What We've Got Here is,....FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE!

Obama to Receive Report on Failed Airline Attack
FOXNews.com

President Obama is set to receive a preliminary report Thursday detailing what warning signs were missed before a 23-year-old Nigerian who was already on a terror watch list boarded a plane to Detroit armed with explosives.

The president declared Tuesday that a "systemic failure" on multiple levels allowed the suspect to board and said he should have been on a "no-fly" list. The preliminary report is the administration's first step in trying to reform both airport screening and the terror watch list system to prevent a repeat of the Christmas Day incident.

Officials said it was unlikely Obama would speak publicly about the report, although the vacationing president likely would talk several times throughout the day with his national security team.

Obama has demanded answers on why information never was pieced together by the U.S. intelligence community that could have prevented terrorist suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, charged with trying to destroy a Detroit-bound airliner, from ever getting on the plane.

In August, intelligence officials picked up phone intercepts from an Al Qaeda offshoot in Yemen, discussing a plot involving someone they called "The Nigerian." In November, the suspect's father told the U.S. embassy in Nigeria that he was worried about his son's extremist views.

This warning got the suspect's name on the terror watch database -- but officials did not realize he was "The Nigerian" until the attempted attack.

A senior intelligence official said the CIA's Africa desk was also preparing a report on the suspect, but didn't send it to the National Counterterrorism Center because they were waiting for pictures of the suspect.

There are some concerns about the leader of the review. Current and former intelligence officials told Fox News he could face a conflict of interest, since he basically put together the National Counterrorism Center, the agency that manages watch lists.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, an offshoot of Usama bin Laden's group, claimed it was behind the attempt to bomb the Northwest airliner.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said the conversations were vague or coded, but the intelligence community believes that, in hindsight, the communications may have been referring to the Detroit attack.

The goal now, officials say, is to do everything the U.S. can to prevent a repeat. Even so, they acknowledge a perfect system is impossible to create and that it will take weeks for a more comprehensive investigation into what allowed Abdulmutallab to get into U.S. airspace.

What Will CLEARLY Define the Administration:

Homeland chief an airhead
Says security system worked

By JENNIFER FERMINO, MURRAY WEISS and PHILIP MESSING

Last Updated: 5:37 PM, December 28, 2009

Posted: 2:52 AM, December 28, 2009

An al Qaeda bomber stashing explosives in his underwear cakewalked onto a US-bound airliner after averting scans on two continents -- but the federal Homeland Security chief incredibly claimed yesterday that "everything happened that should have."

"This was one individual literally of thousands that fly and thousands of flights every year," said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who called flying "very, very safe."

"And he was stopped before any damage could be done . . . Once this incident occurred, everything happened that should have."

Napolitano's all-is-well assessment ran counter to that of her boss, President Obama, who called for a total review of procedures at US airports.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told NBC's "Meet the Press" that Obama had ordered a full appraisal of anti-terror flight regulations, "to ensure that there is no clog in the bureaucratic plumbing of information."

Napolitano's astonishing claim in the aftermath of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's failed bombing over Detroit led Rep. Peter King (R-LI) to respond, "The fact is, the system did not work."

The latest system failure came last night at La Guardia. The Post learned that the feds questioned a Florida man after ground crew found what authorities called a "pyrotechnic" aboard a US Airways flight from Baltimore. The 4-inch-long, three-quarter-inch-wide explosive was found wedged between two seats. Authorities collared Thomas Ouelette, 67, of Bonita Springs, Fla., before he boarded his connecting Delta flight to Fort Myers, Fla. The feds said is did not appear terrorism was involved, but Ouelette did have two outstanding Florida warrants for "unlawful flight."

Read more here

Clearly, the "H" isn't for "Humble..."

Looks like a solid B,..M!

Obama Statue Slammed by Facebook Critics

AP

More than 10,000 people join group on social networking site after statue of President Obama as a boy is erected in Indonesia.

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- A statue of President Barack Obama as a boy erected in a Jakarta park has been targeted in a Facebook campaign by thousands who say it should be removed.

The Facebook group named "Take Down the Barack Obama Statue in Taman Menteng Park" had attracted more than 10,000 members by Tuesday since the 43-inch statue of 10-year-old Obama dressed in shorts and a T-shirt was unveiled in the downtown park on Thursday last week.

Heru Nugroho, the group's creator, said he would use the support on the popular social networking Web site to demand that Jakarta Gov. Fauzi Bowo remove the statue.

"Everybody knows that Obama is a world leader, but he is not our national hero who deserves to be awarded a statue," Nugroho said.

"This has hurt our national pride because there are many Indonesian figures who gave worthy service to this nation but no statue has been built for them," he added.

Many Indonesians are proud of the fact that Obama lived in Jakarta from 1967 to 1971 with his American mother, his Indonesian stepfather and his half-sister.

He went by the name "Barry," attended the local elementary school near where his statue now stands and owned a pet monkey.

Peace: An Opportunity Missed?

As Obama stood today and accepted the Nobel Peace Prize, his chance to cement a real reason to deserve such an award is slipping away.

In Iran, the seething anti-theocracy revolt hasn't died down, but instead has percolated below the surface at a slow, rolling boil.

The Basiji and Revolutionary Guard are backing down from confrontations with the Green's leaders, and the movement teeters on a breakthrough.

And when a few words of support from the Obama administration could rally them to a final victory, he remains silent.

This is not some craven crowd of dissidents! The Persians are highly-intelligent. They're well-organized and tech-savvy. They're plugged into the internet, Facebook and Twitter. They know to hit-and-run often enough to confound and confuse the Ahmedinejad regime.

And the White House silence is deafening!!

Is the Obama administration so overly-engrossed in revamping our healthcare system to pay any attention to Iran (witness his dithering over Afghanistan and McChrystal's request)?

Could it be any regime change in Iran the results in a westward-oriented government would be a vindication of Bush's street-level efforts and the left's hatred for anything Bush-positive has blinded them to an opportunity akin to the fall of the Berlin Wall?

Maybe the Nobel people should have waited a year before giving their golden boy his laurels.

Help is Coming? So is CHRISTmas!

The only ones with more employment were the photographers at this photo-op!

WHITE HOUSE TO MAIN STREET TOUR
Obama at LCCC: Help coming America, but it will be awhile

ALLENTOWN | - With a wide-ranging and fast-moving visit to the Lehigh Valley, President Obama kicked off a national tour intended to highlight ways to create jobs in an economy no longer built on the historical bedrock of manufacturing.

Obama said the economy's modest recent upward trend, including a positive jobs report today, is not nearly enough to restore a sense of confidence and security.

"I consider one job loss one too many," Obama said to roars of approval from a crowd of 1,000 at Lehigh Carbon Community College. "Good trends don't pay the rent. We have to grow jobs and get America back on track as soon as we can.

"In the two years since this recession began, too many members of our American family have felt the gut-punch of the pink slip," the president said. "Everyone one of us knows [them]."

The president spent about six hours here, departing at 3:50 p.m.

He stopped first at the Allentown Metal Works -- home to some of the Valley's last steelworkers -- before heading to LCCC.