The current attempt is reminiscent of al-Qaeda’s two previous attempts through its offshore attacks program to blow up passenger planes

Is Terrorism Returning to the United States?

Wednesday, December 30, 2009
by Yoram Schweitzer

The attempted attack on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 (December 25, 2009) by a would-be suicide bomber is a rude reminder of the trend that has been emerging for some time, and is evidence of renewed efforts on the part of al-Qaeda and its affiliates to attack the United States on its own soil and US allies around the globe.

The current attempt is reminiscent of al-Qaeda’s two previous attempts through its offshore attacks program to blow up passenger planes belonging to American airlines. At the end of 2001, not long after 9/11, al-Qaeda sent out two operatives with shoes hollowed out and filled with explosives. One, Richard Colwin Reed (“the shoe bomberâ€