Dec. 25 (Bloomberg) -- A suspected terrorist tried to blow up a Detroit-bound transatlantic flight with 278 passengers before he was subdued, U.S. officials said.

The passenger was attempting to destroy the plane with an explosive device, said Peter King of New York, the top Republican on the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security. White House officials said President Barack Obama is treating the incident as an attempted terrorist attack. King identified the suspect as Abdul Mudallad of Nigeria.

The incident on Northwest Airlines flight 253 from Amsterdam “definitely appears to be al-Qaeda related,” King said in an interview. “This was not a firecracker. This was for real.”

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2009-12-25/suspected-terrorist-tried-to-blow-up-airplane-officials-say.html

Just saw that on TV a few minutes ago...Guess we can all be grateful tonight that it his little devise was flawed and didn't go off..well didn't blow up the plane anyway. The news say he got burnt pretty bad...

This is kinda getting old. and I'm sick and tired hearing about these....really....leave the stupid airplanes alone... what do they think they gonna accomplish? Even tighter security on airports? They aren't gonna change a damn thing by terrorizing and killing innocents. Just turn the whole world against them.

I guess the info that our going to Iraq created sympathy for al queda all over the world was right.

I kept telling folks you cannot even touch terrorism unless you address all nations all over the world.

Being an international flight, I wonder if the security is as intense where this flight came from?

Amsterdam, I believe...

I haven't heard anything here yet, but I guess I should turn on the news, huh.


My mother was felt up by a female airport security agent when going to Ireland. She said she absolutely refused to fly through Amsterdam again.

I always tell everyone that you can't fight "terrorism" with weapons or armies. Terrorism is not an army or a country, it's an idea. Terrorism has been around since the cavemen. They terrorized each other too.

Ideas can only be fought by ideas.

If "fighting terrorism" could have been won by armies and guns and weapons, then bad parenting could also be fought by guns, right? That's sounds absurd doesn't it? Sure it is. Same as fighting "terror" with guns.

You kill a "terrorist" who has 3 kids...guess what?

You just created 3 more terrorists for the future. Or even more if they got friends, and they do.

It originated in Nigeria, traveled through Amsterdam, to Detroit.

The decades long exploitation of Nigeria made it ripe for the extream poverty and violence that exists there today.

I think we have to recognize our part in what has gone on there and do what we can not to be part of the problem but we are not the only exploiters of Nigeria.

Because we can not control all the borders of the world we have to be even more vigilent about protecting our saftey and economy.

I truely believe part of these attacks are to try to frighten the flying public away from travel and create even more unemployment in various countries they are trying to take over.

I don't think that the fact that air traffic consumes great volumes of fuel and the loss of those sales reduces the revenue of the people who sell fuel.

The people who are doing this crime resent anyone whom they think they are superior to which includes a lot of people. What will turn this terrorism problem around is going to be when the world wises up and unites against the root causes that gives these people power to recruite more terrorists not trying to find them and stuff out because the violence is a chain reaction.

Dang fools here won't secure our borders.
It's as if the powers here want this shiite coming here.