The Case of the Undocumented Crotch Bomber

On the minor matter of the crotch bomber's missing passport, this just in from The Washington Times:

"Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab reportedly boarded the aircraft by impersonating a Sudanese refugee who did not have a passport, a ruse officials in Amsterdam apparently accepted. It is certain that al Qaeda had tested this method at Amsterdam before."

Neither that, or the fact that he didn't carry any luggage triggered an alert in the ever intrepid Amsterdam Airport security personnel.

Regarding the case of the missing passport, this has been going on for donkey's years. The first thing refugees bound for the Netherlands do after boarding a plane, is flush their passport through the toilet. It's a "known issue".

This act of sabotage makes it possible to stretch the admission process into years, if not decades. It exponentially improves the chance of some Leftist Government proclaiming a general pardon on asylum seekers on the grounds of  "prolonged and inhumane process".

In the past there have been attempts to shift the responsibility to the airlines, but judging by the case of the Islamic crotch bomber we can see the problem still hasn't been resolved to any satisfaction. It's now caught up in the vital matter of international security and counter terrorism.

While citizens may be fined or worse for not carrying identification, Leftist politicians are of the opinion it's inhumane to send refugees back to some hell hole in the horn of Africa just because - through a fault of their own - they're unable to identify themselves. That is, unless the party political affiliation is another than their own; in such case you may well become the target of the national blood sport.

Some may remember the case of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, currently a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, formerly MP in the Dutch Parliament for the right-wing Liberal VVD party. She was forced to give up her seat (bad auto translation, original article) when it transpired her real name was Hirsi Magan.

While this is emphatically not a case of a missing passport, it does illustrate refugees may have reason to conceal their identity. Hirsi Ali was on the way to her unknown fiance in Canada, when in transit she decided to elope from the arranged marriage.

There's also news on the 'naked' body scans, and why they're not yet deployed on Amsterdam Airport. While it's true that the technically advanced apparatus is very expensive, indeed almost prohibitively so, it would appear the employment of security implements has now been outsourced to the European level! The European Commission is still pondering privacy considerations.

Several news outlets are reporting a mysterious “well-dressed Indian man” tried to intervene on Abdulmutallab’s behalf and browbeat an airline employee in to overlooking the fact that the wanna-be martyr lacked a passport. Intelligence want to know "who's this mysterious Indian".

Perhaps they're profiling a South Asian, maybe a Pakistani or a Sri Lankan. I'm sure he wasn't among the chorus of Amsterdam Airport security personnel, festively cheering and applauding the man-made disaster of 9/11 when that happened.

Update: DutchNews are reporting on a press conference held by the relevant Minister: strings are being pulled and full body scanners will be put to good use shortly. Until such time body searches will be carried out manually. Also: she denied the crotch bomber wasn't carrying a passport. We've put the matter to consideration of a law-and-order absolutist MP. No doubt to be continued. More on NRC.

Earlier posts:

- "Christmas Cracker Turns Man-Made Disaster Escape"

Related (updating throughout):

- BBC: "US aware 'Nigerian' prepared for terror attack"
- Mediaite: "Echoes Of 9/11? Gov. Had Plenty Of Warning About Christmas Day Attack"
- Washington Times: "EDITORIAL: Christmas day's recycled terrorists" - Releases from Gitmo are coming back to haunt us"
- TransWorldNews: "Somali Man Suspected of Attempting to Carry Explosives onto Plane"
- NRC: "Controversial scanners will be used on Amsterdam-US flights"
- CBS: "U.S. Intel Lapses Helped Abdulmutallab" - CBS News Exclusive: CIA Had Info on Person of Interest Dubbed "The Nigerian" in August But Officials Failed to Connect Dots

Christmas Cracker Turns Man-Made Disaster Escape

A young Amsterdam entrepreneur has become the toast of the town. The 32 year old partner in a media company, Jasper Schuringa grabbed hold of the Nigerianse Muslim terrorist Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab (23) and narrowly averted a Christmas man-made terror disaster over Detroit.

Northwest Airlines Airbus flight NW-253 from Amsterdam to Detroit carrying 278 passengers, was on approach to Detroit, just lowering the landing gear, when a Nigerian male passenger attempted to ignite a powdery substance attached to his legs.

Al Qaeda's perverted wish to cause maximum harm may have helped the situation. Had the Nigerian succeeded in triggering an explosion in midair, the casualty rate would have been hundred percent. But the terrorist waited until approach to Detroit, in the hope of causing also casualties on the ground.

Schuringa watched Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab trying to set his underpants on fire. He looked him in the eye, jumped him and held him subdued until landing. Schuringa was also hurt in the assault. His parents are so proud of him. A friend, Kasem Challiou was contacted by Schuringa after the event; he has told the press the jihadist was covered in explosives. Delta Airlines initially mentioned  something concerning firecrackers. American authorities later officially declared it a major terrorist man-made disaster thwarted.

In an interview with CNN (below) Schuringa says not to have hesitated for a second. Which is a small miracle given the advice Dutch citizens get from their authorities, never to act on impulse but always to call in the experts: the nanny state at its most insidious. Not so Schuringa: "I didn't give it a thought", he said. "I just wanted to save the plane".

Just 20 minutes prior to the landing in Detroit the Nigerian grabbed a powdery substance, mixed it with a fluid and set fire to it. A series of minor explosions followed. He claims to have acted on the orders of Al Qaeda.

What stands out in the affair is the rank incompetence all round: the general security situation failed, as well as - luckily - the terrorist, son of a prominent, wealthy family in Abuja. Engineering colleges in London and a terror crash course in Yemen, to no avail. The amount of explosives, a semtex component, is said to have been sufficient in quantity, but Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab didn't manage to ignite it.

The Border Police and the National Anti Terror Coordinator in Amsterdam are baffled. The FBI have also arrived on the scene, aghast how the panty bomber could stroll around the airport for three hours, carrying the explosives along in a bag.

Elsevier Magazine is reporting that security at Amsterdam Airport is wanting. The article claims officials are often barely trained. Pentrite is invisible to current detection apparatus. But it can be detected by 'naked scanners'. More accurately called "millimeter wave scans", these devizes are currently undergoing trials at Amsterdam Airport.

- Caption: ABC: "EXCLUSIVE: Photos of the Northwest Airlines Bomb - Accused Bomber Abdulmutallab's Underwear, Explosive Packet and Detonator" - 

Passengers say to have hardly been searched. Security officials might have wanted to search Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, had they been aware who he was. He is among the 550,000 names in the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment database (TIDE). Smaller watch lists trigger additional airport screening, but intelligence officials said there wasn't enough information to move Abdulmutallab into those categories. He was put on the database only after the US visa had already been issued.

! Update Dec. 29: on the matter of the missing passport, this just in from The Washington Times: "Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab reportedly boarded the aircraft by impersonating a Sudanese refugee who did not have a passport, a ruse officials in Amsterdam apparently accepted. It is certain that al Qaeda had tested this method at Amsterdam before." Well, this has been going on for donkey's years. The first thing refugees do after boarding a plane is to flush their passport through the toilet. It's a "known issue". (Read "The Case of the Undocumented Crotch Bomber".

Rand Simberg, a recovering aerospace engineer and a consultant in space commercialization, space tourism and Internet security, writing yesterday on Pajamas brings a few politically incorrect suggestions to bear how the general security situation might be improved.



Related:


! Newser: "Ex Gitmo Inmates Linked to Bomb - Al Qaeda Leaders Did Art Therapy, Were Freed in Saudi Arabia"
- IBD: "Yes, Janet, There Is A 'War On Terror'"
- RedState: "Seven Things Wrong With The Anti-Terrorism Policies of the TSA"
! Mediaite: "Possible Link Between Northwest Airlines Terrorist And Fort Hood Shooter?", by Glynnis MacNicol
- NRC: "Unused body scan could have revealed explosive powder"
- MEF: "The System "Worked Really Very, Very Smoothly" in Detroit?", by Daniel Pipes
- FoxNews: "Al Qaeda Claims Responsibility for Attempted Bombing of U.S. Plane"
- NewsMax: "Foiled Terror Attack Should Be Wake-Up Call"
- NewsMax: "Napolitano Concedes Airline Security System Failed"

Continued in "The Case of the Undocumented Crotch Bomber

Euro Police Convention Duped by Balkan Terror Threat

The 11th European Police Congress, to be held in Berlin on 29-30th January is the target of a Balkan Al Qaeda franchise.

The convention will be inaugurated by Franco Frattini, Vice President of the European Commission, Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security. The second item on the agenda is "Global, European and National threats by Terrorists: National Concepts to face the Challenge."

In a programme note (bottom Programme section) it is advised that one of the speakers, Dr Darko Trifunovic - a maverick young investigator from the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Security Studies - will not be able to attend due to "pressure and death threats" made against him by radical groups that are under his investigation. He has decided not to "expose himself and the congress to further danger."

Dr Darko Trifunovic has been conducting research into the origins, ambitions and operating methods of what he calls "white Al Qaeda", the home grown branch of the terrorist franchise organization in the various areas of the Balkans.

It first took foothold in Bosnia-Herzegovina after the Western powers in the 90's saw the influx of Afghan war veterans into the territory as an easy way to support the Bosnian Muslims. Since the Dayton Peace Accord Iranians as well as Saudi Wahhabis have flooded the statelet with funds, over-sized mosques and subversive organizations, one of which has members throughout the Bosniak diaspora in Europe, Canada and the US. CNAB appears to be the center of gravity of the present threats against Trifunovic.

Trifunovic has also found new links between Bosnia and the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the London and Madrid train bombings. Specifically mentioned are Mohammed Atta, who coordinated the 9/11 outrage, and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Bosnian citizenship holder and war veteran, former Al Qaeda 'Operations Chief', who - according to Dr Darko Trifunovic - took over the leadership of the Al Qaeda media campaign ('the Committee') during the planning of the 9/11. Atta's place of residence was a Bosnian hamlet before launching off to Hamburg and the US for his fatal mission.

With the knowledge of the UN interim governors in Kosovo, Albanian-American radicals were actively recruiting terrorists for 'the war against America' prior to the 9/11 attack, of which they had foreknowledge. The UN however, did nothing.

The Foreign Area Officer Association FAOA posits that the Sarajevo based organization, AIO's (Aktivna Islamska Omladina)[1] "(...) Islamic weekly magazine SAFF [2] and organization's website have been fronts of radical Islamic preaching, gaining notoriety for publishing interviews with terrorists who have fought against US forces in Iraq and expressing solidarity with the jihadists and suicide bombers in Israel." FAOA also links the AIO with members throughout the Bosniak diaspora in Europe and the US, one of which is CNAB..

CNAB claims to represent some 350.000 Bosniak refugees in the US and Canada. Trifunovic qualifies them as a new jihadi organization. He specifies four members in particular, who are one way or another involved in Islamist activities. In Terror Finance Blog in "Bosnjaci.net Attacks on Darko Trifunovic" Trifunovic specifies as follows:

"Here is why Bosnjaci.net, an Islamist web site from Bosnia is attacking me.

One of Bosnjaci.net's favorite and honored members is Sakib Mahmuljin, who is a high-ranking Bosnian White Al Qaeda member, accused of war crimes. See this: "War crimes: "Vozuca case", six years later".

Izet Nanic is a former commander of the 505th Buzim Brigade with the Fifth Corps of the Bosnian Army which was an integral part was the "Hamze" unit. See here and here.

Another prominent individual on Bosnjaci.net is Nezim Halilovic-Muderis. He is imam at the Wal-Mart-sized, Wahhabi King Fahd mosque, which opened in 2000 on the outskirts of Sarajevo, built with Saudi money and named after the Saudi monarch. Nezim Halilovic-Muderis, a Bosnian extremist agitator whose antics I have been following since 1999. Muderis's Friday sermons, available on Bosnian websites, are replete with incitement to violence in Israel, Kashmir, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and the Philippines. He preaches the same line on the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, as is heard among the acolytes of the late terrorist leader of 'Al Qaeda in Iraq', Abu Musab al Zarqawi.

It is, to say the least, bizarre: "In Falluja, according to statements from the U.S. command, spirits have appeared in the form of enormous spiders, weighing about a kilogram, that only attack U.S. soldiers, and the person who is bitten dies within seconds." More information about this prominent Wahhabist is here.

Another Bosnian Muslim war criminal, protected and promoted by Bosnjaci.net is Rasim Delic. According to the indictment, Rasim Delic was aware that the jihadi members of the Bosnian army had a distinct tendency to commit crimes, especially against captured enemy combatants and civilians (...) Reportedly, however, he took no measures whatsoever to stop these acts taking place.

In an email Trifunovic has it that the web master of Bosnjaci.net, Afan Pasalic even openly confessed that he uses Trifunovic' name to manipulate and and false emails and post comments in his name. Trifunovic qualifies the impersonation quite accurately as "shocking!!!!"

A brief insight into some of the more flowery death threats against Trifunovic, posted at Bosnjaci.net:

"Help us God to erase Trifunovic and entire his family from Earth - We must teach our kids from age of 5 how to use pistols and guns, and that they hold in one hand (knjiga) Ku'ran and in another hand a gun ready for use - If Darko Trifunovci goes to the 11th Police Congress in Berlin, God help that all Muslims finish him - Such individuals as Darko Trifunovic, we need to harass him, and we need to continue to discredit him by all means and to very end, until others dare not show up to talk about terrorism"

The manicheic character of the site is illustrated by the shocking death threats in one section, while another is reserved for "Dobri Bosnjaci" (good Bosniaks). The latter consists of a list of special members of the portal: dangerous Islamic fundamentalists and war criminals. Trifunovic: "We are dealing with pure criminals (...) I am planning to inform all EU, US and other relevant authorities regarding this unfortunate incident in order to prevent such thing from happening again in the future." I don't share his optimism.

Earlier this week a colleague of Trifunovic, analyst Ioannis Michaletos, released this media message on his behalf.

Up to now Dr Trifunovic has been able to conduct his investigations from the ivory tower of the University of Belgrade in relative tranquility. When it transpired however he was invited to speak during the upcoming 11th Police Congress and - as a consequence, the results of his research would reach the professional domain - no methods have been shunned to intimidate him, discredit him as a person and as a scholar.

With false accusations of 'Srebrenica denial' and 'hate mongering' - references to laws prohibiting Holocaust denial and inciting racial hatred - attempts have been made to get him banned from the police convention; impersonations and cyber manipulation being but the least methods of choice to muzzle. But it is my understanding that, far from denying the deplorable events at Srebrenica, Trifunovic has been further investigating the matter.

Apart from the personal injury done here, the public damage of this terrorist saga is two-fold: researchers are being harassed to prevent them from doing their jobs, thus interfering with the right of enquiry. The consequences of such actions on the academic level could well be considerable. The second part is even worse: the intimidation of officials conducting criminal enquiries, subverting the rule of law, leading ultimately to mob rule.

Let me wrap this up with some thoughts of my own. In the past few decades one of the greater mysteries has been the question, how the Holocaust on six million Jews at the hands of the Nazis could have taken place without the entire continent raising up in protest. At present, a sizable majority of people in the West surprisingly seem to be sharing views with the people who have declared against us. However treacherous and hard to fathom this may be, it is kinder on the persons harbouring such views: it is after all easier to be a voluntary accomplice - silent or otherwise - than it is to be a coward.

Recent posts on this subject:
- "Progress Report on Operation Western Deconstruct" (summary of the series)
- "Progress Report (3): the Assault on the Rule of Law"

We thank the following participants in this blog burst:
- 1389 Blog: "Balkan Terrorists Target Euro Police Convention"
- All American Blogger: "Euro Police Convention Duped by Balkan Terror Threat"
- Stix: "Euro Police Convention Duped by Balkan Terror Threat"
- Europe News: "Euro Police Convention Duped by Balkan Terror Threat"
- Liberty Forum: "Euro Police Convention Duped by Balkan Terror Threat"
- Ironic Surrealism: "Balkan Terrorists Target Euro Police Convention"
- Noisy Room: "Euro Police Convention Duped by Balkan Terror Threat"
- Strategis Analysis & OSINT Management: "Euro Police Convention Duped by Balkan Terror Threat"

Updates:
- Islamanazi: "Euro Police Convention Duped by Balkan Terror Threat", with an update on:
- The Jawa Report: "Bosnian Islamist Website Posts Death Threats, Gets Hacked"
- Midnight Sun: "Rising Balkan Terror", with an unrelated (?) update of:
- Astute Bloggers: "Al Qaeda Has a 'White Terror Army' inside Britain"

- Filed on Articles in "Progress Report: Summary", cat. Balkans/E.Europe, GWOT, Moral Legislation, Neo Totalitarianism, Terrorism -