Catastrophic Failure Bus
By John Batchelor on December 31, 2009 at 1:00 PM in Current Affairs
One or two of the GITMO detainees who were released to Saudi Arabia in 2007 are now reported to have assumed command authority of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula that likely launched the Abdulmutallab plot.
Also, news arrives and looks to be confirmed that some agents of the CIA discussed Abdulmutallab with his father, the Nigerian banker and former minister of state, on November 19, 2009. The details are spare.
POTUS seems to have hurried out a statement from his Hawaiian vacation address that the Obama administration believes there has been a “catastrophic failure” by intelligence organizations. We do not yet know if the CIA ascertained information was passed on to the NCTC (National Counter Terrorism Center, commanded by Dennis Blair); nor do we know if the NTCT connected this CIA report to the Visa office at State or to the NAtional Security Council (the White House). It looks as if the information stayed at the NCTC until after the December 25 attack.
We also do not know how the fact that Abdulmutullab was on the TIDE list of 550,000 names connected to the fact that he had been denied a UK Visa in May, 2009. The summary from my professionals this news cycle is that what we do not know of this case far outweighs what we do know. Late news is that Abdulmuttalab is a past president of the Islamic Society of the University College London (right, a lecture series organized by Abdulmutallab in January 2007). Three previous presidents are associated with terrorism. One is awaiting retrial on charges of trying to blow up airliners in 2006. Two others have been convicted of terrorism. More and more new coming.
The little rich kid has been busy, and now he is the biggest problem the Obama administration can imagine for the New Year.
This weekend, news reporting and Sunday shows, the first of the New Year, will be dominated by national security and the White House spin machine. John McCain and Lindsay Graham are calling for the GITMO closing order to be suspended and the GITMO detainees to be left in place. Peter King is demanding that Mutallab be tried in a military tribunal and not in Federal Court with laywers and Miranda rights.
The POTUS statement late in the news cycle is flimsy, defensive, alarming; it invites trouble, dissent, panic and a major congressional investigation led by Joe Lieberman. The White House messaging unit now goes to Defcon 3. The GOP has its best opportunity to penetrate the media screen since the August Tea Parties.
This is no longer a simple counter-terror tale of Al Q in action. This is major league American partisanship to start an election year in which the majority party on the Hill was already vulnerable on jobs and spending.
POTUS and his team will aim to spread the blame to the Bush administration. It will not work.
How many days has the White House had the CIA news? POTUS demands a report by Thursday 31 January. Happy New Year, Eric Holder and Leon Pinetta and Janet Napolitano. Resignations drafted?
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