saw him in Amsterdam leads me to believe he was escorted right onto the airplane..
The story is a bit hard to believe. I doubt any bomb that was hidden in underwear and detonated in the middle of a passenger compartment could do enough damage to bring down an airplane. Perhaps we should ask the folks at Mythbusters to do a tv show about it. (grin)
It's another circus to distract people from the troubles in the economy, which can only get worse while the us spends so much on the military and borrows yet more money from your great great grandchildren. Of course, if the people did notice that the war spending doesn't keep them 'safe' from terrorism, you're going to need that spending to shoot the rioters...
And you thought the USA Patriot Act was about foreign terrorists?
I still have to check this, because I caught it in passing, but there was something on News 12 this morning about information gotten out of this guy that Al-Qaida is going to strike the U.S. in 6 months or something? I laughed. My first thought was bring it on. I mean, really.
I'm with another commenter who talked about the fear instilled in Americans regarding Commies after WWII. Since the Soviet Union they needed another group to scare the Americans witless. I don't care anymore. I find Obama and Co. far scarier than anything Al-Qaida can bring on. I find living day to day without access to health care easily when I need it, barely making ends meet, the necessities constantly rising, while the income is going down far more frightening. No, Al-Qaida doesn't scare me. Maybe they scare the upper middle class, etc., but not me. We have much, much bigger fish to fry.
If you google "Terror suspect kept visa to avoid tipping off larger investigation", you will find an article from Jan. 27 in the Detroit News that details how the State Department was actually prevented from revoking Abdulmutallab's passport before the flight due to a request from "intelligence officials".
As noted in this article, the government was fully aware at the highest levels of Abdulmutallab's connections to the Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula terror network, but chose regardless to not even subject him to a routine pat-down or questioning prior to boarding. Yet this information has been virtually blacked-out from the mainstream media.
The dots were fully connected!
For a full analysis and additional details, google "Congressional hearing reveals US intelligence agencies shielded Flight 253 bomber".
According to some reports at least, the explosive concealed in Abdulmutallab's underwear was the compound PETN. It turns out that this explosive cannot be set off by fire; only a shock wave can cause that chemical substance to explode. The shock wave is produced by a special triggering mechanism: no report mentions that Abdulmutallab carried such a triggering device.
If this is correct, then obviously the whole incident was a stage act to be used for various political purposes (including military designs, of course), both domestically and on the international scene.
This is further confirmed by the "well-dressed Indian man" incident at the Amsterdam airport, in which, according to at least two reliable American witnesses (Kurt and Lori Haskell, both lawyers from Chicago), a man of seemingly Indian origin helped Abdulmutallab avoid having to show his passport at the boarding gate (in all likelihood because the passport would have set off alarms -- since we now know that Abdulmutallab was already on a list of suspects -- and made it impossible for him to board the plane).
For the Haskells' eyewitness testimomy, see haskellfamily.blogspot.com.
As for the content of the above article, well, let's say it's at best laughable.
so here's how i see this:
-cia/fbi knew this guy was planning something (se story about some "Nigerian" preparing something)
-they cannot snatch him in a foreign country without causing fake outrage (see Italy incident)
-visa did not get canceled so he can come to US and be arrested (see various sources claiming he was being expected to be "talked to" upon arrival)
-case closed
Oops, the guy tried something on the way here. Fortunately he failed. End of story. Everyone lived happily ever after. Except, of course, the wannabe terr.
"pants on fire!"
Meanwhile: "A January 27 hearing of the House Committee on Homeland Security established that US intelligence agencies stopped the State Department from revoking the US visa of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab."
This is reported in an WSWS article and reproduced here, http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24577.htm
It continues: "The revelation that US intelligence agencies made a deliberate decision to allow Abdulmutallab to board the commercial flight, without any special airport screening, has been buried in the media."
And further:
"This is despite—or perhaps more accurately, because of—the fact that this information exposes the official government story of the near-disaster to be a lie. President Obama, who has joined with top US intelligence, FBI and Homeland Security officials to insist that Abdulmutallab was inadvertently allowed to board the plane carrying explosives because of a failure to 'connect the dots,' has from the start been deceiving the American people."
And most devastating:
"“And one of the members [of the intelligence community]—and we’d be glad to give you that out of [open session]—in private—said, ‘Please, do not revoke this visa. We have eyes on this person. We are following this person who has the visa for the purpose of trying to roll up an entire network, not just stop one person.’”"
It's good to see a journalist following I.F. Stone's method of finding news too fit to print.
As a Muslim from Saudi Arabia, I can say that Islam instructs us to respect all people regardless of their race and religion, hence Muslims should say whenever he/she meet a person (ANY PERSON) "Assalamu Alykom Wa Rahmato Allah Wa Barakatoh" which literally means "Peace and mercy of God be upon you". And Islam forbids killing or even hurting a cat, let alone killing innocent people specially people of the holy books "Christians & Jews".
Lets take Osama Bin Laden as an example, Bin Laden's Family is originally from Yemen and when they migrated into Saudi Arabia they established a construction company which later became a HUGE company, so they were given Saudi Passports. In the 80's, one of their sons (Osama) organizes a very small group of rebellious fanatics, who were against the royal family, the government and the religious clergy, to attempt to overthrow them and failed miserably. Then his family disowned him and the government withdrawn his passport and sent him back to Yemen, where he was trained by the US military and became a CIA agent "it's been confirmed" to fight against Soviets in Afghanistan. All of this indicates that he is just a puppet or a semi-fictional character for the CIA or the FBI or whatever is covering up and using the AUDIO TAPES coming from a CAVE somewhere..lol.. to terrorize people make them fear for their safety so they gradually stripping them of their human rights.. Just like Saddam Husain or maybe Mahmoud Ahmadinejad...
Thats might give you a clue to understand the connection of Mr.Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab who maybe another agent or a puppet or just another victim.
All of the 9/11 propaganda and the Osama Bin Laden HORROR MOVIE and all of the coverups and manipulations of Naive Americans and Naive People around the world are just to achieve some inhumane goals, regardless of these barbaric and vicious goals, everybody needs to defend his/her rights and morality, but i believe that as long as you treasure your consciousness and the goodness of your heart you have no fear but fear itself.
GOD BLESS EACH AND EVERY GOOD SOUL ON THIS EARTH.