The Dutch police have released two Yemeni men taken off a United Airlines flight that landed in Amsterdam from Chicago, saying there was no evidence connecting them to terrorism. However, the circumstances of their arrest clearly point to a “dry run” or deliberate provocation of security, with important questions remaining unanswered.
The two men, Ahmed Mohammed Nasser al-Soofi and Hezam al-Murisi, were arrested on their way to Yemen, where a very active branch of Al-Qaeda exists led by the American imam Anwar al-Awlaki. The affiliate is known for its success in recruiting Americans, including up to three dozen prison converts. Al-Awlaki has connections to numerous plots, including the Fort Hood shooting and the Christmas Day underwear bomb plot.
Al-Soofi first received scrutiny when he was flying to Chicago from Birmingham. Security found that he had $7,000 in cash on him, as well as a cell phone taped to a Pepto-Bismol bottle, three cell phones taped together, watches taped together, a box cutter and three large knives in his checked baggage. Airport security did not detect explosives and allowed al-Soofi and his materials to make it to Chicago.
In Chicago, both he and al-Murisi missed their flight and so they were booked on another flight to Amsterdam at the last moment. Al-Soofi’s luggage had already been boarded on his original flight going to Dulles Airport to Dubai to Yemen. When the authorities learned al-Soofi did not go on that flight, his bags were taken off of the flight. Officials are telling the press that the two men did not know each other, but witnesses say the two men sat together and appeared to know each other. Detroit law enforcement sources, however, confirm the two were friends and the men were allowed to fly for “investigative purposes.”
There has been no explanation given as to why al-Soofi had those items or why authorities concluded after their arrest that there was no connection to terrorism. Steve Schippert, co-founder of the Center for Threat Awareness and Managing Editor of ThreatsWatch.org, told FrontPage that if the incident was a dry run, it would fit a pattern as terrorists who are known to carefully rehearse and plan their operations.
“Terrorists do not just grab some chemicals that go boom, mix them, and board a flight or park a truck blindly. They must case, do surveillance, determine likelihood of success. Jihadi terrorists are very risk averse,” Schippert said. He said that terrorists are very careful because “For them, losing a jihadi to capture is like having an aircraft carrier sunk in a naval battle.”
He also theorized that al-Soofi and his possible accomplice may have been deliberately trying to provoke security, perhaps hoping to file a lawsuit claiming they were discriminated against as part of “lawfare.”
It's possible that this was just a little known ramadamadingdong custom. I've heard that some other muslim customs revolve around worshipping a "moon god" that was made up by a pedophilic terrorist murderer named mohamad (aka mad mo). Apparently, he even wrote a "book" that was actually formed during a bout of intestinal distress. At the beginning of the dump, it formed what he called "the 99 names of that moon god". He deemed that subsequent squirts would be known as "suras", and the koran was born! The koran, from my understanding, is a collection of disgusting rantings written in feces. That about right?
And a happy ramadamdingdong to all, and to all a good nite!
great sense of humor, I love it and how true. be safe and keep up the insights.
C’mon folks! Can’t you see that they are not box cutters, but sheetrock knifes? Are we profiling carpenters now? And taping cell phone to antacid bottles is a great idea. How many times do you get upset during a call? Now if it were a shampoo bottle, I’d worry.
No, this was NOT a "dry run."
This was a "harassment" mission intended to keep the level of anxiety up.
These men might as well have had the words "Look at me – I am a Terrorist" written on their foreheads as they followed the classic checklist in the manual from hell. Why are we aiding and abetting protagonists of "dry runs"? Every one of the shady characters mentioned in the article, along with the two Yemenis, should still be cooling their heels in Federal lock-up, their computers dissected, and their associations investigated, each of them deported to the oily sand pits from whence they came. Oh, but I forgot — we are now building bridges with jihadists who will traverse those bridges of peace with hearts full of rage and hatred for the West, intent on our destruction, and filled with dark hope for the triumph of their collective plan for victory over the infidels.
And these clowns are not in Gitmo because…………..?
let the poor guys go. After all this seems to be the policy of this White House. let the Gitmo detainees go to fight us once again. Don't try the Cole killers. Continue to delay the trials of those that brought us the fall of the Twin towers and almost 3,000 Americans on our own soil. And on and on when it comes to any Muslim or Black Panther being brought to justice under this DOJ and Administration. We have DEVOTE Muslims in our Justice Department and the Pentagon in high offices. (When have you ever heard we have a devote Catholic or any other religion touted to the press?) These people are treasonous as far as I am concerned. thankfully we have thus far been safe from attack due to diligence and with the help of a now aware citizenry, but we have had more attempts since President Obama has been in office than ever before.
it was either a dry run or devised to keep our attention from elsewhere.
the govt. has no real ability to combat a war on terror at this point.
While the current occupant of the White House coddles Muslims – after all, they are his peeps – he only has two years left. These practicioners of the religion of pieces are going to ramp up their assaults during these years. My question is: how many deaths will it take to rouse the American populous?
There is no innocent explanation for this stunt. It was obviously a dry run to test airline security procedures. Probably other dry runs are going on all the time. It wasn't a set-up for a lawsuit, because even the stupidest judge or jury would understand what was going on.
On the one hand, these two should have been kept in custody and sweated until they told everything they knew. On the other hand, it is conceivable they were allowed to go in order to keep an eye on them and see who they are in contact with.
Why even bother with security, if you're just going to let such characters go?
Just let them blow up whatever they want – after all, it's their RIGHT!!
As we know, Muslims have all manner of special rights: For example, it doesn't matter who the Ground Zero mosque figures are, where they're getting their money from, if the transactions are all legal, or if they themselves are even legal American citizens – as "moderate Muslim" Reza Aslan says, "American Muslims have the right to build whatever they want, wherever they want. Period."
Apparently, American Muslims have the right to build a bomb on an aircraft. Period. So why can't their Yemeni brethren do it as well?
Pepto bismol is much denser than water and would show up much differently than most fluids. Perhaps the same density as an explosive? I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere and though I have never x-rayed an explosive I have x-rayed bodies with antacids and they show up fine. If they had wiring connected to them I'd be worried.