U.S. Intelligence Officials Asked State Department to NOT Revoke Crotch Bomber’s Visa
February 7th, 2010Via: Detroit News:
The State Department didn’t revoke the visa of foiled terrorism suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab because federal counterterrorism officials had begged off revocation, a top State Department official revealed Wednesday.
Patrick F. Kennedy, an undersecretary for management at the State Department, said Abdulmutallab’s visa wasn’t taken away because intelligence officials asked his agency not to deny a visa to the suspected terrorist over concerns that a denial would’ve foiled a larger investigation into al-Qaida threats against the United States.
“Revocation action would’ve disclosed what they were doing,” Kennedy said in testimony before the House Committee on Homeland Security. Allowing Adbulmutallab to keep the visa increased chances federal investigators would be able to get closer to apprehending the terror network he is accused of working with, “rather than simply knocking out one solider in that effort.”
The committee’s hearing continues a series across Capitol Hill that started last week, all looking into the events leading up to and after the attempted bombing of Flight 253 over Detroit. Law enforcement officials say Abdulmutallab tried to detonate an explosive hidden in his underwear on board the flight from Amsterdam shortly before its landing at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus on Christmas Day.
Since the failed attack, criticism has swirled around leaders of the U.S. intelligence community who have indicated they were warned by the suspect’s father about a month before the flight of a potential terror threat, but failed to stop Abdmutallab, despite other warning signs like the fact that he purchased a one-way ticket to Detroit with cash.
Politicians have also criticized the decision to treat Abdulmutallab as a civilian after the arrest in Michigan, with Miranda rights being read to him after less than an hour of interrogation and without input from the intelligence community.
Rep. Candice Miller, R-Harrison Township, the only Michigan House member on the Homeland Security Committee, said in a Tuesday statement that she planned to question officials on that matter at today’s hearing.
In other news, Dick Cheney asked the State Department NOT to revoke Mohammed Atta’s visa, as this would have prevented the PNAC psychopaths from getting their “catastrophic and catalyzing event” (i.e., 9/11), which in turn would have prevented them from implementing their radical “transformation”.
My suspicion is that, Obama, like Bush, would like to see another 9/11 to take the focus off his ineptness and provide justification for even more government power probably to include martial law and indefinite detention for political enemies such as Rush Limbaugh and others.
Fits with early TV reports about the rushed/strange passport for one person on that flight got 🙂
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz2R29t0FqM
@Larry Glick: you’re assuming that a 9/11 under Obama would be played like it was under Bush, “Gee, nobody coulda seen that comin’, so let’s not blame anybody but the ‘bad guys'”. If it happens under Obama, I think it’s safe to say that the Right — pundits and politicians alike, will beat the drum beat of “Bush (Cheney) kept us safe for over 7 years, but Obama can’t”. Instead of taking the focus off his ineptness, it would just seal the conviction of him as criminally inept. Why do you think Cheney’s daughter and William Kristol maintain a site like this: http://www.keepamericasafe.com/ ?
Here’s my vision of an Obama 9/11, and its aftermath: http://9112010.com/9112010.html