“A January 27 hearing of the House Committee on Homeland Security established that US intelligence agencies stopped the State Department from revoking the US visa of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. The Nigerian student, whom US officials suspected of being affiliated with the Yemeni terrorist group Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, attempted to set off a bomb on Northwest Flight 253 into Detroit on Christmas Day. Revocation of Abdulmutallab’s visa would have prevented him from boarding the airplane.

The hearing was reported in a brief article posted January 27 on the web site of the Detroit News, headlined, “Terror Suspect Kept Visa to Avoid Tipping Off Larger Investigation.”

The revelation that US intelligence agencies made a deliberate decision to allow Abdulmutallab to board the commercial flight, without any special airport screening, has been buried in the media. As of this writing, nearly a week after the hearing, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times have published no articles on the subject. Nor have the broadcast or cable media reported on it.

This is despite—or perhaps more accurately, because of—the fact that this information exposes the official government story of the near-disaster to be a lie. President Obama, who has joined with top US intelligence, FBI and Homeland Security officials to insist that Abdulmutallab was inadvertently allowed to board the plane carrying explosives because of a failure to “connect the dots,” has from the start been deceiving the American people.”

Undoubtedly – whether the underwear bomber was really an al Qaeda thing or just a false flag – the opportunity to get the naked scanners in airports is being used for all it’s worth. Someone is getting rich making and selling all those scanners.

Besides, the underwear bomber never went through any scanner at all, being escorted through security by some unknown, well-dressed man.

So should we travel naked and consent to invasive searches? I don’t know what the ironclad system is to prevent terrorist acts on airplanes. But as an expert in anatomy, I know that the TSA’s body scan machines will do nothing to protect against the inevitable shift to body-cavity-placed explosives. Rather than effective security, the TSA’s latest effort will result in even longer security lines and state-sponsored pornography.

This isn’t a black or white, all or nothing question. Most security measures are “effective” to one extent or another, by providing practical obstacles, and more importantly a psychological deterrent. The question is, how effective, and does it justify the cost and the invasion of privacy?

Airport security catches thousands of smugglers every year, so the have at least SOME effectiveness in that field. I wonder how many terrorism attempts have been caught, which weren’t made front page news (for one reason or another.) The fact that the terrorist actually makes it onto the plane make it that much more newsworthy. This is a great example how the Availability Heuristic warps our perception of probability.

I agree that security measures that are the most visible, expensive, and intrusive, are generally the least effective ones, For these measure the cost alone. Anyone who has the intelligence, the means, and the determination to pose a serious threat to safety, is not going to get themselves caught by something which is immediately obvious.

On the other hand, if people have a psychological need for security theater, let them pay for it themselves. This is a delusion you probably cannot cure in people. The government would do well not to mandate any airport security, At best, they could require airlines to hold a modest life insurance plan for all passengers, not that it’s really needed from a statistical point of view.

I missed the link in #11

I know a little bit about chemistry, bits and pieces; math-and-science-y trivia is something of a hobby for me.

PETN has actually been around since the very end of the 19′th century, it was used in both world wars. PETN refers to a specific chemical compound, not a mixture of different ingredients like “plastic” explosives. You get PETN based explosives through bribery or larceny. Who knows where and how exactly terrorist groups get their materials, they obviously have the means.

Sourcing the explosive depends on whether or not the manufacturer added some kind of “tagging agent.” Some companies do this, where they’re required by law, but otherwise, why would they? Who would want to risk bad publicity? Though, in principle, this is like asking who made an empty unlabeled soup can. There’s nothing inherent in the chemical compound that would tell you where it came from. Also, at best, you would know who made it, not who sold or stole from whom. If Abdumutallab used some specific mixture of ingredients, as opposed to the pure explosive, that might tell you who manufactured the stuff.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=16768

Oh, Cheney made a fortune off of Operation Hugs and Kisses Screaming Eagle Something Something Freedom.

If it were traced to a commercial lab and not the military, I’ll bet the story would still show there are more Gadiantons involved than just one patsy with a pair of underwear.

Is PETN available in Yemen? If it is so easy to obtain, how does one go about getting PETN in Yemen?

You appear to be somewhat knowlegdeable on the subject of explosives. If the military goes to their exclusive labs to say: We want our exclusive lab to mix up so much of part A, then so much of binder B, etc., does this not imply that the military grade PETN the underwear bomber possessed had some way to get the military’s recipe of PETN for himself? How did he do that?

You make it appear that this explosive is easy to obtain. I can’t even get firecrackers here in Utah. But you make it appear that I could, however, easily obtain PETN. I assume that to do so, I would have to illegally or covertly obtain it. But to do so, I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to go to a supply house and just steal it. I’m sure that to get it, I’d have to have inside contacts sneak it to me. I’m also sure that only legit people can get it for the purposes of stuff like controlled demolition. The PETN that gets manufactured by the lab must be constantly accounted for. If the lab makes a batch of PETN for military purposes, I’m sure the lab knows exactly how much was made, and who signed for the the finished product. If the underwear bomber had a military composition PETN, I’ll bet it could be traced. But, I’ll also bet there is never any attempt to trace the PETN. That kind of info is the info that the mainstream public can’t get its hands on, because we apparently can’t handle the truth.

That was my line of questioning when I hear the PETN was of military grade.

The anthrax used right after 9/11 was also traceable. It was traced to inside government labs as the source. That anthrax did not come from al Qaeda. I am proposing that the PETN did not come from al Qaeda either.

Kelly, could you please provide some references/links to back up these points, please. This is just for my peace of mind; I’d be much obliged- thanks.

Also, I’m not sure what qualifies as “military grade” explosives.

The military usually doesn’t produce their own explosives, they just say to the chemical company…”mix explosive X, binder Y, and additive Z together, please.” A lot of compositions used by the military are also commonly used by civilian pyrotechnic companies. It’s unfortunate that explosives are just so useful, that it’s not extremely hard to get a hold of them.

In fairness, what Abdumutallab used is called PETN.

This is quite common both in military and civilian applications, (I should say more so the latter.) for example detonation cord. Richard Reid hid PETN based “det cord” in his shoes. Both bombers probably used it because it’s both powerful and easy to find.

I should also say that the amount of explosive carried by either Reid or Abdumutallab, unless they had placed it in some critical area, was extremely unlikely to cause serious damage to the plane.

“Conservative of the Year Award”?

Sometimes I wonder if Cheney realizes what a “tool” he is.

I wish that, just once, some terrorist would try something that you can only foil by upgrading the passengers to first class and giving them free drinks. – Bruce Schneier

http://www.legitgov.org/northwest_bomb_plot_oddities.html