Obama ties failed attack to al Qaida
Source: Agencies |
January 3, 2010, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
PRESIDENT Barack Obama laid blame yesterday on an al-Qaida affiliate for a Christmas Day terrorist attack that has prompted a top-to-bottom review of how the United States' intelligence agencies failed to prevent the botched bombing aboard a Detroit-bound airliner.
In his most direct public language to date, the president described the path through Yemen of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, the Nigerian accused of trying to destroy Northwest Flight 253.
The president also emphasized that the US would continue its partnerships with friendly countries, citing Yemen, in particular, to fight terrorists and extremist groups around the globe.
Obama's homeland security team has been piecing together how Abdulmutallab was able to board the plane. Officials have described flaws in the system and by those executing the strategy and have delivered a preliminary assessment.
A senior administration official had said the US was increasingly confident of a link between Abdulmutallab and an al-Qaida affiliate, but Obama's statement is the strongest connection between the two.
"We're learning more about the suspect," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address that the White House released yesterday as the president vacationed in Hawaii.
Directed attack
"We know that he traveled to Yemen, a country grappling with crushing poverty and deadly insurgencies. It appears that he joined an affiliate of al-Qaida, and that this group -- al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula -- trained him, equipped him with those explosives and directed him to attack that plane headed for America," the president said.
Officials have said Abdulmutallab's father warned the US Embassy in Nigeria that his son had drifted into extremism in the al-Qaida hotbed of Yemen. The warning was only partially digested by the US security system and not linked with a visa history showing the young man could fly to the United States.
Obama has ordered a thorough look at the shortcomings that permitted the plot, which failed not because of US actions but because the would-be attacker was unable to ignite an explosive device.
Intelligence officials prepared for what was shaping up to be uncomfortable hearings before Congress.
In his most direct public language to date, the president described the path through Yemen of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, the Nigerian accused of trying to destroy Northwest Flight 253.
The president also emphasized that the US would continue its partnerships with friendly countries, citing Yemen, in particular, to fight terrorists and extremist groups around the globe.
Obama's homeland security team has been piecing together how Abdulmutallab was able to board the plane. Officials have described flaws in the system and by those executing the strategy and have delivered a preliminary assessment.
A senior administration official had said the US was increasingly confident of a link between Abdulmutallab and an al-Qaida affiliate, but Obama's statement is the strongest connection between the two.
"We're learning more about the suspect," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address that the White House released yesterday as the president vacationed in Hawaii.
Directed attack
"We know that he traveled to Yemen, a country grappling with crushing poverty and deadly insurgencies. It appears that he joined an affiliate of al-Qaida, and that this group -- al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula -- trained him, equipped him with those explosives and directed him to attack that plane headed for America," the president said.
Officials have said Abdulmutallab's father warned the US Embassy in Nigeria that his son had drifted into extremism in the al-Qaida hotbed of Yemen. The warning was only partially digested by the US security system and not linked with a visa history showing the young man could fly to the United States.
Obama has ordered a thorough look at the shortcomings that permitted the plot, which failed not because of US actions but because the would-be attacker was unable to ignite an explosive device.
Intelligence officials prepared for what was shaping up to be uncomfortable hearings before Congress.
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