01/02/10
From FOX News
Updated January 02, 2010
Obama Links Terror Plot Suspect to Al Qaeda
In his weekly Internet and radio address, the president said Al Qaeda in the
Arabian Peninsula "trained him, equipped him with those explosives and directed
him to attack that plane headed for America."
President Obama speaks at the Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe
Dec. 29. (Reuters Photo)
HONOLULU - President Barack Obama laid blame Saturday on an Al Qaeda affiliate
for a Christmas Day terrorist attack that has prompted a top-to-bottom review of
how the nation's intelligence agencies failed to prevent the botched bombing
aboard a Detroit-bound airliner.
In his most direct public language to date, the president described the path
through Yemen of 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian accused of
trying to destroy Northwest Flight 253. The president also emphasized that the
United States would continue its partnerships with friendly countries -- citing
Yemen, in particular -- to fight terrorists and extremist groups around the
globe.
Obama's homeland security team has been piecing together just how Abdulmutallab
was able to board the plane. Officials have described flaws in the system and by
those executing the strategy and have delivered a preliminary assessment.
A senior administration official had said the United States was increasingly
confident there was a link between Abdulmutallab and an Al Qaeda affiliate, but
Obama's statement is the strongest connection between the two.
"We're learning more about the suspect," Obama said in his weekly radio and
Internet address that the White House released on Saturday as the president
vacationed in Hawaii.
"We know that he traveled to Yemen, a country grappling with crushing poverty
and deadly insurgencies. It appears that he joined an affiliate of Al Qaeda, and
that this group -- Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula -- trained him, equipped
him with those explosives and directed him to attack that plane headed for
America," the president said.
Did he figure it out by himself or did Biden give him some clues?
