Frugal Café Blog Zone

Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on December 28, 2009

After her incredibly lame claim that national security was fine and dandy, and that Homeland Security’s “system worked” when known radical Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was able to board on Christmas Day the NWA plane (despite two years of warning signals and his own concerned father reporting last month to the UN in Nigeria that his son was a serious risk), then attempt to blow up the Detroit-bound Flight 253, DHS head Janet Napolitano is doing a rapid back-pedaling, 180-degree turn on her previous assertion.

Now, Napolitano concedes that our nation’s security system — that she is responsible for — “failed miserably.”

Duh.

She also claims, in her moronic defense, that her original comments that “the system worked” that aired live on a number of news shows were taken out of context. Yeah, right.

Keep dancing, Janet, you statist idiot.

Clueless Napolitano Now Concedes System ‘Failed Miserably’

Here’s a video of a news broadcast that aired prior to Napolitano admitting the failure of her department to keep America safe… try to not take her comments “out of context.”

Janet Napolitano: “The system worked”

Important reading, from Ohiobelle: 25 British-born Muslims are plotting to bomb Western airliners.

Had Abjulmutallab’s detonator not malfunctioned, likely all on the flight would have been killed. Here’s a breakdown on the properties and dangers of the chemical pentaerythritol tetranitrate, or PETN for short:

From Wall Street Journal, A Primer in PETN:

PETN, the explosive that nearly doomed Northwest Airlines Flight 253 in Detroit on Christmas Day, is a white powder that can deliver powerful blasts in quantities as small as tenths or hundredths of a pound.

But generally, it can’t be lit with a match or otherwise set off without using a detonator or mixing it with a chemical to cause an explosion.

WSJ’s Ron Winslow tells the News Hub’s Simon Constable more about pentaerythritol tetranitrate, or PETN, the chemical that was allegedly used to try and blow up an an airplane on Christmas Day.

“It’s a high explosive; it’s one of the more sensitive things to handle,” said Jimmie Carol Oxley, co-director of the Center of Excellence In Explosives Detection, Mitigation, Response and Characterization at the University of Rhode Island, Kingston. “But it doesn’t initiate with a flame.”

Her view, consistent with initial reports from investigators of the incident, is that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian accused of trying to blow up the plane, “was looking for a chemical reaction that would be hot enough to initiate” the PETN and cause it to explode. “It’s not impossible, but it’s not easy either and it obviously didn’t work for him,” Prof. Oxley said.

Mr. Abdulmutallab allegedly was carrying a syringe with liquid believed to be an agent he was mixing with PETN to cause it to explode. Unlike a detonator such as a blasting cap, a syringe and PETN are very difficult to detect with X-ray equipment commonly used at airport security checkpoints.

Residue from the powder, though, is easily detectable with swabs that security personnel often use to wipe off briefcases, luggage and other personal items taken through checkpoints. Prof. Oxley has done research indicating PETN residue can be detected in human hair.

“We’ve been very successful looking at people’s hair as evidence that they’re handling explosives,” she said. “That’s not a common screening tool used in the airport.”

PETN, or pentaerythritol tetranitrate, is made by numerous manufacturers, many of them small, in the U.S. and abroad. The powder is suspected in other terrorist attacks, including the failed attempt in 2001 by Richard Reid to blow up a jetliner over the Atlantic Ocean with explosives hidden in his shoes.

Although Napolitano and Team Obama are of the assumption that Abdulmutallab acted alone and are not convinced that he is with al Qaeda as he claims, nor as al Qaeda itself has claimed, Dutch authorities don’t agree and are digging deeper (thank God… trusting Czarina Napolitano at this point to actually do something RIGHT during this terrorist investigation is much like asking a 2-year-old to potty-train early):

Hot Air: Dutch police investigating reports of Abdulmutallab accomplice

Any wagers on when clueless Czarina Janet will be thrown under the Team Obama bus and fired? Also, not a peep from Pres. Obama to his nation since the Christmas Day foiled terrorist attack… POTUS must be body surfing about now.

From Jonah Goldberg, National Review Online: Fire Napolitano:

Understandably, the White House is trying very hard to get out in front of the would-be Christmas bomber story. The head of the Department of Homeland Security isn’t helping. I watched her on three shows and each time she was more annoying, maddening and absurd than the previous appearance. It is her basic position that the “system worked” because the bureaucrats responded properly after the attack. That the attack was “foiled” by a bad detonator and some civilian passengers is proof, she claims, that her agency is doing everything right. That is just about the dumbest thing she could say, on the merits and politically. I would wager that not one percent of Americans think the system is “working” when terrorists successfully get bombs onto planes (and succeed in activating them). Probably even fewer think it’s fair that they have to take off their shoes, endure delays and madness while a known Islamic radical — turned in by his own father — can waltz onto a plane (and into the country). DHS had no role whatsoever in assuring that this bomb didn’t go off. By her logic if the bomb had gone off, the system would have “worked” since it has done everything right…

Related reading:
Andrew Marcus, Big Government: America’s Drone War In Yemen: Al-Jazeera’s Take
Gateway Pundit: Obama on Undie Bomber: “We Will Not Rest Until We Find All Who Were Involved… If You Need Me I’ll Be Snorkeling.” and Obama Earns a ‘Good Solid F’ For Protecting Americans and Former Gitmo Detainees Lead Yemeni Al-Qaeda Group Linked to Detroit Bomber and Flight 253 Terrorist Says There Are More Like Him in Yemen; Dutch Are Looking For Bomber’s Accomplice and Angela Merkel Speaks Out In Support of Iranian Freedom Protesters… Obama Heads to the Beach and MASSIVE PROTESTS IN IRAN– Protesters Beat & Stone Regime Thugs – Torch Police Cars and Pathetic. Obama White House Finds Way to Blame Bush for Detroit Terror Attempt and Too Funny. Far Left Finally Discovers Obama Is a Weak Leader and After Passenger Saves Plane From Terrorist Bombing– New Rules Require Heroic Passengers to Stay Seated During Last Hour of Flight
Protein Wisdom: Crotch bomber is Obama Admin’s failure [Darleen Click]
The Powers That Be: Al Qaeda Claims Responsibility for Plane Attack; Bin Laden Releases Special Message and Janet Napolitano: The Joycelyn Elders of National Security
Ace of Spades HQ: Oh, I’m So Relieved; Obama “Likely” To Speak About Christmas Day Attack
VotingFemale Speaks!: Give American Muslims reason to fix their Islamic Jihad Problem; yes it is their problem and Homeland Insecurity Janet’s little problem – Enemy Identification; They are Muslim, Janet, Muslim and Hey DHS? Start crotch groping all male air travellers like you groped all women’s boobs a few years ago
Nice Deb: We Are Being Governed By Children and Iranian Basij Commander Orders Guards To Beat Protesters: “Beat Them Silly, Tear Them Apart”
Hot Air Green Room: Could Obama have handled the Christmas Day attack any worse?; UPDATED
Michelle Malkin: The myth of the poor, oppressed jihadist and Breaking: Second Nigerian on Detroit-bound flight arrested; Update: “Stomach problems” and Clown alert: Janet Napolitano says the “system worked” and Incident on NWA Flight 253? Update: suspect claims al Qaeda direction; Update: An attempted act of terror
City on a Hill Political Observer: Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano’s deranged view of success
Pat Dollard: Al Qaeda On Abdulmutallab: Yep, That Was Us
Frugal Café Blog Zone: Abdulmutallab Says More al Qaeda to Come, Obama Enjoying Beaches of Hawaii (video) and Obama’s on Vacation, So Iranian Civilian Deaths & Terrorist Airplane Attacks Will Just Have to Wait (video) and Team Obama: Heroism to Be Outlawed Because of Airline Passengers Stopping Muslim Terrorist from Blowing Up Plane Going to Detroit and Prez Spendthrift: Luxury Hawaiian Mansion for the Obamas’ Christmas Vacation (video) and Christmas Miracle: Attempted Terrorist Attack on Plane Headed for Detroit Prevented by Passengers

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