30 December, 2009

PLANE BOMBER ACCOMPLICE *Amsterdam underpants*

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Flight 253 passenger: Sharp-dressed man aided terror suspect Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab onto plane without passport (MLive.com exclusive)
By Sheena Harrison | MLive.com
December 26, 2009, 2:22PM

A Michigan man who was aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 says he witnessed Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab trying to board the plane in Amsterdam without a passport.

Kurt Haskell of Newport, Mich., who posted an earlier comment about his experience, talked exclusively with MLive.com and confirmed he was on the flight by sending a picture of his boarding pass. He and his wife, Lori, were returning from a safari in Uganda when they boarded the NWA flight on Friday.

Haskell said he and his wife were sitting on the ground near their boarding gate in Amsterdam, which is when they saw Mutallab approach the gate with an unidentified man.

Kurt and Lori Haskell are attorneys with Haskell Law Firm in Taylor. Their expertise includes bankruptcy, family law and estate planning.

While Mutallab was poorly dressed, his friend was dressed in an expensive suit, Haskell said. He says the suited man asked ticket agents whether Mutallab could board without a passport. .The guy said, 'He's from Sudan and we do this all the time.'.

Mutallab is Nigerian. Haskell believes the man may have been trying to garner sympathy for Mutallab's lack of documents by portraying him as a Sudanese refugee.

The ticket agent referred Mutallab and his companion to her manager down the hall, and Haskell didn't see Mutallab again until after he allegedly tried to detonate an explosive on the plane.

Haskell said the flight was mostly unremarkable. That was until he heard a flight attendant say she smelled smoke, just after the pilot announced the plane would land in Detroit in 10 minutes. Haskell got out of his seat to view the brewing commotion.


.I stood up and walked a couple feet ahead to get a closer look, and that's when I saw the flames,. said Haskell, who sat about seven rows behind Mutallab. .It started to spread pretty quickly. It went up the wall, all the way to ceiling..

Haskell, who described Mutallab as a diminutive man who looks like a teenager, said about 30 seconds passed between the first mention of smoke and when Mutallab was subdued by fellow passengers.

.He didn't fight back at all. This wasn't a big skirmish,. Haskell said. .A couple guys jumped on him and hauled him away..

The ordeal has Haskell and his wife a little shaken. Flight attendants were screaming during the fire and the pilot sounded notably nervous when bringing the plane in for a landing, he said.

.Immediately, the pilot came on and said two words: emergency landing,. Haskell said. .And that was it. The plane sped up instead of slowing down. You could tell he floored it..

As Mutallab was being led out of the plane in handcuffs, Haskell said he realized that was the same man he saw trying to board the plane in Amsterdam.

Passengers had to wait about 20 minutes before they were allowed to exit the plane. Haskell said he and other passengers waited about six hours to be interviewed by the FBI.

About an hour after landing, Haskell said he saw another man being taken into custody. But a spokeswoman from the FBI in Detroit said Mutallab was the only person taken into custody.


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Commenter says he was aboard NWA Flight 253, saw suspected terrorist board the plane
By Sheena Harrison | MLive.com
December 26, 2009, 6:49AM

Update: MLive.com talked exclusively with Pug (a.k.a. Kurt Haskell), who confirmed he was aboard Flight 253.

MLive.com commenter, Pug, says he was aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 and saw suspected terrorist Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab board the plane in Amsterdam.

It's unknown whether this story is true -- you're welcome to decide for yourself. But if Pug's story checks out, then it's certainly understandable he had trouble sleeping last night after returning home from the ordeal.

"I was on this flight today and am thankful to be alive. My wife and I were returning from an African safari and had this connecting flight through Amsterdam. I sat in row 27, which was 7 rows behind the terrorist. I got to see the whole thing take place and it was very scary. Thanks to a few quick acting people I am still alive today.
For those of you talking about airline security in this thread, I was next to the terrorist when he checked in at the Amsterdam airport early on Christmas. My wife and I were playing cards directly in front of the check in counter. This is what I saw (and I relayed this to the FBI when we were held in customs):

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.

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."

Reuters reports Dutch military police are investigating claims that an accomplice may have helped Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab board Northwest Flight 253 in Amsterdam on Christmas day without a passport, a story first told here on MLive.com.

Abdulmutallab allegedly tried to blow up the Detroit-bound plane with an explosive chemical he smuggled through security.

Kurt Haskell of Newport, Mich., took to the comments section of this Web site early Saturday to share his story: That he and his wife, Lori, saw a well-dressed man help Abdulmutallab board the flight without a passport under the guise he was a Sudanese refugee.

Dutch military police say they can't corroborate Haskell's account, but are investigating the allegation.

Dec. 28, Reuters.com: "At this moment we have no information on whether there was another guy," the military police spokesman said. "We are checking all clues and information we get."

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.

Haskell posted on MLive.com again yesterday, saying he's had the opportunity to share his story with more outlets.

Dec. 28: MLive.com: Hello everyone, Kurt Haskell here. Sadly to say I am having another sleepless night. I must say that I am surprised of all the attention my story is getting. Yesterday I did interviews nearly the entire day with CBS, CNN, NBC, BBC, Channel 4 Detroit, NY Daily News, etc. The two with CNN and CBS were on camera and may air today. I may be on 1 or more tv/radio shows this week but I am still waiting for confirmation. I was glad to give my favorite online newspaper, Mlive, the big "scoop". LOL. Thank you for the vast majority of positive comments. I seek only to get what I saw "out", nothing more, nothing less. Somehow I must get some rest as I am back to work today. Best regards to all.

Abdulmutallab was charged on Saturday with trying to destroy an airplane, punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.


weblinkwww.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2009/12/flight_253_passenger_says_at_l.html
weblinkwww.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2009/12/commenter_says_he_was_aboard_n.html


The Northwest Airlines Flight 253 bombing attempt (or the Christmas Day bombing attempt) was a failed terrorist attempt to blow up a transatlantic flight from Schiphol Airport (AMS), Amsterdam, to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) in Canadian airspace near Detroit, Michigan, United States, on Christmas Day, December 25, 2009.

Two passengers were injured, in addition to the suspected bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. The suspect was taken into custody and later charged by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with bringing a destructive device onto, and attempting to destroy, a U.S. civil aircraft.

On Christmas Eve, December 24, 2009, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian man, arrived at Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos, Nigeria. He left Lagos the same day at 11 pm aboard KLM Flight 588, a Boeing 777, bound for Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. The $2,831 Lagos-Amsterdam-Detroit ticket was purchased with cash on December 16, 2009, at the KLM office in Accra, Ghana, with a January 8, 2010, return date.

With the help of an unknown "well dressed" man he might have been able to check-in without a passport.. He left Amsterdam onboard a Northwest Airlines Airbus A330-300 twinjet, with 279 passengers, 8 flight attendants and 3 pilots aboard. The plane left Amsterdam around 8:45 am local time (745 UTC), and was scheduled to arrive in Detroit at 11:40 am EST (1640 UTC), The aircraft was painted in Delta Air Lines' livery, as Northwest is a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta.

Witnesses reported that a passenger, later identified as Abdulmutallab, went into the plane's bathroom for about 20 minutes, and after returning to his seat at 19A (near the fuel tanks and wing, and against the skin of the plane) complained that he had an upset stomach. He was then seen pulling a blanket over himself.

About 20 minutes before the plane landed, while flying over Middlesex County, Ontario, Canada, he secretly ignited a small explosive device consisting of a mix of plastic explosive powder and liquid acid. He apparently had a packet of the plastic explosive sewn to his underwear, and used a syringe containing liquid acid to cause a chemical reaction. Though there appears to have been an explosion, and the lower part of his body caught on fire, the device failed to detonate properly. Passengers heard popping noises resembling firecrackers, smelled an odor, and saw the suspect's trouser leg and the wall of the plane on fire. A passenger said: "there was smoke and screaming and flames. It was scary." The explosion failed to cause much damage because the detonator was either too weak or did not make good contact with the plastic explosive. No air marshals were on the flight. Several passengers and crew members noticed the attack. One Dutch passenger, Jasper Schuringa, ran forward to tackle and overpower the suspect. Schuringa saw the suspect's trousers were open, and that he was holding a burning object between his legs. "I pulled the object from him and tried to extinguish the fire with my hands and threw it away," said Schuringa, who suffered burns to his hands. Meanwhile, flight attendants extinguished the fire with a fire extinguisher and blankets. A passenger removed the partially melted, smoking syringe from the suspect's hand.

Schuringa grabbed the suspect, and pulled him to the front of the plane. A passenger reported that the suspect, though burned "quite severely" on his leg, seemed "very calm" and like a "normal individual." Schuringa stripped off the suspect's clothes to check for other explosives, and a crew member helped handcuff the suspect. "He was staring into nothing," Schuringa said. Passengers applauded as Schuringa walked back to his seat.

The suspect was isolated from other passengers until after the plane landed. A flight attendant asked the suspect what he had in his pocket, and the suspect replied: "explosive device".

When the attack triggered a fire indicator light within the cockpit, the pilot requested rescue and law enforcement. The incident was initially declared an in-flight emergency, before being deemed an attempted terrorist attack. The plane made an emergency landing at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in the Downriver Detroit community of Romulus, Michigan, just before 1 pm local time. The airport is about 20 miles southwest of Detroit and the adjacent international border. Nick Rapagna, the secretary treasurer of the Canadian division of the Airline Pilots Association, said that the crew members decided to land in Detroit because the aircraft was in the process of descending for a landing in Detroit and that a Northwest crew base and Northwest infrastructure were located in Detroit. Kevin Psutka, president of the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association, stated that many airports in southern Ontario would have difficulty accepting an aircraft the size of the Airbus A330, and that if the crew landed in Canada, the crew would have had to go to "Toronto or maybe London."

While the plane itself suffered relatively little damage, the suspect suffered third-degree burns and two other passengers were injured. When the plane landed, the suspect was handed over to Customs and Border Protection officers, and taken into custody for questioning and treatment of his injuries in a secured room of the burn unit of the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, and Schuringa was also taken to the hospital. One other passenger incurred minor injuries.

FBI agents arrived at the airport after the plane landed. The plane was moved to a remote area so authorities could re-screen the plane, the passengers, and the baggage on-board. A bomb-defusing robot was first used to board the plane. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) interviewed all passengers.
Explosives

The substance that the suspect apparently tried to detonate was reportedly more than 80 grams (3 oz) of pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), a powerful plastic explosive. It is among the most powerful of explosives, in the same chemical family as nitroglycerin. The substance was analyzed at Quantico by the FBI. An FBI affidavit filed in the Eastern District of Michigan indicated that preliminary findings reflected that the device contained PETN, and that authorities found the remains of the syringe. The suspect apparently carried it onto the plane in a six-inch-long soft plastic container, possibly a condom. However, much of the packaging was lost in the fire. ABC News cited a government test indicating that 50 grams (2 oz) of PETN can blow a hole in the side of an airliner, and posted photos of the remains of Abdulmutallab's underwear and syringe.

Al-Qaeda member Richard Reid (the "Shoe Bomber") tried to detonate 50 grams of the same explosive in his shoes during an American Airlines flight in December 2001. In August 2009, after also concealing PETN in his undergarments, an al-Qaeda bomber from Yemen blew himself up near the Saudi deputy Interior Minister in charge of counter-terrorism, Prince Muhammad bin Nayef.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
Main article: Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

The suspect, who had earlier arrived in Amsterdam on KLM Flight 588 from Lagos, Nigeria, is Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. He is the youngest of 16 children of Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, one of the richest men in Africa and prominent former Nigerian Federal Commissioner for Economic Development and Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria, and the son of the second of his father's two wives, who is from Yemen. He was raised initially in Kaduna, in Nigeria's Muslim-dominated north.

Abdulmutallab was reportedly strongly religious since he attended high school at the British International School in Lomé, Togo, where he was known as a devout Muslim and for preaching about Islam to his schoolmates. He visited the U.S. for the first time in 2004, and was also in Yemen for several months from 2004-05. After high school he went to University College London in 2005, where he was president of the Islamic Society in 2006 and 2007 and where he earned a degree in mechanical engineering in June 2008. His last known address is a $4 million apartment on Mansfield Street, Central London, near the college, which was searched by the London Metropolitan Police.

On June 12, 2008, Abdulmutallab applied for and received from the US consulate in London a US multiple-entry visa, valid to June 12, 2010, with which he visited Houston, Texas, from August 1-17, 2008.

From January until July 2009, he attended a master's degree program at University of Wollongong in Dubai.

In May 2009, he tried to return to Britain for a six-month program at what the British authorities concluded was a fictitious school, so his visa application was denied by the United Kingdom Border Agency. His name was placed on a security list there, which BBC News said means they "cannot come into the UK, although they can pass through the country in transit and are not permanently banned".

His father agreed in July 2009 to his request to study Arabic in Sana'a, Yemen from August to December 2009. His family became concerned in August 2009 when he called them to say he had dropped the course, but was remaining there. The Washington Post reported that several days later he sent a text message to his family, severing all ties with them. The family last had contact with Abdulmutallab in October 2009, at which time he was still in Yemen. The Yemeni Foreign Ministry said that he was in Yemen from early August 2009 until early December.

His father made a report to the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria, on November 19 regarding his son's "extreme religious views", and told the embassy that Abdulmutallab might be in Yemen. Acting on the report, the suspect's name was added in November 2009 to the US's 550,000-name Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, a database of the US National Counterterrorism Center. It was not added, however, to the FBI's 400,000-name Terrorist Screening Database, the terror watch list that feeds both the 14,000-name Secondary Screening Selectee list and the US's 4,000-name No Fly List. The suspect's name had come to the attention of intelligence officials many months before that, but no "derogatory information" was recorded about him. A Congressional official said that Abdulmutallab's name appeared in US reports reflecting that he had connections to both al-Qaeda and Yemen.

The day after the attempted bombing, attorney Kurt Haskell, another passenger, said he had seen a "well-dressed man" ask airline employees at Schiphol if Abdulmutallab could board Flight 253 without a passport, and suggest Abdulmutallab was a "refugee from Sudan". Haskell and his wife did not see Abdulmutallab again until the incident.

Two days after the incident, Abdulmutallab was released from the hospital in which he had been treated for burns sustained during the attempted bombing. He is in federal prison in Milan, Michiga

Representative Pete Hoekstra, the senior Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said officials in the Obama administration and officials with access to law enforcement information told him the suspect "may have been in contact with ... Anwar al-Awlaki." He went on to say that, "there are reports that he had contact and that he was recently in Yemen. The question we'll have to raise is was this imam in Yemen influential enough to get some people to attack the U.S. again."

Al-Awlaki, previously an imam in the U.S., has links to al-Qaeda, three of the 9/11 hijackers, the suspected Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan, a plot to attack Fort Dix, and a Toronto terror cell. In addition, al-Awlaki regularly addresses British university Islamic groups by video links, and a forum at the East London Mosque; his videos, which discuss his Islamist theories, have circulated in England.

Hoekstra added in an interview: "The suspicion is ... that [the suspect] had contact with al-Awlaki. The belief is this is a stronger connection with al-Awlaki" than Hasan had. On December 27 Hoekstra said that credible sources told him the suspect "most likely" has ties with al-Awlaki.

Similarly, Fox News reported that Sky News sources said the suspect had links with al-Awlaki. University of Oxford historian, and professor of international relations, Mark Almond wrote on December 27 that the suspect was "on American security watch-lists because of his links with Yemeni firebrand Anwar Al Awlaki".

The Times reported on December 28 that there were "informed reports" that Abdulmutallab met al-Awlaki during his final weeks of training and indoctrination prior to the attack. The same day Fox News reported that evidence collected during searches of "flats or apartments of interest" connected to Abdulmutallab showed that he was a "big fan" of al-Awlaki, as web traffic showed he followed Awlaki's blog and website. On December 29, The Independent also reported that he was in contact with al-Awlaki.

CBS News reported on December 29 that Abdulmutallab apparently attended a talk by al-Awlaki at a London mosque (which al-Awlaki may have attended by video teleconference), and that investigators are exploring whether al-Awlaki played a role in preparing Abdulmutallab for martyrdom, or had an actual role in Abdulmutallab's attack.

Hoekstra said that Detroit may not have specifically been singled out for the attack, but the focus may have simply been a destination with many international travelers. In addition, it is possible that the attack was a test to see if such materials could pass through screening, and how much damage the blast would cause.

The attack occurred on (Western) Christmas Day, and was near the eighth anniversary of Richard Reid's attempt to blow up a plane, using PETN explosives hidden in his shoes.
Al-Qaeda involvement

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) indicated that it was responsible for the attack, and said "the plot was to avenge US attacks on the militants in Yemen" according to BBC News. The NEFA Foundation posted Al Qaeda's statement.

While in custody, Abdulmutallab told authorities he had been directed by al-Qaeda, and that he had obtained the device in Yemen, along with instructions from al-Qaeda as to how to use it and to detonate it when the plane was over US soil. He said he had contacted al-Qaeda through a radical Yemeni imam (who according to The New York Times on December 26 was not believed to be al-Awlaki) whom he had reached through the internet. The New York Times reported on December 25 that a counter-terrorism official had told them his claim "may have been aspirational". But U.S. Representative Jane Harman (D-Calif.), Chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing, and Terrorism Risk Assessment, said the following day that a federal official briefed lawmakers about "strong suggestions of a Yemen-al Qaeda connection" with the suspect.
Reactions and investigations

The U.S. investigation into the incident is being managed by the FBI. It was not immediately known how the suspect managed to smuggle the explosives past airport security, and what training he received, if any. An investigation was initiated into whether the attempted attack was part of a larger, possibly worldwide plot.

President Barack Obama was notified of the incident by an aide while on a vacation in Kailua, Hawaii, and spoke with officials from the Department of Homeland Security. The White House said that Obama was actively monitoring the situation, and had instructed that all appropriate measures be taken. The White House called the attack an act of terrorism. However, Attorney General Eric Holder has not declared the incident an official terrorist act. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano was also briefed, and was monitoring the incident. She initially said that "the system had worked" in preventing the attack. Several days later, however, she retracted her statement, saying that the system had in fact "failed miserably." According to Napolitano, her initial statement had referred to the passenger response to the attack, rather than the security failures that allowed the attack to happen. On 29 December, four days after the attack, US president Barack Obama issued a statement criticizing the failures in the security system that allowed explosives to enter the plane, calling the situation "totally unacceptable," and calling for flaws to be fixed immediately.vThe day after the attack, the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee and Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee both announced that they would hold hearings in January 2010 to investigate how the device passed through security, and whether further restrictions should be placed on air travel.]

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that the UK would take "whatever action was necessary" in response to the attempted bombing. The day after the attack, British police sealed off Mansfield Street, in Marylebone, London, where the suspect had reportedly lived in a family-owned flat.

The incident raised concern regarding security procedures at Nigeria's major international airports in Lagos and Abuja, where tests for explosive materials are not conducted on carry-on baggage and shoes, and where bags are allowed to pass quickly through x-ray scanners.

Dutch Deputy Prime Minister Wouter Bos phoned Schuringa, a resident of Amsterdam born in 1971 who is a film director of low-budget Dutch films for an Amsterdam media company, and is credited as the assistant director for National Lampoon's Teed Off Two, on behalf of the Dutch government, conveying compliments and gratitude for his part in overpowering the suspect. Dutch Member of Parliament Geert Wilders, known for his anti-Islamic views, called Schuringa "a national hero" for his actions, and said that "he deserves a royal honor", which Wilders said he would ask the Dutch government to award.

A police spokeswoman at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol declined to comment about security procedures at the airport, where large numbers of passengers are processed en-route to North America from Africa. A Dutch military police spokesperson said that Abdulmutallab did not go through passport control, and the Dutch counter-terrorism agency NCTb said that it had started a probe into where the suspect originated. A preliminary investigation, however, found no security lapses, and despite being listed as having a potential terrorism connection, the suspect had a valid US visa.

Members of the Second Chamber (Lower House) of the Dutch parliament demanded an explanation from Minister of Justice Hirsch Ballin, given that the plane that took off from The Netherlands, asking especially how the suspect managed to smuggle explosives on board, despite the reportedly strict security measures at Schiphol Airport.

Delta Air Lines, which owns Northwest, said that its Detroit group did not handle security for the flight, and released a statement calling the incident a "disturbance," and saying that Delta was "cooperating fully with authorities".
Criminal charges

On December 26, a criminal complaint was filed against Abdulmutallab in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan by Theodore James Peissig, an FBI special agent, charging Abdulmutallab with placing a destructive device in proximity to and attempting to destroy a US civil aircraft. The U.S. Attorney's Office assigned federal prosecutors Jonathan Tukel, chief of the counter-terrorism unit, and Eric Straus, former chief of the same unit, to the case. Abdulmutallab was arraigned and officially charged by U.S. District Court Judge Paul D. Borman later the same day at the University of Michigan Hospital. Based upon these charges, Abdulmutallab faces up to 20 years in prison, and a $250,000 fine.

Borman set a detention hearing for January 8, 2010, and Abdulmutallab was assigned public defenders Miriam Seifer and Jill Price.
Aftermath
Effect on travel

The US government did not raise the Homeland Security Advisory System terrorist threat level, orange at the time (high risk of terrorist attacks), following the attack. However, the Department of Homeland Security said that additional security measures would be in place for the remainder of the Christmas travel period. The TSA detailed several of the measures, including a restriction on movement and access to personal items during the last hour of flight for all planes entering US airspace. The TSA also said that there would be more officers and security dogs at airports.

British Airways said that passengers flying to the US would only be permitted one carry-on item.Other European countries increased baggage screening, pat-down searches, and random searches for all passengers traveling to the US. A spokesperson for the Dutch airport used by the attacker said that heightened security would be in place for "an indefinite period". On December 28 Transport Canada announced that for several days it will not allow passengers flying to the U.S. from Canada a carry-on bag, with some exceptions, including small purses, laptop computers, and musical instruments.

On December 27, a Lufthansa flight headed for Detroit was diverted to Iceland when it was discovered to be carrying a bag from a passenger who was not on the plane. A passenger on another flight (Baltimore to New York) was detained when a firecracker was discovered in the seat he had used.
December 27 incident

On December 27, 2009, another incident occured aboard Flight 253, when the crew requested emergency assistance with a Nigerian passenger who had become "verbally disruptive". The crew questioned the passenger after other passengers expressed concern that he had been in the bathroom for over an hour. It was later determined that the man was a businessman who had fallen ill from food poisoning during the flight. A law enforcement official said the man posed no security risk to the plane. President Obama and Pope Benedict XVI were notified of the incident

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posted by u2r2h at Wednesday, December 30, 2009 0 comments

28 December, 2009

Turkey Military Fascism UNCOVERED (unlike USA)

National Security Council of Turkey meets as turkish CIA fear loss of control.

The fascist Egenerkon (turkish GLADIO, see wikipedia!) did FALSE FLAG terror attacks.
The fascist Egenerkon did FALSE FLAG terror attacks.
The fascist Egenerkon did FALSE FLAG terror attacks.

from TODAY ZAMAN:

Turkey braced for the tensest MGK meeting of the year - Tension is running high ahead of today's National Security Council (MGK) meeting, which comes after a civilian inspection of the General Staff offices on Saturday and Sunday in what was a first in Turkey, a country where the military has so far toppled four governments.

The MGK comes at a time when distrust between the government and the military is at its peak. The police search of General Staff buildings, conducted this weekend as part of an investigation into an alleged assassination plot against Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Ar.nç, something that had never happened before in Turkey's history, has contributed to the confidence problem.Ar.nç, who also participates in the MGK meetings, is expected to make a speech today regarding the latest developments following the civilian search of the General Staff's Special Forces Command and the Tactical Mobilization Group, where two officers initially detained in the investigation as they kept watch outside Ar.nç's home last week serve.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo.an, who came together on Saturday morning with Chief of General Staff Gen. .lker Ba.bu. and Land Forces Commander Gen. I..k Ko.aner in a surprise meeting following Friday night.s troublesome search attempt that could only completed the next day at the General Staff, also held a meeting with those of his ministers who serve on the MGK board. Erdo.an.s three-hour meeting with Ba.bu. and Ko.aner, which took place at the Prime Ministry, occurred in an atmosphere of extreme tension, according to sources close to the Prime Ministry, although the official statement said anti-terrorism efforts both at home and abroad were discussed. The same harshness is expected to be reflected at today.s MGK meeting.
Tensions in 2009

Tension between the government and the military is not new. It was ignited for the first time when some retired generals were detained in 2007 as part of an investigation to Ergenekon, a clandestine gang charged with plotting to overthrow the government. The retired generals mentioned in alleged coup plans devised in 2004 -- .ener Eruygur, Hur.it Tolon, Levent Ersöz and Veli Küçük -- were detained and then arrested in the operation. The arrests were initially met with silence from the General Staff. However, tension rose when dozens of caches of weapons buried underground were unearthed during the investigation.

In April 2009, Chief of General Staff Gen. Ba.bu. called a press conference about the missing military weapons that were found by the police during the Ergenekon investigation. He referred to a hollow Light Anti-tank Weapon (LAW) excavated as .just a pipe,. and claimed that weapons with similar batch numbers were given to the police force by Turkey.s only weapons. manufacturer, the Turkish Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation (MKE). However, in a statement responding to this, the MKE said the said weapons had been produced for and delivered to the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) alone.

The confidence crisis between the government and the military reached a new high earlier this year when a document allegedly prepared by the military -- and bearing the signature of Col. Dursun Çiçek -- called the Action Plan Against Religious Fundamentalism was leaked to the press. The document laid out a plan to undermine the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government which would make it easier to oust the government. In a press conference on the controversy, Ba.bu. said the document was only .a piece of paper.. However, tests run on the documents at the Forensic Council of Medicine (ATK) indicated that the document was an authentic military document, and the signature under it indeed belonged to Col. Çiçek.

In each of these incidents, Ba.bu. announced that a military investigation was underway into the supposed perpetrators. But those investigations never uncovered any criminal offenses.

Recently, the alleged plot to assassinate Deputy Prime Minister Ar.nç has brought the already existing tension to a new height.

The General Staff said this past Wednesday that two military officers who were detained earlier this week on suspicion of plotting to assassinate Ar.nç were near Ar.nç.s house on the day of their detention not because they were planning to assassinate him, but because they were monitoring another army officer who is suspected of having leaked confidential military documents to the media. The explanation was hardly convincing for the case.s civilian investigators, who arranged Saturday and Sunday.s searches.
A first in Turkey

The searches at the Special Forces Command.s headquarters in Ankara.s Kirazl.dere is the first ever police raid on a military facility in Turkey. Although the civilian prosecutors were met with great resistance, they have still undertaken a historic search.

The Kirazl.dere command was where politicians, including Bülent Ecevit, Necmettin Erbakan and Alparslan Türke., were kept during their arrest during the Sept. 12, 1980 coup d.état. There also used to be a US base at the location at that time. The Kirazl.dere headquarters are believed to be where clashes between left and right groups before the 1980 coup were masterminded and coordinated.

The Tactical Mobilization Group of the Special Forces Command is believed to be the equivalent of Turkey.s Gladio. Turkey.s own Ergenekon is believed by some to be the last living extension of the Gladio, a code name denoting the clandestine NATO stay-behind operation in Italy after World War II, intended to counter a possible communist invasion of Western Europe. Many (including the Italian prosecutor who conducted Operation Clean Hands) liken the legal process against Ergenekon to the .Clean Hands. anti-corruption operation against Gladio in Italy during the 1990s.

Countless writers, journalists and witnesses have claimed that the Tactical Mobilization Group was behind the Sept. 6-7, 1955, pogrom against non-Muslim minorities in .stanbul. This unit was formed in 1952 with US support against the Soviet threat in the north. Witness accounts, past statements from the General Staff and evidence obtained during the Ergenekon investigation indicate that most of the arms and ammunition buried underground were buried by this group.

28.12.2009 - ERCAN YAVUZ ANKARA


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The National Security Council (Turkish: Milli Güvenlik Kurulu, MGK) comprises the Chief of Staff, select members of the Council of Ministers, and the President of the Republic (who is also the Commander-in-chief). Like the national security councils of other countries, the MGK develops the national security policy.

The policy is expressed in the National Security Policy Document (Turkish: Milli Güvenlik Siyaseti Belgesi), commonly known as "The Red Book".[1][2] The Red Book is sometimes called the "most secret" document in Turkey. It is updated once or twice a decade

The creation of the MGK was an outcome of the military coup in 1960, and has been a part of the constitution since 1961. In this way the 1961 constitution created what the Turkish scholar Sakallio.lu labels "a double headed political system: the civilian council of ministers coexisted with the national security council on the executive level, and the military system of justice continued to operate independently alongside the civilian justice system."[4] The role of the MGK was further strengthened with the 1982 constitution, adopted by the military junta in the aftermath of the 1980 military coup, before transferring power to civilian politicians. From now on its recommendations would be given priority consideration by the council of ministers. Furthermore, the number and weight of senior commanders in MGK increased at the expense of its civilian members.[4] In 1992 then chief of general staff Gen. Do.an Güre. proclaimed self-confidently that "Turkey is a military state"

In order to meet EU's political demands for starting membership negotiations, the Copenhagen criteria, Turkey has passed a number of reforms aiming at strengthening civil control over the military. These reforms have mainly focused on the MGK, its duties, functioning and composition. On 23 July 2003 the Turkish Grand National Assembly passed the "seventh reform package", which aimed at limiting the role of the military, through reforms of the MGK. According to an editorial in the Financial Times the seventh reform package constitutes nothing less than a "quiet revolution".

Despite the impressive institutional changes, the 2004 European Commission report concludes that "Although the process of aligning civil-military relations with EU practice is underway, the Armed Forces in Turkey continue to exercise influence through a series of informal channels.

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History MUST READ

take note how good the reporting in turkey is! The control of the media in Turkey is not as total as it is in the United States - in the case of the 911 inside job, i.e. the fact that US military did 911, the attckas on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, by means of super-sophisitcated high-technology. The 19 arabs (saudis) were just patsies. Mohammed Atta and a few hundred US citizens - also US military personell carrying out the operation inside the pentagon - were killed and silenced.

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posted by u2r2h at Monday, December 28, 2009 0 comments

27 December, 2009

Merry Xmas in Israel - execution without trial

Three Palestinian men executed by Israeli military during Nablus night invasion, several wounded

26 December 2009

The Israeli army invaded the Palestinian city of Nablus shortly after midnight, Saturday 26 December, raided three houses and executed three men. Several family members have been injured and houses, where families of the three killed men lived, have been left completely destroyed. The army used live ammunition against the men, at least two of whom were unarmed and fired rockets at the houses, while their residents were still inside.

The Israeli military claims the men were wanted for their involvement in the recent West Bank killing of an Israeli settler near Tulkarem, for which a group associated with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade claimed responsibility. The killings are, however, in flagrant breach of international law and represent assassinations without trial.

The human rights organization B’Tselem, who collected testimonies from family members of the three killed men, issued a statement condemning these killings. According to B’tselem, evidence gathered in the houses suggests that the Israeli military acted as if they were carrying out executions, rather than arrests. Eyewitnesses and relatives told the organization that at least two of the three men were unarmed and did not attempt to escape. This was confirmed by a senior IDF official, who told Israel Radio that the three men had not fired at the Israeli soldiers and that two of them were unarmed. B’Tselem also stated that, according to eyewitnesses, the soldiers did not try to stop or arrest the men, but simply shot them from a close range after discovering their identities.




First house the Israeli army invaded was the house of Gassan Abu Sharkh in the Old City of Nablus. Just after midnight, the military forced open the entrance door and ordered twenty members of Ghassan’s extended family to leave the house. Ghassan, who remained in the hallway, was shot several times from a short distance in his head. Ghassan’s family reported to ISM activists, who visited the scene in the morning, that the army fire was so intense that his head was split in half as result and the room was covered in blood and remains of his brain. Windows, doors, furniture were all destroyed by the soldiers. Ghassan (38), who worked as an electrician, left behind a wife, three sons and one daughter.

Second invaded house was also in the Old City and belonged to the family of Nadar Sarakji. Israeli soldiers blew the door open with explosives at about 2.30am, entered the house and forced the entire family of twenty out of their home. They then opened fire on Nadar as he was coming down the stairs. He was left to bleed to death in front of his family. His pregnant wife was shot in her foot. The military destroyed furniture in the house and broke many windows and doors.

The third house was raided at 3am, when the Israeli military in the force of approximately 180 soldiers (30 army jeeps) entered the Rasalayn neighbourhood, close to the Old City, and occupied several houses surrounding the Subih family house. From the roofs of an adjacent house soldiers then fired several rockets at upper levels of the Subih house, leaving huge cavities in the walls and blowing a hole between the third and fourth levels of the house. The soldiers on the ground then blew open the door and entered the whole house, forcing the families one by one out into the street and firing live ammunition inside the house. The soldiers found and executed Anan Subih inside of the house, while members of his family were all detained outside. Anan was married and left behind five daughters and two sons. ISM activists reported bullet holes everywhere in the house, which was left ransacked and partially flooded after the army shot at the water tanks on its roof.

After the killings children gathered in the streets of Nablus throwing rocks at jeeps, to which the army responded by firing sound bombs and live ammunition. They left the city at 8am. Residents say Israeli spotter planes had been flying low over Nablus for the last two days, conducting reconnaissance missions.

Background

According to B’Tselem, during the second intifada, Israel formally adopted a policy of assassinating Palestinians suspected of membership in armed organizations. At least seventeen of the eighty-nine Palestinians killed by Israeli forces between 2004 and 2005, during arrest operations, were not wanted by Israel and were not suspected by Israel of having committed any offense. In addition, at least forty-three of those killed were unarmed, or were not attempting to use their arms against Israeli security forces at the time they were killed.

B’Tselem has documented cases in which Israeli soldiers besieged a house in which they claimed a wanted person was present, and then fired at another occupant of the house when he opened the door, without prior warning and without offering them a chance to surrender. In other cases, the security forces disarmed the wanted persons, but then shot and killed them. In all these cases, the security forces acted as if they were carrying out an assassination and not an arrest, in flagrant breach of international humanitarian law.

Based on the report’s findings, there is a grave suspicion that execution of Palestinians has become a norm among the Israeli forces. Since the beginning of the second intifada, only a few cases in which Palestinians were shot and killed by soldiers have been investigated and members of the security forces were not held accountable for their actions.

Updated on December 27, 2009
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posted by u2r2h at Sunday, December 27, 2009 0 comments

18 December, 2009

Federal Judge in Germany: Numerous 9/11 Theories Screaming For Investigation

Federal Judge in Germany: Numerous 9/11 Theories Screaming For Investigation

Afghanistan War - Right to Self Defense Highly Questionable, December 15, 2009

Federal Judge Dieter Deiseroth: It is very unfortunate that the media is not prepared to face the issue of 9/11 and ask the unanswered questions

Question: Do you think the proposal of an independent 9/11 investigation to be realistic?

Judge Dieter Deiseroth:: I think the suggestion is reasonable and necessary. Because the official investigation is the central justification for the war ( "Operation Enduring Freedom") and for serious alterations of the U.S. legal system under the so-called homeland security legislation.

Question: This should be difficult because neither politics nor the big media, dare to question the official version of 9/11 critically.

Judge Dieter Deiseroth: If the official story of 9/11 is further effectively disseminated by all governments - then it is very costly and difficult because of the effect of solidified public opinion to question it . A major research effort is needed and extensive research, time and monetary resources must be available, which is difficult in a time when resources in the newsrooms are being cut down.

But then after all, even the construct of lies to justify the Iraq war was brought down. We now know that was the Bush administration in terms of credibility and veracity,was anything but trustworthy. It is unfortunate that many within the media, are still not sufficiently prepared to face the issue of 9/11 and the open unanswered questions . Maybe also because of the abyss that becomes clear then.

Question: Not too long ago alternative explanations of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US were discussed.

Judge Dieter Deiseroth: Indeed. Parliamentarians of the Democratic Party of Japan, which has won the last election in a landslide, for about 2 years in the Japanese parliament, have repeatedly questioned the official Bush version of 9/11 with very serious arguments and demanded explanations. Something like this did not take place in German parliament, which is rather unfortunate.

Question: But the alternative theories of 9/11 also have many shortcomings.

Judge Dieter Deiseroth: This is absolutely correct. I can warn to replace the official conspiracy theory of the Bush administration with hasty drawn alternative conspiracy theories. If the critics of the official version really want to achieve a new national or international investigation into the attacks of 9 / 11, then they must impose the highest levels of integrity, fact-orientation and openness to possible objections The only way they can avoid to discredit their own arguments, for example by Conjecture and speculation disguised as evidence. I assert: On both sides, that is, both at the official presentation of the Bush administration with the 9/11-Commission Report and on alternative side of the with its many counter-theories there is a sea of questions and also a sea of blatant untruth. This fact is almost screaming for explanations.

Question: Can the military engagement in Afghanistan be based on international law's self-defense right? Did 9/11 not give the U.S. the right to defend itself and its allies a reason for an emergency?

Judge Dieter Deiseroth: We need to realize that the (military) right to self defense, as guaranteed in Article 51 of the UN Charter, in general, may be obtained only in cases where a state is attacked militarily ("if in armed attack occurs"). It must be, therefore, a current military offensive act, which is currently carried out immediately present or imminent. This right may also self-directed only against the state, which has led the attack or at least the state needs to be accountable.

http://www.coffinman.co.uk/Nose-Out.jpg

http://u2r2h.blogspot.com/2008/08/nose-out.html


Three entries recently published in the 9/11 Timeline cover films with 9/11-style themes made before the attacks. 1977's ''Black Sunday'' had terrorists crashing an explosive-laden blimp into the Superbowl stadium, 1996's ''Executive Decision'' featured a planned suicide attack with a commercial jet, and a late 2001 Chuck Norris vehicle originally entitled ''The President's Man: Ground Zero'' was too close to real events for comfort and CBS refused to air it.

Elsewhere, al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri was unsurprisingly unimpressed with Barrack Obama, two of the 9/11 hijackers asked a neighbour for their towel back shortly before the attacks, and some of the 2006 "liquid bomb" plotters were convicted in Britain in September, although others were acquitted. Their alleged leader Rashid Rauf was hit by a drone last year, although doubts about his death persist.

Finally, some Democrats kicked up a stink after the famous August 6 Presidential Daily Brief item was made public in 2002, former CIA agent Larry Kolb thought the US was less safe than ever in 2007, and alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four associates expressed a desire to plead guilty to charges against them in military commissions late last year.

Screenwriters often use non-fiction materials as a source for ideas. I wonder what was around that the writers of this 'Lone Gunman' episode may have been using as source material? The paper co-authored by Zelikow on the likey effects of 'catastrophic terrorism' in the U.S. had been published in '98; while Brzezinski's 'The Grand Chessboard' had been out since '97. I wonder if production of the episode had yet begun when PNAC came out with the 'Rebuilding America's Defenses' paper in September 2000. And what else may have been available then?


MUST READ:

The Matrix - Prophetic Film - 911 coincidence.

"Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself."
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posted by u2r2h at Friday, December 18, 2009 0 comments

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