As you all know by now, a nigerian man, a 23 years old man, who said he was an agent for al-Qaida tried to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane Friday as it was preparing to land in Detroit, but travelers who smelled smoke and heard what sounded like firecrackers rushed to subdue him.
The White House said it believed it was an attempted act of terrorism and stricter security measures were quickly imposed on airline travel. It did not specify what those were.
According to the Associated Press, Flight 253 with 278 passengers and 11 crew members aboard was about 20 minutes from the airport when passengers heard popping noises, witnesses said. At least one person climbed over others and jumped on the man. Shortly afterward, the suspect was taken to the front of the plane with his pants cut off and his legs burned.
Law enforcement officials identified the suspect in Friday's attempted attack as Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab. One law enforcement official said the man claimed to have been instructed by al-Qaida to detonate the plane over U.S. soil. All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing.
The man was being questioned Friday evening. An intelligence official said the Nigerian passenger was being held and treated in an Ann Arbor, Mich., hospital. One passenger was taken to the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, hospital spokeswoman Tracy Justice said. She referred all inquiries to the FBI.
As you would expect, guess who on the House Homeland Security Commitee jumped on the occasion to show his face ? Who else ? Representant Peter King (R-NY), of course. You would think that he would keep his mouth shut til the investigation is done. But he was already calling CNN to share some sensitive security briefings with the media. Flight 253 began in Nigeria and went through Amsterdam en route to Detroit, said Rep. Peter King.
Peter Hoekstra, for his part, used the occasion to blast the Obama administration for closing GITMO. I don't want to sound boaster, but Obama kept safe longer than Bush did in his first term. I love how Teabaggers are screaming on Twitter that Obama is weak on security because of this Failed Terror Attack and Fort Hood Rampage. Are you kidding me ?
Where those fools are living ? Just last week, the US bombed Yemen and killed a dozen of Al Qaeda operatives, but yet We didn't hear GOPers talking about Obama's "War on Terror".