http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/44761
Questions surround government’s actions in “underwear” bomber case
Commonly referenced as the “underwear bomber” or the “Christmas Day bomber,” Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was sentenced to life in prison last week by U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds in a Michigan court. He unexpectedly pleaded guilty on October 12, 2011 (day two of his trial) to eight felony counts, including attempted murder and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, related to reported attempt to detonate an explosive hidden in his underwear while aboard Northwest Airlines flight 253 flying from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day, 2009. There were 279 passengers and 11 crewmembers aboard that flight.
While it is indisputable that Islamic terrorists indeed exist and target the West, there are a number of things very wrong with the official account of this event. The problems begin well before Abdulmutallab ever stepped foot aboard flight 253 and continue through today. Moreover, the fact-a-phobic media appears to have been neutered with regard to reporting on this very questionable scenario.
Bomber allowed to board plane with explosives
As ugly and conspiratorial as it sounds, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was permitted to board flight 253 with explosives despite being identified as a terrorist.
You need not take our word for it, however. Undersecretary of Management at the U.S. State Department, Patrick F. Kennedy, disclosed this tidbit during a January 27, 2010 hearing of the House Committee on Homeland Security.
Appearing uncomfortable throughout the questioning, Kennedy testified that Abdulmutallab appeared on a terrorist watch list before and on the day of the attempted bombing. Kennedy’s testimony seemed stained and contradictory at times, but he made it clear that Abdulmutallab was permitted to proceed on board the flight at the direction of a person and agency that he would reveal only in camera, or privately to the committee.
The reason Abdulmutallab and the bomb were permitted aboard an airliner carrying 290 people has strained the credulity of even the most hardened skeptics; he was under surveillance and our intelligence agencies were attempting to identify the members of a larger plot by having “eyes on him.” It certainly does not take an investigator to refute the logic of that account, considering the lives of 290 men, women and children aboard flight 253 and others on the ground were placed in jeopardy. Even if that were remotely the case, how would you feel if your wife, husband, son or daughter were aboard that aircraft?
Abdulmutallab assisted at Amsterdam airport
According to multiple witnesses, the would-be bomber was actually assisted in boarding the now infamous flight. Kurt Haskell, perhaps the most well known witness who was also aboard flight 253 with his wife, remained steadfast in his account that a yet unidentified well-dressed man, possibly of Indian descent, assisted the bomber at the airport when he appeared to be having problems with security.
Since the events of Christmas Day 2009, Mr. Haskell has provided first-hand accounts to Alex Jones of Infowars and Prison Planet TV. The information provided by Mr. Haskell is consistent with information we received from an inside source working for a federal intelligence agency familiar with this incident. According to our source, airport security officials were told to “stand down” by a contact within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and permit Abdulmutallab to board the aircraft.
Perhaps this would explain why Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano refused to testify in front of House Committee members in January 2010 despite being asked to do so by the committee.
Inexplicable events in Detroit
In an extreme departure from normal protocol, flight 253 taxied to the airport gate despite the presence of a bomb onboard. Additionally, the passengers of the flight were forced to remain on the plane despite Abdulmutallab’s statements that there was a second bomb on the aircraft, and without knowing whether the bomber had accomplices.
When the passengers were finally escorted from the plane, the manner of their exit actually caused some to step on parts of the bomb. Additional accounts from Mr. Haskell and other passengers provide interesting and critical insight into either incredible incompetence or some level of foreknowledge about the entire scenario.
Abdulmutallab’s about-face
The oddities surrounding this incident and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab extended into federal court. The would-be bomber pleaded not guilty to the charges, yet inexplicably reversed his decision a mere two days before potentially mitigating or perhaps even exculpatory evidence could be heard in court. It was a move that should have baffled his defense team and anyone paying attention to this case.
It is less baffling when combined with all other unanswered questions pertaining to this case are viewed in totality. His move otherwise buried possible evidence of government complicity, or at least incompetence, from public purview.
Follow the money?
When the wheels of flight 253 touched down, there were only 40 full body scanners in place at 19 airports in the U.S. Today, these scanners are in place or scheduled to be deployed throughout the U.S., and not just in airports.
As we previously reported, former DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff and co-author of the U.S. Patriot Act took to the airwaves to lobby for the placement of the nuclear scanners at all airports, using flight 253 as the reason.
In the wake of his flurry of media appearances suggesting that full body scanners would have likely caught Abdulmutallab, an article critical of Chertoff appeared in the January 1, 2010 edition of The Washington Post. The former DHS secretary was criticized for “using his former government credentials to advocate for a product that benefits his clients.”
It was disclosed that Chertoff’s security consulting agency included a client that manufactures the controversial scanners. That client is Rapiscan Systems, the leading provider of the scanners to the TSA and numerous other airports across the world.
Rapiscan is a wholly owned subsidiary of OSI Systems, Inc., a worldwide company based in California that develops and markets security and inspection systems. It is one of a handful of such companies trying to corner the market on security hardware for the air transportation industry – a market estimated to be worth $300 billion in the United States alone.
OSI Systems, Inc. made headlines last week when the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey awarded them a $15 million contract to install their cargo scanners at the new World Trade Center. Through 2009, however, OSI Systems, Inc. was posting revenue losses. Starting in 2010, after the “failed bombing attempt,” the company has posted continuous quarterly gains.
Investigation disclosed that some of the full body scanners were purchased with stimulus money. Also, it was uncovered that the infamous George Soros held nearly 12,000 shares of stock in the parent company.
No questions asked
Despite all of the oddities surrounding Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (and there are many more than listed here), the Department of Homeland Security and all of the agencies people involved, not one of our elected officials has appeared to have any desire to disclose the truth of flight 253. Additionally, the corporate media has been AWOL to the point of complicity.
It’s time for Americans to demand accountability - or resignations.
The oddities of Flight 253 and Abdulmutallab will be the topic discussed on tonight’s edition of The Hagmann & Hagmann Report, as broadcast on live video via the Liberty Broadcasting Network.
