Janet Napolitano Says We're All Safe, Truth Says Otherwise

As most know by now, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Muslim acting under the support of al Qaeda in Yemen, tried to blow himself up on a Northwest Airlines flight over the weekend.  The only reason he failed and did not kill everybody aboard the plane was because the detonator did not go off.  Luck is what saved the passengers.  We all know that no matter how intricate security plans are, there is always a way that can be found around them.  What is worrisome, however, is this story about Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano:

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says there is no indication that the man who attempted to destroy an airliner in Detroit on Christmas Day is part of a larger terrorist plot.

Napolitano refused to say whether Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab has a connection to al-Qaida, citing the ongoing criminal investigation.

She confirmed that there was no air marshal on the plane with Abdulmutallab. They are not on every flight.

Napolitano says that despite Abdulmutallab’s success at getting dangerous chemicals on board the plane, commercial flying is safe.

The facts are a little different.  US officials have known for about two years that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab could have terrorist ties and CNN reports that the man’s father tried to report three months ago to Nigerian and US authorities that his son might be planning something.  Clearly the man was not acting alone and without assistance.  After all, an al Qaeda bomb maker is said to have built the bomb that nearly brought down the American flight.  He also may have ties with a cleric from Yemen, Anwar al-Aulaqi, who is said to have been in touch with the Muslim US Army officer who murdered American soldiers in Texas.

Napolitano is a public official and, obviously, she is supposed to re-assure people, however it is very troubling that bloggers, reporters, and others are uncovering information which our government seems to not be reporting… perhaps because they do not want to confront the reality that terrorism against America is serious stuff and wishy-washing Liberal pandering is not going to change that.

Just Politics..? can give Napolitano the benefit of the doubt until something like this occurs again but, judging by the anti-terrorism record of the last Democratic president we had, Bill Clinton, the future is not looking too optimistic.

Of course, the Obama White House does not like the term “terrorism” and instead prefers “man-created disasters.”  If that’s not politicizing an issue I don’t know what is.

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