Books, movies, politics, and whatever I want

Archive for December 27th, 2009

Alert Citizens work better than government bureaucracy

Sunday, December 27th, 2009

An al-Qaida operative tried to ignite an explosive device on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was know to have terrorist ties, and managed to walk through the security system at a major European airport with an explosive device.

When Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian native and a Muslim, attempted to ignite the device, it was the passengers who noticed that something was wrong, and did something about it.

Mark Steyn nails it:

On September 11th 2001, the government’s (1970s) security procedures all failed, and the only good news of the day came from self-reliant citizens (on Flight 93) using their own wits and a willingness to act.

On December 25th 2009, the government’s (post-9/11) security procedures all failed, and the only good news came once again from alert individuals.

While our Dear Leader and the democrats may have forgotten 9/11, the American people have not.

Update: Our Dear Leader‘s DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano was out quickly to provide the Obama administration spin on this foiled terrorist attack.  Ms. Napolitano’s response shows that she is either a bold faced liar or dangerously incompetent.  Neither one of those options are good for America.

DHS Secretary Napolitano kept repeating the the administration’s spin, “the system worked.”  As I pointed out, that obviously is not the case.  Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was know to have terrorist ties, and managed to walk through the security system at a major European airport with an explosive device.

Ms Malkin points out:

If the “system” had “worked,” the U.S. consular officials who granted Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab a short-term visa last June would have revoked it immediately upon being informed by his father that he was a Muslim radical with al Qaeda ties.

If the “system” had “worked,” U.S. consular officials would have never granted Abdulmutallab — a rootless, young, single male — a visa in the first place in compliance with State Department visa regulation 214(b):

If the “system” had “worked,” Abdulmutallab would have been barred from the U.S. like he had been barred from Britain.

Epic Fail for Napolitano.