NYC Letter: Democrats In Charge, Part II

Day 341 of CHOPE

Background post here.

OFFICIALS: ONLY A FAILED DETONATOR
SAVED NORTHWEST FLIGHT
Al Qaeda Aware of 'Achilles Heel'

December 26, 2009 (ABC News) - Officials now say tragedy was only averted on Northwest flight 253 because a makeshift detonator failed to work properly. Bomb experts say there was more than enough explosive to bring down the Northwest jet, which had nearly 300 people aboard, had the detonator not failed.

Not to worry. It wasn't a security breach, it was the system working.

NAPOLITANO:
"THE SYSTEM WORKED"

December 27, 2009 (Politico) - Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Sunday that the thwarting of the attempt to blow up an Amsterdam-Detroit airline flight Christmas Day demonstrated that "the system worked."

Asked by CNN's Candy Crowley on "State of the Union" how that could be possible when the young Nigerian who has been charged with trying to set off the bomb was able to smuggle explosive liquid onto the jet, Napolitano responded:

We're asking the same questions.

Napolitano added that there was "no suggestion that [the suspect] was improperly screened."

Ed Morrissey at Hot Air describes how the concatenations of Ms. Napolitano's system worked.

I suppose one can make that argument — if one assumes that the system includes allowing a man included on a watch list onto an airplane, allowing his visa to remain in force even after his own father informs the US that he’s become a radical jihadi,* assuming that any explosive said terrorist will smuggle onto the plane will fizzle out, and that only quick thinking by the other passengers on the plane kept the jihadi from trying it again while he barbecued his crotch.

You see. [Pause.] Team Barry thinks you are this stupid. [Longer pause.] Clearly mujahideen think Team Barry is this stupid.

CHOPE.

Not to worry. Democrats on the job now.

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* "The father, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, a former minister and chairman of First Bank in Nigeria, is shocked that his son was even allowed to fly to the U.S., family members told the Nigerian newspaper This Day."