Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: unclewest who wrote (340260)	12/28/2009 6:29:14 AM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793990

His seat was directly over the fuel tank, so maybe they thought to take the aircraft down with a secondary explosion.

To: unclewest who wrote (340260)	12/28/2009 8:35:01 AM
From: DMaA	Respond to of 793990

I gather from reports I've read that this charge was not placed in a flight critical location. Not even close. The reports I read say it was the perfect place to do the maximum damage. Close to the fuel tanks and the fly by wire hardware.

To: unclewest who wrote (340260)	12/28/2009 12:01:07 PM
From: Alan Smithee	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 793990

As others have noted, he was directly over the main fuel tanks. Also reported to be seated in a window seat on the wing. This was an Airbus - fly by wire. If he damaged the controls somehow with the explosion, the plane surely would have gone down. The thing that puzzles me is I understand this happened as the plane was approaching Detroit. Likely 10,000 feet or below? A breach of the airframe at that altitude would not be as catastrophic as if it happened above 30,000 feet.

To: unclewest who wrote (340260)	12/28/2009 1:50:34 PM
From: KLP	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793990

Because the more folks we devote to airline security, the more exposed we are everywhere else. Very true, uw! "If we are to be, it's up to me and maybe thee," as the old saying goes... We'd better all be more vigilant to what is going on around us, and encourage those we care for to do the same...

To: unclewest who wrote (340260)	4/26/2010 9:54:19 PM
From: KLP	Respond to of 793990

Right again, uw!! and now: ABC tonight: Underwear Bomber: New Video of Training, Martyrdom Statements Prior to Suicide Mission, Abdulmutallab Says 'Jews and the Christians' Are the Enemy By MATTHEW COLE, BRIAN ROSS and NASSER ATTA April 26, 2010 New videos produced by al Qaeda in Yemen show the accused underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and others in his training class firing weapons at a desert camp whose targets included the Jewish star, the British Union Jack and the letters "UN." The videos, to be broadcast Monday on ABC World News with Diane Sawyer, appear to support Abdulmutallab's statements to the FBI that there are "others like me" who also trained with him in Yemen to carry out attacks against U.S. and western targets. The tape also includes an apparent martyrdom statement in Arabic from the 23-year old Nigerian justifying his actions against "the Jews and the Christians and their agents." He says, "the enemy is in your lands with their armies, the Jews and the Christians and their agents." He reads several passages from the Koran and adds, "God said if you do not fight back, He will punish you and replace you." Abdulmutallab was arrested on Christmas Day in Detroit after he allegedly attempted to set off a bomb on a Northwest Airlines jet. He has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges but U.S. authorities say he is now cooperating in the investigation. The videos, obtained by a Yemeni journalist working for ABC News, are the first to show Abdulmutallab with the al Qaeda group. In the video he and others use automatic weapons to fire at targets that include a Jewish star, the British Union Jack and the a symbol of the United Nations. Some, but not all, of the faces of others at the training camp are blurred in the video released by al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula. Their logo is embedded in a corner of the screen. The other people in the video are presumably the people we are still looking for," said Richard Clarke, an ABC News consultant and former White House counter-terrorism official. The video also shows the purported al Qaeda fighters in Yemen firing at what appears to be an unmanned surveillance plane overhead. As ABC News first reported, the U.S. launched a series of cruise missile strikes against suspected al Qaeda camps in Yemen, beginning Dec. 18. There is no indication of when the tape was recorded but U.S. officials believe Abdulmutallab was in Yemen between August and left in mid-December of 2009 on his suicide mission. There was no immediate comment from Abdulmutallab's lawyer about his statements on the tape. Leila Taha, Asa Eslocker and Megan Chuchmach contributed to this report.