Thread: Terrorist had US Visa ???

I think I just heard on Fox News that the terror suspsect from the plane in Detroit had a valid US visa even though he was in the terrorism databases and his own father had reported him recently to Homeland Security.

Can some of you help me track down and verify the details on what I think I just heard?

We need to know if the Bush or Obama administrations gave this guy a visa.

W

Father of terrorism suspect had reported him to US authorities
December 27, 2009 - 1:12PM


The man suspected of trying to blow up a US plane on Christmas Day is a London-educated Nigerian whose father, a wealthy banker, voiced concern about his son's radicalism months ago, reports say.

The man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, was subdued by fellow passengers and crew aboard a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam on Friday when he tried to detonate a device as the plane descended toward Detroit.

While there has yet to be confirmation of the suspect's links to extremist groups such as Al-Qaeda, Nigerian newspaper This Day reported on Saturday that Abdulmutallab's father, Umaru Mutallab, had grown so distraught over his son's religious extremism that he contacted US authorities about it in mid-2009.

Citing family sources, This Day said Mutallab reported his son's activities to the US Embassy in Abuja as well as to Nigerian security officials.

US officials in Nigeria said they had no information on the report.

Mutallab, a Muslim, told AFP on Saturday he had left his home town of Funtua, northern Nigeria, for the capital Abuja on Saturday for a meeting with security agencies to discuss the allegation against his son.

"I have been receiving telephone calls from all over the world about my child who has been arrested for an alleged attempt to bomb a plane," Mutallab told AFP.

"I am really disturbed. I would not want to say anything at the moment until I put myself together," he said. "I have been summoned by the Nigerian security and I am on my way to Abuja to answer the call."

This Day described the father as surprised that his son - the youngest of his 16 children - had been granted a US visa after he had reported his concerns to American authorities.

Dutch authorities confirmed that the detained suspect had flown from Nigeria to Amsterdam and then on to Detroit with a valid US visa, and that US authorities reviewed the passenger list, in line with standard procedures, and approved the flight for departure.

Nigerian officials said on Saturday that Abdulmutallab had boarded a KLM flight from Lagos after undergoing normal security checks at the airport.

Concern swirled over how a man believed to be listed in a US intelligence database had managed to board a plane with an incendiary device.

US Representative Peter King told the New York Daily News that Abdulmutallab was not on any no-fly list when he boarded the flight from Nigeria.

The suspect's 70-year-old father had headed the United Bank for Africa and First Bank of Nigeria, two of the nation's biggest banks.

Umaru Mutallab served as chairman of First Bank until his retirement last week after 13 years on the board.

He is also the founder of the first Islamic bank in Nigeria, Jaiz International Bank, established in 2003.

The Nigerian reports paint a picture of a young suspect radicalised by religious extremism and preaching his views to fellow students.

This Day reported that the suspect attended secondary school at the British International School in Lome, Togo, where the paper said he was known for preaching to classmates about Islam. It said he was nicknamed "Alfa", a local term for Muslim scholar.

Abdulmutallab had lived in London, where, according to reports, he studied mechanical engineering at University College London. The institution reportedly said a man of that name studied mechanical engineering there from 2005 to 2008 but was unable to confirm that this was the same person arrested by US authorities.

This Day added that after London, Abdulmutallab moved to Egypt and then Dubai, telling his relatives he was severing all ties with his family.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/father-of-t ... -lg28.html

This Day described the father as surprised that his son - the youngest of his 16 children - had been granted a US visa after he had reported his concerns to American authorities.

I find it more than surprising....I FIND IT HORRIFYING!!!! What the hell is going with our government and our country???!!!!!

US bomb suspect was denied British visa: source

Today, 12:12 am

A London-educated Nigerian man charged with attempting to blow up a US airliner was barred from returning to Britain earlier this year, a government source confirmed Saturday.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, is believed to have studied mechanical engineering at University College London (UCL) between 2005 and 2008 and, according to a newspaper report, tried to return for another course in May.

The Sunday Times report, confirmed to AFP by a government source, said the UK Border Agency had rejected Abdulmutallab's request for a visa for the new six-month course at a different college because the establishment concerned was considered bogus.

"He was refused entry on grounds that he was applying to study at an educational establishment that we didn?t consider to be genuine," an unnamed government official told the newspaper.

Abdulmutallab, the son of a wealthy Nigerian businessman, was due to appear in court later Saturday in the United States on charges that he tried to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane with 290 people on board as it began its final descent on Friday into Detroit.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20091226/tu ... ac183.html

Father of Terror Suspect Reportedly Warned U.S. About Son


The alleged father of a Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane on Christmas Day reportedly warned the U.S. about his son's fanatical religious views and activities, the New York Post reported.

Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, believed to be the suspected terrorist's father, told a Nigerian news outlet that six months ago he alerted the U.S. Embassy to his son's fanatical religious views, the Post reported.

He allegedly told Nigerian newspaper This Day that he had informed both the U.S. Embassy and the Nigerian security services of his 23-year-old son Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's activities, the Post reported.

The U.S. government did create a file on Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, the intelligence community's main repository of information on known and suspected international terrorists, in November 2009, Reuters reported.

He was not put on the no-fly list because authorities couldn't find enough negative information on him, a U.S. administration official said Saturday, according to Reuters.

"There was insufficient derogatory information available on the subject at that time," the official said, according to Reuters.

"Thus, he was not watchlisted as of December 25, 2009."

The father, an ex-Nigerian minister and bank chairman, traveled to Northern Nigeria to talk to security agencies Saturday, the paper reported.

He said he knew that his son had left London to travel, but said he was not aware of where he went, the paper reported.

"I believe he might have been to Yemen, but we are investigating to determine that," he said, according to the paper.

A source reportedly told the Post that the father was surprised that his son was able to travel to the U.S. given his extreme views.

The younger Abdulmutallab is accused of setting off a device aboard a Northwest flight upon landing in Detroit, which resulted in a fire and what appears to have been an explosion.

He was reportedly subdued and restrained by the passengers and flight crew. The airplane landed shortly thereafter, and he was taken into custody by Customs and Border Patrol officers.

Preliminary FBI analysis found that the device contained PETN, also known as pentaerythritol, a highly explosive device. FBI agents recovered what appear to be the remnants of the syringe from the vicinity of Abdulmutallab's seat, believed to have been part of the device.

Abdulmutallab required medical treatment, and was transported to the University of Michigan Medical Center after the plane landed.

U.S. District Judge Paul Borman read Abdulmutallab his charges in a conference room on Saturday at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, where he is being treated for burns.

Agents brought Abdulmutallab into the room in a wheelchair. He had a blanket over his lap and wore a green hospital robe.

The judge asked Abdulmutallab if he understood the charges against him. He responded in English: "Yes, I do."

The judge told Abdulmutallab that he will be held until his next court appearance on January 8.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,581191,00.html

All I can say is UNBELIEVABLE!

Despite mounting evidence of a sophisticated international plot to bring down a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day, the man charged in the thwarted attack — who was on U.S. officials' radar for years — was never considered a sufficient threat to keep from flying.

The alleged Christmas Day terrorist had been in one of the U.S. government's largest terror databases since November, when his father brought him to the attention of embassy officials in Nigeria.

But Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab came to the attention of intelligence officials months before that, according to a U.S. government official involved in the investigation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

Still, none of the information the government had on Abdulmutallab rose to the level of putting him on the official terror watch list or no-fly list. On Christmas Eve, the 23-year-old Nigerian — who later claimed to law enforcement that he was operating on orders from Al Qaeda — was able to carry a concealed explosive device onto a U.S.-bound airplane.

A former Homeland Security official told Fox News that Abdulmutallab's seat selection does not appear to be accidental, and that he was sitting in one of the two most vulnerable parts of the plane. The suspect was sitting in seat 19A, which is over the fuel tanks, atop the wing and next to the skin of the aircraft.

There is a high likelihood an explosion could be accelerated by the fuel tank, the official said — and that it could damage the plane's structure and puncture the skin, bringing down the aircraft.

The official, who has not been briefed on the current investigation but was intimately involved in investigating the 2006 Liquid Explosives Plot, says that one of the first things Homeland Security considers is where suspects were sitting on the aircraft.

Officials warn it is still early in the investigation. But lawmakers are already calling for hearings, and the government may order a review. As President Obama received regular updates on the investigation from his staff, his national security and policy aides have been asking whether the policies the U.S. has in place are working. These internal discussions marked the informal start to what will likely become a formal executive branch inquiry into an attack that failed because the bomb did not go off as planned and not because the intelligence community stopped it.

Passenger accounts and law enforcement officials describe the events around the Christmas Day attack this way:

On December 24, Abdulmutallab traveled from Nigeria to Amsterdam and then on to Detroit with an explosive device attached to his body.

Part of the device contained PETN, or pentaerythritol, and was hidden in a condom or condom-like bag just below Abdulmutallab's torso. PETN is the same material convicted shoe bomber Richard Reid used when he tried to destroy a trans-Atlantic flight in 2001 with explosives hidden in his shoes. Abdulmutallab also had a syringe filled with liquid.

As the plane approached Detroit, Abdulmutallab went to the bathroom for 20 minutes. When he returned to his seat, he complained of an upset stomach and covered himself with a blanket.

Passengers heard a popping noise, similar to a firecracker. They smelled an odor, and some passengers saw Abdulmutallab's pant leg and the wall of the airplane on fire. Passengers and the flight crew used blankets and fire extinguishers to quell the flames. They restrained Abdulmutallab, who later told a flight attendant he had an "explosive device" in his pocket. He was seen holding a partially melted syringe.

The airplane landed in Detroit shortly after the incident.

On Saturday, federal officials charged the young man with trying to destroy the airplane. A conviction on the charge could bring Abdulmutallab up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

U.S. District Judge Paul Borman read Abdulmutallab the charges in a conference room at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, Mich., where the former London university student is undergoing burn treatment. Abdulmutallab smiled as he was wheeled into the room, his left thumb and right wrist bandaged and part of the skin on the thumb was burned off.

Abdulmutallab claimed to have received training and instructions from Al Qaeda operatives in Yemen, law enforcement officials said. He is also believed to have had Internet contact with militant Islamic radicals.

While intelligence officials said Saturday that they are taking seriously Abdulmutallab's claims that the plot originated with Al Qaeda's network inside Yemen, several added that they had to yet to see independent confirmation. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is incomplete.

Four weeks ago, Abdulmutallab's father told the U.S. embassy in Abuja, Nigeria, that he was concerned about his son's religious beliefs. This information was passed on to U.S. intelligence officials.

Abdulmutallab received a valid U.S. visa in June 2008 that is good through 2010.

His is one of about 550,000 names in the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment database, known as TIDE, which is maintained by the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center and was created in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Intelligence officials said they lacked enough information to place him in the 400,000-person terror watch list or on the no-fly list of fewer than 4,000 people who should be blocked from air travel.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,581211,00.html

Also, I thought I heard on Fox yesterday that the Obama administration is yet to call this a terror attack. I could have heard this wrong, so if anyone else heard it, please let me know.

Originally Posted by tinybobidaho

Also, I thought I heard on Fox yesterday that the Obama administration is yet to call this a terror attack. I could have heard this wrong, so if anyone else heard it, please let me know.

This gives me a flashback to Obama giving a shout out before addressing the massacre of our soldiers on US soil and refusing to call the terroist who did it a terrorist. There was also warnings that were unheeded about the terroist before he went on his murderous rampage.

A White House official said Saturday that Obama has asked people in the intelligence community to continue to take hard looks and challenge the assumptions they make about the information used to generate various terror watch lists, in what could become a formal review of the process.


The official also pointed out that the list the suspect was on had 400,000 people on it, and further downplayed any suggestion of major missed signs by noting that after any such event there are always people who comb through information with the benefit of hindsight and find some areas for improvement.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/12 ... Page2.html