Posted by 9jabook.com on December 30, 2009 at 8:52am
America, al-Qaeda and home-made bombs From shoes to soft drinks to underpants was culled and rewriteen from the Economist Magazine .
The attempted bombing of an airliner highlights gaps in intelligence-sharing and airport security
THE charred underpants of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tell the story of a terrorist attack averted only by luck. The 23-year-old son of a prominent Nigerian banker had hidden a fistful of high explosive in a package sewed into the crotch of his underwear. As Northwest Airlines flight 253 from Amsterdam prepared to land in Detroit on Christmas Day, with 290 people on board, he covered himself with a blanket and injected a chemical to detonate the explosive. Mr Abdulmutallab succeeded only in starting a fire, which was put out by passengers and the cabin crew as they wrestled him down.
Al-Qaeda’s latest attempt to blow up an America-bound airliner—after Richard Reid’s failed shoe-bomb in 2001, and the arrest in 2006 of Britons planning to destroy several aircraft with liquid explosives in soft-drink bottles—will bring yet more misery for travellers. Security queues immediately lengthened. Despite worries about privacy, there were calls for the introduction of full-body scanners to identify items under clothing that cannot be found with metal-detectors. Some passengers were even being told to stay in their seats, without blankets or even books on their laps, for the last hour of their flight.
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Al-Qaeda’s branch in Yemen quickly took the credit, hailing Mr Abdulmutallab as a “brother hero” for evading security screening and intelligence monitoring. More attacks were in the works: “With Allah’s permission, we will come to you from where you do not expect.”
Yet the attack should not have been unexpected. Al-Qaeda’s Yemeni branch has been resurgent since it merged a year ago with the remnants of the decimated Saudi franchise to relaunch “al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula”, boosted by the influx of several veterans of Guantánamo Bay. It has moved from attacks against targets in Yemen to a regional agenda, and now to global jihad. A Yemeni preacher, Anwar al-Awlaki, exchanged e-mails with Major Nidal Hasan, the American army psychiatrist who killed 13 people in November at a base in Fort Hood, Texas.
The Yemeni branch seems to have pioneered the underpants-bomb in August, when it nearly killed Prince Muhammad bin Nayef, Saudi Arabia’s deputy interior minister. Mr Abdulmutallab is said to have obtained the same explosive, known as PETN, in Yemen and carried it undetected as he travelled through Ethiopia, Ghana and Nigeria to Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, where he boarded flight 253.
Other chances to foil the attack were missed. Nigerian authorities, and the American embassy in Abuja, were told in November by Mr Abdulmutallab’s father that his son had become an extremist and had disappeared, maybe to Yemen. The younger Mr Abdulmutallab was placed on the least important of America’s four terrorism watch-lists, and he kept his multiple-entry visa to the United States.
In Britain, though, officials said Mr Abdulmutallab had “crossed the radar screen” of MI5, the domestic intelligence service, for radical links during his time as a mechanical-engineering student (and at one point president of the Islamic Society) at University College London between 2005 and 2008. He was placed on an immigration watch-list in May 2009, after he was denied another student visa for applying to a bogus college.
Why nobody linked all these danger signals is the subject of urgent investigation, and the cause of growing embarrassment for the Obama administration. Janet Napolitano, the homeland-security secretary, declared initially on December 27th that “the system has worked really very, very smoothly”, only to accept the next day that the system had in fact “failed miserably”. Then Barack Obama twice broke away from his holiday in Hawaii to speak in increasingly blunt terms about the “mix of human and systemic failures that contributed to this potential catastrophic breach of security”. Mr Abdulmutallab was a “known extremist”. The warning from his father had not been effectively distributed in the intelligence system; even without it there were other “bits of information” that should have raised red flags and kept him off planes flying to America. Officials say these “bits” included reports that an unnamed Nigerian was being prepared for an attack, and that al-Qaeda wanted to strike over Christmas. Mr Obama promised “accountability at every level”, and ordered that a preliminary review be completed by December 31st.
The blame game
Many Republicans already argue that Mr Obama is soft on terrorism; he prefers to denounce “violent extremists” than to refer to George Bush’s “war on terror”. Ms Napolitano has been mocked for talking of “man-caused” disasters—in order, she says, to avoid the politics of fear. The loudest complaints have been prompted by Mr Obama’s promise to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay (where nearly half the remaining detainees are Yemeni) and the decision to try five suspected terrorists (including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged September 11th mastermind) in civilian courts.
It is difficult, though, for Mr Obama’s opponents to make a persuasive case so soon after he decided to send an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan. On his watch American drones and special forces have been busier than ever, not only in Afghanistan and Pakistan but also, it is reported, in Somalia and Yemen. Mr Obama restated that every element of America’s power would be used “to disrupt, to dismantle, and defeat the violent extremists who threaten us—whether they are from Afghanistan or Pakistan, Yemen or Somalia, or anywhere where they are plotting attacks against the US homeland.”
Intelligence analysts reckon that strikes have weakened al-Qaeda’s “core” leadership in Pakistan’s lawless border region. Perhaps so. But al-Qaeda is adaptable, inventive and is seeking new bases. Joe Lieberman, the hawkish independent senator, says he was warned by an American official in Yemen: “Iraq was yesterday’s war. Afghanistan is today’s war. If we don’t act pre-emptively, Yemen will be tomorrow’s war.”
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A good friend showed me the way to a home boutique last week. These are prized haunts in uptown Johannesburg because they suggest by their very size and inherent uniqueness that the goods they harbour will be imported, from a limited inventory and therefore exclusive, truly one in town.
Shoe shopping is a pastime that makes most women’s eyes light up. So I drove behind her in happy anticipation of irresistible bargains and pleasant female bonding. It was not to be and I knew that deep down. Soon to be fifty-six is a far cry from twenty five when the threshold for pain and discomfort in pursuit of beauty is as sky high as the heels that are now the current fashion.
I did try a pair, the lowest of the highs available with the latest thick, curving, heel and a vamp that thrust the arch of the foot forward and encased it in wide leather bands that allowed a glimpse of the toes, a traditional seductive hide and seek effect. Yeah, right.
But there was no way to walk in those structures without cringing at each step and how unsexy is that? Those shoes may have been to die for, but I was not prepared to.
Somehow when you are young and female, you do not think like that, and you are not expected to either. Joseph Wayas,
Second Republic Senate President knew a thing or two where that was concerned.
In a story he recounted himself, he announced he had a peeve about women,
especially fine young women, in cheap scruffy shoes. He never let them walk into his presence. He once sent a young lady who had came to see him out of his office with money to get herself a pair of befitting shoes before she came in to see him again.
We all know how that goes, the scrutinizing stare that starts at your feet first and ends up at your face. It puts a whole new meaning to Shakespeare’s description of the eyes as the window to the soul.
Only your shoes.
Women especially have honed this skill of instantaneous assessment, grading and filing to a fine art. Men are not bad at it either but their parameters tend to be far more humane and generous, as exemplified by the former Senate President.
For a young working girl, next to rent, and possibly a car, shoes are a major budget priority. Cheap or expensive, they cost a lot to maintain. First of all Nigerian streets are not kind to shoes and delicate heels do not have a chance. The tips come off and once that happens the lining on the shank peels and tears. So no matter how well groomed you look on top, your shoes tell the story of the struggle that is your life.
In the old days, right beside the famous Balogun market in downtown Lagos, the shoe emporium of choice, were a slew of repair shops, Lady Cobbler was one of them if I remember correctly. Today shoe repair kiosks dot our city landscapes.
If you ever wondered why shoes in the markets look squeezed out of shape, just imagine the conditions under which they were “imported” and say to yourself ditto for the Nigerian garment retail trade.
Long after rush hour in Lagos one would drive by a trail of shoes and slippers on a highway, a testimony to the scramble to get transport and in one glance you would get a window into the soul of life in Lagos, for a majority of its population.
For the other minority in the old GRA (government reserved area) bastions stilettos, kitten heels, Manholo Blahniks and Christian Laboutins can work. Its out of the air conditioned house, into the air conditioned car and up the air conditioned elevator in clean, freshly pressed clothes all things, especially diesel and generator, being equal. It is still high maintenance albeit at a different level.
On the streets though, the corner shoe kiosks with heaps of sturdy, wide heeled sandals, made of strong, synthetic material, fashioned for balance comfort and unimpeded movement, tell the story of how the other majority navigate the streets of their lives. More women in trousers is part of the tale,
it’s easier to get on to a motorbike. Smaller shacks and a reduced ‘inventory” relates to how much a trader can carry on an Okada More people walking on bridges and highways, describes the expanding urban centres and a buying capacity that is still shrinking.
Those shoe littered streets are less evident now in Lagos with an augmented public transport system and attention now paid to cleaning the streets. But the pressure is unceasing.
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Posted by Egbes Ogbeide on January 19, 2009 at 8:52pm
The time-honoured narrative is etched on the soleLike a metaphor— an understatement of a rare gem’s soulJust half of his story which reflects our very own livesThat from adversity, a patient phoenix soars and thrivesIt is the seal of greatness; encased in meekness and modestyThey bespeak the spirit that underscores his personalityThe logo of the man with unblemished integrityHere’s the insignia of one who knows his priorityAlas, this is the imprimatur of a fella who loves humanityWhose fight for our freedoms, was fraught with humbling dignityNow his footprints are engraved on the heart of mankindAs a beacon—our inspiration—a genuis— a priceless findIt is the badge of a rara avis—unique and one of a kindTired shoes! Well-travelled feet—the independence of mindThis is the symbol of distinction—of remarkable characterA sterling emblem of an outstanding political caretakerStatue of Illinois Gov, US Ambsador to the UN, Democrat Nominee Adlai StevensonThey are the eloquent testament to a message of hopeThat provides a clear viewfinder to our visions from a wider scopeThe brilliant architect of a matchless political campaignThese shoes paved his path to the Whitehouse to voice our painObama, The Compassionate had dreams from his fatherAudaciously, he entreated—please, “Be Your Brother’s Keeper”He is a leading servant with a phenomenal abilityThese shoes show his mettle—the mace of authorityRemember, Remember the fourth of NovemberWe thronged out to victory—We Voted ObamaHe walked to greatness in humble shoes— that’s our manThat one who carried our weight and cried out, “Yes We Can”Samira Edi
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