Israel Matzav

US hunting for English-speaking suicide bombers

As a result of intelligence information received from Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the United States is now hunting for English-speaking suicide bombers who have been trained in Yemen.

U.S. and allied counterterrorism authorities have launched a global manhunt for English-speaking terrorists trained in Yemen who are planning attacks on the United States, based on intelligence provided by the suspect in the attempted Christmas Day bombing after he began cooperating.

U.S. officials told The Washington Times that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, facing charges as a would-be suicide bomber, revealed during recent cooperation with the FBI that he met with other English speakers at a terrorist training camp in Yemen. Three U.S. intelligence officials, including one senior official, disclosed on the condition of anonymity some details of the additional bomb plots.

Said one official: "It's safe to say that Abdulmutallab is not the only bullet in the chamber for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula," the Islamist terrorist group based in Yemen.

"Farouk took a month to get operational. Once he left [training in Yemen], it did not take very long," the official said.

...

The increased threat of terrorism emanating from Yemen was outlined in a majority staff report by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee made public last month. The report warned that U.S. criminals were migrating to Yemen for terrorist training.

"U.S. diplomats and law enforcement officials say that a significant threat to U.S. interests could come from American citizens based in Yemen," the report said. "Most worrisome is a group of as many as three dozen former criminals who converted to Islam in prison, were released at the end of their sentences, and moved to Yemen, ostensibly to study Arabic."

...

Rep. Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, the ranking Republican on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said in an interview, "For an extended period of time, we have known they have wanted to radicalize and recruit English-speaking people because they recognize these individuals had easier access into the United States."

Two comments: I would have thought that the US 'intelligence' agencies would have figured out a long time ago that it would be much easier for an English-speaking terrorist to perpetrate an attack in the States than for an Arabic speaker who speaks no English. Silly me.

And second, imagine if the US government had gotten this information five weeks earlier instead of reading a terrorist Miranda warnings. Maybe they could have bombed the training camp and killed all the terrorists in one shot.

And to think that the Obama administration is bragging that Abdulmutallab would not have cooperated had the Professor not hired him a lawyer first. Talk about falling out of atree and being lucky to land on your feet. Sheesh!

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:34 PM