Community | December 29, 2009 | 68 comments

Obama cites ‘systemic failure’ in U.S. security

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/30/us/politics/30obama.html?hp

Image
current89

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/30/us/politics/30obama.html?hp

HONOLULU – President Obama on Tuesday blamed a “systemic failure” in the nation’s security apparatus for the attempted bombing of a passenger jet on Christmas Day and vowed to identify the problems and “deal with them immediately.”

Making his second public statement on the matter in as many days, Mr. Obama said a preliminary assessment already has made clear that there was a breakdown in the intelligence review system that did not properly identify the suspect as a dangerous extremist who should have been prevented from flying to the United States.

“A systemic failure has occurred and I consider that totally unacceptable,” Mr. Obama told reporters here in Hawaii, where is in the middle of a 10-day holiday vacation. The president said he has ordered government agencies to report back to him on Thursday about what happened and said he would “insist on accountability at every level,” although he did not elaborate.

The president’s blunt words came just two days after his secretary of homeland security, Janet Napolitano, drew criticism for saying that “the system worked” after Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly tried to ignite explosive chemicals aboard a Northwest Airlines flight approaching Detroit. Ms. Napolitano quickly recalibrated her statement to make clear she meant that the system worked in its response to the incident after it occurred. But Mr. Obama’s sharp assessment Tuesday sent a signal that he was not satisfied by the government’s performance.

Mr. Obama took no questions but referred obliquely to Ms. Napolitano’s statement by saying she was right that “once the suspect attempted to take down Flight 253, after his attempt, it’s clear that passengers and crew, our homeland security systems and our aviation security took all appropriate actions.”

The president suggested that he would overhaul the nation’s watch-list system. “We’ve achieved much since 9/11 in terms of collecting information that relates to terrorists and potential terrorist attacks,” he said. “But it’s becoming clear that the system that has been in place for years now is not sufficiently up to date to take full advantage of the information we collect and the knowledge we have.”

Mr. Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian who claims links to a branch of Al Qaeda, came to the attention of American authorities when his father went to the embassy last month to report that his son had become radicalized. The father, a respected retired banker, did not say his son planned to attack Americans but sought help locating him and bringing him home, according to American officials.

The embassy sent a cable to Washington that resulted in Mr. Abdulmutallab’s name being entered in a broad database of 550,000 people with possible ties to terrorism. But he was not put on the much smaller no-fly list of 4,000 people, or a list of 14,000 people who require additional screening before flying, nor was his multiple-entry visa to the United States revoked.

“It now appears that weeks ago this information was passed to a component of our intelligence community but was not effectively distributed so as to get the suspect’s name on a no-fly list,” Mr. Obama said of the father’s warning. “There appears to be other deficiencies as well. Even without this one report, there were bits of information available within the intelligence community that could have and should have been pieced together.”
  1. groups:
    Community,   US Politics
  2. tags:
    Terrorism,  Homeland Security,  National Security,  President Obama
  3.     
    |

68 comments // Obama cites ‘systemic failure’ in U.S. security

  • unclecharlie
    • 0
      unclecharlie  

    • The impotence and political correctness that this administration revels in IS the systemic failure. The American people failed in their duty to elect a president who would be a leader. They chose instead to elect a smooth talker with NO substance- and he stacks his cabinet appointments with nitwits, nincompoops, and loyalist lackeys. Ugh!

    • 3 years ago
  • deputydawg
  • Nephwrack
    • 0
      Nephwrack  

    • Mr. Abdulmutallab’s name being entered in a broad database of 550,000 people with possible ties to terrorism.

      hmm. funny that al qaeda literally means "the database"

    • 3 years ago
  • samthesixth
  • crob80227
    • 0
      crob80227  

    • Some guy making $14/hr makes a mistake....and that translates into President Obama being the greatest tyrant America has ever known???

      "It's all an international conspiracy," they chant breathlessly "With Obama involved with the Tri-lateral Commission, The Freemasons and...and...and the Communists!"

      (sigh)

      Nope. The TSA and The State Dept are very, very large organizations and it is possible for people to make mistakes without it being the result of a worldwide communist conspiracy.

      Seriously, where was all this outrage when King George W was fucking things up every goddamn day of the weeK?

      George W Bush would literally take a shit on the desk of the German Chancellor, smear it on his face and then 20mins later (oops!) lose $400 BILLION in CASH from Iraq....and everyone would just laugh and say, "Oh that crazy Bush He's such a nice guy though. I'd sure like to have a beer with him!"

      But fast forward to 2009 and some low level people make mistakes in screening and suddenly these same assholes are demanding the public execution of President Obama!

      Fucking crazy.

      The Republicans need to take a fistful of Calm Down pills and stop envisioning every single incident as an elaborate Dan Brown "Da Vinci Code" thriller or (worse) some sort of End of Days Jesus-Is-Coming-Soon! event.

    • 3 years ago
  • pakazak
  • Conniepae
  • JonRaymond
  • diabolical44
    • 0
      diabolical44  

    • I applaud Obama for admitting gov't failures. this is part of the "change we can believe in". The bush administration often chose to ignore failures and bury its head in the sand. i.e.: heckuva job brownie and giving the nation's highest medal to George Tenet . Who's most notable contribution was being asleep at the wheel during 9/11 . we need accountability. And it was refreshing to me to see some of that in Obama's words yesterday.

    • 3 years ago
  • Conniepae
    • 0
      Conniepae  
    • diabolical44:

      Yes, we need accountability. Cheney and the rest who are inciting anger at President Obama should be held accountable and shamed. The media who are now featuring Republicans and letting them spout their garbage, should be ashamed.

      When George W. was president, they featured Republicans to tell us what they think and now that Barack Obama is President, they feature Republicans to tell us what they think. WTF!

      Who cares what the loosers think! The Democrats are leading now. It's time for them to stop spinning for the right. They should be shamed for giving Republicans the forum to spin. The things being said by Dick Cheney are shameful. Spinning him as equal to the people in power today is a distortion. Dick Cheney is gone! 'Move along'!

    • 3 years ago
  • samthesixth
  • deputydawg
    • 0
      deputydawg [removed]  

    • We were safe under Bush. And while he had a half assed approach to jihad, he wasn't making love to it. Obama is a failure.

      Expect chaos.

      "As I’ve watched the events of the last few days it is clear once again that President Obama is trying to pretend we are not at war. He seems to think if he has a low key response to an attempt to blow up an airliner and kill hundreds of people, we won’t be at war. He seems to think if he gives terrorists the rights of Americans, lets them lawyer up and reads them their Miranda rights, we won’t be at war. He seems to think if we bring the mastermind of 9/11 to New York, give him a lawyer and trial in civilian court, we won’t be at war.

      “He seems to think if he closes Guantanamo and releases the hard-core al Qaeda trained terrorists still there, we won’t be at war. He seems to think if he gets rid of the words, ‘war on terror,’ we won’t be at war. But we are at war and when President Obama pretends we aren’t, it makes us less safe. Why doesn’t he want to admit we’re at war? It doesn’t fit with the view of the world he brought with him to the Oval Office. It doesn’t fit with what seems to be the goal of his presidency – social transformation—the restructuring of American society. President Obama’s first object and his highest responsibility must be to defend us against an enemy that knows we are at war.".........Dick Cheney

      http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/31054.html

    • 3 years ago
  • Varex_Sythe
    • 0
      Varex_Sythe  
    • deputydawg:

      We were safer under Bush's watch?

      Makes perfect sense, that's why the Bush administration ignored potentially helpful information, discarded intel gathered by the former administration on potential terrorist groups, and that's why we had planes fly into the towers in New York and the Pentagon.

      In this matter, the only thing I can think to fault Obama on is that he hasn't really overhauled the intelligence gathering system and our security measures from what they were in the Bush years. Seriously, what terrorist attack did the Bush administration help stop in the eight years he was in office?

    • 3 years ago
  • crob80227
    • 0
      crob80227  
    • deputydawg:

      Cheney seems to think that if you sneer into the TV camera and talk tough...that actually translates into tangible results. Well, Cheney, you "talked tough" for 8 years and even hung up a banner proclaiming MISSION ACCOMPLISHED and all we got to show for it is 4 Trillion in debt and a whole lotta dead soliders and Blackwater contractors.

      Way to go Cheney!

    • 3 years ago
  • JonRaymond
    • 0
      JonRaymond  
    • deputydawg:

      Curious how after all these sudden "terrorist would-be attacks" we have Cheney crawl out form under his rock to tell us how to run things. I'm not saying Cheney orchestrated placing this guy on the plane, but it would fit right in with his agenda, wouldn't it?

    • 3 years ago
  • spacemikey
    • 0
      spacemikey [removed]  

    • This is messed up, and I love Obamas' speech. He goes into saying were going to hunt down whoever is responsible (sounded just like BUSH). Bush was right though on one particular thing (in a way);

      Fool me once shame on you, full me twice shame on me.

      It was a SECURITY FAILURE, the intelligence much like with 911 was there and not acted upon. (yes hunt down the failed intelligence officers and FIRE THEM, bring them up on criminal charges if possible, gross negligence or something.)

      So now there is talk of attacking Yemen with air strikes? What's the point? It will lead to one thing overall, more animosity towards the U.S.. Go ahead increase the resolve to attack us, while not dealing with the systemic failures that allowed it to happen.

      While were at it take away a few more rights and liberties from your average American, as if that will do anything but piss Americans off because WE KNOW, you don't even utilize the intelligence you have.

    • 3 years ago
  • samthesixth
  • JonRaymond
    • 0
      JonRaymond  
    • samthesixth:

      Of the people in the security and military, 90% are conservative Republicans with a strong contingent of full tilt right wing wacko nut cases born and raised by toothless morons from Appalachian Kentucky.

    • 3 years ago
  • samthesixth
  • WhiteNoise
  • common_sense_please
    • 0
      common_sense_please  

    • The utter ridiculousness of Republicans and their sudden selective remembering of President Cheney's (oops sorry technically George W.'s Presidency) and complete reinterpretation of history never ceases to amaze me.

      Who created the new government branch known as Homeland Security? The Republicans and George W. Bush

      Who passed the Patriot Act that was supposed to streamline the intelligence and created the criteria of who's name goes on the watch list? Yep--the Republicans and George W.

      Who released the yahoo's who are now claiming responsibility from Guantanamo and sent them back to Yemen? Once again the Republicans and George W.

      Who tortured the remaining prisoners in Guatanamo and kept denying them their right to a trial by ANY justice system-military or federal until they fought for their rights all the way to the Supreme Court and forced the issue? You guessed it--the Republicans and Dick Cheney.

      Who was not even in DC when planes were hijacked by terrorists and did not instantly respond to the crisis of 9/11 and in fact did not make a public statement about the attack until the day after it happened? Ding Ding--George W.

      Who issued this Nigerian terrorist/extremist a U.S. Visa? Again the Republican ran State Department and George W.

      Who attacked Iraq and committed our troops to an 8 year war with the non-enemy--and used what they knew was false intelligence to justify it--and blew a CIA agent's cover because her husband told them the truth about Iraq-- so that we ended up where we are now which is we don't have the troops to address the real actual terrorist threat in Yemen and Somalia posed by the pirates? Once again--the illustrious Dick Cheney and his puppet George W.

      Oh and the real kicker--who was the first ones to grab a microphone and point out every exacting detail of how this crazy ass terrorist was able to circumvent our security system and also gave out all the details about what explosive he used and pretty much just handed future terrorists a road map of how to attack us? The REPUBLICAN chair of the Homeland Security Committee - and the media headed by FOX news.

      But yeah--according to Republicans and FOX its perfectly acceptable to blame this failed attack and the fact that terrorists worldwide hate us and want to kill us--on President Obama because of course he is Hitler reincarnated--and a socialist.

    • 3 years ago
  • Conniepae
  • samthesixth
    • 0
      samthesixth  
    • common_sense_please:

      Common

      Your very interesting post ignores the fact that the Dems voted favorably for all of the bills Bush wanted vis a vis the war, homeland security etc. It also ignores the fact that the Obama administration has been running the executive branch for a year.

    • 3 years ago
  • deputydawg
    • 0
      deputydawg [removed]  

    • http://islamineurope.blogspot.com/2009/12/netherlands-airport-guards-cheered-911...

      Members of one of the Dutch security companies at Schiphol Airport, Group4Securicor (G4S), are speaking out after the attempted terrorist attack on the US bound plane, for which their company was responsible.

      Guards and former guards say that after the September 11 attacks, the only thing that was done was to add more workers, who knew nothing. G4S refused to comment on these accusations.

      Belinda Kreugel, who until recently worked for G4S, says that she decided to speak up since the public interest is greater than her personal interest. She says that risk-flights to the US were inspected by beginners, and that people were sent out to do body searches and x-rays after just two weeks of training. Three quarters of the employees have been there for less than a year, after which it becomes too expensive to keep them. Airport administrators repeated these concerns.

      One former employee says that some of t he guards sympathized with Islamic terrorists. "Among my colleagues were friends of [Moroccan-Dutch terrorist] Samir Azzouz."

      "I saw what happened among the guards during the September 11th attack. In the guard area of the 'security members' a loud cheer rose from Muslim colleagues. Several former colleagues witnessed it. There was a standing ovation. Together with other colleagues I've lodged a complaint about it by the military police."

      Schiphol airport authorities have some serious explaining to do. There are 50,000 employees there and almost half of them are Muslim, with a considerable number of them working in baggage handling and on the air side. I go through Schiphol about once a month and I've noticed security there is rather slack to say the least. They are inconsistent and don't always follow the same procedure. I've often walked through scanners freely with my wallet, my belt, my shoes and so on. Many of the staff at the scanners are Muslims.
      The manager of the ticket agent mentioned in the post may well have been a terrorist supporter.

    • 3 years ago
  • smallgod
    • 0
      smallgod  

    • Last year my 22 year old American (half Egyptian, half Jewish) friend traveling home from Amsterdam was pulled into a room at Amsterdam's airport and told she was going to be strip searched, including anally searched, simply because the individuals at the airport felt she 'looked middle eastern'. She got out of it by threatening them with lawsuits. This dimwit prick douchebag was just 'let on the plane'? I have trouble believing this was an accident, but if it was, there is something fundamentally wrong with what the world is doing at airports.

    • 3 years ago
  • ShawnMRill
    • 0
      ShawnMRill  

    • Some are calling 'False Flag' on this. That this was just another 'reason' to continue to lock down Americans, increase the Patriot Act, further detain us at the airports, and continue to push the 'Agenda' by those in power (Bilderberg Group, President puppet, etc.).

      However, I am not saying this is what I believe since none of the U.S. citizens actually have all the data (facts) to make an informed decision. Everything is smoke and mirror here in the U.S. But there comes a point when you have to stop believing 'the official story' and wake up when your liberties are being taken away, there's talk of NWO, creating a North American Union, and the National ID card system.

      What would those in power need to implement such things? Well, dumbed down non-resistant citizens and excuses to implement such systems. If America was attacked (9/11) then we'd need tighter security. If American continued to be attacked (this incident) then we'd need stricter security measures - now wouldn't we?

      What happened at Copenhagen? I wasn't there - so I don't know. All we know is rumor and who knows what is true other than what we (believe) we see on video. (Only watch national news if you're being paid - it's like the same thing). Now, maybe something was suppose to happen there and didn't? Or maybe it did and this is the next phase (this incident). Or, maybe a terrorist flew to America to blow up a plane on Christmas and after all his training and planning the bomb didn't work (yeah, right!).

      Regardless of what is going on, do not worry, because our President and Leader Obama has vowed to “deal with them (security problems) immediately.”

      That should make us all feel much better... or even more scared to be in America. Grassroots efforts are needed. But decide for yourself your own opinion. No one is right or wrong. And no one has all the answers/evidence/facts.

      Happy 2010. Be Peace.

    • 3 years ago
  • sedgleyoss
    • 0
      sedgleyoss  

    • What a crazy thing to say. There is no way in hell this guy was just let on the airplane. He had to have known someone who worked for customs. I know that if I get on a plane anywhere in the world I get checked. This guy should have been caught. Creating more security features also will not help as the only ones who stopped this guy were average citizens. Citizens protecting citizens will make airplanes safer not more rules.

      Sorry Mr. Obama but you were warned by the man's father before he got on the plane. It seems more and more like your "security" team just likes to ignore information.

    • 3 years ago
  • JonRaymond
    • 0
      JonRaymond  
    • sedgleyoss:

      He knew someone at customs? That's rich. So how do you guard against that? How about we send all the customs people to GITMO, just to be sure. We can't take chances on these people.

    • 3 years ago
  • sedgleyoss
    • 0
      sedgleyoss  
    • sedgleyoss:

      "He had to have" does not mean I accused anyone of anything. It means that it is more than likely that he knew someone who helped him or he could not have boarded.

      That's not the answer. Maybe train them to check everyone properly? I mean how did the guy get on the plane without the proper documentation. How did he get on the plane when he was on a terrorist watch list?

      I am sorry for the assumption but he must have known someone that helped him get on. If customs agents were trained better then maybe they could have stopped him as well.

    • 3 years ago
  • deputydawg
  • misticdog44
    • 0
      misticdog44  

    • I am a 47 year old black man from Anchorage Alaska. When Obama became President I and everyone I knew had a real sense of pride. We were finally represented. Finally a voice to be herd. Well It is 4am on Dec.30 2009 and I can’t sleep. I guess I just wanted to tell the world how ashamed I am for supporting Obama. It is not just me. Everyone I know is ashamed because Obama represents our race. I am so so very sorry. I call out to every black person in all of the country and the world to turn our collective backs on this heretic. He must be removed from office and any other public office. No matter what he must be removed!. Never again can we let the color of our skin blind us so badly from the truth.

      Leroy Parsons

    • 3 years ago
  • deputydawg
  • Conniepae
    • 0
      Conniepae  
    • misticdog44:

      I am not black and I find it hard to understand what the color of President Obama's skin has to do with him being elected. Being black should not have been anyone's reasoning for voting for Barack Obama.

      No matter what one thinks of President Obama, the choice of McCain/Palin would have been far worse. Granted they may have hid the things, which are now being reported, but that would not have changed the deteriorating economy, or the problems of the ongoing wars and terrorism in general. Change takes more than months. We did not get into the situations we are in today, in a few months. It was years of mismanagement and secrecy. Just because people just 'moved along' during the Bush years, did not mean terrible things were not happening. His own people left his administration and wrote books. Unfortunately, MSM did not address the issues in the books, they just 'moved us along', leading ordinary Americans to believe 'it didn't matter'. I believed then and now, facts matter.

      The same ones who are covering all the discontent with President Obama are the same ones who spun the war with Iraq and 'moved us along' to the wrongs of George W. and Dick Cheney. MSM is not trustworthy!

    • 3 years ago
  • bishopobispo
    • 0
      bishopobispo  
    • misticdog44:

      Mistic,

      Are blacks not allowed to have diversity of opinion? Are we not allowed to disagree with one another when it comes to politics, religion, etc.? Or, do you expect our way of thinking, or our actions, to be homogenous?

      Believe it or not there are blacks who voted for Obama because he was seen as the most suitable candidate for office. Some of these people are the same who chose not to vote for Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson during their campaigns because the candidates were seen as too ethnocentric.

      Asking a group of people to withdraw their support of ANYONE simply based on their shared ethnicity is EXTREMELY short-sighted.

      P.S. If you could list some of Obama's policies that you actually disagree with that would be helpful. What exactly has he done that was disappointing for you?

    • 3 years ago
  • diabolical44
  • pakazak
    • 0
      pakazak  
    • misticdog44:

      i second the call of "bullshit"
      a whole year into his presidency and obama's a failure.
      what a load.
      yeah, you're a blackman just like i'm the freakin' queen of england.

    • 3 years ago
  • JonRaymond
  • Conniepae
    • 0
      Conniepae  

    • I think the first place to look, is how they were released from Guantanamo. If they were ordered released by the Bush Administration, why and how were they released? How did this happen?

      People are quick to blame President Obama. Some act as though Bush's failings must be passed on to the current administration. Why? Maybe this is one occasion to look backward, to enable us to move forward. We still have many prisoners, who are due to be tried. We need to know how the Bush administration failed in their efforts to release prisoners. Who made the decision to release these guys from Guantanamo? What facts did they use as their guide? We can't afford to be wrong again!

    • 3 years ago
  • samthesixth
  • ibrake4rappers13
  • diabolical44
  • Varex_Sythe
    • 0
      Varex_Sythe  
    • ibrake4rappers13:

      Just to make sure that I have a firm grasp on your logic...

      The two who claimed responsibility for masterminding this terrorist attempt were released from Gitmo in 2007 when Bush was in office. Because these men were released under Bush's watch, it is a prime example of why other potential terrorist suspects who were illegally imprisoned and tortured, more often on nothing more than suspicion, should not be evaluated and released if it is determined that on an individual basis which of these people should be safe to free?

      Let me know if I more or less grasped the concept.

    • 3 years ago
  • ibrake4rappers13
  • pakazak
  • ibrake4rappers13
    • 0
      ibrake4rappers13  
    • ibrake4rappers13:

      Yes bush did release those prisoners, im not denying that, and it was definetly a mistake.

      Do you think the outcome is going to be different with Obama closing gitmo and releasing 100 more?

      First thing obama did was close Gitmo, if i were him, id rethink that right about now.

    • 3 years ago
  • ibrake4rappers13
  • ibrake4rappers13
  • pakazak
    • 0
      pakazak  
    • ibrake4rappers13:

      never said you were republican - labels are stupid.
      you can be socially progressive and fiscally conservative, etc.
      there are, however, those who just can't find the good in anything. i'll take obama over 100 bushes or reagans or any of the other dickwads that are supposedly for 'less' government.

    • 3 years ago
  • pakazak
  • ibrake4rappers13
  • ibrake4rappers13
  • pakazak
    • 0
      pakazak  
    • ibrake4rappers13:

      at this point, all we've done with those we've held as terror suspects is create more terrorists. if they didn't hate us before, they hate us now. if it was me, you bet your butt i'd find a way to get back at those who detained me in the hell-holes.
      so what's the solution?
      kill them all?
      only if bush has to look each one of them in the eye as he pulls the trigger, under a banner saying 'Mission Accomplished'.
      cheney can help him steady his aim. he's good at that.

      so no, i don't have an answer to the monsters we've helped create

    • 3 years ago
  • ibrake4rappers13
    • 0
      ibrake4rappers13  
    • ibrake4rappers13:

      Trust me guantanamo isnt creating any terrorists, have you seen how some of the terrorist are treated in their home countries?

      Gitmo would like a walk in the park

      The point of having Gitmo is so that we can instill fear in the hearts of the terrorist so that they will think twice before they buddy up with al qaeda,

      but now i bet there will be new recruits because they think that they will get a "get out of jail free" card once they get to Gitmo

      they should be terrified of the thought of ever going to Gitmo.

    • 3 years ago
  • pakazak
    • 0
      pakazak  
    • ibrake4rappers13:

      what?
      treated in their own countries? by who? the governments that the US is propping up? by warlords?

      gitmo, nor any other prison, would instill fear in my heart if i believed in a cause, and that cause would become greater with each of my brothers captured or killed.
      did auschwitz keep poles, jews, lats, russians from fighting nazis?
      did japanese POW camps keep GIs from storming beaches?

      prison is not a deterrent - it's a breeding ground

    • 3 years ago
  • ibrake4rappers13
  • Varex_Sythe
    • 0
      Varex_Sythe  
    • ibrake4rappers13:

      The solution is to actually put these people, most of whom have been illegally detained, through a long evaluation devoid of torture to find out who is actually a threat and who is not. The ones who are not deemed a threat should be released, the ones who are should be kept for actual interrogation as opposed to torture.

    • 3 years ago
  • pakazak
  • Conniepae
  • ibrake4rappers13
    • 0
      ibrake4rappers13  
    • ibrake4rappers13:

      wwell i think obama was too hasty to close guantanamo bay, if you think its a work in process, obama should have known what he waas going to do with the prisoner before he made the desicion to close it down

      it seems like obama is took quick to try and score political points

    • 3 years ago
  • JohnA
  • sedgleyoss
  • JohnA
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  

    • That's what happens when you don't properly investigate 9-11 & the concept of accountability becomes derelict...

      PS : I'm also afraid we could have a mole or two from some foreign intelligence among us ;) Shades of Sibel Edmonds indeed... http://www.justacitizen.com/
      BLOWING THE WHISTLE ON STOLEN DEMOCRACY
      http://www.veteranstoday.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=8673

      "A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and he carries his banners openly. But the traitor moves among those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not traitor, he speaks in the accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their garments, and he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of a city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to be feared." - Cicero, 42 B.C.

      "In most communities it is illegal to cry "fire" in a crowded assembly. Should it not be considered serious international misconduct to manufacture a general war scare in an effort to achieve local political aims?" - Dwight D. Eisenhower

      "The greatest threat to our world and its peace comes from those who want war, who prepare for it, and who, by holding out vague promises of future peace or by instilling fear of foreign aggression, try to make us accomplices to their plans." - Hermann Hesse

      "The individual is handicapped by coming face to face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists." - J. Edgar Hoover

    • 3 years ago
  • life_4_rent
    • 0
      life_4_rent [removed]  

    • This terrorist get on a plane without a Passport flying to the United States, tries to blow it up, two former Gitmo detainees with Al-Queda who were released claim to have planned the attack.

      Obama does not allow the CIA, or FBI to interrogate the terrorist and instead of taking him to Gitmo (which Obama and the Dumbocrats still want closed) the Obama Justice Dept give a Muslim non-citizen a lawyer and protect him in a prison in side American soil.

      The Dept of Homeland Security? (JOKE) Under Janet Napolitano is more concerned about accusing U.S. Veterans of being terrorist than fighting the 160,000,000 Muslims who are terrorist and want to kill Americans.

      This is the "change" which Obama and the Democrats promised.
      http://www.topnflnews.com/

    • 3 years ago
  • diabolical44
    • 0
      diabolical44  
    • life_4_rent:

      yea. that's right. the problem clearly stems from the fact that we're not torturing these guys enough. Oh yea. how could I have missed that?

      you do know that in almost the same exact circumstance, the Bush administration handled the shoe bomber Richard Reid in almost the exact same fashion as the Obama administration is currently handling this asshole. so why was it ok when the wannabe redneck retarded cowboy president did it but not the democrat with the funny name?

    • 3 years ago
  • crob80227
  • JonRaymond
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  
    • Image

    • THIS GUY MAKES AN INTERESTING POINT BUT ARE WE TO PSYOP FATIGUE TO EVEN LISTEN ;)

      Thus, in another set of coincidences, the system put in place after 9/11, meant to prevent the misuse of student visas for terrorist acts, single, Islamic engineering students tied to religious extremists being a risk factor in that area, failed totally.

      Let's review what we know thus far:

      * Our terrorist traveled to Yemen to meet with terrorist there
      * The terrorists in Yemen had been in Guantanamo but had been ordered released by the Bush Administration though they were, perhaps the most dangerous detainees held
      * The government of Yemen tells us that Islamic terrorists there have been arrested who have proven ties to Israeli intelligence
      * Our terrorists father, though we are told is a retired "Nigerian banker" actually ran their defense industry in close cooperation with Israeli Intelligence (Mossad)
      * Our terrorist's visa to the US was never with withdrawn, though he was on a "terrorist watchlist"
      * Our terrorist, though flying from Nigeria, entered the Netherlands without passing thru customs, something impossible to do without assistance from an intelligence agency
      * Our terrorist, while at the Amsterdam airport, was being assisted by a man appearing to be Indian, who claimed our Nigerian terrorist was a Sudanese refugee with no passport (no passport was used entering the EU, something technically impossible)
      * However, Dutch authorities, the same ones who confirmed he entered the country with no passport also confirmed he had a valid US visa, though on a terrorist watch list that is shared with Dutch authorities.

      MORE HAIR RAISING QUESTIONS FOR ADULTS HERE ;)
      http://www.veteranstoday.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9951

      AND HERE...
      http://www.veteranstoday.com/modules.php?name=VT_Authors&author=gordonduff

      GO VETS GO !

    • 3 years ago
more from Community:
from the community

top videos