To the surprise of exactly no one outside of MoveOn.org’s contact list, American intelligence agencies are now discrediting the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate that claimed Iran halted its nuclear program in 2003.

The report, the real purpose of which was to make the Bush Administration look foolish and hold off any action until after the 2008 election, also claimed that the Iranian nuke program hadn’t been restarted in the four years since.

U.S. intelligence agencies are quietly revising their widely disputed assertion that Iran has no active program to design or build a nuclear bomb. Three U.S. and two foreign counterproliferation officials tell NEWSWEEK that, as soon as next month, the intel agencies are expected to complete an “update” to their controversial 2007 National Intelligence Estimate, which concluded that Tehran “halted its nuclear weapons program” in 2003 and “had not restarted” it as of mid-2007.

The NIE was out of place in the international intelligence community even back in 2007. Intelligence services for Britain, Germany, and Israel continued — and still continue — to assert that Iran has continually pursued nuclear weapons. This update will supposedly bring the inaccurate 2007 NIE inline with international reports.

It’s just sad that it took 3 years and a presidential election before this report was discredited. Democrats bashed George Bush over the head with this NIE, insisting it proved he was incorrectly pursuing a tough strategy against a country that hadn’t been pursuing nuclear weapons for years. Supposedly this proved he was trying to get us into another Iraq.

But as the record will soon officially state, Iran never stopped its pursuit of nuclear weapons. George Bush and the hawkish Republicans were correct. The anti-war liberals and their allies were wrong. Iran is on course to become a nuclear power and the Islamic Republic’s pursuit was not interrupted in 2003 or at any point since.

Search engine giant Google has been caught censoring its results to protect Islam from criticism and mockery, even while other religions have uncensored results.

You see, Google has a suggestion function that, low and behold, suggests search phrases as you type. Go ahead, just open the homepage in another tab. Now begin typing “Christianity is” and here’s what the list suggests:

• Christianity is bullshit
• Christianity is not a religion
• Christianity Judaism Islam
• Christianity is a lie
• Christianity is false

and many more suggestions along those lines. It provides the results based on commonly-entered phrases beginning with the text you’ve already entered. You’ll find similar results for religions such as Buddhism.

Now go back to the homepage and enter “Islam is”. You got nothing, right? Therein lies the problem. Not only are you not getting negative results for Islam, you’re not getting any suggestions whatsoever. Google has censored its suggestions for Islam, removing the majority-negative list that shows up for other religions.

Google claims it’s all the result of a software issue. It’s apparently just a coincidence that other religions get negative suggestions while Islam, known for worldwide violence in response to criticism or offense, gets no suggestions for the same phrase on Google.

The problem with that excuse? It came on January 7th — 4 days ago. The problem, however, still persists. You’re telling a software issue involving one search phrase can’t be resolved by Google in the span of four days? Even while Google moved swiftly to remove images offensive to Michelle Obama from its search results? Please.

Google is known for its liberal activism and associates. Al Gore is a senior adviser to the search giant. Its philanthropy wing focuses on climate change, hybrid vehicle development, and public health. YouTube, which is owned by Google, has been criticized for hosting Islamic extremist videos in the past, including those advocating terrorism against the United States.

The search results have been censored. If the “software issue” ever ends up being fixed, it’ll be because Google was caught in the act.

Pictured: Rupert Hamer

British journalist Rupert Hamer, who writes for the Daily Mirror, and a yet-unnamed United States Marine have been killed by an improvised explosive device in Helmand province in Afghanistan. An Afghan soldier also lost his life in the attack.

Update: They were traveling in a vehicle near Nawa, Helmand at the time of the attack. A photojournalist for the same publication, Philip Coburn, is in serious but stable condition. Four other U.S. Marines were seriously wounded.

Hamer has served as defense correspondent for the Daily Mirror since 2004, traveling to the world’s most dangerous corners in pursuit of the story.

He becomes the 20th journalist to be killed in Afghanistan since September 11, 2001.

Statement: The parent company of the Daily Mirror has released a statement. Understandably, it’s a long one:

Two Sunday Mirror journalists involved in an incident in Afghanistan
January 10, 2010

It is with great sadness that we have to announce that two Sunday Mirror journalists were involved in an incident in Afghanistan on Saturday morning.

The paper’s defence correspondent Rupert Hamer, 39, was killed. Photographer Phil Coburn, 43, was seriously injured.

The incident occurred while the pair were on patrol with US Marine Corps north west of NAWA. The vehicle they were travelling was hit by an IED. They had flown to the region on New Year’s Eve and were embedded with the American military. The trip was to have lasted for a month.

Rupert was married to Helen with three children aged 6, 5 and 19 months. He had been a Sunday Mirror journalist for 12 years and had regularly reported from Afghanistan and Iraq during the ongoing conflict.

Phil, 43, has been with the paper for eight years and worked with Rupert in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is a highly respected photo journalist who has produced brilliant work for the paper from all over the world including Rwanda and Hurricane Katrina.

Everyone at the Sunday Mirror and Mirror Group sends their deepest sympathies to Rupert’s wife, his father Nick and family.

And we wish Phil a speedy recovery and send our warmest wishes to his family.

Sunday Mirror Editor Tina Weaver said: “Rupert believed that the only place to report a war was from the front line, and as our defence correspondent he wanted to be embedded with the US marines at the start of their vital surge into Southern Afghanistan.

He left on New Year’s Eve with photographer Phil Coburn, determined to be there from the start.

He was a seasoned, highly-regarded and brave journalist who had reported from both Iraq and Afghanistan on many occasions. It was his fifth trip to Afghanistan, and he had forged friendships with a number of the soldiers serving out there.

One of his last acts was to organise a special Christmas newspaper produced solely for the troops packed with messages from loved ones which was flown out by the RAF three weeks ago.

He was a fine, fearless, and skilled writer who joined the paper 12 years ago. Affectionately known as Corporal Hamer in the office, he was a gregarious figure, a wonderful friend who was hugely popular with his colleagues.

Above all he was devoted to his wife Helen and their three young children. Our thoughts and condolences are with Helen, his father Nick, who he was so close to, and the children he was so proud of.”

“Phil is a veteran of conflicts in Iraq, Rwanda and Afghanistan who has been with the Sunday Mirror for eight years.

He is a consummate all round journalist and brilliant photographer whose pictures grace any newspaper.

He and Rupert made a dedicated team, working together around the world, sacrificing personal comfort countless times to record the reality of wars.

We wish Phil a speedy recovery and send our warmest wishes to his partner and family.”

My condolences to Mr. Hamer’s wife, children, family, and friends.

Dr. James Jay Carafano of the Heritage Foundation has a presidential to-do list for fixing airline security and, subsequently, stopping terrorists from boarding planes bound for the United States.

As Carafano says, relying on TSA screeners to act as the Maginot Line simply isn’t going to work. If we want to truly fix the major problem of airline security, we need to act to thwart terrorists before they even arrive at the airport.

I’ll post the headings of his six solutions, but you’ll need to head over from the first link to get all the details.

1. Improve Visa Security Coordination Between the Departments of State and Homeland Security.
2. Put More Air Marshals in the Skies and in Airports.
3. Move the “Secure Flight” Program Faster.
4. Step Up the Implementation of Real ID.
5. Expand the Visa Waiver Program.
6. End the 100 Percent Visa Interview Requirement.

All great suggestions, and — with the exception of the fifth one — all common sense. Hopefully the Obama Administration will take the to-do list into consideration. But I’m not holding my breath.

Why is Hamilton’s statement significant? Because he’s no Karl Rove or Newt Gingrich. Lee Hamilton is a former Democratic member of the House of Representatives, co-chair of the 9/11 Commission, and former chair of the U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Oh, and he endorsed Barack Obama for president back in 2008.

So when a guy like him says a Democratic president is too complacent when it comes to protecting America from terrorism, the Democratic president is too complacent when it comes to protecting America from terrorism. He’s not out for political points or a bloody nose for Obama. He’s speaking as a concerned American with top credentials on intelligence and terrorism.

“I just think what’s pervasive through the country, and has been now for a number of years, is the complacency, an inertia, a business-as-usual attitude … that I think is harmful,” former 9/11 Commission Vice Chair Lee Hamilton told ABC News. This, he says, includes the entire political leadership of the United States — President Obama, leaders of Congress and the “many, many people that have had a part in Homeland Security.”

“You can’t put all the responsibility on the president, but obviously he shares a major part of it,” said Hamilton, a former Democratic congressman. “His speech yesterday suggested he’s going to bear down on this, I hope that’s the case.”

Which is what many conservative and independent commentators have been saying since the speech. Obama’s rhetoric was all well and good, but lets see him actually act on his plans and assurances. He promised to cut the deficit, too. Under his leadership, the deficit has skyrocketed to $1.4 trillion. So his promises don’t necessarily translate into results.

In the name of getting more minorities to serve on the city’s police force, Chicago PD is seriously considering scrapping its entrance exam, NBC Chicago reports.

Dropping the exam would bolster minority hiring and avert legal battles, according to one source, while others confirm that the exam could be scrapped to open the process to as many people as possible.

However, the lack of an exam would make Chicago the lone major city without one, and experts contend that the exam is integral to eliminating unqualified applicants.

In other words, the city is willing to put the safety and security of its citizens in danger in order to make the police force more politically correct. It’s reminiscent of the federal government refusing to profile terror suspects because at some point we may offend an Arab or Muslim individual. So we’ll put the safety of our citizens at risk instead.

And as of last year, one in four patrol officers was African-American, but just one in 12 Lieutenants was of color.

Wait. 25% of patrol officers are black? Certainly it would be nice to have more minorities serving on the city’s force, but black officers alone making up 25% of the police department isn’t diverse enough to avoid scrapping an entrance exam? There’s something wrong there.

How bad of an idea is this? The president of the Fraternal Order of Police has called it “ridiculous” while Mayor Daley is denying any knowledge of the plan. Mayor Daley seemingly distancing himself? Dude.

CIA director Leon Panetta didn’t interrupt his vacation and return to Washington after learning of Northwest Airlines flight 253, CBS News reports. In fact, he didn’t even return to Washington after learning that seven of his agency’s employees were murdered by a double-agent in Afghanistan.

And to think some people questioned whether Panetta, with no intelligence or counter-terrorism experience, would be an effective CIA chief. To think.

A source told CBS News that Leon Panetta, director of the CIA, was on holiday in Monterey, Calif. when Abdulmutallab was apprehended, and didn’t return to CIA headquarters in Langley, Va. until the weekend following Jan. 1.

The CIA maintained that Panetta’s absence from Langley was not a problem. “While we don’t comment on the Director’s whereabouts, wherever he is—and at every moment of every day—he has the ability to communicate instantly and securely with anyone he needs to be in touch with,” a CIA spokesman said.

In addition, Stephen Kappes, CIA deputy director, reportedly didn’t see the need to return to CIA headquarters from his vacation despite the major intelligence community failure. He returned to Washington, D.C. just after the Khost bombing on Dec. 30 that killed seven CIA officers.

So let’s see.

We’ve got a Treasury Secretary who can’t pay his taxes and told AIG to hide information; a Homeland Security Secretary who had the balls to proclaim that “the system worked” immediately after a failed detonator stopped a terrorist from murdering nearly 300 innocent people over Detroit; a Deputy NSA who’s shocked by al-Qaeda’s commitment to terrorism; and now a CIA director who won’t interrupt his vacation after seven of his agents are killed by a double-agent.

Our national security’s in the very best of hands.

White House budget director Peter Orszag has a secret love child with the woman he dumped right before hooking up with his current fiance, the New York Post has learned.

Claire Milonas, shipping heiress and his ex-girlfriend, gave birth to Tatiana Zoe on November 17th, 2009. That was about six weeks before Orszag hooked up with Bianna Golodryga of ABC News.

Orszag and Milonas, the daughter of New York-based Greek shipping magnate Spiros Milonas, were a serious item when he met the stunning Golodgryga at the White House correspondents’ dinner.

‘‘Claire told Peter she was pregnant, and he said he’d marry her — and then something went wrong,’’ a source close to the situation told The Post.

‘‘Orszag knocked up (Claire) and now is dumping her to marry Bianna,’’ another insider said.

Orszag has now admitted that the child is his own, making the announcement in a joint statement with Milonas.

“We were in a committed relationship until the spring of 2009. In November, Claire gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Although we are no longer together, we are both thrilled she is happy and healthy, and we would hope that everyone will respect her privacy.”

Which means Orszag dumped Milonas when she was three months pregnant with his baby. Classy.

Hey, here’s a fun little story out of Detroit, where a Nigerian Muslim recently attempted to kill nearly 300 innocent people aboard a Northwest flight.

Nine juniors are set to graduate high school in 2011, so they figured wearing a sweatshirt depicting thousands of Americans being brutally murdered would be appropriate. Click the first link to see a picture of the shirt.

The hoodies that got at least 9 Detroit-area juniors in hot water depict the students’ graduation year — ‘11 — in a style similar to the Twin Towers with the school’s “Thunderbird” mascot flying toward them. Below the image are the words “You can’t bring us down.”

The Dearborn school system confiscated the offensive shirts, which I’m sure will end with members of the majority-Arab Edsel Ford High School suing for First Amendment violations. And then there’s this:

The students, who have met with school officials but are not expected to face suspension, maintained the shirts were simply meant to convey school pride.

This school’s “pride” includes depictions of thousands of Americans being murdered by Islamic terrorists? I think that says more about the school than those nine students.

Somehow, I’m okay discriminating against countries spawning jihadists by the dozen.

“It is unfair to include Nigeria on the US list for tighter screening because Nigerians do not have terrorist tendencies,” Akunyili told journalists.

“It is unfair to discriminate against over 150 million people because of the behaviour of one person,” said the minister…

“Abdulmutallab’s behaviour is not reflective of Nigerians and should therefore not be used as a yardstick to judge all Nigerians,” said Akunyili.

“He was not influenced in Nigeria. He was not recruited or trained in Nigeria. He was not supported whatsoever in Nigeria.”…

“Abdulmutallab was a well-behaved child, from a responsible family, who developed the ugly tendency to do what he tried to do because of his exposure outside the shores of Nigeria,” the minister said.

Other countries being discriminated against? Cuba, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and other countries known more for terrorism and dictatorial governments than anything else.

Oh, and fun fact: Nigeria, that innocent country with just one stray terrorist, has actually been under partial sharia (Islamic legal system) control for years. The situation is only worsening as elements push for stricter Islamic control. Boko Haram, an Islamic terror group, has cells in all 36 Nigerian states.

So my concern over discriminatory policies towards Nigeria is non-existent.

In yet another sign that Iraq has been stabilized and the war there is winding down, no American soldiers lost their lives in the country during the month of December. Iraqi death totals have also decreased to the lowest level since 2003. There’s no indication that the positive trend will stop.

There were those who said the war couldn’t be won, that there was no military solution. They said that we should’ve withdrawn our soldiers back in 2004, leaving the Iraqi people to their deaths or oppression under the insurgent forces and their backers. They said the war was lost, that the country couldn’t be stabilized.

They were wrong. The war has been won, the country has been stabilized, and democracy has been established. The people of Iraq will now live with freedom, as opposed to the brutal dictator they were suffering under less than seven years ago.

May God bless all of those whose lives were lost. The cost was higher than any of us wanted or predicted. But in the end, those who we lost didn’t die in vain. We stayed the course. And we won.

How ironic. Remember when the left crucified George W. Bush because his administration was warned of unspecific threats to the homeland from aircraft before 9/11? And, lacking telepathic abilities, he wasn’t able to prevent the attacks? Yeah….

Turns out that Barack Obama was told just days before Christmas that there was a significant threat of a holiday-era attacks on the United States. To be clear, that’s days before a faulty detonator became the only thing stopping an al-Qaeda operative from murdering 290 people over Detroit.

President Barack Obama received a high-level briefing only three days before Christmas about possible holiday-period terrorist threats against the US, Newsweek has learned. The briefing was centered on a written report, produced by US intelligence agencies, entitled “Key Homeland Threats”, a senior US official said.

The senior Administration official, who asked for anonymity when discussing sensitive information, said that nowhere in this document was there any mention of Yemen, whose Al-Qaeda affiliate is now believed to have been behind the unsuccessful Christmas Day attempt by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to bring down a transatlantic airliner with a bomb hidden in his underpants. However, the official declined to disclose any other information about the substance of the briefing, including what kind of specific warnings, if any, the President was given about possibly holiday attacks and whether Yemen came up during oral discussions.

No specific warning about Yemen in the report, but then again there was no specific warning about al-Qaeda operatives in the United States using commercial aircraft to take out the World Trade Center, either. That didn’t stop the left from gutting Bush.

Of course, I don’t intend to criticize Obama for this report alone. He couldn’t have been expected to stop the attack based solely on a threat report with no specifics.

Instead, this report should’ve been used in conjunction with the other information available to the U.S. government at the time. Like Abdulmuttalab’s father warning American authorities about his son. Or our knowledge of his past terror-related activities. Or any of the other warning signs that should’ve raised red flags.

Maybe next time we can enact such intense security measures as making sure those boarding U.S.-bound planes actually have passports and visas. And those with entry visas don’t have a history of terror-related activities.

The story surrounding Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab’s attempt to bring down Northwest Airlines flight 253 over Detroit just got a bit stranger.

According to a passenger aboard the flight, Mutallab approached the boarding gate in Amsterdam with an apparent friend and without a passport. Kurt Haskell of Michigan tells the story:

Haskell said he and his wife were sitting on the ground near their boarding gate in Amsterdam, which is when they saw Mutallab approach the gate with an unidentified man…

While Mutallab was poorly dressed, his friend was dressed in an expensive suit, Haskell said. He says the suited man asked ticket agents whether Mutallab could board without a passport. “The guy said, ‘He’s from Sudan and we do this all the time.’”

Mutallab is Nigerian. Haskell believes the man may have been trying to garner sympathy for Mutallab’s lack of documents by portraying him as a Sudanese refugee.

The ticket agent referred Mutallab and his companion to her manager down the hall, and Haskell didn’t see Mutallab again until after he allegedly tried to detonate an explosive on the plane.

If his story is accurate, and we have no reason to doubt that it is, there’s an even bigger question looming: Who was the well-dressed man and why was he interested in making sure Mutallab was able to board Flight 253?

I would say it’s not necessarily something major, but this is the first time in history that the Jewish state has made such a move. Is something on the horizon in Israel’s relationship with Iran? Whatever it is, it’s something out of the ordinary.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, headed by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Avigdor Liberman, will host a conference next week (27-31 December) for Israeli Heads of Missions. At the conference, Israel’s ambassadors and consuls general serving throughout the world will discuss broad diplomatic and strategic issues.

This is the first time a conference for all of Israel’s Heads of Missions has been held. The idea is to facilitate direct dialogue with the country’s leaders, mutual updates on major diplomatic issues, and a discussion of action plans to deal with the challenges awaiting the State of Israel in the international arena in the coming year, including the Iranian threat.

Israel is clearly getting impatient with the failure of the international community, including the Obama Administration, in getting Iran to halt its nuclear weapons program. And understandably so.

Israel is the biggest adversary of Iran, a state-sponsor of terrorism. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has publicly called for the total destruction of the Jewish state, and acquiring nuclear weapons would permit the psychopath and his powerful backers to achieve that goal.

For all of the talk about diplomacy and soft power from the Obama Administration and our European allies, nothing has actually been accomplished. Iran remains on the road to becoming a nuclear state. Don’t be surprised if we witness Israel unilaterlly taking steps to destroy the dream of leaders in Tehran.

The woman is either:

1. Too incompetent to understand “the system” failed miserably, or
2. Lying through her teeth

Either way, she shouldn’t be serving as Secretary of Homeland Security.

Anyone who believes (or simply says) that an international terrorist managing to smuggle high-explosives aboard a commercial aircraft, his attack only thwarted by a failed detonator and Dutch passenger, proves that “the system” works shouldn’t be in any position of power.

It’s time for Madame Secretary to resign.

Clearly. We had an individual known for his extremist ties, an individual on a terrorist watch list, given permission to board an international, U.S.-bound flight wearing explosive underwear. The only reason his terror attack failed was because of a faulty detonator and vigilant passengers. Oh, and his father happened to notify the federal government about his extremism last month.

But the airport security system? Works flawlessly.

DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said that the thwarting of the attempt to blow up the Amsterdam-Detroit flight this week demonstrated that “the system worked.”

The “thwarting”? His detonator failed, he and the plane caught on fire, and passengers began pummeling his ass. That’s the Obama Administration’s idea of an airline security system? Had his detonator not failed, had he not been too incompetent to build a functioning device, we’d be mourning the loss of 279 passengers and 11 crew members.

Asked by CNN’s Candy Crowley on “State of the Union” how that could be possible when the young Nigerian who sought to set off the bomb was able to smuggle explosive liquid onto the flight, Napolitano responded: “We’re asking the same questions.”

But clearly it wasn’t the system, because that sucker’s functioning great. No problems whatsoever. It must be the aircraft’s magic was depleted. Yeah. That’s the ticket.

Napolitano added that there was “no suggestion that [the bomber] was improperly screened.”

Yeah, no, the screening was flawless. That’s how a guy on a terrorist watch list, whose father notified U.S. authorities of his son’s extremism last month, managed to smuggle high explosives aboard a U.S.-bound flight.

Give this woman credit. It takes gnads the size of basketballs to assert the airline security system is functioning flawlessly two days after a major airline terrorist attack was only averted by a faulty detonator.

I’d say our airline security system deserves a good, solid B+.

We’re getting the first pictures of and background information regarding Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian national and apparent al-Qaeda operative who attempted to detonate an explosive aboard Northwest Airlines flight 253 on Christmas Day.

Abdulmutallab, who was born on December 22, 1986, is the son of prominent Nigerian banker Dr. Umaru Abdulmutallab.

Dr. Abdulmutallab, 70, recently retired as chairman of First Bank of Nigeria — one of the largest financial institutions in the country of its namesake. He also served as executive chairman of United Bank for Africa. He played a major role in the introduction of Islamic banking into Nigeria, and he currently serves as chairman of First Islamic Bank.

The younger Abdulmutallab, the suspect in yesterday’s attempted attack, was until recently an engineering student at University College London, an elite university based in the United Kingdom’s capital.

That wasn’t Abdulmutallab’s first foray into elite British educational institutions, either. He was previously educated at the British School of Lome, Togo. SarahaReporter.com reports he “passed his International Baccalaureates Diploma”.

The family comes from Katsina Township, home of Nigeria’s president (Umaru Musa Yar’adua).

The suspect Abdulmutallab reportedly lives in a multi-million dollar apartment in London. The apartment, belonging to an American company, was raided by government agents for the United Kingdom today.

He has been recently traveling to Yemen, where al-Qaeda has been gaining strength, and told his friends he wanted to study Arabic. He reportedly came to the decision after meeting radical Islamists in London.

The Charges

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Al Qaeda-linked man who attempted to detonate an explosive aboard Northwest Airlines flight 253 on Christmas Day, has been charged by the Justice Department with two counts of terror-related activity:

Willful attempt to destroy an aircraft within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States;

and

Willfully placing and causing to be placed a destructive device upon or in proximity to such aircraft.

The charges were filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan today, December 26th.

Complainant and Judge

The complainant is FBI Special Agent Theodore James Peiseg, as 12-year veteran of the bureau and member of the Counter-Terrorism Squad in Detroit.

The judge is the Honorable Paul D. Borman, appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1994.

More information from the criminal complaint:

Abdulmutallab was born on December 22, 1986, making him 23-years-old. As previously reported, he is a Nigerian national.

Abdulmutallab boarded flight 253 in Amsterdam on December 24, with the flight scheduled to arrive in Detroit on Decemeber 25th. The flight was carrying 279 passengers and 11 crew members.

Just before landing, the suspect — who had a device attached to his body — attempted to detonate said device. This resulted in a fire and apparent explosion. He is now being treated, reportedly, for burns.

According to passengers interviewed by the FBI, the suspect went to the aircraft’s bathroom shortly before landing. He stayed in the lavatory for approximately 20 minutes.

Upon returning to his seat, the suspect reported that his stomach was upset. He pulled a blanket over himself. At that point, passengers heard sounds similar to a firecracker and noticed Abdulmutallab’s leg and part of the aircraft’s wall on fire.

Several passengers and crew members subdued and restrained the suspect upon noticing his failed attempt to detonate the device. Blankets and fire extinguishers were used to extinguish the blaze. The plane quickly landed at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

Abdulmutallab reportedly told a stewardess that he had an “explosive device” in his pocket. One passenger noticed he had a syringe which was smoking. The passenger took the item, shook it to stop it from smoking, and threw it to the floor of the aircraft.

The device has been identified by the FBI as containing PETN, or pentaerythritol tetranitrate, a high explosive. The bureau is still conducting laboratory tests.

Upon landing, Abdulmutallab was taken into custody by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers. Requiring medical attention, the suspect was transported to the University of Michigan Medical Center.

All of the above information is taken from the criminal complaint.

A few thoughts after the report.

Federal officials and police are interviewing a man, believed to be Nigerian, who allegedly was trying to “explode” a powdery substance aboard a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, injuring himself and two other passengers, law enforcement officials said.

Northwest Airlines flight 253 landed safely in Detroit at 11:53 a.m. The man, whose flight started in Nigeria before stopping in Amsterdam, is in custody at the Detroit airport and being interviewed by authorities there. Investigators are trying to corroborate several statements he made to them and determine his mental stability.

Delta spokeswoman Susan Chana Elliott said that “as the plane was getting ready to land” in Detroit “a passenger caused a disturbance” by trying to ignite what was reported to be firecrackers. He was “subdued immediately.” Northwest is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Delta.

It is unclear how powerful the explosive could have been and what the man’s intentions were. Initial reports were that fireworks or firecrackers had gone off on the plane. The man suffered second-degree burns, which is consistent with a small fireworks device.

For starters, I’m glad to see that the man was quickly subdued, supposedly by passengers. Perhaps this indicates that not only Americans but international passengers aren’t willing to sit by as morons try to do harm to innocents.

Second, you have to question how the suspect passenger smuggled fireworks on board. I can’t even get a tube of toothpaste in my carry-on, but he’s packing Sky King inventory in the cabin. Are the security measures that relaxed in Nigeria and Amsterdam, even when the plane is bound for the United States? If so, that’s a major problem.

Finally, I doubt the suspect part of any major terror ring (eg. Al Qaeda or Hezbollah). He may be a member of a local group of thugs or he may simply have mental issues. But I don’t see an Al Qaeda operation relying on a single guy setting off fireworks in the cabin of an airliner.

Update: The guy sounds loony:

The man told investigators that he wanted to set off a bomb over the United States and claimed to be tied to al-Qaida, counterterrorism officials said.

It’s being treated as a possible attempted terrorist attack by law enforcement officials, which it may very well be. I’m still leaning towards nutjob jihadist-wannabe, but there may just be more to this story than currently meets the eye.

Update X2: CBS News Radio also quotes a senior U.S. intelligence official saying that the suspect intended to blow up the plane.

Nebraska is home to just one military installation, Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha. The base is home to US Strategic Command, which is responsible for missile defense, combating WMDs, gathering information, space operations, and much more. Clearly it’s an important installation for the United States.

But word comes today that Congressional Democrats are desperate enough to pass socialized healthcare that they’re threatening to close the base if Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE), a fiscal conservative, doesn’t bow to their will and support the legislation.

According to a Senate aide, the White House is now threatening to put Nebraska’s Offutt Air Force Base on the BRAC list if Nelson doesn’t fall into line.

Offutt Air Force Base employs some 10,000 military and federal employees in Southeastern Nebraska. As our source put it, this is a “naked effort by Rahm Emanuel and the White House to extort Nelson’s vote.” They are “threatening to close a base vital to national security for what?” asked the Senate staffer.

Indeed, Offutt is the headquarters for US Strategic Command, the successor to Strategic Air Command, and not by accident. STRATCOM was located in the middle of the country for strategic reasons. Its closure would be a massive blow to the economy of the state of Nebraska, but it would also be another example of this administration playing politics with our national security.

Even outside of the lost jobs and fall of the local economy that would result from the base closure, we’re talking about a significant loss for national security. Offutt is important enough that it was the location of President Bush’s first strategy meeting on September 11th. He flew there before going back to Washington. In fact, Bush was originally going to address the nation from the base.

And now Democrats are threatening to close the vital installation unless the state’s senator votes with them on socialized healthcare? And to think some people don’t consider Democrats serious enough when it comes to national security. Imagine.

Thanks to Hot Air.

As I said when the original reports came out, the dead terrorist in question was neither Osama Bin Laden nor Ayman Al-Zawahiri. It was likely that any big fish killed in the attack would be limited to third in command and down, though that wouldn’t be insignificant considering intelligence agencies believe the third in command is really running the show at this point.

As I also mentioned at the time, all of the reports thus far have been based on anonymous “U.S. officials” quoted by various news outlets. That’s not unusual, especially this closely after the initial reports, but let’s not get too excited until there’s some solid confirmation.

That being said…let’s hope…

(CBS) A U.S. government official says a top al Qaeda operative has been killed in a drone attack in western Pakistan, and local media says that the strike killed al Qaeda’s number 3 in command, Abu Yahya al-Libi.

The U.S. is still not confirming the report, CBS News has learned.

Abu Yahya al-Libi is the spiritual successor to Palestinian philosopher Abu Azzam – and the inspiration for much of Bin Laden’s beliefs, according to CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent Lara Logan. He is very powerful and believed by some to be the natural successor to Bin Laden.

al-Libi may’ve been blown to bits while hanging in his cave, but at least some SEALs didn’t allegedly give him a bloody lip. That could result in a court martial, you know.

Via HAH.

Two Navy SEALs have been brought in for court-martial after a barbaric terrorist, the one responsible for killing and mutilating American contractors before hanging their bodies from a bridge, accused the American heroes of punching him.

I’ve covered this case here before. Since then multiple members of Congress have called on Secretary Robert Gates to intervene in the case. You can sign the petition here asking the same. Just read the text and click the red “Sign the Petition” button. Affix your information to the bottom boxes of the page that pops up, then click the red button that reads “Add Your Name to the Petition”.

These are American heroes who captured one of the world’s most wanted, barbaric terrorists — a man who has murdered and mutilated our fellow citizens. And now they’re being punished for allegedly punching him in the midst of the capture.

Are we more concerned with the allegations of a murderous terrorist than standing up for the men and women fighting to defend our freedom overseas? Is America now more concerned with the comfort of our barbaric enemies than protecting our freedom and those who put their lives on the line in its defense?

The very fact that this case has come to this point is disturbing. Please don’t hesitate to sign the petition.

(Via Michelle Malkin.)

It’s actually a bit more complex of a situation than my title makes it sound. Maybe. Or not.

You see, Robert Gates is now an Obama Administration official and as such his job is to protect the current administration. Even if that means attacking the previous administration he served in, or at least bringing it down to the same level. So we’d have to assume he’s really telling the full truth and not covering butts.

President Barack Obama’s national security adviser, James Jones, said bin Laden, believed hiding mainly in a rugged area of western Pakistan, may be periodically slipping back into Afghanistan. But Obama’s Pentagon chief, Robert Gates, said the U.S. has lacked good intelligence on bin Laden for a long time — “I think it has been years” — and did not confirm that he’d slipped into Afghanistan.

He “think(s)” it has been years since good intelligence, but he doesn’t sound sure. Is that because he’s trying, without making a full commitment, to expand that time frame well into the Bush Administration? So that the Obama Administration’s own ineffectiveness seems less important?

Or is he telling the truth and it’s really been years since we’ve had good intelligence on Bin Laden and his movements?

I’m actually inclined to believe it’s the latter. I doubt we would’ve hesitated to make a low-key cross-border entry into Pakistan if we knew where Bin Laden was and could’ve grabbed him. Unfortunately, it seems more likely that our intelligence services just don’t know where the terror mastermind has been hiding.

Asked on CNN’s “State of the Union” whether the administration has reliable intelligence on bin Laden’s whereabouts, Jones replied, “The best estimate is that he is somewhere in North Waziristan, sometimes on the Pakistani side of the border, sometimes on the Afghan side of the border.” He did not comment on the intelligence behind that estimate, nor did he cite a time period or describe more specifically bin Laden’s apparent border crossings.

Assuming, yet again, he’s telling the truth and not covering butts or keeping national security information confidential, Jones doesn’t seem to have any more information on Bin Laden’s hideout than your average nightly news viewer. “He’s on one of the two sides of the border,” isn’t particularly definitive.

Gates told ABC’s “This Week” that “we don’t know for a fact where Osama bin Laden is,” although he agreed that his likely location is North Waziristan.

Again, not promising. North Waziristan is home to over 360,000 people and consists of about 2,924 square miles (if I remember correctly). And that would be assuming Bin Laden doesn’t move out of that area, which is extremely unlikely.

Bottom line: Not only have we not captured Bin Laden eight years later, but we only have a general idea as to where he lives on any given day. Pathetic.

Even as initial reports are still coming out about the market bombing in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, Reuters reports that dozens of militants have attacked a Pakistani army checkpoint in Wana, the main city in South Waziristan.

The wire service says dozens of Islamist militants attacked the checkpoint using rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47s, killing one soldier and wounding others. Six militants were killed when the government forces retaliated.

Is this the latest act of terrorism in the Russian Federation? We’ve had train bombings that left dozens dead, now there are explosions ripping through cafes (nightclubs?) leaving at least 15 dead. What’s going on?

MOSCOW, Dec 4 (Reuters) – A blast has ripped through a nightclub in the Russian city of Perm near the Ural mountains, killing 15 people and injuring 60, Russian agencies reported late on Friday, citing law enforcement agencies.

“The blast went off at 23:15 Moscow time (20:15 GMT),” RIA Novosti agency quoted the Emergencies Ministry as saying.

Perm has a population of 1.2 million and is the 6th largest city in Russia.

BBC News, meanwhile, reports that about 60 people are believed injured.

No word on responsibility — if any — as of yet, but Chechen rebels, more specifically the Caucasian Mujahideen, claimed they carried out the recent train bombing that left 26 innocent people dead. Is this latest explosion a mere accident, a copy-cat, or yet another attack by the Islamic terror group?

Update: BNO News quotes the local police as saying that the death toll now stands at 76.

Update X2: BBC News has now confirmed the 76 figure. The agency also reports that an estimated 200 people were in the club at the time.

Update X3: CNN now reports at least 100 people killed. At least 90 reported injured.

State-run media in Iran reports that the government in Tehran has approved a plan to build ten new nuclear enrichment facilities.

The announcement is in direct defiance of the international community, coming just two days after the IAEA voted to censure the Islamic Republic for failing to halt its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

TEHRAN, Iran – The Iranian government approved a plan Sunday to build 10 industrial scale uranium enrichment facilities, a dramatic expansion of the program in defiance of U.N. demands it halt enrichment…

Iran’s state news agency IRNA says the government ordered the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran to begin construction of five uranium enrichment sites that have already been studied and propose five other sites for future construction.

The decision was made during a Cabinet meeting headed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Sunday evening, IRNA said.

Barack Obama still believes, at least publicly, that he can get the listed state-sponsor of terrorism to willingly give up its pursuit of nuclear weapons through diplomacy. That despite the fact its government is driven by religious ideals that make the destruction of Israel, and infidels in general, the upmost goal in life on earth — something that would be greatly rewarded in the afterlife.

For some reason, I feel as if the Mullahs aren’t shaking in their sandals over the empty threats of more ineffective sanctions from the Obama Administration and United Nations.

By the way, Iran also approved $20 million in funding to anti-American and anti-west terrorist groups today. And this is a country the Obama Administration is apparently willing to allow to possess nuclear weapons if simple diplomatic efforts continue to fail. What a sad situation.

The IAEA is angry that Iran has refused to stop building nuclear weapons, so it’s really going to stick it to the Mullahs. Teach them a lesson they’ll never forget. But this is the United Nations, so that lesson will come in the form of a strongly-worded letter.

And to think some people don’t take the UN’s nuclear watchdog seriously any more.

One day after the director general of the United Nations nuclear watchdog castigated Iran for blocking inquiries into its nuclear program, the organization’s governing body added a further rebuke Friday, demanding that the country freeze operations “immediately” at a once-secret uranium enrichment plant.

In an overwhelming display of disapproval, the governing body also expressed “serious concern” about potential military aspects of Iran’s nuclear program.

The resolution censuring Iran was approved overwhelmingly by 25 votes to 3. It came after Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, declared in unusually blunt language on Thursday that Iran had stonewalled investigators about evidence that the country had worked on nuclear weapons design, and that his efforts to reveal the truth had “effectively reached a dead end.”

I’m sure Ayatollah Khamenei is shaking in his sandals. Maybe next week the IAEA will send Tehran a cease-and-desist order.

Hey, remember how those nutty conservatives were concerned that the 9/11 suspects will use a civilian trial as a stage to spread their nuttiness and inflict emotional harm on Americans? Yeah, turns out those nutty conservatives were right.

Defense lawyers have confirmed that their suspects will utilize the limelight to attack the United States’ foreign policy, even as the Obama Administration assures us that everything will be just fine and dandy.

The five men facing trial in the Sept. 11 attacks will plead not guilty so that they can air their criticisms of U.S. foreign policy, the lawyer for one of the defendants said Sunday.

Scott Fenstermaker, the lawyer for accused terrorist Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, said the men would not deny their role in the 2001 attacks but “would explain what happened and why they did it.”

The U.S. Justice Department announced earlier this month that Ali and four other men accused of murdering nearly 3,000 people in the deadliest terrorist attack in the U.S. will face a civilian federal trial just blocks from the site of the destroyed World Trade Center.

Ali, also known as Ammar al-Baluchi, is a nephew of professed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
Mohammed, Ali and the others will explain “their assessment of American foreign policy,” Fenstermaker said. “Their assessment is negative,” he said.

In other words, the Obama Administration effectively handed Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his terrorist cronies a microphone to blast their views about America to the world.

Rather than provide them a military trial where they’d receive a fair shake but not be able to preach jihad to six billion people, we gave them them the platform that is a civilian trial so they could take on the role of the Billy Grahams of terrorism.

And to think conservatives are skeptical about the Obama Administration’s decision on this matter. Silly people.

Via Hot Air.

This is a promise I’m glad he ended up breaking, of course, but it’s a broken promise nevertheless. And it’s just the latest in a seemingly endless series.

Apparently talking about closing the detention center during a campaign is easier than actually closing it. As they say, governing is hard to do.

President Obama acknowledged for the first time on Wednesday that his administration would miss a self-imposed deadline to close the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, by mid-January, admitting the difficulties of following through on one of his first pledges as president.

“Guantánamo, we had a specific deadline that was missed,” Mr. Obama said in an interview with NBC News in Beijing during his weeklong trip to Asia. Mr. Obama said that he now hoped to shut down the detention facility sometime next year, but he did not set a new deadline.

“We are on a path and a process where I would anticipate that Guantánamo will be closed next year,” Mr. Obama said in a separate interview with Fox News. “I’m not going to set an exact date because a lot of this is also going to depend on cooperation from Congress.”

The prospects for fully shutting down Guantánamo have been dimming for months as the administration stumbled over a litany of political and logistical tripwires. Gregory B. Craig, the White House counsel who drafted the order to close the facility, announced last week that he was stepping down. During the presidential campaign last year, Mr. Obama railed against the detention complex on an American military base in Cuba, calling it a symbol used by terrorists to recruit new members. Within days of his inauguration, he ordered Guantánamo closed by January.

He didn’t just rail against the detention center. He used its continued existence to bash John McCain and George Bush over the head as evil men holding terror suspects indefinitely on a military base in Cuba. It was a major centerpiece of his foreign and national security policy.

In the end, Obama discovered that few are interested in taking in murderous jihadists currently safely detained in a U.S. military detention facility. In other words, the college kid theorist got mugged by reality.

Not all Democrats are on board with the Obama Administration’s decision to treat murderous terrorists like your run-of-the-mill civil criminal. In fact, one powerful Senate Democrat is being vocal about his opposition to the disastrous plan.

Senator James Webb (D-WV) says that suspects believed responsible for killing 3,000 innocent Americans don’t belong on American soil and in American courtrooms. He believes, logically enough, that they’re war criminals and should be tried as such — not regular criminals.

I have never disputed the constitutional authority of the President to convene Article III courts in cases of international terrorism. However, I remain very concerned about the wisdom of doing so. Those who have committed acts of international terrorism are enemy combatants, just as certainly as the Japanese pilots who killed thousands of Americans at Pearl Harbor. It will be disruptive, costly, and potentially counterproductive to try them as criminals in our civilian courts.

The precedent set by this decision deserves careful scrutiny as we consider proper venues for trying those now held at Guantanamo who were apprehended outside of this country for acts that occurred outside of the country. And we must be especially careful with any decisions to bring onto American soil any of those prisoners who remain a threat to our country but whose cases have been adjudged as inappropriate for trial at all. They do not belong in our country, they do not belong in our courts, and they do not belong in our prisons.

I have consistently argued that military commissions, with the additional procedural rules added by Congress and enacted by President Obama, are the most appropriate venue for trying individuals adjudged to be enemy combatants.

The accused in this matter aren’t the same as ordinary criminals accused of trespassing or disrupting the peace. They’re war criminals accused of waging war against the United States and murdering its citizens. Webb is absolutely correct when he says they should be tried as such, by military commissions — not civil courts.

Unfortunately, the Obama Administration is too dedicated to being weak on national security and turning the war on terror into a criminal investigation to listen even to its own party. It will go ahead with treating enemy combatants like domestic trespassers rather than the war criminals they are.