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: Neeka who wrote (340534)	12/29/2009 2:45:06 PM
From: KLP	2 Recommendations Respond to of 793958

Bureaucrats Running For Cover Over Flight 253 strata-sphere.com Dec 29 2009 The finger pointing going on right now in the aftermath of the barely missed Christmas Day Massacre on Northwest Flight 253 is dizzying. The State Department is blaming the National Counter Terrorism Center for not revoking Abdulmutallab’s visa, and I am sure the NCTC is going to question why the State Department didn’t tell them that the guy had a visa which needed to be revoked: The State Department said the father of 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had gone to the US embassy in Abuja on November 19 to raise concerns about his son. The embassy relayed those concerns the following day in a diplomatic cable to the State Department and the National Counterterrorism Center, which coordinates intelligence among various government agencies, said State Department spokesman Ian Kelly. But Kelly told reporters, “The information in this … cable was insufficient for this inter-agency review process to make a determination that this individual’s visa should be revoked.” The cable did not say — nor was it required to say — that Abdulmutallab had received a two-year multiple-entry standard tourist visa from the US embassy in London on June 16, 2008, Kelly said. Emphasis mine. This is a clear sign things are really wrong in DC. The incompetence of the young Obama administration is shining through as events are spinning out of control for them. The seasoned DC hands are beginning to play CYA – and very poorly I might add. It is a lame excuse for State to say ‘we were not required to inform NCTC that they needed to tell us to revoke a potential terrorist’s visa – and we were not required to tell them that he had one needing to be revoked’. And I thought I had heard it all! What a bunch of double speak. As the facts in this case trickle out from panicked career bureaucrats and lame political appointees, the picture we are seeing is one where DC is in flames, covering butts while the President vacations in Hawaii. Obama should have been back by now to right things. But he is to inexperienced to see the political danger signs, let alone the national security warning bells. I would suggest the State Department is in serious trouble here. Not only did they fail to tell the complete story of Abdulmutallab to the NCTC, they failed to tell Yemen who knew exactly where the terrorist was leading up to the botched Christmas Day Massacre: The Nigerian man accused of trying to attack a U.S. airliner on Christmas day lived in Yemen for two different periods of time, a year from 2004-2005 and from August-December this year, a Yemeni government official said Tuesday. … “We didn’t get any notice from the Americans to put this man on a list,” al-Lozy said. “America should have told Yemen about this man as they have of others.” Yemen’s Foreign Ministry said Monday Abdulmutallab was granted a Yemeni visa after authorities were reassured that he had “several visas from a number of friendly countries.” It noted that Abdulmutallab had a valid visa to the United States, which he had visited in the past. So what was the administration focused on from November 19th to Christmas Day? Let’s see, they were muscling through a disastrous health care bill, running to pick up Obama’s Nobel Peace prize (talk about gag gifts) and racing to Copenhagen to pump more hot air into the failed global warming balloon. I can see how they missed the terrorist attack in Detroit – priorities you know. Is this why the Obama administration failed to act decisively when it was presented some of the most clear and glaring warning sings of any terrorist attack yet? I mean the father turned the son in – how much more obvious does it need to be!? Does the terrorist need to send the President a personal text message declaring his intentions? President George H.W. Bush (the first) was pilloried for being amazed by a grocery scanner. It gave the impression of someone ‘not in touch’ with reality. President Obama’s team closed down an investigation into an Army Major who screamed out he was a warrior of Allah and 13 people died (along with one unborn baby) and over 30 people injured at Ft Hood. Now we learn nearly 300 people just missed dying (thanks to a faulty detonator) because no one was paying attention to the warning signs surrounding Abdulmutallab! Talk about being out of touch! And why is the President still goofing off (or is that ‘golfing’) in Hawaii while his administration keeps bungling around, pointing fingers in all directions? Is he still missing the signs?