- Fears Al Qaeda groomed bomber at London University
- Obama criticises U.S. intelligence service after data from bomber's father was 'not effectively distributed'
- Claim U.S. security was aware 'a Nigerian' in Yemen was being prepared for an attack - weeks before attempted bombing
- Dutch introduce body scanners for flights to America
The Christmas Day bomb plotter helped organise a 'war on terror' conference while studying in the UK, it emerged today.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab oversaw the week-long event, held two years ago, during his time as president of University College London's (UCL) Islamic Society.
The 23-year-old attempted to ignite explosives stored in his underpants as the flight from Amsterdam, carrying 280 passengers, made its final descent into Detroit on Friday.
A series of lectures were held at UCL from January 29 2007 to February 2 2007, including one called 'Jihad Vs Terrorism'.
It was billed as a 'lecture on the Islamic position with respect to Jihad and other issues'.
During the conference he held lectures such as Jihad v Terrorism, which was billed as 'a lecture on the Islamic position with respect to jihad', and hosted talks by former Guantanamo Bay detainees.
A poster advertising the week carries the name Umar Farook and includes events featuring former British Guantanamo detainee Moazzam Begg entitled Bring Our Boys Home.
Another was called And The War Goes On, with controversial MP George Galloway listed among the speakers. Mr Galloway denies ever having spoken at such an event.
His wealthy family said they believed he was radicalised while attending the British International School in Lome, the capital of Togo and after he broke off contact, they approached foreign security agencies expressing concern about his state of mind and requesting 'assistance to find and return him home'.
Home Secretary Alan Johnson has revealed Abdulmutallab was banned from entering Britain and placed on a 'watch list' earlier this year. He was refused a new visa and was monitored since last May after applying for a bogus course.
It was also revealed today MI5 managed to link Abdulmutallab to a known Muslim extremist while he was living in Britain.
The agency had the extremist under surveillance. The connection was discovered when MI5 checked its records following the failed attack, security sources told the paper.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, an alliance of militants based in Saudi Arabia and Yemen, said the action was retaliation for a US operation against the group in Yemen.
The group said in an internet statement that the failed attack exposed the 'large myth' of American and international security services and claimed only a 'technical error' had prevented the bomb from detonating.
Yemeni foreign minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi said there were as many as 300 Al Qaeda militants planning terror attacks from his country and appealed for more help from the international community to train and equip forces to root them out.
Dr al-Qirbi said it was the 'responsibility' of countries with strong intelligence capabilities to warn states such as Yemen about the movements of terror suspects.
And he said that the U.S., Britain and the EU could do 'a lot' to improve Yemen's response to militants on its own soil.
'We have to work in a very joint fashion in partnership to combat terrorism,' he said. 'If we do, the problem will be brought under control.
'There is support, but I must say it is inadequate. We need more training, we have to expand our counter-terrorism units and provide them with equipment and transportation like helicopters.'
The Dutch government said a preliminary investigation had found all security checks were carried out correctly and a passenger list, including Abdulmutallab's name, had been cleared by American authorities.
Today it announced that body scanners would be introduced at Schiphol Airport, in Amsterdam, for flights to America.
As it was revealed today that American security services received intelligence suggesting 'a Nigerian' in Yemen was planning a terrorist attack weeks before a passenger jet was targeted on Christmas Day, US President Barack Obama condemned his country's intelligence failures.
President Obama said their had been a 'systemic failure' that allowed the bomb plotter to board the aircraft despite warnings about his extremist views.
Mr Obama branded as 'unacceptable' the fact that agencies did not properly share information on Umar Farouk Adbulmutallab - information that, if it had been passed on properly, would have barred him from flying.
He said initial investigations into the failed attack had found the information passed on by the father of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was not passed on.
'Where our government has information on a known extremist and that information is not shared and acted upon as it should have so that this extremist boarded a plane with dangerous explosives that could have cost nearly 300 lives, a systemic failure has occurred and I consider that totally unacceptable,' he said.
'We need to learn from this episode and act quickly to fix the flaws in our system because our security is at stake and lives are at stake,' he said last night in a statement from Hawaii where he is holidaying with his family.
Mr Obama said the concerns of the suspect's father, expressed to U.S. officials in his native Nigeria, had been passed to the U.S. authorities 'weeks ago'.
'Weeks ago, this information was passed to a component of our intelligence community but was not effectively distributed so as to get the suspect's name on a no-fly list,' he said.
But he said even without that warning, the U.S. had enough material to have ensured Abdulmutallab would not have been free to fly.
'There were bits of information available within the intelligence community which could have, and should have, been pieced together.
'Had this critical information been shared, it could have been compiled with other intelligence and a fuller clearer picture of the suspect would have emerged.'The warning signs would have triggered red flags and the suspect would have never been allowed to board that plane for America.'
The anti-terrorism intelligence system put in place in the wake of the 9/11 attacks was 'not sufficiently up to date to take full advantage of the information we collect and the knowledge we have'.
The President paid tribute to the 'extraordinary' work of U.S. intelligence in general, but conceded that in this case there had been 'a mix of human and systemic failures that contributed to this potentially catastrophic breach of security'.
While he was committed to providing all the tools and resources necessary, 'it is also my job to ensure the intelligence, law enforcement and homeland security systems, and the people in them, are working effectively and held accountable'.
'I intend to fulfill that responsibility and insist on accountability at every level.'
Nigerian-born Abdulmutallab is being held at a federal prison in Michigan on a charge of trying to destroy an aircraft after attempting to ignite the device as the plane made its final descent into Detroit on Friday.
0 comments:
Post a Comment