Embarrassed Obama Finally Admits Detroit Terrorist was Not Isolated but Linked to Al-Qaida

It took him more than a week after the terror-attempt incident, but Barack Obama has finally admitted what conservatives and intellectually honest Americans have already known or at least suspected since Christmas Day, when Abdulmutallab tried unsuccessfully to blow up a Detroit-bound airplane. Namely, that al-Qaida indeed had its Islamofascist fingerprints all over the attempted attack and that there is an al-Qaida link to said failed terror attempt. I guess it's better late than never for someone as slow on the uptake as Obama.

This represents an undeniable and utter embarrassment for Obama whose first response to the failed terror attempt, after passively waiting for three days so he could soak up some more sun in Hawaii and work on his cool-guy tan, was to be in total denial and term it as an...ahem..."isolated incident!" This also is a complete about-face for Obama who made that now-infamous misstatement despite the very fact that al-Qaida had already claimed responsibility for the failed attack in internet postings.

In his about-face delivered via his Saturday radio address, Obama now admits, sheepishly, that Terrorist Abdulmutallab blazed a path through Yemen where he was trained and encouraged to attempt the Christmas Day mass-murder, terrorist attack on the Detroit-bound plane.

Obama said that "he traveled to Yemen, a country grappling with crushing poverty and deadly insurgencies. It appears that he joined an affiliate of al-Qaida, and that this group--al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula--trained him, equipped him with those explosives and directed him to attack that plane headed for America."

As part of his comments, Obama also stressed a continued commitment to keep sending foreign aid to Yemen, which already stood at $67 million from just last year, second only to Pakistan, another so-called "ally" that should really do more to battle the terrorists, at that. Maybe feeling the pressure from Americans who question why a doubtful ally like Yemen should be getting so much money at a time when Americans are losing jobs, the deficit is skyrocketing, and the unemployment rate is at double-digits, Obama hastily tried to put a good spin on the foreign aid money sent to Yemen.

"Training camps have been struck, leaders eliminated, plots disrupted. And all those involved in the attempted act of terrorism on Christmas must know - you too will be held to account," said Obama, whose approval ratings are still seriously challenged.

Knowing that the failed watch-list system occurred under his watch and perhaps smarting from the PR consequences of it, Obama also took pains in his address to point out that he has ordered a "thorough" review of the failures of the US anti-terror system that allowed Abdulmutallab's plot to progress as far as it did. However, in my recent column, I did convincingly point out that Obama's pick to head said review, John Brennan, is heavily compromised and of a very left-wing ideology, both of which put into serious question the fair conduct of such a review.

Nonetheless, it is quite embarrassing that we have Obama on tape from his first press conference, three days after the failed terror attack, where he's so confident to claim that Abdulmutallab was an "isolated extremist." I bet he wishes he could have that back, huh?

To send Marc questions, praise or criticism, you can email him at marc_schenker@telus.net

Sources:

Philip Elliott, Obama: Al-Qaida link to Christmas terror suspect, AP

Susan Jones, Obama Describes Nigerian As "Isolated Extremist," Despite Ties to Yemen, CNSNews.com

Obama won't use terror name, uses isolated extremist, YouTube