Jet passengers overpower would-be bomber

A Nigerian man on an Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight allegedly tried to blow up the airliner, which landed safely. The suspect is badly hurt. Authorities consider it a terrorism attempt.

by Sebastian Rotella

December 26, 2009

Reporting from New York

In what was described as an act of terrorism, a Nigerian passenger attempted to ignite an incendiary device aboard a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Friday as the plane began its approach for landing, federal officials said. Other passengers overpowered the man and the plane landed safely.

The suspect, identified as Abdul Mutallab, 23, suffered severe burns as a result of the attempt, authorities said, and two of the other 277 passengers reported minor injuries.

FBI agents were investigating the incident, which a White House official said was an attempted act of terrorism.

"He was trying to ignite some kind of incendiary device," said a federal anti-terrorism official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case. "He lit himself on fire and he's suffered some burns."

The device, which mixed powder and liquid, was said to be less powerful than a bomb.

President Obama was briefed on the incident during his Hawaii vacation, the White House said in a statement, and airport security was stiffened worldwide.

The suspect -- an engineering student at University College of London, according to ABC News and NBC News -- began his trip Thursday from Nigeria. It was not clear Friday whether Mutallab underwent security screening in Amsterdam or merely changed planes there.

It also was uncertain Friday night whether the suspect had ties to a terrorist organization or had attempted the attack on his own, authorities said. Despite earlier reports that he had claimed a connection to Al Qaeda, Mutallab denied any such link in later statements to FBI agents interrogating him, the anti-terrorism official said.

"Right now he is saying he was not part of an organization or a coordinated effort. I want to caution people from jumping headlong into the Al Qaeda link because it's a very murky area," the official said.

The suspect smuggled a powder aboard the plane in a container taped to his leg, the official said.

Covering himself with a blanket to hide his actions, he used a syringe to inject a liquid into the powder, and a fire resulted from the combustible mix, according to the official, who did not identify the materials.

The official denied reports that Mutallab had been on the federal "no-fly" list of suspected extremists and other potentially dangerous individuals, which is shared with airlines. But the official did not rule out the possibility that the Nigerian had been on some other U.S. government database.

Various media reports spelled the suspect's name different ways. The Associated Press gave his full name as Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab.

The Northwest jet, an Airbus 330 with Delta markings, landed about noon local time. (The two airlines merged in April 2008.) It carried a crew of 11.

Those aboard described some panic after noises like firecrackers, then quick, heroic actions.

Syed Jafri, a U.S. citizen who had flown from the United Arab Emirates, said the incident occurred during the plane's descent, according to the Associated Press. Jafri said he was seated three rows behind the passenger and said he saw a glow and smelled smoke. Then, he said, "a young man behind me jumped on him."

"Next thing you know, there was a lot of panic," Jafri said.

Peter Smith, another passenger, told WJBK Fox 2 in Detroit that one man saw the flames and leaped across the aisle to help extinguish them. "He jumped over all the other people and he took care of it, so the fire went out," Smith said.

The heroic passengers were not publicly identified Friday.

Iliaa Schelke, another passenger, told the station: "We heard a loud pop and a bit of a smoke and then some flames and yelling and screaming. And then somebody said the guy was subdued and they took him out. It was really quick."

The suspect was described as having his hands wrapped in bandages and being handcuffed to a stretcher as he was taken off the plane.

Dawn Griffith, 42, of Pontiac, Mich., said she was waiting for her husband, Rich -- a contractor working as an electrician in Iraq for the last three years -- to arrive from Amsterdam. Then she saw a young man being wheeled out on a gurney.

"That's when I knew something was wrong," Griffith said. "It was really weird. He didn't look like he was agonized. He looked subdued and they had him covered up."

She said the airport teemed with ATF and FBI agents and police dogs. Griffith said it was about five hours before her husband and the rest of the passengers got off the plane. He was too far back to see what had happened, she said, but he could tell there was a commotion in the middle of the plane.

"He's been in Iraq and seen some terrible things, and he doesn't want any of that to happen here," she said.

In the White House statement, issued from Kailua, Hawaii, the administration said that Obama had conferred with White House counter-terrorism advisor John Brennan and National Security Council Acting Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and had instructed that "all appropriate measures be taken to increase security for air travel."

The Department of Homeland Security said passengers might see additional screening measures on domestic and international flights because of the incident and urged travelers to report any suspicious activity or behavior to law enforcement officials.

"We encourage those with future travel plans to stay in touch with their airline and to visit www.TSA.gov for updates, the department said.

Nigerians have not figured in many cases involving Al Qaeda, but the rise of violent Islamic extremism in that country -- as well as in sub- Saharan Africa overall -- concerns Western anti-terrorism officials.

The timing and description of the incident recall the attempted attack on a Paris-to-Miami flight eight years ago by "shoe bomber" Richard Reid, a British Al Qaeda operative who was convicted in U.S. federal court of trying to blow up the American Airlines flight.

Soon after takeoff from Paris on Dec. 22, 2001, Reid tried to ignite explosives that had been packed into his high-top gym shoes in an attempt to blow a hole in the plane. A flight attendant and a passenger subdued Reid and foiled the attack, which spread fear across the world just three months after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Reid was one of several bombers whom Al Qaeda trained in its Afghan camps to commit attacks aboard planes carrying concealed explosives.

In August 2006, British police working with U.S. and Pakistani intelligence broke up a plot in which Al Qaeda trained Britons in Pakistan to assemble liquid-based bombs that would have been smuggled aboard planes in energy drinks and other containers.

The investigation revealed that the ingenious technology in that plot was developed in Pakistan by Abu Ubaida al Masri, Al Qaeda's operations chief at the time.

It would have involved teams of two or three attackers smuggling aboard the explosives and separate ignition devices to blow up seven planes bound for North America.

Since then, passengers have been prohibited from carrying liquids aboard in containers larger than 3 ounces

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-detroit-airline26-2009dec26,0,7701178,print.story

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Yemeni director combats terrorism with propaganda

Government filmmaker Fadhel al-Olofi's 2008 hit, 'The Losing Bet,' seeks to show the follies of the terrorists' ways, articulating the battle within Islam between moderates and radicals.

by Jeffrey Fleishman

December 26, 2009

Reporting from Sana, Yemen

Al Qaeda is toast, roll the credits.

If you can't annihilate the enemy on the battlefield, take the battle to a new dimension, complete with rousing music, saluting children, waving flags and soldiers so heroic you keep looking for pedestals beneath their boots.

Good prevails in the scripts of Fadhel al-Olofi, a producer and film director for the Yemeni government, which lends him helicopters and ammo to destroy whatever bad guy haunts the imagination of a country stuck in a real-life civil war and bloodied by attacks by Islamic extremists.

Olofi creates unapologetic propaganda to comfort Yemenis craving repose and a story line that doesn't end with a funeral.

What's wrong with that?

Enter Jamal Jubran al-Thawi, brooding journalist and critic. (Wait, let's keep him stewing in the wings a bit longer.)

"The Losing Bet" is Olofi's challenge to Al Qaeda and militant networks seeking to exploit Yemen's poverty, unrest and political chaos. The 2008 hit film is a morality tale of enlightened security officials and reformed extremists bringing to heel a band of bearded men with rippling eyebrows who clasp Kalashnikovs and mutter lines such as "strike with an iron hand" and "cunning atheists."

Oh, those cunning atheists. They're tourists with cameras, the target of a suicide bomber. But on Olofi's screen, at least, this young nation's good and stoic citizens will not stand for the perversion of Islam by prophets of jihad. So he kills the hardened ones and brings those less committed back to the righteous fold, the folly of their ways laid bare by wise old men:

"Is this jihad?" asks a father of his zealous son, who appears amid gnashing string instruments. "Your thoughts are neither religion nor Islam."

Like other Arab countries, Yemen is "suffering from terrorism," said Olofi, who is busy these days producing patriotic public service announcements for television. "It's destroying our national economy and infecting our youth. . . . Art has a great message. It can be more powerful than weapons."

What unfolds on screen crudely articulates the struggle within Islam between moderates and fundamentalists. The film's mission is to turn the lens inward to show that extremism is not only a futile strike against the West, but a damaging blow to the future of Muslim societies.

Never mind that the movie doesn't examine the corruption and authoritarian governments across the Middle East that breed radicalism; the director is concerned with the more opaque question of who is truer to the Koran.

The soap-opera aura of the film angered religious conservatives, who apparently prefer shades of gray in their art. They criticize Olofi's work for stereotyping Islamists with robotic dialogue and sinister asides, and of misinterpreting and manipulating the Koran to placate Western liberalism

"The fundamentalists accused me of damaging Islam," Olofi said. "But I was silent. These people don't have minds."

Ahem. Fidget.

(The wings can no longer contain Mr. Thawi.)

"The government couldn't defeat Al Qaeda in reality, so they did it in a fantasy film," said the critic, an intense man with wiry hair who slips into the role of beleaguered intellectual. "It's dangerous propaganda and the product of the nation's security agencies. The irony is, Al Qaeda doesn't even watch movies."

(He is quite exasperated.)

"Terrorism is more complex. In Yemen, the most intense fundamentalists don't have beards. They wear suits and teach in the university. They're much scarier than the men with beards."

Yemen's problems, he says, are too deep for melodrama and slogans. A rebel Shiite sect is fighting government troops in the northern mountains, a secession movement is intensifying in the south, and Al Qaeda and other radical groups have launched numerous attacks in recent years, including two on the U.S. Embassy. Yemeni security forces, which are receiving U.S. financial support, say they have killed about 60 militants over the last week.

"The whole thing was ridiculous. The film's opening was attended by the ministers of defense and interior, but not by the minister of culture," said Thawi, whose criticism of the government has cost him his university teacher's salary and a scholarship to France. "It's been shown in classrooms, military camps and on TV."

Olofi is anything but deterred. His production company is writing new scripts, including a TV comedy series.

The other day he sat draped in a shawl chewing khat, the narcotic-like plant that gives Yemenis their ritual afternoon buzz. His editor worked at a computer finishing the latest project, a public service announcement that depicts a boy wandering out of a bombed house and into an empty, bullet-pocked school. The child is confused and in despair. Words bleed ominously out of the blackboard: "Terrorism. Insurgency. Rebellion. Hate."

The boy attacks them with an eraser and, as is common with so many heroes, writes his own story. Cue swelling music, a fluttering Yemeni flag. The youth steps back and salutes a blackboard that reads: "God. Homeland. Revolution. Unity."

The music fades. The screen goes blank. Olofi smiles. There's a half-bag of khat left and another montage to watch, this one with terrorists hiding in the mountains to ambush a company of soldiers, virtuous in their fatigues. He leans back. Action.

Who will win?

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-losing-bet26-2009dec26,0,6589442,print.story

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Attack on pope prompts review of Vatican security

Officials confirm that the woman who pulled Pope Benedict XVI to the floor at the start of Christmas Eve Mass also tried to attack him last year. She was taken to a clinic for psychiatric treatment.

Associated Press

December 26, 2009

Vatican City

The Vatican will review security procedures after a woman jumped a barrier and rushed at Pope Benedict XVI for the second time in two years, this time managing to pull him down before being apprehended by guards, the Vatican spokesman said Friday.

Benedict, 82, wasn't hurt in the Thursday night incident, and the next day he delivered his traditional Christmas Day greetings in 65 languages from the loggia overlooking St. Peter's Square. Though a bit unsteady at first, he also delivered a short speech about the world's trouble spots.

The incident in St. Peter's Basilica just before the start of Christmas Eve Mass raised fresh questions about security for the pontiff, however, after officials said the woman who pulled him to the floor had jumped the barrier at last year's midnight Mass in a failed bid to get to the pope. She even wore the same red hooded sweat shirt.

The Vatican identified the woman as Susanna Maiolo, 25, a Swiss Italian national with psychiatric problems who was immediately taken to a clinic for treatment. Officials said she lives in Switzerland, and the Italian ANSA news agency said she had traveled to Rome specifically for the Mass, as she did last year.

In 2008, Maiolo never managed to reach the pope and was quietly held back by security. At Thursday night's service, she launched herself over the barricade as Benedict walked down the aisle in the procession at the start of the service. As security guards wrestled her to the ground, she grabbed Benedict's vestments, taking him down with her.

Virtually anyone can get into a papal Mass. Tickets are required but are easy to get if requested in advance. Identification is not necessary to gain entrance, though visitors must pass through a metal detector.

Father Federico Lombardi, the pope's spokesman, said it's not realistic to think the Vatican can ensure 100% security for the pontiff because he is regularly surrounded by tens of thousands of people for his weekly audiences, services, papal greetings and other events.

"It seems that they intervened at the earliest possible moment in a situation in which 'zero risk' cannot be achieved," he said of Vatican security officials. They will nonetheless review the episode and "try to learn from experience," Lombardi said.

It was the first time a potential attacker has come into direct contact with Benedict in his nearly five-year papacy. Security analysts have frequently warned that the pope is too exposed in his public appearances, but Lombardi said the events are a necessary part of the job.

"People want to see him up close, and he's pleased to see them closely too," Lombardi said. "A zero risk doesn't seem realistic in a situation in which there's a direct rapport with the people."

Benedict was unhurt in the fall, but a retired Vatican diplomat, French Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, 87, fell and suffered a fractured hip.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-pope-security26-2009dec26,0,6349094,print.story

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Survivors put names, faces to Baltimore's homicide victims

Even with the murder rate down from recent years, it's an overflow crowd at the Christmas party for Survivors Against Violence Everywhere, a support group for the families of those lost.

by Peter Hermann

December 26, 2009

Reporting from Baltimore

"My son was murdered."

That's how the mothers and the fathers begin their sentences.

They've lost loved ones to the violent streets of Baltimore -- just weeks ago, or maybe years ago -- and they want to talk. Need to talk.

They seek out a reporter.

"Do you want to talk to me about my son?"

They're wearing T-shirts with photos of their lost children on the front.

They're holding pictures above their heads for all to see.

They're clutching white angels to put on a tree in a room at the downtown courthouse.

At the annual Christmas party for Survivors Against Violence Everywhere, a program sponsored by the Baltimore state's attorney's office to help people grieve, there aren't enough chairs.

"It seems we've outgrown our space," says the city's top prosecutor, Patricia C. Jessamy. She adds: "It's a sad thing."

She urges them to remember their sons and daughters in happy times; never to forget, but also to move on, to celebrate holidays, to do something for themselves.

Murder is such a hard word to say.

Ellen Bentley lost her 19-year-old son, Donald, on Aug. 11, 1989. A student at Morehouse College, he was shot in the back as he fled a robber.

Bentley had to admit that her son was murdered -- to say the word -- so she could accept what happened.

"It took forever," she says.

A therapist got it out of her.

"She kept after me: 'You got to say it, you got to say it.' It ripped my heart out."

Bentley is still waiting for police to make an arrest.

So is Jessie Snead.

Her son, Terrance Thompson, was shot in a row house in 1993.

He was found lying on the pavement after he tried to crawl home. He died at a nearby hospital. He was 26.

This year, 225 had fallen to homicide as of Dec. 16. Last year, it was 234, a 20-year low, police say. In the 1990s, the city had 10 consecutive years with 300 or more victims. Snead's son was shot in Baltimore's most murderous year on record; 353 were killed.

The number of people slain in Baltimore since 1970: 10,591.

The families decorating the Angel Tree of Remembrance are tired of the numbers. This party, Snead says, "is a reminder that each one of those numbers belongs to someone."

As she reads the names aloud, the mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters and grandmothers and children hang an angel on the tree.

Each one represents a victim -- a person.

Snead calls out 61 names.

"And there are more every year," she said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-homicide26-2009dec26,0,2499776,print.story

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EDITORIAL

It's time for immigration reform

So far the Obama administration has been focused on enforcement, not the remedies the nation needs.

December 26, 2009

Comprehensive immigration reform emerged from the shadows last week when Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez of Illinois and a group of Democratic congressmen submitted a 600-page bill to jump-start the process.

Many immigration advocates praised the opening salvo in what promises to be an epic battle on the order of healthcare reform -- if lawmakers can just be persuaded to turn their attention to the subject. Although President Obama promised on the campaign trail to shepherd immigration reform through Congress, the nation has been focused throughout 2009 on healthcare and the struggling economy, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and climate change; immigration reform never stood a chance.

The Gutierrez bill is a testament to the growing exasperation felt by many champions of reform. Proponents of legalizing the status of undocumented immigrants, many leaders in the Latino and other immigrant communities, and some business interests such as the agriculture and hospitality industries had hoped for a speedy and seismic shift in U.S. policy under Obama. But instead of proposing a pathway to citizenship for an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants, the new administration has, so far, been even more intent on enforcement than the one it replaced. Its strategy is to win public support for reform by cracking down on illegal immigrants who commit crimes, policing the border and undoing the culture of noncompliance among businesses that depend on illegal labor.

Federal immigration prosecutions jumped 16% in 2009. A record number of people were deported in the last 11 months -- 287,000, including 136,000 criminals. More than 1,500 companies had their employee verification forms audited by Homeland Security -- a 1,000% increase over last year. And instead of halting a controversial program in which local law enforcement partners with Homeland Security to catch undocumented criminals, Obama revamped it to minimize abuses, while expanding it to more departments. Many sticks, few carrots.

Gutierrez's bill will not be the last word. The bill to watch will come from Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Senate Immigration Subcommittee. Schumer, who has been working with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), has already set out principles for reform that include rigorous workplace and border enforcement, a realistic assessment of the nation's need for skilled and unskilled labor, a commitment to controlling the future flow of illegal immigration and bringing millions of people away from the edges of society. The Schumer-Graham proposals have promise; we hope 2010 will see the immigration reform the nation so badly needs.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-immigration26-2009dec26,0,5406324,print.story

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OPINION

Promises to make debt go away are not good enough

In California, hundreds of so-called debt settlement outfits get paid by desperate consumers for simply claiming they will reduce or eliminate the consumers' debts. A proposed bill isn't the answer.

by Ginna Green and Caryn Becker

December 26, 2009

Can you imagine getting a job at which your boss tells you that you'll get your paycheck every two weeks whether or not you show up? And performance doesn't matter. Everything's fine as long as you merely say say you'll do the work.

Most of us would laugh at such a preposterous idea -- or ask where we could sign up. But this scenario is business-as-usual at so-called debt settlement companies -- the ones that advertise during late-night television and on urban radio. In California, hundreds of these companies get paid every year by desperate consumers for simply claiming they will reduce or eliminate the consumers' burdensome debts. They make no guarantees, but they make lots of money.

The nation has been rightly fixated on managing the housing-related debt of millions of Americans trapped in unaffordable mortgages. At the same time, however, unsecured debts such as credit card purchases, medical bills and student loans have brought many Americans to the brink of financial ruin. As a result, more and more companies with flashy advertising and captivating promises to eliminate consumer debt for pennies on the dollar have entered the fray.

Typically, consumers pay these debt settlement companies hefty "setup" fees of thousands of dollars, plus hundreds of dollars more in monthly fees, totaling at least 15% to 20% of the debt, whether or not any debt is settled with the creditors. The companies instruct clients not to pay their bills, not to speak to their creditors and instead begin setting aside large sums of money -- for example, $400 per month on a typical debt load of $24,000 -- presumably to pay creditors when settlements have been reached.

But the math doesn't add up. The consumer will have saved $2,000 at the end of five months. Most of this will be eaten up after the company deducts the setup fees ($1,200 for the first three months) and two months of monthly fees ($480), for a total of $1,680. Just $320 is left to settle the debt, which still amounts to $24,000, and probably more, with the addition of interest and fees that accumulated while the consumer was following instructions to not pay the bills.

This makes it nearly impossible for debt settlement companies to deliver on their promises. In fact, the Colorado attorney general's office found that in that state, fewer than 10% of consumers contracting with these companies since 2006 were able to pay off or settle all of their debts. Further, the industry's data report that two-thirds of clients don't settle all of their debts.

It is not surprising that the Federal Trade Commission released proposed debt-settlement rules this summer, concluding that "in the vast majority of cases, consumers are required to pay in advance for services that, in most cases, are never rendered." Not only that, but creditors often escalate collection efforts or initiate lawsuits against consumers when they find out that a debt settlement company is involved, leaving the borrower poorer, deeper in debt and much worse off.

Despite the problems with this industry, AB 350, legislation sponsored by Assemblyman Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) to regulate debt settlement companies, would put the stamp of approval on this abusive model. It would let these companies charge as much as 5% of the debt right off the bat, and total fees of 20% of the debt through additional monthly payments -- whether or not the companies actually settle any debt.

The FTC and 41 state attorneys general -- including California's Jerry Brown -- agree that substantial fees paid in advance of performance by a debt settlement company, like those authorized by the bill, are unjustified and harmful to consumers. This fall Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill banning so-called mortgage modification service providers from collecting fees before providing the services. The similarities are clear: Both types of operations charge consumers excessive fees before services are rendered and with no guarantee of, or incentives for, success.

Although consumers may want to settle their debts, they shouldn't be forced to pay thousands of dollars for a bill of goods. To be sure, AB 350 means well, but doesn't do what's needed. The failure of the bill to crack down on the most abusive and harmful element of debt settlement -- the high upfront fees with no guarantee of success -- means the bill does not do well. Consumers should pay for performance, not promises.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-green26-2009dec26,0,4548674,print.story

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EDITORIAL

Amtrak, all boxed in

Q: What's stranger than wanting to bring firearms aboard trains? A: Language in the law that appears to require passengers to be secured in boxes.

December 26, 2009

Ever since Amtrak banned passengers from bringing firearms onto its trains, a step it took shortly after 9/11, the gun lobby has been working hard to get weapons back on board. While this campaign would hardly seem appropriate for a country with terrorism concerns, such has been the case.

Part of the eight-year delay has been due to the difficulty of resolving security issues. One problem, for instance, is that many Amtrak stations across the country are little more than a platform and two tracks, and they don't have the personnel to inspect or check luggage, let alone monitor whether weapons are properly stored and secured. The 28 million travelers heading to one of Amtrak's many destinations in 46 states face nothing like the scrutiny they'd get at the nation's airports.

But for once, the stars aligned and the pro-gun people and the anti-gun violence crowd reached an accord. Amtrak, they decided, would be given a year to develop and implement procedures under which firearms, if appropriately locked and secured in boxes, will be allowed in train cars that carry checked baggage. Anyone wanting to pack a firearm must give Amtrak advance notice and must leave from a station that offers baggage check services.

So far so good. But there was a glitch. On its way to the Oval Office for the president's signature, the wording of the law somehow got garbled. As signed by President Obama, it now seems to require that passengers and Amtrak personnel -- not guns -- are to be safely secured in boxes.

The law reads: "The guidance and procedures developed under paragraph (1) shall . . . include any other measures needed to ensure the safety and security of Amtrak employees, passengers and infrastructure, including in fiber, wood, or metal boxes."

Oh dear. The law was supposed to include language permitting inspections of gun and ammunition containers and the suspension of firearm carriage service upon receipt of credible intelligence of terrorist threats. But all that got lost.

Now lawyers are trying to figure out what to do about a federal law that requires Amtrak to stow riders in baggage check. Congress will no doubt rectify the error next session and insert the correct language.

But in the meantime, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence fired off the best line of all, noting archly that each year about 30,000 Americans are already securely locked away in human-size boxes, thanks to guns.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-amtrak26-2009dec26,0,7360971,print.story

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From the Daily News

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Failed Xmas attack raises new security concerns

WASHINGTON—U.S. counterterrorism officials are scrambling to assess a potential new threat from an explosive mixture that evaded detection aboard a Detroit-bound airliner but failed to bring down the plane.

Multiple law enforcement officials said the suspected attacker—identified as a Nigerian man named Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab—claimed to have acted on instructions from al-Qaida to detonate the explosive device over U.S. soil. The law enforcement officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.

The law enforcement officials cautioned that such claims could not be verified immediately, and said the man may have been acting independently—inspired but not specifically trained or ordered by terror groups.

One law enforcement official, also speaking on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the case, said Mutallab's name had surfaced earlier on at least one U.S. intelligence database, but not to the extent that he was placed on a watch list or a no-fly list.

As investigators try to determine the veracity of his claims, they also want to figure out exactly how the explosive device was made—and how much of a broader threat it may pose to air security.

In 2006, investigators in London uncovered a plot to use liquid-based explosives disguised in drink bottles to blow up airliners. The case prompted new restrictions on passengers carrying beverages or other liquids.

Now investigators are trying to determine whether the rules need to be tightened again, concerned that the components of the explosive device were smuggled onto the plane despite technological advances in screening and detection.

"It raises some serious questions, such as how was this person able to bring an explosive substance aboard a commercial airliner?" said Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the senior Republican on the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

Law enforcement officials said the man appeared badly burned on his legs, indicating the explosive was strapped there. The components apparently were mixed in flight and included a powdery substance, multiple law enforcement and counterterrorism officials said.

The explosive material burned but apparently did not produce enough of an explosion or fire to bring down the Airbus 330 carrying 278 passengers and a crew of 11.

The incident marks the first time someone onboard a U.S. plane had sought to detonate a bomb since Richard Reid hid explosives in his shoes on a trans-Atlantic flight on Dec. 22, 2001—almost exactly eight years before the newest incident. Reid is currently serving a life sentence.

In Friday's case in Detroit, no charges were filed immediately against the suspect, who was taken to a hospital.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., ranking GOP member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said the flight began in Nigeria and went through Amsterdam en route to Detroit.

In a bare-bones statement about the incident, Delta, which is acquiring Northwest, said the passenger caused a disturbance, was subdued, and the crew requested law enforcement meet the flight.

Law enforcement officials said they had no preholiday intelligence indicating this type of attack was in the works.

The FBI and the Homeland Security Department issued an intelligence note on Nov. 20 about the threat picture for the 2009 holiday season from Thanksgiving through Jan. 1. At the time, intelligence officials said they had no specific information about attack plans by al-Qaida or other terrorist groups. The intelligence note was obtained by The Associated Press.

President Barack Obama was notified of the incident and discussed it with security officials, the White House said. Officials said he was monitoring the situation and receiving regular updates from his vacation spot in Hawaii.

The White House was coordinating briefings for the president through the Homeland Security Department, the Transportation Security Administration and the FBI.

Federal officials said there would be heightened security for both domestic and international flights at airports across the country, but the intensified levels likely would be "layered," differing from location to location depending on alerts, security concerns and other factors.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano also was closely monitoring the situation.

The department encouraged travelers to be observant and aware of their surroundings and report any suspicious behavior to law enforcement officials.

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_14072732

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From the Washington Times

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Maryland girl's body found in woods

ASSOCIATED PRESS

SALISBURY, Md. (AP) -- The body of a Maryland girl who authorities say was abducted by a registered sex offender was found Friday in a wooded area near the Delaware state line after thousands of volunteers spent Christmas searching for her.

Wicomico County Sheriff Mike Lewis said the body of 11-year-old Sarah H. Foxwell was discovered about 4 p.m. near the Delaware state line. He offered few other details. Thomas J. Leggs Jr., 30, was arrested Wednesday and charged in her kidnapping.

Wicomico County State's Attorney Davis R. Ruark said authorities remain focused on Leggs as they investigate the killing.

"There's no indication of involvement of any other individuals at this point," he told The Associated Press.

Leggs is a former boyfriend of the girl's aunt, who is her legal guardian. A public defender representing him has not returned a phone call.

Lewis said the body was found in the northern part of the county, in the area where authorities had been focusing their search.

"This is not the way we wanted to find our young lady on Christmas, but at the very least we've given closure to the family," Ruark said at the news conference.

Lewis said Sarah was last seen Tuesday night at her home on Maryland's Eastern Shore. A relative discovered she was missing early Wednesday while checking on Sarah and her 6-year-old sister. A charging document says Leggs was the last person seen with Sarah.

A "juvenile witness" awoke during the night Tuesday and saw Sarah leave the bedroom with "Tommy," and said he was wearing blue jeans, an orange jacket and white sneakers, the charging document says.

Sarah lived with her aunt, Amy Fothergill, who told police the child's toothbrush was missing from the home, according to the statement of probable cause.

Deputies said they found a green toothbrush and a lollipop in a truck Leggs admitted driving. Leggs said he had been wearing jeans and white sneakers the previous night -- the same clothes he was wearing when police questioned him.

The sheriff said Leggs has been uncooperative and "of no assistance to our investigators."

Leggs is listed on the Maryland and Delaware sex offender registries. The Maryland listing notes that he is a child sex offender, but does not give details about his conviction.

Lewis said Leggs has been convicted of sex offense in Wicomico County and was charged Oct. 29 with fourth-degree burglary.

In 2001, Leggs was convicted in Delaware of rape involving a victim who was 16 or 17, according to the Delaware registry. The registry describes his risk level as "high" and notes he is unemployed.

Leggs, who has been convicted of assault several times, also is awaiting trial on charges of burglary and destruction of property in Ocean City.

Thousands of volunteers had gathered at a stadium in Salisbury early Friday morning and fanned out to search for her.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/26/maryland-girls-body-found-woods//print/

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Salvation Army worker shot in front of 3 children

ASSOCIATED PRESS

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- A Salvation Army worker was shot and killed Christmas Eve in front of his three young children during an attempted robbery outside the charity's community center in North Little Rock, a Salvation Army official said Friday.

North Little Rock police said they were looking for the two men who accosted Salvation Army Maj. Philip Wise outside the community center about 4:15 p.m. Thursday. No arrests have been made.

The two men fled on foot into a nearby housing development, police Sgt. Terry Kuykendall said Friday. Police don't know whether Wise, who was active in the community, knew his attackers, he said.

Wise, 40, had gone to the community center with his children to pick up his wife -- also a Salvation Army major -- to drive to his mother's home in West Virginia, said Maj. Harvey Johnson, area commander of the Salvation Army. As Wise neared the side door, two men approached.

Both men were carrying hand guns, police said. One demanded money and shot Wise, Pulaski County Coroner Garland Camper told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Wise's wife, Cindy, was inside the center and called 911.

Blood stained the sidewalk outside the center Friday.

The Wises had just adopted their children -- ages 4, 6 and 8 -- last year, Johnson said. The three were siblings who came from an abusive family. They were receiving counseling after their father's death, he said.

Kuykendall said the children were standing beside their father when he was shot, but there was apparently no interaction between the youngsters and the two men.

Wise had worked for three years in Baring Cross, a low-income neighborhood troubled by gangs and drugs, Johnson said. He ran youth programs, a food pantry and church services.

"He was involved in the fabric of that community in a lot of different ways," Johnson said.

He described Wise as "a big boy" who played "a big old tuba" in a brass ensemble and used his love of music to try help others.

"He encouraged kids in music as an alternative to the life they were living," he said.

Kuykendall said he knew Wise, although they were not close friends.

"Mr. Wise within the last two months had spent so much time raising money so that several hundred children in this community could have a good Christmas, and for this to happen ... on Christmas Eve is just a tragedy," he said.

Wise was originally from Weirton, W.Va., and his wife, Cindy, was from Charleston, W.Va. They met 16 years ago at a Salvation Army school in Atlanta, Johnson said. Both had worked for the Salvation Army ever since.

"He's touched a lot of people," Johnson said. "But who would he have touched if he had been able to live out his career?"

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/26/salvation-army-worker-shot-front-3-children//print/

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Iran willing to swap nuclear material

ASSOCIATED PRESS

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran would be willing to swap nuclear material with the West in Turkey, the foreign minister said in the country's latest counteroffer to a U.N.-drafted deal aimed at thwarting Tehran's ability to produce atomic weapons.

The U.N. proposal aims to ease concerns that Iran could build a nuclear weapon by reducing its stockpile of low-enriched uranium. Under the proposal, the uranium would be shipped to France and Russia in exchange for more highly enriched fuel rods that are not suitable for use in weapons.

Speaking on Iran's state TV, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki suggested Turkey, which neighbors Iran and has good relations with the West, as a venue for exchanging nuclear material.

Iran "does not have a problem with Turkish soil" as the location for an exchange of enriched uranium for nuclear fuel, he said late Thursday.

In Turkey, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu welcomed the Iranian announcement and said his government is ready to do its best to help reach a diplomatic solution to the standoff over Iran's nuclear program.

While Iran's remarks signaled a slight change in stance -- the country has said before it would only accept such an exchange on its own territory -- they represent no significant shift in Iran's policy.

The U.S. and its allies have demanded Iran accept the terms of the U.N.-brokered plan without changes. Under the plan, drafted last month, Iran would export its low-enriched uranium for further enrichment in Russia and France, where it would be converted into fuel rods. The rods, which Iran needs for a research reactor in Tehran, would be returned to the country about a year later.

Exporting the uranium would temporarily leave Iran without enough stockpiles to further enrich the uranium into the material for a nuclear warhead, and the rods that are returned could not be used to make weapons.

Iran says it has no intention of building a bomb, maintaining its program is for generating electricity.

At various times, Iran has proposed swapping material in batches -- which would not necessarily reduce its ability to build a bomb. At other times it has insisted on a simultaneous swap inside Iran, or threatened to just produce the fuel rods on its own.

The West needs to prove its goodwill intentions toward Tehran first, Mottaki said in the interview.

"Exchange is acceptable," he said. "They (West) have to do the trust-building, then it is pursuable."

Iran is able to produce the fuel on its own, Mottaki said, calling this a "preferable" option while adding that Iran is still ready for talks with the West.

"The ball in their own court, they should answer us," said Mottaki. "Threat and sanctions are useless."

Enrichment is at the core of the nuclear controversy. Low-enriched uranium is used to fuel a nuclear energy reactor, but highly enriched uranium can be turned into a nuclear warhead. Once converted into rods, the uranium cannot be enriched further.

The U.N. has demanded that Iran suspend all enrichment, a demand Tehran has refused, saying it has a right to develop the technology under the Nonproliferation Treaty. Iran has also defiantly announced it intends to build the 10 new uranium enrichment sites, drawing a forceful rebuke from the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency.

The U.S. and its allies are threatening to impose more sanctions on Iran if it does not cooperate.

Earlier this week, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed a year-end deadline set by the Obama administration and the West for Tehran to accept the U.N.-drafted deal and also shrugged off the threat of more sanctions.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/26/iran-willing-swap-nuclear-material//print/

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From the New York Post

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Phoenix authorities issue Amber Alert after possible abduction of girl, 5

ASSOCIATED PRESS

December 26, 2009

PHOENIX — An Amber Alert was issued Friday after police say a 5-year-old girl was abducted in north Phoenix.

Police received a call at about 2:15 p.m. that Natalie Flores was taken from an apartment complex, Sgt. Andy Hill said. Officers responded and determined she was abducted by a stranger, he said.

Natalie and her two sisters, ages 7 and 9, were playing at the complex when a man parked his brown pickup in a nearby parking lot and walked over to them carrying a camera, Hill said.

“He physically grabbed the 7-year-old girl and forcibly took a photo of her,” Hill said.

The man then forced 5-year-old Natalie into the truck, according to witnesses. He left southbound with Natalie in the pickup — possibly a Ford Ranger with a ladder rack, with Arizona license plate 3HG-774.

Witnesses reported that as the man was fleeing, he hit a parked car before entering southbound 19th Avenue, Hill said.

“At that point, we had a couple of adult witnesses there who saw the suspect and the girl inside the truck with him,” he said.

The suspect is described as a white man, between 30 and 40 years old, with blond or gray hair. He is 5-foot-8 or 5-foot-9 and weighs 180 to 190 pounds. He was wearing a gray shirt and peach knee-length shorts.

Natalie is 4 feet tall and weighs about 60 pounds. She has red, shoulder-length hair and freckles. She was last seen wearing a pink top with blue stretch pants and pink and white tennis shoes.

Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or the Phoenix police Silent Witness program, 800-343-8477.

http://www.nypost.com/f/print/news/national/phoenix_authorities_issue_amber_aGFCUvoEdYEjYT2x197WaN

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From the Wall Street Journal

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Routine Turned to Mayhem on Terror Flight

Seconds after passengers spotted flames climbing above the back of a window seat midway down the left side of Northwest Flight 253, Friday's routine descent toward Detroit's main airport turned into horror, mayhem and instant heroism.

Just as the widebody Airbus A330 made a rumbling sound as the landing gear started down, horrified travelers in seats around the young Nigerian later detained as a terrorism suspect started screaming, according to eyewitness reports by passengers. Flight attendants quickly joined the hubbub around the man in seat 19A, repeatedly screaming "What are you doing?"

There was a pop and then smoke wafted through the cabin. A passenger then climbed over several seats, lunged across the aisle and managed to subdue the suspect, the eyewitnesses said. The Nigerian man was placed in a headlock before being dragged up to the first class cabin. Passenger Zeina Seagal told CNN that after the suspect was collared and parts of his burning pants were removed, flight attendants quickly grabbed fire extinguishers and doused the fire at his seat.

"We saw the fear in the flight attendants eyes" when they ran in the aisles and "grabbed the fire extinguishers," Michelle Keepman, a passenger who had been seated near the back of the plane, recalled.

Many of those seated further back didn't initially understand the reason for all the commotion. Roey Rosenblith, a director of a solar-power start up in Uganda, was in seat 38J, near the rear exits, when he heard the sounds of a struggle coming from many rows ahead. "People were yelling and screaming," he recalled hours later in an interview, sipping a bottle of water at a hotel near the airport.

When a flight attendant sprinted down the aisle past his seat and then ran back in the opposite direction clutching a fire extinguisher, Mr. Rosenblith realized something was seriously wrong, he recounted. "At that point everybody was terrified."

With some passengers whispering there had been some kind of fire, the pilot announced the plane was going to land immediately. A male flight attendant came over the intercom to say, "We're landing! We're landing! Everybody in your seats!" Mr. Rosenblith recalled.

In a stark departure from the typical passenger instructions issued prior to touchdown, the same attendant added, "Your federally trained flight attendants have taken control of the situation!" according to Mr. Rosenblith.

By then, the pilots had declared an emergency, the plane was descending rapidly toward the runway and the suspected terrorist, tied to one of the first-class seats, was uncommunicative. Melinda Dennis, who was sitting in first class, told CNN that the suspect had been "burned severely on his legs." She said he slumped during the landing, without talking or answering questions.

When the flight touched down, fire trucks and emergency vehicles, with lights flashing and sirens blaring, followed the plane as it taxied to a stop. The captain then spoke and apologized for the incident, Mr. Rosenblith recalled. "He said he wished these things didn't happen, and said it seemed somebody brought firecrackers on the plane," Mr. Rosenblith said.

Over the next few hours, each passenger went through a security screening and was questioned by law-enforcement officials in the international baggage claim area. All of the baggage in the plane's belly was screened, as well.

Mr. Rosenblith said he was asked if he had noticed a man videotaping on the plane before take off, and again as the incident played out. He said he believed authorities were looking for the man with the camera, but he couldn't determine if investigators suspected if this individual could be an accomplice. The Federal Aviation Administration and the Transportation Security Administration declined to talk about the specifics of the investigation.

At one point during the ordeal, passengers were told that the man who helped subdue the alleged attacker was exiting the plane. A female passenger who was seated 13 rows behind the suspect recalled the scene clearly. The woman, a nurse named Michelle from Dayton, Ohio, who did not want her last name published, described a blonde man with his fingers individually bandaged, and another bandage around his palm. A few people, she said, began to clap as he walked by.

Reflecting the new, more proactive security role that has emerged for passengers in the wake of the 9-11 terrorist attacks in the U.S., Rep. Peter King (R., N.Y.) told Fox News, "they were the first responders in this attack; they got the job done."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126180624205805587.html#printMode

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Officials Plan to Step Up Air Security

Domestic and international airline passengers returning home from the holidays might see increased security measures at airports around the world, U.S. officials said Friday.

President Barack Obama ordered heightened security after a passenger aboard an international flight, Northwest Airlines Flight 253, attempted to detonate an explosive device. Mr. Obama called for "all appropriate measures" to be taken following the incident Friday.

A Transportation Security Administration official said the agency was working "with our international partners on international measures for U.S.-bound flights."

Domestically, an official with the Department of Homeland Security said a host of measures would be quietly put into place at airports across the country.

The official said some of the measures might be noticeable to the traveling public, while others would be unseen. They would likely include increased personnel, bomb-sniffing dogs and increased "behavioral detection" methods employed by screeners.

In addition, officials said the measures would be put into place at some airports, but not all.

Officials declined to say whether passengers could expect delays, but urged travelers to check with the TSA, www.tsa.gov, and their airline before flying.

The threat level for airline security has been high, or orange under the color-coded advisory system, since 2006, when authorities say they disrupted a plot to detonate liquid explosives on trans-Atlantic airliners.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126178658938805419.html?mod=article-outset-box#printMode

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WASHINGTON -- Alleged links between a Northwest Airlines terrorism suspect and militants in Yemen are raising new concerns inside the Obama administration that the Middle East country is emerging as a key new safe haven for al Qaeda.

The suspect, Nigerian-national Abdul Mudallad, said he received instructions and training from al Qaeda operatives based in Yemen ahead of boarding the Detroit-bound flight Friday, according to U.S. law-enforcement officials.

These officials said they couldn't confirm Mr. Mudallad's claims. But the purported bombing attempt came as Yemen's security forces intensified military operations against al Qaeda forces, with significant U.S. intelligence support.

Among the targets of Yemen's military campaign, according to Yemeni and U.S. officials, is Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical Islamic preacher linked to the shooter in last month's attack on the Ft. Hood military compound in Texas.

U.S. law-enforcement officials Friday said they were investigating if Mr. Mudallad may have been seeking to strike American targets in retaliation for Washington's role in Yemen's crackdown. Yemen's government claims it has killed nearly a hundred militants in operations over the past two weeks, particularly in the country's remote Shabwa region.

U.S. counterterrorism officials view Yemen, along with Pakistan and Somalia, as among the most dangerous safe havens for al Qaeda and other militant groups in the Middle East and North Africa.

Yemen is the poorest country in the Arab world and faces dwindling oil supplies and severe water shortages. President Ali Abdullah Saleh, meanwhile, is fighting well-armed insurgencies in both Yemen's south and north, providing potential sanctuaries for militants seeking to target the West and U.S. allies.

Last month, Saudi Arabia invaded northern Yemen to try and contain Shiite fighters, who are known as the Houthi rebels. Yemen's southern tribes, meanwhile, are seen as closely tied to al Qaeda and other radical Islamic groups. Osama bin Laden's family originally came from Yemen.

The Pentagon provided nearly $70 million in counter-terrorism aid this year, along with substantial intelligence support and training programs. U.S. officials, however, have voiced frustration over what they say has been Mr. Saleh's failure to adequately focus on al Qaeda. Many believe he could have used dialogue, rather than arms, to address the Houthi threat.

U.S. officials, however, have said they've been pleased by Yemen's latest military campaign. "They finally seem to be stepping up to the plate," said a U.S. official working on Yemen.

Yemen's instability is one of the primary reasons President Barack Obama will be unable to meet his January target date for shutting the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba.

Nearly half of the 210 detainees at Guantanamo are Yemeni nationals. And the Pentagon has concluded that roughly 60 of these men continue to pose a security threat to the U.S.

• Pakistani police have identified the Americans detained earlier this week as: Waqar Hussain Khan, Ramy Zamzam, Umar Farooq, Ahmed Abdulah Minni and Aman Hassan Yemer. The men have not yet been formally arrested or charged.

  Americans are now learning what citizens of Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, the United Kingdom, and other foreign countries have long known: that some of our own can and will go to great lengths to kill their fellow citizens.

  Ramy Zamzam and four friends from the Washington, D.C., suburbs were detained in Pakistan in a police raid on a house allegedly tied to a militant group earlier this week. One of the men had recorded a video filled with images of war and declarations that young Muslims must act. The five Americans, students in their 20s, are now being questioned by U.S. and Pakistani authorities.

  The revelations about the Alexandria, Va., five come just more than a month after Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly killed 13 of his fellow soldiers at Fort Hood in Texas. The alleged massacre in turn followed revelations that Najibullah Zazi, an Afghan resident of the U.S., who is accused of planning to blow up several targets in New York. Mr. Zazi pleaded not guilty in September. Mr. Zazi's arrest had followed yet another disturbing, if seemingly more-distant report: America had produced its first suicide bomber, who had blown himself up in Somalia in 2008.

  This grim catalogue of plots and attacks suggests that the American homeland's holiday from terrorism is ending.

  For years since 9/11, I and other terrorism experts sought to explain why Osama bin Laden and his jihadist followers did not hit the U.S. homeland again, a mystery made all the more profound by the deadly jihadist terrorist attacks in Indonesia, Jordan, Spain, and the U.K., among other lands, to say nothing of constant jihadist strikes in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan.

  I explained America's good fortune by a combination of several factors. Perhaps most important, after 9/11 the United States and its allies hammered al Qaeda. U.S. military and intelligence forces threw Mr. bin Laden, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri and other al Qaeda leaders out of Afghanistan, shutting down the training camps there and forcing the leaders to find new homes. Less noticed, but no less important, intelligence and security services around the globe hunted down recruiters, planners, financiers, and other key parts of the network. At home, the FBI and other organizations focused intensely on al Qaeda, making it harder for the terrorists to pass unnoticed.

  I also took comfort when I looked across the ocean to Europe, where al Qaeda had cells and networks in several countries. In Europe, a mix of discrimination, suspicion, and alienation have created a subculture where terrorists can thrive. Many European countries have Muslim communities that are large and geographically concentrated (Pakistanis cluster in the U.K., Algerians are mainly in France, and Turks are found in Germany), making them less likely to assimilate and more tied to the politics of their native lands. Making these ties even stronger, the trip home is shorter for Muslim immigrants in Europe than in the United States. Most important, Muslim immigrants are often at best tolerated in their new lands, despite their contributions as soldiers fighting on behalf of colonial powers, or later as workers rebuilding Europe. Many Europeans see immigrants and their descendants as eternal outsiders and oppose granting them citizenship.

  Even, or perhaps especially, the second and third generations are at risk, as they are often betwixt their ancestral and new homes but accepted by neither. Frenchmen may reject a Muslim who wears a scarf to assert her religiosity, but when she goes to Algeria she is seen as alien and Western, often not speaking Arabic. At times these second and third generations interact with more recent immigrants from Muslim countries, being energized by the disputes in the Muslim world yet keeping their familiarity with the West and European passports, making them potentially dangerous operatives.

  Many European Muslims are poor, alienated and angry, while their American counterparts seem wealthy, educated and integrated. While U.S. support for Israel and intervention in Iraq provoked anger about U.S. policies among some American Muslims, they did not display the raw hatred of the U.S. government or embrace of violence as did some among their religious brethren across the Atlantic. Non-Muslim Americans, for the most part, accept Muslim immigrants as a welcome addition to our country, the current incarnation of their Anglo, Irish, Italian or other immigrant ancestors. Minarets may trouble the Swiss, but in America they would never be banned. In July 2005, al Qaeda proved it could tap into jihadist networks in Europe, killing 56 people, including the four suicide bombers, in attacks on London's public transportation system.

  Ironically, the terrorism charges levied against various Americans in the years after 9/11 seemed to confirm how much safer our country was. The FBI would often announce arrests of suspects with sound and fury, but in practice they signified how limited the threat was. Those charged were often common criminals or unskilled dreamers, talking big but with little ability to carry out their schemes. Iyman Faris, convicted of providing material support to al Qaeda, initially sought to cut through the many mammoth cables of the Brooklyn Bridge with a blowtorch, an almost impossible scheme.

  Others charged had little or no training, and—just as importantly—they did not seem to know how to get in touch with the al Qaeda core. In the end, the government would often charge them with minor, non-terrorism related, crimes such as fraud or violating their immigration status. I am glad the FBI aggressively went after these individuals, some of whom had quite bloody plans, but the suspects were a far cry from steely professionals like Mohammad Atta, the 9/11 team leader. Indeed, the most deadly post-9/11 plot against the United States—the plot to blow up airplanes en route from the U.K. to the United States, which was disrupted in August 2006—was organized and launched from Europe, suggesting much better al Qaeda's networks are in Europe than in the United States.

  Today all these factors are changing, and none for the better.

  Puzzling Arrest of 5 Americans in Pakistan

  1:50

  The arrest in Pakistan of five U.S. citizens on suspicion of terror links is part of a new and disturbing trend: the threat posed by homegrown terror activity. WSJ's Neil King Jr. reports.

  On Oct. 28, 2008, Shirwa Ahmed became the first American suicide bomber. Mr. Ahmed killed himself in Somalia's civil war on behalf of the Islamist group al Shabaab, elements of which have links to al Qaeda in Pakistan. In 2009, al Qaeda's No. 2 Mr. al-Zawahiri called Shabaab advances in Somalia "a step on the path of victory of Islam, while Shabaab would pledge allegiance to Mr. bin Laden. The group even used Alabama native Omar Hammani, who spoke under the name Abu Mansoor al-Amriki ("the American"), to do a video critique of President Barack Obama's speech in Cairo earlier in the year.

  Ahmed was part of two groups of perhaps 20 Somali-Americans who grew up in Minneapolis and became radicalized after the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia in 2006. The Somali-American community from which he came has more in common with the Algerians in the banlieues in Paris than the affluent Arab Muslim community of the U.S. By one estimate 60% of the Somalis in the U.S., a community estimated as high as 200,000 people, live in poverty, and many young men drop out of school and turn to crime.

  While the conflict in Somalia may seem distant to most Americans, the U.S. role there is real and growing—and Somali-Americans know it well. The 2008 U.S. airstrike that killed Aden Hashi Ayro, a Shabaab leader, joined Somalia's enemy Ethiopia and the United States in the minds of many Somalis. The result, in Somalia expert Ken Menkhaus' words, was that "fierce levels of anti-Americanism took root among many Somalis at home and abroad." In September 2009, the United States struck again, killing another al Qaeda figure there, Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan. So far, none of the Somali-Americans who went overseas have planned to return home and attack, but the Shabaab's move toward al Qaeda and the anger at U.S. policy are a disturbing combination.

  The Fort Hood shootings, the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11, are also troubling, as they may show that an unstable American Muslim might express his anger through political violence. As killing sprees from Virginia Tech to Columbine High School show, it is easy for a disturbed individual to pick up a gun and shoot some, or even many, people. Maj. Hassan was in email contact with a radical religious leader from Yemen, according to officials. The silver lining is that the Army believes the suspect acted alone and without any assistance from other terror groups, a view reflected in their decision to charge him with murder in a military rather than civilian court.
  
  The presence of such connections is why the Sept. 19, 2009, arrest of Najibullah Zazi is so disturbing to homeland defense officials. Following the arrest, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declared, "Individuals sympathetic to al Qaeda and its affiliates, as well as those inspired by their ideology, are present in the U.S., and would like to attack the homeland or plot overseas attacks against our interests abroad." Mr. Zazi, a legal Afghan resident of the United States for many years, is charged with planning to bomb several targets in New York. In contrast to Americans arrested in the past who were long on violent dreams and short on skills, Mr. Zazi may pose a graver concern. One allegation should be of overwhelming concern: that Mr. Zazi received training during his August 2008 trip to Pakistan on how to manufacture and use explosives and the links he forged there to the al Qaeda core. If true, it would put Mr. Zazi in a league beyond the would-be terrorists who came before him and would make it clear, in case anyone doubted it, that Mr. bin Laden still has unfinished business with the U.S. Mr. Zazi's lawyers have denied he was plotting any attacks or that he undertook al Qaeda training.

   

  It may be tempting to dismiss Mr. Zazi as a one-off, but there is every indication that the al Qaeda core is reviving after its setback in Afghanistan. Each month the group seems more entrenched in tribal parts of Pakistan. While Islamabad had made fitful efforts to uproot it, some of the jihadist groups the regime nurtured and tolerated to fight India and advance Pakistani interests in Afghanistan have turned against the regime, while others are off the leash. Mr. bin Laden now has close ties to several groups that have tens of thousands of supporters in Pakistan, and his reach is growing to non-tribal parts of the country. In his sanctuary, he and his lieutenants can plan, recruit, issue propaganda, and train the next round. While in 2002 would-be terrorists in the United States had no obvious place to go for training, now even the most casual news-reader, to say nothing of those who trawl jihadist sites that appeal for volunteers, knows to go to Pakistan.

  Several steps are necessary to keep our country safe. First, fighting the al Qaeda core in Pakistan should remain at the center of U.S. counterterrorism policy. Having a secure haven is often a make or break issue for terrorist groups, and al Qaeda's growing strength there is a deadly danger. U.S. drone strikes, a program that accelerated near the end of the Bush administration and took off in the first months of Mr. Obama's term, keep al Qaeda off-balance, but they are not a substitute for forcing Pakistan to clean out this haven. We mustn't forget that Mr. Zazi managed to receive training after the drone strikes began in earnest.

  Second, we need to consider how American foreign policy can lead to domestic radicalization. Killing an al Qaeda leader in Somalia is a blow to the organization there, but the decision on whether to pull the trigger or not should also factor in the risk of radicalizing an already alienated immigrant group here at home, not just the operational benefit of removing one leader from the organization.

  Third, the FBI and state officials should redouble efforts to know local Muslim communities and gain their trust. Counterterrorism involves not only Predator attacks, but also social services for immigrant communities and courtesy calls to local religious leaders to hear their concerns and assure them that the United States continues to welcome them.

  As the allegations about Maj. Hasan, Mr. Zazi, and the Alexandria five suggest, you don't need a large and alienated community in order to have terror threats. But here at least there is good news, for counterterrorism is far more effective when the community is integrated and friendly to the government. Tips from local communities facilitated many of the post-9/11 arrests related to terrorism. And in the case of Mr. Zamzam and his friends, family members in the United States consulted the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, which—recognizing the potential danger—put them in touch with the FBI. In contrast to the combative stances of many European Muslims toward their governments, most American Muslims trust their government, and relationships are growing stronger.

  To improve this further, government officials should continue and expand outreach efforts to the Muslim American community. From the President's Eid al-Fitr greetings to Muslims down to town councilors swinging by for a local celebration, these gestures are powerful signs of welcome and stand in sharp contrast to the cold shoulder given Muslims in many European towns. And before new counterterrorism measures are announced, officials should consider how they would be perceived in the Muslim community as well as their immediate benefits for intelligence collection or better border security. Growing vigilance against any emerging threat must ensure the Muslim community feels respected and integrated, as this is the best way to make sure the holiday from terrorism does not end.

  Daniel Byman is the Director of the Center for Peace and Security Studies at Georgetown University and a Senior Fellow at the Saban Center at Brookings.

  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704517504574589841594836308.html#printMode
  
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  Americans in Pakistan Face More Questions

  Police Interrogators Probe Whether Five Suspects Were Planning Terror Attacks on Military Bases; No Formal Charges Filed Yet

  by ZAHID HUSSAIN

  ISLAMABAD -- A court Friday gave police 10 more days to interrogate five detained Americans on suspicion they were planning attacks on military installations in Pakistan.

  Police officials said the men -- all from the Washington, D.C., area -- might have targeted a Pakistani airbase.

  The Americans were shackled and under tight security for their appearance before a magistrate in Sargodha in eastern Pakistan. Usman Anwar, the police chief, said investigators told the court they needed more time to question the men and to establish criminal charges.

  Mr. Anwar said the men had maps of the Sargodha airbase, as well as information about a nearby water reservoir, which raised suspicion they were planning a terror attack. The men had rented a house near the airbase.

  He said the police wanted to determine any connections between the men and Pakistani militant groups. The Americans are suspected of offering to help carry out terrorist attacks.

  The five men could be charged under Pakistan's anti-terrorism laws, another police official said. The men have been interrogated by a Pakistani joint investigation team and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.

  A Lahore High Court last week ordered authorities not to deport them to the U.S. without its consent. Terrorism charges filed in Pakistan courts would hamper extradition efforts by the U.S., and any conviction would result in prison sentences here.

  The State Department has said there was no effort to extradite the men because there were no pending U.S. charges.

  On Friday, spokesman Andy Laine said the State Department would not comment on the case because the men have not been charged by the Pakistani government. Mr. Laine added, however, that the Obama administration may take a more public stand if charges are filed.

  The investigators earlier said the men declared they came to Pakistan for jihad. The Americans -- two of Pakistani origin, one of Egyptian origin, one of Ethiopian origin and one of Eritrean origin -- have been identified as Ramy Zamzam, Waqar Hussain, Aman Yamar, Ahmad Abdul Minni and Umer Farooq.

  A police report seen earlier this month by The Wall Street Journal said the men were devout Muslims and said they wanted to fight against people they accused of committing crimes against Muslims.

  The case began last month after families of the men called U.S. authorities and reported them missing. The FBI contacted Pakistani officials who tracked and detained the men.

  Pakistani investigators said the men had communicated with contacts in Pakistan through YouTube. They met a contact in Karachi before leaving for the town of Sargodha in the province of Punjab, where they were arrested.

  The Americans were in contact with Jaish-e-Mohammed, an outlawed Pakistani militant group loosely connected with al Qaeda and other groups, officials familiar with the investigation said.

  The police report said the five men had made plans with a person in Pakistan named "Saifullah" to go to Afghanistan.

  They traveled to Hyderabad on Dec. 1 and visited a madrassa run by Jaish-e-Mohammed. There, investigators said, they expressed their interest in jihad.

  The managers of the madrassa turned them away and advised them to go to Lahore and contact another group called Jamat ud Dawa, which the United Nations has declared a terrorist organization. After they were turned away by Jamat ud Dawa, they moved to Sargodha.

  Police said this week they were closing in on "Saifullah," who they allege is a key link in the investigation. Police have collected emails giving clues about contacts between militants and the five men

  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126173531535705233.html#printMode
  
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  Saving Mexico

  To weaken the cartels, some argue the U.S. should legalize marijuana, let cocaine pass through the Caribbean and take the profit motive out of the drug trade

    by DAVID LUHNOW

  Mexico City

  In the 40 years since U.S. President Richard Nixon declared a "war on drugs," the supply and use of drugs has not changed in any fundamental way. The only difference: a taxpayer bill of more than $1 trillion.

  A senior Mexican official who has spent more than two decades helping fight the government's war on drugs summed up recently what he's learned from his long career: "This war is not winnable."

    Just last week, Mexican Navy Special Forces swarmed a luxury apartment tower in a central city and gunned down Arturo Beltrán Leyva, a drug trafficker whose organization helped smuggle several billion dollars worth of cocaine and marijuana into the U.S. during the past decade, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

  Within days of Mr. Beltrán Leyva's death, Mexican officials were already trying to guess which of his lieutenants would take his place. Almost no one expected the death of Mr. Beltrán Leyva to slow down the business of drug trafficking or the horrific drug-related violence in Mexico that has claimed around 15,000 lives in the past three years. On Monday, hit men gunned down several family members of a Mexican naval officer who had been killed in the Beltrán Leyva raid. Four people have been arrested in connection with the killing, though Mexican authorities say the hit men are still at large.

  Growing numbers of Mexican and U.S. officials say—at least privately—that the biggest step in hurting the business operations of Mexican cartels would be simply to legalize their main product: marijuana. Long the world's most popular illegal drug, marijuana accounts for more than half the revenues of Mexican cartels.

  "Economically, there is no argument or solution other than legalization, at least of marijuana," said the top Mexican official matter-of-factly. The official said such a move would likely shift marijuana production entirely to places like California, where the drug can be grown more efficiently and closer to consumers. "Mexico's objective should be to make the U.S. self-sufficient in marijuana," he added with a grin.

  Culiacan, Sinoloa is the unofficial capital of Mexico's drug-trafficking business. Given the shortened lifespan for drug traffickers, shrines and mausoleums honoring fallen narcos have become an integral part of the city's landscape. David Luhnow and Jose de Cordoba report from Mexico.

  He is not alone in his views. Earlier this year, three former Latin American presidents known for their free-market and conservative credentials—Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico, Cesar Gaviria of Colombia and Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil—said governments should seriously consider legalizing marijuana as an effective tool against murderous drug gangs.

  If the war on drugs has failed, analysts say it is partly because it has been waged almost entirely as a la w-and-order issue, without understanding of how cartels work as a business.

  For instance, U.S. anti-drug policy inadvertently helped Mexican gangs gain power. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the U.S. government cracked down on the transport of cocaine from Colombia to U.S. shores through the Caribbean, the lowest-cost supply route. But that simply diverted the flow to the next lowest-cost route: through Mexico. In 1991, 50% of the U.S.-bound cocaine came through Mexico. By 2004, 90% did. Mexico became the FedEx of the cocaine business.

  That change in the supply chain came as Colombia waged a successful war to break up the country's Cali and Medellin cartels into dozens of smaller suppliers. Both moves helped the Mexican gangs, who gained pricing power in the market. Before, the Colombian cartels told Mexicans what price they would pay for wholesale cocaine. Now, Mexican gangs play smaller Colombian suppliers off of each other to get the best price. Mexican gangs are "price setters" instead of "price takers."

  Some Mexican officials say privately that the U.S. should seriously consider allowing cocaine to pass more easily through the Caribbean again in order to squeeze Mexican gangs. "Would you rather destabilize small countries in the Caribbean or Mexico, which shares a 2,000-mile border with the U.S., is your third-biggest trading partner and has 100 million people?" one official said.

  Today, the world's most successful drug trafficking organizations are found in Mexico. Unlike Colombian drug gangs in the 1980s, who relied almost entirely on cocaine, Mexican drug gangs are a one-stop shop for four big-time illicit drugs: marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamines and heroin. Mexico is the world's second biggest producer of marijuana (the U.S. is No. 1), the major supplier of methamphetamines to the U.S., the key transit point for U.S.-bound cocaine from South America and the hemisphere's biggest producer of heroin.

  This diversification helps them absorb shocks from the business. Sales of cocaine in the U.S., for instance, slipped slightly from 2006 to 2008. But that decline was more than made up for by growing sales of methamphetamines.

  In many ways, illegal drugs are the most successful Mexican multinational enterprise, employing some 450,000 Mexicans and generating about $20 billion in sales, second only behind the country's oil industry and automotive industry exports. This year, Forbes magazine put Mexican drug lord Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman as No. 401 on the world's list of billionaires.

  Unlike their rough-hewn parents and uncles, today's young traffickers wear Armani suits, carry BlackBerrys and hit the gym for exercise. One drug lord's accountant who was arrested in 2006 had a mid-level job at Mexico's central bank for 15 years.

  Recently, Mexico's deputy agriculture minister, Jeffrey Jones, told some of the country's leading farmers that they could learn a thing or two from Mexican drug traffickers. "It's a sector that has learned to identify markets and create the logistics to reach them," he said. Days later, Mr. Jones was forced to resign. "He may be right," one top Mexican official confided, "but you can't say things like that publicly."

  Mr. Jones says he stands by his comments.

  Because governments make drugs illegal, the risk associated with transporting them translates to high rewards for those willing to take that risk. The wholesale price of a single kilo of cocaine, for instance, costs $1,200 in Colombia, $2,300 in Panama, $8,300 in Mexico, and between $15,000 and $25,000 in the U.S., depending on how close you are to the Mexican border. At a retail level on the streets of New York, it can run close to $80,000. With markups like that, the business is bound to keep attracting new entrants, no matter what governments do to stop it.

  Governments also have a hard time stopping the drugs trade because, like any good business, trafficking organizations innovate and adapt. Mexican customs has stumbled upon a long list of ingenious methods to transport cocaine, including one shipment of liquefied cocaine smuggled in red wine bottles. Another recent bust yielded 800 kilos of cocaine—worth an estimated $40 million—stuffed inside a batch of frozen sharks.

  After Mexico restricted the importation of pseudoephedrine to slow the manufacture of methamphetamines, drug gangs found another way to make the drug using different, unrestricted chemicals widely used in the perfume industry. "I've always thought these guys had a good research and development arm," says one exasperated Mexican official.

  Advocates for drug legalization say making marijuana legal would cut the economic clout of Mexican cartels by half. Marijuana accounts for anywhere between 50% to 65% of Mexican cartel revenues, say Mexican and U.S. officials. While cocaine has higher profit margins, marijuana is a steady source of income that allows cartels to meet payroll and fund other activities.

  Marijuana is also less risky to a drug gang's balance sheet. If a cocaine shipment is seized, the Mexican gang has to write off the expected profits from the shipment and the cost of paying Colombian suppliers, meaning they lose twice. But because gangs here grow their own marijuana, it's easier to absorb the losses from a seizure. Cartels also own the land where the marijuana is grown, meaning they can cheaply grow more supply rather than have to fork over more money to the Colombians for the next shipment of cocaine.

  Several U.S. states like California and Oregon have decriminalized marijuana, making possession of small quantities a misdemeanor, like a parking ticket. Decriminalization falls short of legalization because the sale and distribution remain a serious felony. One of the big reasons for the move is to reduce the problem of overcrowded and costly prisons.

  While this strategy may make sense domestically for the U.S., Mexican officials say it is the worst possible outcome for Mexico, because it guarantees demand for the drug by eliminating the risk that if you buy you go to jail. But it keeps the supply chain illegal, ensuring that organized crime will be the drug's supplier.

  Making pot legal might actually increase violence south of the border even more in the short term, with drug gangs fighting over a smaller economic pie of the remaining illegal drugs. But it would eventually reduce the overall financial clout of cartels.

  If more radical options like legalizing prove impossible, then some analysts say Washington and Mexico City should at least refocus the battle against drugs along economic lines.

  Until recently, Mexican police almost never looked at a cartel's finances. During a 2006 raid of a drug traffickers Mexico City home, police found a hand-written ledger describing the cartel's cocaine business for a single month: the price paid to Colombian suppliers ($3,500 per kilo), the sale price here in Mexico ($8,200 per kilo) and the cartel's net profit of $18 million. Police didn't bother to keep the piece of paper, according to people who participated in the raid.

  "We've been attacking the players rather than attacking the industry. We need to focus on shrinking their markets and raising their operating costs," said Alberto Islas, a 40-year-old with an economics degree from MIT who runs a private security consulting company in Mexico City.

  For the first time, Mexico's government is paying more attention to drugs as a business. A new 2% tax on cash deposits greater than $1,250 in bank accounts gives tax authorities a better picture of Mexico's cash economy—the currency of the drugs trade. Just this year, authorities found five people with unexplained cash deposits of more than $4 million, including one from a man who doesn't even have a formal job.

  Mexican customs is also trying—for the first time—to disrupt the flow of guns and money that return from the U.S. to Mexico in exchange for the drugs. Disrupting that flow is crucial to cartel finances: Mexican gangs send drugs north, and get cash and guns in return.

  For decades, people crossing into the U.S. from Mexico have been subjected to rigorous checks, but Mexico never bothered to check people coming back from the other direction. Now, cars coming from the U.S. will be blocked by a mechanical arm. License-plate photographs will be run against a criminal database in Mexico City, while a scale and vehicle-scanning system will determine if the car may be overloaded with contraband. Dogs trained to locate weapons and money will roam the area.

  "Cash is king. Every bit of money we seize hits the cartels directly on the bottom line," says Alfredo Gutierrez Ortiz, the head of Mexico's tax authority.

  But Mr. Gutierrez has also been around long enough to know Mexico is not going to stamp out the drugs trade here entirely.

  "We must raise the transaction cost, make it too expensive for them to use Mexico as an export platform relative to other countries," he said. "But the demand itself—well, that's not going to go away."

  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704254604574614230731506644.html#printMode
  
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  Yemen Claims 30 Killed in Raid on al Qaeda

  Associated Press

  SAN'A, Yemen -- Yemen's military hit suspected al Qaeda hideouts for the second time in a week, killing at least 30 militants in a remote area of the country -- a fragmented, unstable nation the U.S. fears could turn into an Afghanistan-like refuge for the terrorist network.

  The strikes on Thursday, which were carried out with U.S. and Saudi intelligence help, hit a gathering of top leaders and other targets in a remote mountain valley, officials said.

  The newly aggressive Yemeni campaign against al Qaeda is being boosted by a dose of American aid, a reflection of Washington's concerns about al Qaeda's presence in a highly strategic location on the border with oil-rich U.S.-ally Saudi Arabia.

  The Pentagon recently confirmed it is has poured nearly $70 million in military aid into Yemen this year -- compared with none in 2008. The U.S. military has boosted its counterterrorism training for Yemeni forces, and is providing more intelligence, which probably includes surveillance by unmanned drones, according to U.S. officials and analysts.

  The result appears to be a sharp escalation in Yemen's campaign against al Qaeda, which previously amounted to scattered raids against militants, mixed with tolerance of some fighters who made vague promises they would avoid terrorist activity.

  Deputy White House press secretary Bill Burton addressed the strikes aboard Air Force One on Thursday, as President Barack Obama headed to Hawaii.

  "As we've said previously, the president supports the government of Yemen in their efforts to take out terrorist elements in their country," he told reporters. "We continue to support those efforts."

  When asked if the U.S. knew this strike was coming, Burton replied, "I'm not going to comment on those reports."

  The United States has been pressing Yemen for well over a year to take tougher action against al Qaeda, which has steadily been building up its presence in the country. Fighters have been arriving from Iraq and Afghanistan, finding safe haven with tribes angry at the Yemeni government and carrying out attacks in Yemen and across the border in Saudi Arabia.

  Yemen's government, which has little control outside the capital, has been distracted by other internal problems. It is fighting a fierce war against Shiite rebels who rose up near the Saudi border, and Saudi forces have gotten involved, battling rebels who have crossed into its territory. The government is also struggling with a secessionist movement in the once-independent south and trying to deal with rampant poverty.

  In Thursday's 4 a.m. military strike, Yemeni warplanes hit what officials called a gathering of senior al Qaeda figures in Rafd, a remote mountain valley in eastern Shabwa province that's sparsely populated by small tribal villages -- often little more than a collection of tents.

  The top leader of al-Qaeda's branch in Saudi Arabia and Yemen, Naser Abdel-Karim al-Wahishi, and his deputy, Saeed al-Shihri, were believed to be at the meeting, Yemen's Supreme Security Committee said in a statement. But Yemeni officials said they could not confirm for certain whether the two were there or whether they were injured in the strikes. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

  Yemen's deputy defense minister, Rashad al-Alaimy, told parliament Thursday that three important leadership members were killed, but he did not identify them. He said the strikes were carried out "using intelligence aid from Saudi Arabia and the United States of America in our fight against terrorism."

  Mohamed Al-Maqdeshi, head of security in Shabwa, told reporters a number of leaders were killed, but could only confirm a midlevel figure: Mohammed Ahmed Saleh Omair.

  A Rafd resident, Awad al-Daghary, told The Associated Press by telephone that bearded al Qaedafighters brought the bodies of Omair and three others killed in the strike to al-Daghary's tribe for burial. Two of the bodies were of tribe members who had run off to join al Qaeda, he said.

  Further strikes Thursday targeted other al Qaeda hideouts, the Supreme Security Committee said in a statement. The committee, headed by President Ali Abdullah Saleh, oversees operations by the military and security forces.

  It said more than 30 al Qaeda militants were killed in the strikes.

  In a separate operation, 25 suspected al Qaeda members were arrested Wednesday in San'a, the capital, the Interior Ministry said. Security forces set up checkpoints in the capital to control traffic flow as part of a campaign to clamp down on terrorism.

  Al-Alaimy, the deputy defense minister, said Thursday's operations were carried out after security officials received information about al Qaeda plans to carry out suicide attacks in San'a against the British Embassy and foreign schools.

  The strikes come a week after warplanes and security forces on the ground attacked what authorities said was an al Qaeda training camp in the area of Mahsad in the southern province of Abyan -- the largest assault on al Qaeda in Yemen in years.

  Al-Alaimy told parliament that 23 militants were killed in those strikes, including Yemenis, Saudis, Egyptians and Pakistanis. Witnesses, however, put the number killed at over 60 in the heaviest strike and said the dead were mostly civilians.

  The central government's lack of control of areas outside Yemen's capital -- places where many angry tribes are willing to take in al Qaeda militants -- have raised U.S. fears that the beleaguered nation could collapse into chaos. Yemen not only lies next to Saudi Arabia and near the oil-rich nations of the Persian Gulf, it overlooks vital sea routes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

  The country is also the ancestral homeland of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and it was the scene of the October 2000 suicide bombing of the USS Cole that killed 17 American sailors.

  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126164534074404065.html#printMode

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