BREAKING NEWS: COUNTERTERRORISM OFFICIALS ASKED STATE DEPARTMENT SPECIFICALLY NOT TO REVOKE ABDULMUTALLAB'S VISA

This should be a front page story everywhere if it is true. The Detroit News* is reporting that during testimony before the House Committee on Homeland Security, Patrick F. Kennedy, undersecretary for management at the State Department said that intelligence officials asked his agency not to deny a visa to the suspected terrorist over concerns that a denial would've foiled a larger investigation. *

This along with previous admissions by authorities that a man helped the Christmas Bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, "change planes," a man who, according to witness Kurt Haskell, asked the ticket agent to let Abdulmutallab board without a passport because "we do this all the time," raise serious questions about the event.

In an intervew on prisonplanet.tv (3 minutes in) Haskell also claims that he has received an email from a dutch woman who collaborates his story of Abdulmutallab being escorted by a 'sharp dressed man.'

If Haskell's evidence were somehow false and Abdulmutallab did board with a visa (not revoked by the State Department on request by counterterrorism officials) then we would be perhaps dealing with a dangerous sting operation. A scandal in its own right.

But Kurt Haskell claims on Prison Planet that he witnessed Abdulmutallab trying to board the plane as a Sudanese refugee without a passport and with the help of a U.S. government agent.

It is theoretically possible that the second scenario which Haskell describes still represents only an elaborate sting operation and not necessarily an intentional false flag operation, but the difference between the two seems to be narrowing as the government in all scenarios went out of its way to help, or at least not to impede, Abdulmutallab in his actions.

Do you really believe this is not related to a desire to increase military aid to yemen, tighten airport security, and install body scanners?

If it turns out to be the case that the whole thing from start to finish was an organized false flag event created by individuals within as well as outside the government for the reasons above or other reasons, why should anyone be surprised? The government and corporate media lied to us about WMDs to start unnecessary wars. They have menaced us with apparently fake or misleading Bin Laden videos. They have deceived us about swine flu so Big Pharma can get rich, and they have lied to us about the economic bailout to enrich their friends. Their credibility is zero. They operate with a methodology reminiscent of organized crime or fascism.

"... the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is TELL THEM THEY ARE BEING ATTACKED, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. IT WORKS THE SAME IN ANY COUNTRY."

-Goering at the Nuremberg Trials


*UPDATE: Because the Detroit News Article referred to at the top has been removed, I am reprinting below a version of the article I found which had been copied by someone else.

The Detroit News:
Last Updated: January 27. 2010 4:32PM


Terror suspect kept visa to avoid tipping off larger investigation


Nathan Hurst / Detroit News Washington Bureau

Washington --The State Department didn't revoke the visa of foiled terrorism suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab because federal counterterrorism officials had begged off revocation, a top State Department official revealed Wednesday.

Patrick F. Kennedy, an undersecretary for management at the State Department, said Abdulmutallab's visa wasn't taken away because intelligence officials asked his agency not to deny a visa to the suspected terrorist over concerns that a denial would've foiled a larger investigation into al-Qaida threats against the United States.

"Revocation action would've disclosed what they were doing," Kennedy said in testimony before the House Committee on Homeland Security. Allowing Adbulmutallab to keep the visa increased chances federal investigators would be able to get closer to apprehending the terror network he is accused of working with, "rather than simply knocking out one solider in that effort."


The committee's hearing continues a series across Capitol Hill that started last week, all looking into the events leading up to and after the attempted bombing of Flight 253 over Detroit. Law enforcement officials say Abdulmutallab tried to detonate an explosive hidden in his underwear on board the flight from Amsterdam shortly before its landing at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus on Christmas Day.


Since the failed attack, criticism has swirled around leaders of the U.S. intelligence community who have indicated they were warned by the suspect's father about a month before the flight of a potential terror threat, but failed to stop Abdmutallab, despite other warning signs like the fact that he purchased a one-way ticket to Detroit with cash.


Politicians have also criticized the decision to treat Abdulmutallab as a civilian after the arrest in Michigan, with Miranda rights being read to him after less than an hour of interrogation and without input from the intelligence community.

Rep. Candice Miller, R-Harrison Township, the only Michigan House member on the Homeland Security Committee, said in a Tuesday statement that she planned to question officials on that matter at today's hearing.

nhurst@detnews.com (313) 222-2300