Tuesday, December 29, 2009

"Terror's Little Helpers": Ralph Peters on the "Knickers Bomber."

Blindness to Islam ties helps terrorists

by Ralph Peters

December 29, 2009

On Christmas Day, an Islamist fanatic tried to blow up an airplane whose passengers were mostly Christians. And we helped.

Our government gets no thanks for preventing a tragedy. Only the bomber's ineptitude preserved the lives of nearly 300 innocents.

How did we help Umar Abdulmutallab, a wealthy Muslim university graduate who decided that Allah wanted him to slaughter Christians on their most joyous holiday?

By continuing to lie to ourselves. Although willing -- at last -- to briefly use the word "terror," yesterday President Obama still refused to make a connection between the action, the date and Islam.

Was it just a ticketing accident that led to a bombing attempt on Christmas? Was it all about blackout dates and frequent-flyer miles?

It wasn't. You know it. And I know it. But our government refuses to know it. Despite vast databases crammed with evidence, our leaders -- of both parties -- still refuse to connect Islamist terrorism with Islam.

Our insistence that "Islam's a religion of peace" would have been cold comfort to the family members of those passengers had the bomb detonated as planned.

Abdulmutallab's own father warned our diplomats that his son had been infected by Islamist extremism. Our diplomats did nothing. Why? Because (despite a series of embassy bombings) the State Department dreads linking terrorism to Islam.

Contrast our political correctness with Abdulmutallab's choice of Christmas for his intended massacre. Our troops stand down on Muslim holidays. A captive terrorist merely has to claim that a soldier dog-eared a Koran, and it's courts-martial all around.

We proclaim that the terrorists "don't represent Islam." OK, whom do they represent? The Franciscans? We don't get to decide what's Islam and what isn't. Muslims do. And far too many of them approve of violent jihad.

It gets worse. Instead of focusing on the religious zeal and inspiration of our enemies and how such motivations change the game, our "terrorism experts" agonize over whether such beasts as Abdulmutallab or Maj. Hasan, the Fort Hood assassin for Allah, are really members of al Qaeda or not.

As a Sunday Post editorial pointed out, al Qaeda's far more than a formal organization; it's an idea, a cause. If a terrorist says he's al Qaeda, he is, even if he doesn't have a union card from Jihadi Local 632.

We're dealing with a global Muslim movement, not a Masons' lodge.

And that "global" aspect is especially worrying. Despite limited Special Operations strikes beyond our recognized combat zones, we still don't accept the nature of the threat from jet-set jihadis. Our leaders and our military are obsessed with holding ground in Afghanistan -- even though al Qaeda's growth areas are in Yemen and Africa.

We voluntarily tie ourselves down, while our enemies focus on mobility. Worse, we've convinced ourselves that development aid (the left's all-purpose medicine) is the key to defeating al Qaeda.

That's utter nonsense. Abdulmutallab's a rich kid. He didn't come from a deprived background, bearing the grievances of the slum. He's a graduate of a top English university. And Osama bin Laden's from a super-rich family. How does building a footbridge in Afghanistan deter them?

Most of our home-grown Islamist terrorists hail from middle-class families -- such monsters as Maj. Hasan or the Virginia virgin-chasers under arrest in Pakistan (where jail conditions are a lot worse than at Guantanamo -- can't we just leave 'em there?).

This isn't a revolt of the wretched of the earth. These terrorists are the Muslim-fanatic versions of Bill Ayers and the Weathermen, pampered kids unhappy with the world. Al Qaeda's big guns are re- belling against privilege. There's a lot of Freud in this fundamentalism.

Spoiled brats remade their god in their own vengeful image. And we have to kill them. This one really is a zero-sum game.

We're not just fighting men but a plague of faith. Until Washington accepts that, we'll continue to reap a low return on our investments of blood and treasure.

On Christmas Day, a Muslim fanatic attempted to butcher hundreds of Christians (dead Jews would've been a bonus). Our response? Have airport security analyze the contents of grandma's mini-bottle of shampoo -- we don't want to "discriminate."

With our lies, self-deception and self-flagellation, we're terror's little helpers.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/lying_to_ourselves_sjQTP9OuIQIrjE0oaYch2K#ixzz0b5cAy24U

17 comments:

shiloh1862 said...

I hate to say it but I have this feeling the attempt was not just this kid....in other words, I suspect a flase flag operation here.

From the Detroit Free Press:

Kurt Haskell said he and his wife, Lori, were playing cards near the boarding gate in Amsterdam when he saw a well-dressed man who appeared to be of Indian descent come to the assistance of the man he later learned was Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. The 23-year-old Nigerian was having trouble boarding the plane he is accused of trying to blow up because he had no passport, Haskell said.

"I think what I saw was his handler ... getting him on the plane," said Haskell, who was returning from a safari in Uganda.

The Indian man, who looked about 50 years old, told ticket agents Abdulmutallab did not have a passport but needed to get on the plane, the Haskells said.

The ticket agent told the man nobody was allowed to board without a passport, to which the well-dressed man replied: "We do this all the time; he's from Sudan," Lori Haskell said, adding she and her husband believe the man was trying to pass Abdulmutallab off as a Sudanese refugee.

The two were then directed down a corridor to talk to a manager, she said.....

Travel path questionable

Edward Hasbrouck, author of the travel book series "The Practical Nomad" and an expert on international travel, said something about the story does not add up.

If Abdulmutallab did not have the proper travel documents, it is not clear how he got from Lagos, Nigeria, to the Netherlands, because someone from KLM, as well as government officials, would have checked his documents, Hasbrouck said.

In-transit passengers in Amsterdam are subjected to searches of their carry-on bags and pat-downs and sometimes, but not always document checks, he said. If Abdulmutallab's travel documents became an issue in Amsterdam, airline officials would have a strong incentive not to let him board because they would be charged with the costs of detainment and deportation, plus administrative fines, if he was refused entry to the United States, he said.

http://www.detnews.com/article/20091229/METRO01/912290365/1409/Flight-253-passengers-believe-others-involved-in-plot


Pickdog
III

parabarbarian said...

If a faith-based fruitcake with a bit of explosive in his sneaker excuses the TSA’s foot-fetish, imagine what Leviathan can accomplish in the wake of the Panty Bomber. It's a near certainly fliers are going to get virtual strip-searches with millimeter-wave scanning and there are persistent rumors the TSA now wants to do away with carry on luggage.

Once the terrorists figure out how to hide explosives in the parts being "obscured" in the images or in body cavities, fliers can expect even more friendly inspections. Given enough time, the safety worshippers will have Americans stripping down, bending over for cavity searches and boarding the plane wearing only government provided disposable loincloths and, maybe, halters for the women.

Anonymous said...

I bet the poor father is getting sick of guys in the street patting him on the back congratulating him on his actions

Anonymous said...

Before y'all jump off the deep end without your water wings, consider Justin's words in the following link. Seems we haven't heard the rest of the story.

http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2009/12/27/the-lap-bomber-mystery/

RLJ said...

Are you absolutely certain Islam sponsored the groin grenadier? We have yet to receive the white paper promised by Colin Powell showing proof that Islam was behind the 9-11 incident.

As a Christian, I have no sympathy for Islam. But considering Christendom's behavior towards the middle east for the last 80 years, Islam must be either incompetent beyond description, or composed of much better people that we for their lack of retaliation.

dakotas5 said...

TSA's new security plan. Boxers or Briefs?

Anonymous said...

"considering Christendom's behavior towards the middle east for the last 80 years"...
another brainwashed victim of revisionist history; self-loathing combined with cowardice always provide perfect apologists for the workers of evil.
julian

Anonymous said...

I'd been abroad for a good while when 9/11 took place. Flying back home a couple months after the event, what a brave new world it was -- National Guard in camo with rifles, long lines, taking one's shoes off, I was not impressed.

But the thing that got me were the spot-checks, where some hapless passengers would be selected for an exhaustive picking apart of their belongings in a separate room. And what a freaking farce that was.

Before my cross-country flight, I saw a little old Midwestern granny get selected for this from our passenger roster, and she was molested for a half hour while we all waited at the gate at La Guardia. On the other hand, guys that looked like Mohammed's own cousins were untouched. Madness.

On the other hand, "never let a serious crisis to go waste." I've always held that a successful attack would only strengthen the propaganda hand of the police state, and that the "security measures" are merely a show, useless for improving security (perhaps deliberately so) but quite helpful for acclimatizing the whole nation to Gestapo-like treatment. Wait in line, "Papieren, bitte!", strip searched by scanners.

In sum, it surprises me not a bit that PC trumps actual security considerations. PC is an important part of the dogma. Successful attacks only drive sheeple into the arms of the state. What's not to love?

-S
III

Anonymous said...

That's utter nonsense. Abdulmutallab's a rich kid. He didn't come from a deprived background, bearing the grievances of the slum. He's a graduate of a top English university. And Osama bin Laden's from a super-rich family. How does building a footbridge in Afghanistan deter them?

Given the state of Western higher education nowadays, that he's a graduate is evidence of an affirmative rather than exculpatory nature.

Chuck Martel said...

What would Pope Urban the Second do?

aughtsix said...

RLJ sez:

"Are you absolutely certain Islam sponsored the groin grenadier? We have yet to receive the white paper promised by Colin Powell showing proof that Islam was behind the 9-11 incident."

That is one of the biggest conflationary leaps I've seen lately. Misdirection and irrelevance at its worst.

First, Islam, a "religion" or belief system, is incapable of sponsoring anything. Its adherents are, carrying out what they believe to be the directives of its teachings. But, yeah, I'm pretty sure Muslims are behind such acts.

And second, since when is Colin Powell the final arbiter of anything? And what has his failure to deliver said white paper got to do with this incident in particular? Don't even bother.

Then there's this:

"Islam must be either incompetent beyond description,"

On the one hand, Yep! and on the other hand a very dangerous assumption that the left and other ignorati seem bent on pursuing, and...


"... or composed of much better people that we for their lack of retaliation."

Need I really list the attacks and the numbers of the dead perpetrated by M.U.S.L.I.M.S.in non Muslim countries over the last thirty years, not to mention their aggressions towards each other? If we are not better people than they, why did we not use all the power at our disposal on 9/12?

Some people are so intent on blaming America for all the world's ills, finding US Govt. conspiracy behind every event, that they use even the barbarians as "victims" of, what? The Great Satan???

If all the elite power structures were actually as allpowerful, devious and successful as you seem to think they are, they would have reduced us to abject slavery long ago.

The very fact of this discussion would suggest otherwise.

Before you go off on me, I am fully aware of the internal danger we face. I know that the fedgov is corrupt beyond election. I know there is a fight coming. But you had better not forget that we have foreign enemies as well, who will delight in our internal struggle and seek advantage and our destruction the meanwhile.

Oh! the Hegemonic West! Oh! the poor victimized Muslims!

Spare me. Read the Quran. Learn what your choices are in their eyes.

Anonymous said...

Our government gets no thanks for preventing a tragedy. Government: WILLFUL IGNORANCE

Anonymous said...

...just another bit of fear used to induce a population into submission. What else would a tyrannical regime have you do? Its too bad that good and well meaning Americans have fallen so far for the fear mongering. Our founders warned us about the fearful "hobgoblin" from other shores that would be used to steal our rights and freedoms away. But yet, Oath taking LEO after Oath taking LEO, and Oath taking soldier after Oath taking soldier continue with the acceptance and thought that we MUST relinquish some of our rights for security.

Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Ben Franklin

Wake up good soldier, Wake up good LEO. Stand with us!

rexxhead said...

I suggested recently that, left to their own devices, the Muslim East would quickly devolve to their natural state -- roughly speaking in our terms: a 12th-century culture and technology.

Why don't we simply ABANDON them? It is, after all, what they say they want.

Happy D said...

So long as we allow the Bill Ayers types to wander the streets freely instead of facing the appropriate punishment. Treason/crimes against humanity trials followed by hemp neck tie.
Can we be surprised by foreign elitist trash giving it a try?




RLJ Islam has waged a war of religious oppression against other faiths since the year 629 Battle of Khaybar. Don't believe me look it up for your self.

The first U.S. encounter with what I will call the slaver faction of Islam during the Barbary Wars was enlightening. The oppressor philosophy of these Islamic 'victims' was read into the Congressional record. Don't believe me look it up for your self.

So please spare me the poor Muslim victims line. It does not bear even a light examination of the historical record.

Christian Ethiopia was the first nation to shelter the early followers of Prophet Muhammad.
So skip the Christian oppression half truth. I know more of the story than that.
But if you do not believe me look it up for your self.

If the other religions treated Islam as it has treated the others.
The Sikhs, Catholics, Hindus, Orthodox Christians to name a few would have slaved, tortured, and exterminated Islam a century or more ago.

Anonymous said...

The best part of this TSA fiasco happed for me a couple of years ago. My elderly (mid 80's) parents were on a trip from the West Coast to the East Coast and were both picked up by the TSA boys and girls for deeper scrutiny). BOTH my folks are Colonels (retired). They were pulled out of line three people back from a couple of middle eastern men who were acting a bit obtuse and whispering. When asked about them, the TSA guy explained to me that my parents were being pulled instead of them because they didn't want to be profiling. PROFILING? I am a conservative, married, hetero, christian ex-military man, and haven't flown since 9/11 because I figure by the TSA's logic I'm going straight to good old cavitysearchville! If I do fly now, it will be shoeless, no carry-on, commando, I guess. The new rule about not leaving your seat for an hour before landing should be a joy. Will I need to raise my hand before I use the bathroom? Will I be escorted and have to show them the bowl? I'd rather drive for three days, thank you!

Happy D said...

rexxhead I think you are on to something.