This article’s worth a read, but the bold is annoying (I know, it’s a few days old…) (link):
Al-Qaida in Yemen threatened USBy JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press Writer Josef Federman, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 38 mins ago
CAIRO – An Al-Qaida operative in Yemen threatened the United States and said “we are carrying a bomb” in a video posted online four days before the botched Christmas Day attempt to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight.
The video does not contain any clear evidence that the speaker was anticipating Friday’s attempt, but it has attracted scrutiny because of reports that the bombing plot may have originated in Yemen.
The 23-year-old Nigerian man accused in the attack claimed he received training and instructions from al-Qaida operatives there, U.S. law enforcement officials said, and a key American lawmaker has said there are “strong suggestions” of a Yemen connection.
In a Dec. 21 video, the al-Qaida operative delivered a eulogy for militants killed in a Yemeni airstrike on a militant training camp four days earlier. The speaker said he had no agenda against Yemeni soldiers, but warned them against cooperating with Americans.
“We are carrying a bomb to hit the enemies of God,” the speaker says.
“O soldiers, you should learn that we do not want to fight you, nor do we have an issue with you. We only have an issue with America and its agents, and beware of standing in the ranks of America,” he says. “You should not defend these regimes. The soldiers and even Obama cannot put out the light of Islam.”
The video was posted on extremist Web sites affiliated with al-Qaida. The Web sites identified the speaker as Mohammed al-Kalwi, an al-Qaida activist reportedly killed in another airstrike on Thursday.
The video showed the bearded militant, wearing a a headdress and green military-style jacket over a long Arab robe, addressing a group of armed followers as he stood atop a car. The followers repeatedly interrupted the fiery address with calls of “God is great.”
An activist? YGTBFKM. I think the whole “panty bomber” (as Mark Steyn hilariously called him today) incident shows us a few important things: 1. We’re not safe, and eventually these terrorists (despite what our President/media say, they are terrorists) will find a way to hit us; 2. DHS is completely inept, as is Janet “big sis” Napolitano; and 3. If you try to do anything and Americans are around, someone’s going to try to stop you (we’ve got a few years until the full pansification takes hold). If you weren’t aware, Secretary Napolitano went on the air the other day saying the system works, and then today backpedaled and called it a failure.
Evidently the panty bomber’s father is a prominent banker in Nigeria (not the ones we keep getting emails from offering $10M if I write them a check for $5k I suppose) who approached the US embassy and said “uhh, my kid’s hanging out with Al Qaeda and wants to attack you, and he’s kind of dropped off the radar”. To which the State Department said??? Forwarded to whom??? Oh that’s right, it probably landed on Desiree Rogers’ desk in the White House Social Affairs office.
I’m still incredulous that we have not been attacked on our soil, except by the Fort Hood Mohammedan and the other lone wolf attacks. It seems like divine intervention. I know that DoD/DHS folks on the ground make their best effort, but the poor decision-making and crippling political correctness in the policy-making level almost doom us to another attack.
And in case you didn’t think they’d ever go “there” with security, it’s coming (link):
The airplane bombing suspect’s claim that the attack originated with al-Qaeda’s network in Yemen deepened concerns that instability in the Middle Eastern country is providing the terror group with a base to train and recruit militants for operations against the West and the United States.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, claimed to have received training and instructions from al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen, a U.S. law-enforcement official said.
If confirmed, it would be the second known case recently by the relatively new group, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, of exporting terrorism out of Yemen – a country with a weak central government, many lawless areas and plentiful supplies of weapons. But Yemen, the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden, has long been an al-Qaeda stamping ground.
In August, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula tried to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s counterterrorism chief, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, in a suicide bombing in an attack that bore similarities to the airliner plot. The explosive device Mr. Abdulmutallab used was attached to his body, just below his torso, and used the same material the Saudi attacker hid in his rectum.
Did you hear about the suicide bomber who stuck a bomb in his ass? Yeah, wrecked’em.
Bend over and grab your ankles, little elderly white Christian lady- you’ve been randomly and culturally-sensitively selected for a TSA body cavity foreign object search!