The Observation Deck

Obama's fault?

Both had warning signs...

Are we weaker now than under Bush? We are definitely poorer but are we less safe?

Just asking...

Janet needs to be fired... She is endangering all of our lives.. I do not blame Obama for Janet's failures..

And Thank God that we do not profile....

some rich kid from Nigeria burned his legs on a jetairliner. Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab has now qualified to be on http://failblog.org/. There's nothing the President can do about it, unless you want him to order everybody to have their underwear searched before getting on an airliner.

we'll be okay as long as the terrorists remain fixated on jet airliners.

Nidal Malik "AbduWali" Hasan was born and raised in America. He is an American. America produces an abundance of people who shoot up banks, bars, the workplace, health clubs, restaurants, schools, college campuses, post offices etc. He is just another american nutjob. If he were a terrorist he would have gone after generals and congressmen. President Obama isn't responsible for this: There were plenty of army guys over Major Hasan who could have got him booted from the army or shipped to wisconsin.

but he was in contact with 2 former Gitmo prisoners.... yet not a single red flag...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8432934.stm

The US homeland security secretary has demanded to know how the Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a jet had a visa despite being on a watch list.

"We all want to know the answer to that question," Janet Napolitano said.

She also appeared to backtrack on a widely criticised assertion that the aviation security system had worked.

The female Barney Fife

Stephen Eisel wrote:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8432934.stm

The US homeland security secretary has demanded to know how the Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a jet had a visa despite being on a watch list.

"We all want to know the answer to that question," Janet Napolitano said.

She also appeared to backtrack on a widely criticised assertion that the aviation security system had worked.

The female Barney Fife

Are people on this Watch List categorically denied Visas? and he is from Nigeria. islamic terrorists don't usually look like Nigerians: they look like Sikhs or Arabs or Persians.

I remember Cat Stevens being denied entry. and that was a drag, man. his music really helps people mellow out.

ryan costa wrote:

Stephen Eisel wrote:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8432934.stm

The US homeland security secretary has demanded to know how the Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a jet had a visa despite being on a watch list.

"We all want to know the answer to that question," Janet Napolitano said.

She also appeared to backtrack on a widely criticised assertion that the aviation security system had worked.

The female Barney Fife

Are people on this Watch List categorically denied Visas? and he is from Nigeria. islamic terrorists don't usually look like Nigerians: they look like Sikhs or Arabs or Persians.

I remember Cat Stevens being denied entry. and that was a drag, man. his music really helps people mellow out.

Key word for me is security.... Janet's strategy worked..Not one right-wing Christian, gun-owning bitterly clinging “tea-bagger” almost blew up an airliner on Christmas day.

I wonder...

Obama has continued the war in Iraq
Expanded the war in Afgahnistan
Expanded the war in Pakistan
Started a new war in Yemen
Kept Gitmo open
Kept the patriot act

Where is the anti-war left? Did they really care about those things or was it all about politics?

You guys are funny. You are so quick to blame this administration for not keeping us safe. Lest you forget that under the bush administration there were painfully obvious warning signs that something was going to happen. That something just happened to be more destructive that anything that has happen since, combined.

Now the point of this is not to blame bush for 911 or obama for anything since he is in office. At the end of the day nut jobs with bombs could care less who is at the helm. They just want to blow things up. It is a waste of an argument to blame one party or the other when we will never be 100% safe.

Has diplomacy failed? I would have thought that after the Obama World Apology Tour the terrorists would be sitting around the campfire singing kumbaya.

I suppose the next step is to payoff the terrorists with billions to stop terrorizing, at least in public, under the guise of some humanitarian assistance. When those billions run out, they’ll be back for more (think Clinton and Korean nukes).

Jim DeVito wrote:You guys are funny. You are so quick to blame this administration for not keeping us safe.

I can't speak for those guys. But for 8 years the left has fought every move by the Bush admin with great resistance. Bush could have said the sky was blue while Pelosi and crew would argue 9 ways to Sunday that it’s not. So, part of this is political.

Also, Selective Outrage is being highlighted, again. If Bush was still in office and this happened, there would be holy hell raining down from all sides of the media and left. Dems in the house would immediately jump to their pulpits grandstanding to know the ‘truth’, deriding the lack of transparency and somehow the ‘war for oil’ would be blamed.

If politicians on both sides spent less time figuring out a game plan to keep or retake party power and more time fixing our problems, this country would be light years ahead.

Charlie Page wrote:If politicians on both sides spent less time figuring out a game plan to keep or retake party power and more time fixing our problems, this country would be light years ahead.

You got it!! When do we get to throw them all out? Every last one and just stat over?

Jim DeVito wrote:

Charlie Page wrote:If politicians on both sides spent less time figuring out a game plan to keep or retake party power and more time fixing our problems, this country would be light years ahead.

You got it!! When do we get to throw them all out? Every last one and just stat over?

Grab the pitch forks! Here comes government for and by the people!

WSJ Article

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1262059 ... lenews_wsj

The State Department forwarded Mr. Abdulmutallab's name to a basic U.S. terrorist watch list earlier this month, but didn't revoke his visa after Mr. Abdulmutallab's father alerted U.S. officials to his son's potential radicalization. His purchase of a $2,800 plane ticket with cash also didn't set off alarm bells.

One area of inquiry is whether the State Department should have revoked Mr. Abdulmutallab's multiple-entry visa after his father on Nov. 19 came to the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria, and reported that his son might have extremist ties in Yemen. A revocation could have forced Mr. Abdulmutallab to reapply, giving authorities a chance to interview him.

Instead, State Department officials say, the day after the father's visit, the agency put a note in Mr. Abdulmutallab's internal State Department file that would trigger an investigation if the Nigerian applied for a new visa in the future.