Return Of The Underwear Bomber

Brit Dee, Contributor
Activist Post

US authorities claim to have thwarted another attempt by Al Qaeda to blow an airliner out of the sky, using a more sophisticated version of the bomb unsuccessfully detonated by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on Christmas day 2009. The plot, said to have been developed by Al Qaeda’s Yemeni affiliate, was allegedly intended to coincide with the recent anniversary of Osama bin Laden’s much-disputed death.

The would-be Yemeni bomber had reportedly been given the device by Al Qaeda and allowed to choose for themself the timing and target, but according to US authorities the CIA intervened and seized the bomb before it could be deployed. The fate of the bomber is unclear, and suspicions will rightly be raised that this was yet another US sting operation, or that the bomber was being handled in some way by US intelligence – as was the original underwear bomber.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was sentenced to multiple life sentences in February this year and his case perfectly highlights the dangerously out-of-control and unaccountable nature of US intelligence, as well as the mainstream media’s shamefully inadequate coverage of such issues. It has been admitted that US intelligence were fully aware of Abdulmutallab and allowed him to travel to the US so that they could spy on him, and there is highly credible evidence that he was helped onto the plane he unsuccessfully tried to bomb by an intelligence operative. Some have speculated he was also provided with the dud bomb.

Witness Kurt Haskell, a practicing attorney from Michigan, recounted after the attempted bombing how he and his wife, returning from holiday in Africa, were waiting near the boarding gate at the airport in Amsterdam when they witnessed Abdulmutallab,

being escorted around security by a man in a tan suit who spoke perfect American English and who aided Umar in boarding without a passport. The airline gate worker initially refused Umar boarding until the man in the tan suit intervened.

After their mid-flight ordeal and upon departing the aircraft, Haskell immediately informed the FBI about the man in the tan suit. The FBI were seemingly uninterested in this important information, and continued to deny the existence of the mysterious man for a month,

before changing course and admitting his existence in an ABC News article on January 22, 2010. That was the last time the government talked about this man. The video that would prove the truth of my account has never been released.

Haskell’s account could perhaps be explained away by the authorities if it were not for the subsequent revelation that Abdulmutallab was actually being monitored by an unnamed US intelligence agency, who had specifically ordered that the Nigerian be allowed to keep his visa – even though the State Department had requested its revocation. Patrick F. Kennedy, Undersecretary of State for Management revealed to the House Homeland Security Committee on January 27th 2010 that:

We came across information; we said this is a dangerous person. We were ready to revoke the visa. We then went to the community and said, should we revoke this visa? And one of the members — and we’d be glad to give you that out of — in private — said, please do not revoke this visa. We have eyes on this person. We are following this person who has the visa for the purpose of trying roll up an entire network, not just stop one person.

US intelligence were therefore well aware of Abdulmutallab and suspected him of being part of a wider terrorist plot. They prevented revocation of his visa so that he would not become aware of their surveillance, potentially disrupting their investigation into such a bigger plot. Stated Kennedy:

The intelligence and law enforcement community tell us that they believe in certain cases that there’s a higher value of them following this person so they can find his or her co-conspirators and roll up an entire plot against the United States, rather than simply knock out one soldier in that effort.

This crucial revelation about official complicity in the underwear bomber’s attack on Flight 253 has subsequently been airbrushed out of the official version of events. Mainstream media accounts of the day, such as a widely publicised program broadcast by the BBC, completely avoided reporting the fact that Abdulmutallab was being monitored by US intelligence and had been purposely allowed to board the aeroplane. It is also interesting that Abdulmutallab listed Haskell as his only witness and a mere five days later his plea was changed to guilty, ensuring that testimony about the man in the tan suit would never be heard by the court.

It is highly alarming that Western intelligence services allow suspected or potential terrorists to fly around the globe, endangering the lives of passengers, and remain unnamed and totally unaccountable for their actions when they are exposed. It is shameful that without the testimony of brave witnesses such as the Haskells, and the uncensored reporting of the independent alternative media, such startling information might never be revealed to the public.

In light of the Abdulmutallab case, the latest story about a new, more sophisticated Yemeni bomb plot should be treated with the utmost suspicion.

This article first appeared on Resistance Radio.

Brit Dee runs an independent online radio station called Resistance Radio, which broadcasts daily news, views and analysis challenging the lies of our corrupt political and financial leaders, and the controlled corporate media, at http://www.resistradio.com.