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CIA admits tracking 'The Nigerian' before NorthWest terror attack
THE CIA was tracking a person of interest known as "The Nigerian" - who was in fact airline bomb suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab - as early as August, CBS News reports.

The connection between "The Nigerian" and Mr Abdulmutallab was not made when the 23-year-old's father contacted the US embassy in Nigeria in November to warn them of his son's radicalisation.

CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said the intelligence agency did not have Mr Abdulmutallab's name until November.

And they did not know he was "The Nigerian" until after his attempt to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day.

"In November, we worked with the embassy to ensure he was in the Government's terrorist database-including mention of his possible extremist connections in Yemen," Mr Gimigliano said.

"We also forwarded key biographical information about him to the National Counter-terrorism Center.

"This agency, like others in our Government, is reviewing all data to which it had access - not just what we ourselves may have collected - to determine if more could have been done to stop Abdulmutallab."
Of course more could have been done. More always could have been done. The question is whether it is realistic to expect that more would be done. If yes, practices need to change. If no, then let's just be grateful we got lucky this time.
US authorities yesterday displayed the underwear Mr Abdulmutallab was wearing on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day.

Explosives had been sewn into them.

As the plane approached Detroit the material ignited, shooting 1.8m flames up the cabin wall.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which has claimed the attack, said the device failed because of a "faulty detonator".
Question: was the faulty detonator the fault of poor bomb making by the Al Qaeda bomb-making expert, or was young Mr. Abdulmutallab a poor choice to detonate the bomb?

Posted by: tipper 2009-12-29
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=286702