The president’s world wide apology tour apparently may – possibly – have dampened the ardor of the world wide ummah for the Qaedist argument, but apparently has not succeeded in converting the radicals themselves back to rationality:
America’s top intelligence official told lawmakers on Tuesday that Al Qaeda and its affiliates had made it a high priority to attempt a large-scale attack on American soil within the next six months…
Citing a recent wave of terrorist plots, including the failed Dec. 25 attempt to blow up an airliner as it approached Detroit, Mr. Blair and other intelligence officials told a Senate panel that Al Qaeda had adjusted its tactics to more effectively strike American targets domestically and abroad.
“The biggest threat is not so much that we face an attack like 9/11,” said Leon E. Panetta, the C.I.A. director. “It is that Al Qaeda is adapting its methods in ways that oftentimes make it difficult to detect.”
Perhaps the jihadis sense a certain dissonance in his message, reaching out in friendship on the one hand while hurling LGBs and Maverick missiles down from Predator drones on the other. Or perhaps the terror master minds have not received matching contributions to their 401Ks.
Whatever, it’s not over.
Back at home, FBI officials say that the panty bomber is now singing like a bird. In a soprano, I should think:
“With the family, the F.B.I. approached the suspect,” the senior administration official said, speaking to reporters at the White House on the condition of anonymity because of the pending legal case. “He has been cooperating for days.”
And since a senior administration official has said so, I have no reason to doubt it. :-J
This statement is no doubt intended to deflate the political argument that the government lost a crucial opportunity to gain tactical intel by Mirandizing Farouk the De-gendered soon after his attempted bombing on Christmas Day, and it might just sell to the masses. Those who are trained interrogators (or who have been trained to resist interrogation) know that there are different layers of intelligence gathering, and that the information gained soon after capture, when a subject is most disoriented and his information freshest can be exceptionally valuable. After a few days the opportunity for rapid kinetic response diminishes, and information provided afterward tends to be useful background to an already data rich mosaic, but not much else.
Farouk has been silent for a month.
Read between the lines – They tout this “story” to the world and see what the reaction is when it hits back in the AFGHN/PAK.
Like any good cardplayer, you want the other competitors to think you have a strong hand to knock them out early in the game OR you lure them in with a weak front and get them to risk their stake. once you lure them in, then you show the Aces you were holding in your hand.
Either way, Mr. “What Happened to my Bits?” is likely to be in the FBI/CIA Hilton for the forseeable future….Likely the best accomadations he has had provided to him in his lifetime.
I think the reaction will be that we are a bunch of boneheads.
If we catch their operatives, we’ll mirandize them and they can shut up for two months so their organization can adjust its plans. Then after two months they can start talking again to cut some sort of deal, as whatevere perishable intelligence they once had is of no great value anymore. And the administration will trumpet that information to the world to reassure its audience it really isn’t the bunch of bumblers it truly is.
We aren’t good poker players. I learned that watching how we handled Saddam Hussein. For twelve years we had administrations publicly telling the D.C. press corps something like:
“Saddam Hussein is not cooperating, so we will now bluff him into cooperating by putting on a show of force. But don’t worry, it’s only a show because we have no intention of going all the way to Baghdad as that would break up the coalition. And his successor would probably be just as bad or worse anyway. Ready? Here comes the bluff. Watch how well it’s going to work as he can’t be sure we’re only bluffing.”
I really wish it were the case that the wizards in DC were masters of 3-dimensional chess and that they’ve already mapped out al-Qaeda’s next 12 moves, etc.
But, no. I’m afraid this is really just what it appears to be on the surface. That the same people who screwed the pooch initially are more concerned about conducting a domestic PR campaign to try to recover their reputations than about protecting information.
The administration has been desperate to claim that it’s complete lack of preparation to deal with terrorists apprehended domestically, failure to actually put together the HIG it announed in August, and unthinking impulse to put these people in the civil justice system was really a masterful plan. But only because Abdullmutallab’s family dropped the dime on him to begin with, and urged him to cooperate. Like we can depend on that on a regular basis.
Remember, as we found out after the Soviet Union fell apart, the function of the Soviet ambassador in DC was just to assure the Kremlin that when the US adopted a positition against its own interests that, no, it wasn’t some sort of clever trick. We really were that stupid.
And by the way, SK1, since the guy lived in a $4M bachelor pad in London while going to school with a lifestyle fully subsidized by his rich banker dad, I doubt Club Fed is his idea of a luxury suite.
Getting things going…
AQ might be feeling the slipping support: why else “make a high priority” something that they haven’t managed and/or bothered to do since 9/11?
As to Farouk: discovering that the FBI has mishandled an investigation? Depressing, but not really earth-shattering.
With the intel-gathering, I assume you’re referring to the decreasing usefulness of any info held by the subject, thanks to real-world changes and scattering of any other vermin, post-capture?
Or decay of memory?
Man, am I havin’ fun watching this Key-stone Cops farce unfold. I’m just sittin’ here eatin’ that s**t with a spoon. Is it even POSSIBLE to f**k things up even MORE than we have already? The mind reels….must…..have……..MORE Barbancourt…..mass quantities…
It’s like a failing TV series, with the writers coming up with absurd new story arcs every day. We keep watching the show thinking they can’t be this screwed up, hoping the season will end well. They keep going back to the well on this one, and the well is drying up.
So VX, have you reached the “tipping point”? (Barbancourt-wise)
I dunno about the “tipping point,” BillK, but I’ve got the “tippling” part covered–down pat.
Looks like he’s suffering a massive deficiency of his favorite alcohol carrier. I guess there has been a serious supply disruption or there is suddenly a greater competition for said supply in the NO area.
If the subject matter weren’t so serious it would be amusing.
I just get the feeling that all their public statements are meant to assure the American people they aren’t as cavalier about this as their actions would seem to indicate.
I’m no security or intelligence expert but why would we broadcast to the enemy that he is “singing like a canary” – would seem elementatry to let them wonder.
But then I’m not watching the poll number and such.
That was exactly my reaction when I read that the administration leaked that the DoS deliberately let Abdullmutallab get a visa because the CIA spooks were monitoring him and his associates, and if his visa was denied or revoked it would alert them that we were onto them.
That only makes sense as pure CYA. As the late Sen. Moynihan put it, “boob bait for the bubbas.”
I wish this maladminstation weren’t full of Bubbas.
If someone is actually able to pull off a mass murder after all this crap the Obama admin is toast…
So, what’s more likely? Information is being leaked to further the U.S.’s interests abroad? Or to further the Administration’s political interests domestically?
Heh. I’m from the Chicago area, where our President grew up politically. I know which way I’m voting ….
So is the difference between “tipping” & “tippling” like the difference between taking a “nip” and taking a …? I’m just inquiring about bottles, you see…
That last was meant for VX, sorry.