The Quiet Conservative December 27, 2009
The Politically Correct, the Quick, and the Dead
On Christmas day Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to blow up Northwest flight 253 with high
explosives. While he managed to ignite the explosive, it burned rather than exploded. He didn't manage
to kill anyone or bring the plane down. He was subdued by passengers and restrained by the crew.
The plane was on final approach to Detroit. This was a deliberate act of terrorism by a Muslim
fundamentalist who claims connections with al-Qaida.
This is the CNN Political Ticker web entry for the news segment 12/27/2009:
(CNN) - Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Sunday there was no indication so far that
a botched terror attack on a U.S. airliner was part of a broad international effort.
"Right now we have no indication that it is part of anything larger," Napolitano told CNN's "State of
the Union" program.
A lone suspect allegedly tried to ignite an explosive device on a Northwest Airlines flight from
Amsterdam, The Netherlands to Detroit, Michigan on Christmas Day.
The device apparently failed to detonate and the suspect was subdued.
Napolitano said the suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was on a broad security watch list that
contains "half a million" names and is shared with airlines and foreign security agencies. However, a
lack of specific evidence prevented him from being classified as a greater security risk that would bar
him from travel to the United States, she said.
"You need information that is specific and credible if you're going to bar people from air travel,"
Napolitano said.
Despite a possible tragedy, Napolitano said the response system worked as passengers and crew
avoided panic and subdued the suspect while authorities notified other flights in the air of the situation
and kept the air transport system operating.
"The whole process of making sure that we respond properly, correctly and effectively went very
smoothly," Napolitano said.
Security screening has been increased in the wake of the incident, with different procedures at different
airports to prevent predictability, Napolitano said.
"While we continue to investigate the source of this incident, the traveling public should be very
confident of what we're doing now," she said.
By clicking on the embedded video there were several more nuggets from our Secretary that bear
repeating:
"He was stopped before any damage was done."
"Everybody responded quickly."
"This is part of the criminal justice investigation."
"The air environment is safe."
"The system worked."
"We have no suggestion he was improperly screened."
There are three reasons the people of that Detroit bound Christmas day flight from Amsterdam aren't
chunks of burned flesh strewn over the countryside. The first: the Grace of God. The second: the
explosive device detonator misfired (see reason #1). Third: the passengers reacted to stop the terrorist.
That's it. The entire Transportation Safety Administration and Homeland Security were shown to be
abject failures and wholly incapable of stopping the attempted murder of two hundred and seventy
eight people, and possibly more people on the ground, who would have been killed by the falling debris.
"Right now we have no indication that it is part of anything larger," You would think that the
Director of Homeland Security had access to the Internet. If she had, she might know that Umar had
spent months in Yemen training. She might know the bomb was a sophisticated device made by
al-Qaida bomb makers and that this was a deliberate terrorist act by the very folks that brought us
9/11. She might know Umar's own father warned U.S. authorities about the danger his son posed. She
might have been tipped to the fact Umar was barred from flying in Britain.
Who is she lying to? We have access to the Internet and the disinformation put out is laughable when
you can fact check even before she is off the air, if you already don't have the facts researched
beforehand. We even have access to firsthand accounts by passengers who were on the flight. All this
at the click of the mouse and yet this clueless person is the one heading the security of our borders.
Missing from the directors vacuous platitudes about everything being fine- but a bit more inconvenient
at airports- is any mention of the "M" word. You know, Muslim. While the elderly grandma will now
have to show her panties to the minimum wage working TSA screener, the whole administration will
very carefully avoid singling out the twelve Imams lined up behind her with their Korans out and their
contempt for all things non-Muslim. In the press reports the indication this was a "M" is missing also.
The fact the father of this would be Jihadist warned American officials of his son's religious fanaticism
is being downplayed. "Right now we have no indication that it is part of anything larger," This
comes from the Director who declared the Southern Border secured and the trouble with immigration
over while Mexico devolves into a warring narco state. If you ignore a problem, maybe it will go
away. Or, if you ignore a problem, then you can pretend it never existed in the first place. "The air
environment is safe."
"This is part of the criminal justice investigation." sums up the attitude of the Democratic liberals
entrusted with our safety. John Kerry, eager to go to Iran to help their leadership retain control before
Democracy and freedom breaks out, described the whole liberal mentality to terrorism when he
compared it to prostitution; it is just something that we will have to learn to live with. No big deal. This
was the Clinton Administration response to the Cole bombing, the first attempt at the World Trade
Center, (Without this mentality the Jihadists wouldn't have been successful with their second attempt.
Liberals try to lay this on the Bush Administration, but they own it fully and forever.) the African
Embassy bombings, etc. That pre 9/11 mentality is back and in full effect. Christmas Day was the
result.
There are two ways of thinking about terrorism. If it is war by another means you go after the
opposition before it strikes and you get them first. You might even punch one in the gut if you are a
Navy Seal taking one down. If it is a criminal justice investigation you have to wait until the suspect
commits a crime (blowing up a plane in midair on Christmas for example.) and then you do an
investigation to see who to file an indictment on. If the suspect is also dead, well, then case closed. If
the suspect isn't dead, well did you Mirandize them? Treat them humanely? Will they get a fair trial? If
the Navy Seal roughed you up on the battle field would you like to file a complaint against them?
Would you like to fill out a customer survey about your treatment? Can we get you a pillow?
But, let's engage in a little alternate reality for a moment. What if Umar had succeeded and the airplane
had detonated in the air raining burning debris down on those below? What would the story line be
from the Liberals in charge? First, while there would be wild speculation on all the news programs of
terrorism, the first line response from officials would be it was too early to tell. Debris would be
gathered. Safety records would be inspected. Time would pass as they hoped the furor subsided and
the American people went back to sleep. Efforts would be to blame an electrical system or fuel tank.
Maybe, pilot error. Anything but the fact a terrorist was successful in blowing up a planeload of
Americans on Christmas, over Detroit, on Obama's watch. This attack would be hard to pin on Bush,
although they would try. Having Americans killed is one thing, having responsibility for it is quite
another. Evidence would be 'lost.' Interviews deleted. Videotape disappear. If anyone objected they
would be smeared as kooks and conspiracy theorists. Then the whole thing can be written off and
ascribed to "right wing" paranoia.
Or, did you think they would own up to the fact a Muslim terrorist succeeded in killing Americans in
America? Or that the politically correct method of pretending this isn't a war of fundamental Islam on
all things not fundamental Islam is suicide? Like that would ever happen. What it does do, is make
you wonder if this wouldn't be history repeating itself. What did happen to Flight 800 over the
Atlantic? What statements disappeared? What evidence went down the memory hole with traces of
high explosives on fabric? What happened in Oklahoma City to the security video tapes and John Doe
Number Two? What was Terry Nichols connection in the trip to the Philippines and Ramzi Yousef in
1994? Today's appearance on CNN of Homeland Security Director Janet Napolitano brings up the
tried and true Democratic method of dealing with "man-made disasters." Pretend. Deny. Avoid
addressing the issue. Place the blame on others. If it worked all through the nineties, maybe it will
work now too.
Hats off to the passengers and crew of Flight 253. They were quick. That is why they weren't dead.
They were also lucky. The politically correct people in charge of security didn't protect them. From
the appearance on CNN future travelers must also be quick. They are on their own. The Department
of Homeland Security will be too busy making sure they aren't profiling Muslim fundamentalists intent
on Jihad and pretending there isn't any war on Islamic terrorism. Well, to be fair there isn't any war on
Islamic terrorism.
There is a war by Islamic terrorists on us.