Another Terror Mistake
[Guest post by DRJ]
The Obama Administration’s Director of National Intelligence testifed today that no one contacted him about Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Christmas Day bomber on Northwest Flight 253. He also admitted Abdulmutallab should have been interrogated as a terror suspect:
“Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was interviewed by FBI agents when Northwest Flight 253 landed in Detroit after he allegedly tried to detonate a homemade bomb sneaked through airport security in Nigeria and Amsterdam. Abdulmutallab is being held in a prison about 50 miles outside of Detroit.
Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair told the Senate Homeland Security Committee that he was not consulted on whether Abdulmutallab should be questioned by the recently created High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group, or HIG.
“That unit was created exactly for this purpose,” Blair said. “We did not invoke the HIG in this case. We should have.”
In a separate hearing, FBI Director Robert Mueller said “al-Qaida and its offshoots are spreading and rebuilding” in Pakistan, Yemen, and the Horn of Africa.
The Obama Administration’s default position is to consider events as crime, not terrorism, which is why the intelligence arm of the government was out of the loop. (In her first Congressional testimony, Homeland Security Director Janet Napolitano wouldn’t even use the words terror and vulnerability.) The government can’t properly respond to a terrorist event if it doesn’t initially consider the possibility that events might be terrorism.
After Abdulmutallab’s Christmas Day attack, President Obama announced the anti-terror buck stops with him. This is Obama’s mistake and it’s past time for him to fix it.
— DRJ
How can the buck stop with him? He’s a pathological narcisst – nothing except the good stuff is ever his fault.
Also, he doesn’t see it as terror – he sees it as help to get him to the goal of socializing this country.
Vivian Louise (eeeb3a) — 1/20/2010 @ 12:08 pmLook, they inherited this mess. That damn Bush and his damn republicany ways! Do you really think the country would have any problems if Bush had never been ‘elected’? That’s just crazy.
Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize. He doesn’t have to fix man-made disasters. There hasn’t been a single case of terrorism since they stopped using that term, anyway.
It’s going to be really funny when Mitt Romney or Sarah Palin or whoever points out the situation inherited from Barack Obama. Really, it’s freshman democrats who are the first beneficiaries of Obama’s estate.
Mistakes happen, and I don’t blame Obama directly for the blood already spilled on his watch, but I do blame him for constantly scoring petty points because America wasn’t utopia one year ago today. He didn’t have to make this a law enforcement issue, and he didn’t have to foster a climate of fear against bureaucrats in those who should be fighting terrorism. But most folks aren’t as forgiving as me and will blame Obama for the bloodshed like they blamed Carter.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/20/2010 @ 12:26 pmDid they do anything right? This is the problem with bureaucracies.
People's Front of Judea (44bf37) — 1/20/2010 @ 12:28 pmI’m sure they’ll get it right with healthcare.[rolls eyes]
Did they do anything right? This is the problem with bureaucracies.
I’m sure they’ll get it right with healthcare.[rolls eyes]
EXACTLY my point all along. I have a hard enough time getting past current health care issues, at least I can always appeal to the government if something horrid happens. When the government is the one doing the care, to whom do I appeal?
No one.
Vivian Louise (eeeb3a) — 1/20/2010 @ 12:33 pmI like the way Scott Brown put it “we should use our money to buy weapons for our military to kill terrorists, not to hire lawyers to defend them”
It’s what you do when you have an enemy that is at war with you and want to destroy you.
bill-tb (541ea9) — 1/20/2010 @ 12:46 pmSo based on how the Obama administration wants to handle terrorists attacks, is it safe to say their response to 9/11 would have been to have the FAA and NTSB conduct an investigation first, and then get the FBI involved if that turned up anything suspicious?
Mike M (629332) — 1/20/2010 @ 12:47 pmMike M, when you think back to that dark day, it would have taken a brilliant president to avoid massive despair. Someone decisive who isn’t trying to score points all the time.
Obama on 9/11 would have spent all day asking people to wait on answers and decisions and responses, and never contemplated an actual war. He also would have found a way to blame the opposing party (And granted, there was much blame if you wanted to play that game, though Bush was wise enough to note touch that).
We would have had some riots and some economic crisis and more attacks. We know now that there were more 9/11 style attacks, such as the Library Towers attack. It’s nearly miraculous how successful Bush was in stopping that, and he did it by compromising whenever he has to so he wouldn’t compromise where he couldn’t. That’s tough for any leader, and it’s well beyond Obama.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/20/2010 @ 12:55 pmAlso, why is Bush so quiet since leaving office? He had many great arguments against the way Obama has repeatedly blamed him for everything that goes wrong. He is quiet because screwing with Obama would probably be bad for this country, and Bush long ago abandoned his legacy reputation.
The difference between Obama and Bush is already sharp, but will be even more obvious when they are both out of power and Obama is bashing whoever holds the White House. His political career is just beginning.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/20/2010 @ 12:58 pmWell, terror man-caused disasters stopped after The Cairo Speech, didn’t they?
Patricia (b05e7f) — 1/20/2010 @ 12:59 pmLike the energizer bunny the administration foulup drum-hits keep a’coming. After reading Mort Zuckerman’s relentless Obama rant in the Daily Beast this morning you kind of have to wonder if Obama may not be getting really close to the tipping point with some of the biggest of big time Washington and East Coast players. If they decide Obama is Jimmy Carter degree hopeless there will be no return for him no matter how fast Axelrod spins. For sure, it has become possible for people to point out his little foibles without worrying about being accused of racism anymore.
If you have not read Mort’s piece over there you really should do so.
elissa (3bc841) — 1/20/2010 @ 1:16 pm@Dustin 12:55 and MikeM 12:47
I hope no one takes offense, but your posts gave me a mental picture of Obama with teleprompters (not a megaphone) at ground zero.
elissa (3bc841) — 1/20/2010 @ 1:22 pmHillary Clinton would have been the democratic nominee in a much fairer primary process, and the democrats would be so much better off right now. I don’t like her, but she would have noticed that this reform effort was out of control a few months back. And it really was obvious.
Terrorism? I think Clinton was staking herself out to be a hawk on terrorism. Sexism is real and women, particularly of Hilldawg’s age, often compensate by showing strength.
The right would still be freaking out, Palin would still be on facebook, and Beck would still think the world is about to end, but Hillary would be getting more accomplished.
What I find interesting is not that the best candidate didn’t win… he never does. What’s interesting is that the best candidate probably was robbed and this is part of the problem. Since she’s the frontman on foreign policy, yet hidden in the closet somewhere, I think this is a major issue for democrats.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/20/2010 @ 1:24 pmDRJ, this story is worse than you have written it. Go further into your first link:
Apparently, Admiral Blair doesn’t know that the unit he said should have been used to interrogate Mr Abdulmutallab isn’t even functioning yet!
Further, he spoke as though it should have been his decision to use the unit, but no one asked him. Obviously no one put the possibility to him, if the unit wasn’t functioning yet, and, quite frankly, if the DNI is the man who has to take the decision to use or not use a particular interrogation unit, then the whole set-up is fouled up: such a decision should not have to go to the top.
The appalled Dana (474dfc) — 1/20/2010 @ 5:09 pmDustin asked:
Those of us from the South call it class and grace.
The Southern Dana (474dfc) — 1/20/2010 @ 5:11 pmExactly, Dana, its worse than it first appears. Obama’s more incompetent than at first glance.
SPQR (26be8b) — 1/20/2010 @ 5:12 pmThe appalled Dana is ever so right – WhyTF do we have the Keystone Cops in charge of our security?
Oh, right because we no longer HAVE terrorist incidents.
&^@!%#$&^!*&^%$
The now appalled Vivian Louise (643333) — 1/20/2010 @ 5:13 pmJohn Brennan should be immediately sent to McMurdo Sound to do an Emperor Penguin census.
AD - RtR/OS! (6c3ec3) — 1/20/2010 @ 5:35 pmDana,
I agree it’s fouled up. The high value detainee interrogation program was created by an August 2009 Presidential executive order. Although it ultimately will be overseen by the NSC, the unit was supposed to be housed at the FBI and report to the FBI Director.
At this point, it doesn’t matter to me if the program exists, doesn’t exist, everyone knows about it, or no one knows about it. The point is that, for whatever reason, it wasn’t used when it was supposed to be used. Instead the government treated this as a crime. Even if the unit did exist, it wasn’t going to be used because no one in the Obama Administration treated this as terrorism when it happened. Did anyone even interrupt their vacations? I know Obama and his counterterrorism chief could barely be bothered.
I blame Obama because he created that mindset.
DRJ (84a0c3) — 1/20/2010 @ 5:52 pmPresident Obama announced the anti-terror buck stops with him.
— So, what is he now . . . Give ’em hell, Barry?
Puhleeze!
Icy Texan (01c224) — 1/21/2010 @ 12:49 amSo is Barry going to resign now?
Patricia (b05e7f) — 1/21/2010 @ 8:36 amGitmo reporter “takes the men out of the cage” in photo mosaic.
Carol Rosenberg tells Bob Garfield:
Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (9eb641) — 1/21/2010 @ 8:53 am“If I’ve done anything or tried to do anything in the eight years [of covering Guantanamo] is make those men individuals. And, for better or worse, that’s what this mosaic does. It takes the men out of the cage and out of the orange jumpsuits and lets you look in their eyes. I don’t know that anyone can make any decisions about what you see in their eyes, and I don’t know that you should. That’s what the courts are for.”