U.S. Charges Suspect, Eyeing Link to Qaeda in Yemen

[TomCADem]

Source: NY Times

WASHINGTON — The 23-year-old Nigerian man who was charged on Saturday with trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas told investigators he had obtained explosive chemicals from a bomb expert in Yemen associated with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a law enforcement official said.

Authorities have not independently corroborated the Yemen connection claimed by the suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who was burned in his failed attempt to bring down the airliner. But the law enforcement official said the suspect’s account was “plausible,” adding, “I see no reason to discount it.”

“The facts are still emerging, but there are strong suggestions of a Yemen-Al Qaeda connection and an intent to blow up the plane over U.S. airspace,” said Representative Jane Harman, a California Democrat who heads the House Homeland Security subcommittee on intelligence.

Mr. Abdulmutallab told F.B.I. agents he was connected to the Al Qaeda affiliate, which operates largely in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, by a radical Yemeni cleric whom he contacted via the Internet.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/27/us/27terror.html

[Way2go]

1. Will this result in an expansion of the Anti-Terrorism Act or the

Patriot Act or _____?

[Bette Noir]

4. Spread the war to Yemen.

[dipsydoodle]

2. They'd already said

in out UK TV news words to the effect that the event was likely blowback from the recent attacks on the Yemen.

You reap what you sow.

[madrchsod]

3. that`s where al qaeda`s leadership is...

we are not fighting the main leadership of the al qaeda in afganistan and pakistan because they are in yemen.