By Patrick Martin
16 January 2010

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/f253-j16.shtml

Nearly a week ago, on January 10, the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz carried a news article by correspondent Yossi Melman pointing out the role of an Israeli security firm, International Consultants on Targeted Security (ICTS), in the failed attempt to detonate a bomb on board Northwest Airlines Flight 253.

ICTS subsidiaries I-SEC and PI are responsible for security screening of passengers at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, where accused suicide bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab boarded the Detroit-bound jet. The company uses screening technology to profile passengers and identify security risks, based on the experience of the Israeli intelligence services. Former El Al Airlines and Shin Bet security personnel established ICTS in 1982 to market their expertise, and many US airlines use their services or technology.

According to Ha’aretz, Abdulmutallab was screened by ICTS, but the security agents failed to identify him as a threat, despite ample evidence.

“Even if US intelligence failed and the name of the Nigerian passenger was not pinpointed as a suspect for the airline, he should have stirred the suspicion of the security officers,” the newspaper wrote. “His age, name, illogical travel route, high-priced ticket purchased at the last minute, his boarding without luggage (only a carry on) and many other signs should have been sufficient to alert the security officers and warrant further examination of the suspect. However, the security supervisor representing I-SEC and PI allowed him to get on the flight.”

http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news

Clerics in Yemen warn of jihad if US sends troops 14 Jan 2010 A group of prominent Muslim clerics warned Thursday they will call for jihad, or holy war, if the U.S. sends troops to fight al-Qaida in Yemen. The group of 15 clergymen includes the highly influential Sheik Abdul-Majid al-Zindani… who is courted by the Yemeni government for his important backing. “If any foreign country insists on aggression and the invasion of the country or interference, in a military or security way, Muslim sons are duty bound to carry out jihad and fight the aggressors,” the clerics said in a statement.

This post was mentioned on Twitter by ThePublicRecord: Intelligence Failures Of The Highest Order: 9/11 And Christmas 2009 http://bit.ly/8twlNu…

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=black+ops+assassin+debriefed+1+of+12&search_type=&aq=0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhaJtklFhyM&feature=PlayList&p=B3C6053BE534DB86&index=0&playnext=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ-TSOpnauU&feature=PlayList&p=1B7CB5E97A7F673D&index=0&playnext=1

The 9/11 Commission report goes to great lengths to explain that they were instructed not to place blame or fault on any of the United Stats Government agencies for 9/11. Those instructions by the Bush Administration to the 9/11 Commission is clearly an indication that the United States Government played a key role in Al Qaeda’s success on 9/11. Either by complete incompetence by the United States Government or by knowingly not stopping Al Qaeda’s plans; it is that simple.

The Christmas day Joke is just the manifestation of the complete corruption of the United States Government political system.

http://visasforterrorists.blogspot.com/

By J. Michael Springmann, former US Consulate Visa Officer in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Between 1987 and 1989, I had been assigned to what I call the CIA’s Consulate General at Jeddah, principal city of the Hejaz, Saudi Arabia’s western province. While nominally the officer in charge of the consulate’s visa section, I found that, out of some 20 Americans at the consulate, there were only three people (including myself) whom I knew for a certainty to have no ties, professional or familial, to any of the US intelligence services (chiefly, the National Security Agency (NSA) – the communications-intercepting and cipher-breaking arm of the US government – and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) – the American organization whose covert operations include spying on and overthrowing lawfully elected governments or, if need be, assassinating their leaders at the behest of US politicians).

The CIA’s Consulate General in Jeddah

Before leaving Washington, I had met with the then-US ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Walter Cutler, who spent nearly 45 minutes telling me about all the problems my predecessor had caused him in refusing visas to various applicants. An administrative official in the Near East Bureau, Ellen Goff, also mentioned that there were odd issues involving visas at Jeddah. However, the State Department Desk Officer for Saudi Arabia, in response to my query about these strange statements, said he had no idea of what they were talking about, opining only that Cutler himself was a peculiar duck.

Upon arrival in Jeddah in September 1987, I learned the truth about the situation – very quickly and very unpleasantly. I was bombarded with demands (not requests) by the American Consul General (Jay Philip Freres), the Political Officer and his successor, a Commercial Officer and the head of the Political/Economic Section, to issue visas to people who had no ties (either to Saudi Arabia or to their own country) strong enough to cause them to return to Jeddah or their homeland once they had arrived in America.