Ajit Randeniya

It is more than eight years since the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”allegedƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ terrorist attacks of 9/11 on America, and two wars are still raging in the Middle East and its neighbourhood under the pretext of bringing the perpetrators ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”to justiceƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. The war effort has only just been rejuvenated by none other than the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Great Black HopeƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢, against the wish of the great majority of American and British citizenry, and the civilised world in general.

This is the background against which the latest scare story of the failed terrorist attack on US Northwest Airlines Flight 253, carrying 278 passengers and 11 crew members, hit the world headlines on Christmas Day 2009. Following the failed bombing, similar to 9/11, and similar to the London bombing, the CIA and MI6 came up with the identity and full background of the suspect within ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”hoursƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. The question most Americans are asking is ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”how come the CIA always has all the information about terrorists and yet terrorist incidents do take place periodically?ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚

On the surface, the sequence of events relating to the alleged ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”failed bombingƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ this time reads like the plot of an episode of the recently-ended American sketch comedy television series MAD TV: we are told that as the plane was approaching Detroit, Michigan, a 23 year old Nigerian man attempted to detonate explosives tailored to his underwear and the tragedy was prevented because the detonator on the bomb malfunctioned. The alleged bomber however, suffered serious burns in the attempt and was initially held in a Michigan hospital, but he has since been transferred to a US federal prison. We are unlikely to see him for a while!

The story seemed almost plausible, but the sequence of US government responses and controlled news releases about the alleged bomber over the 24-48 hours that followed proved otherwise.

Just like in the cases of 9/11 and 2005 London bombings, the campaign of disinformation shows that ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Terror in DetroitƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ is another ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”planned eventƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢, carried out with the objective of refreshing the AmericansƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ memory about the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”threat of Islamic terrorismƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢, with a view to garner support for the illegal wars being waged by the cabal!

Firstly to the US government follow up: the government continued the fear mongering campaign with a statement by the Department of Homeland Security that ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”airline passengers should expect to see additional screening measures on both domestic and international flightsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. That was followed by a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”donƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t panicƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ message issued by the same agency on CNN that: “Right now we have no indication that it is part of anything larger, but obviously the investigation continues.”

Then, slowly but surely, information about the alleged ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”terroristƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ started to filter through, showing that the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Terror in DetroitƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ is an unlikely story. The story we are being told is that the man who tried to blow up the plane was a 23 year old Nigerian named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab; he has attended the British International School, Lome, Togo and studied engineering at the University College, London and was a master’s in international business degree student at the Dubai campus of an Australian University. If you think his family and educational background is more typical of an upper-middle class ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”establishment kidƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ rather than that of a suicide bomber, you are with most ordinary Americans. Bit wait, there is more.

The father of the alleged ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”terroristƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢, Umar Muttalib, is former chairman of First Bank of Nigeria, married to an Arab of Yemeni-descent (it is not clear if the woman is the suspectƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s mother), and is known to be a regular visitor to the US for medical check-up and holidays. Mutallab Sr apparently alerted the CIA, the INTERPOL and the Nigerian Intelligence Agency (NIA) about his sonƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”weird behaviorƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ after receiving a text message from Yemen that he was renouncing his family.

The next instalment, released through CNN again, claims that the CIA had a report prepared on the alleged terrorist, but was not circulated outside the agency. Had that information been shared, the 23-year-old Nigerian might have been denied passage on Flight 253!

The UK Home Secretary Alan Johnson announced at the same time that Umar Farouk had been refused a student visa to Britain in May, and was placed on a security watch-list.

But they had to do more work on the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”profileƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ of this alleged ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Islamic TerroristƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. The information released through the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Wall Street JournalƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ was that Farouk defied his family’s pleas to remain at university, and travelled to the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”terrorism hotbedƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ of Yemen to study Arabic and Sharia law. Also, more than 300 Internet postings written by a user named “Farouk1986” were attributed to Farouk to support the theory that he was a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”fervently religiousƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ and lonely young man who ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”fantasisedƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ about becoming a Muslim holy warrior. The posts are said to reflect on a growing alienation from his family, his shame over sexual urges and his hopes that a “great jihad” will take place across the world.

This is the most unlikely story: the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”allegedƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ actions of FaroukƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s father who appears to be a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”friendƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ of the Wall Street money bags, of reporting his son (who was possibly alienated due to family disputes) to the CIA appear extremely ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”dubiousƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢, and not actions of a father who wanted his son back!

The missing part of the story however, came from a passenger on Flight 253, Kurt Haskell, and his wife Lori of Newport, Michigan who were returning from a safari in Uganda. They told MLive.com that they witnessed, while sitting on the ground near their boarding gate in Amsterdam, that a poorly dressed Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab approached the gate with an unidentified man in an expensive suit. He says the suited man asked ticket agents whether Mutallab could board without a passport, claiming ‘He’s from Sudan and we do this all the time.’ The ticket agent referred Mutallab and his companion to her manager down the hall, and the next time Haskell saw Mutallab again was after he allegedly tried to detonate an explosive on the plane!

There is nothing surprising about this particular conspiracy. It was staged on Christmas day for maximum impact as ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”anotherƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ act of anti-Christian, extreme Islamic attack against ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”American valuesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. The criminals who plan these crimes consider that the unbelievable nature of the relevant ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”factsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ doesnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t matter.

There were secondary events and real gains: the second event was another campaign of ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”anti-government protestsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ in Iran that failed again. The ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”realƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ intention of this was also to divert worldƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s attention from the announcement of building illegal settlements in East Jerusalem!

Like Victor Ostrovsky wrote, the governing rule is ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”By way of deceptionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢.