The interesting part, to me at least, is that the Al Qaeda leadership reportedly claimed that this was in retaliation for what's going on in Yemen. And what's going on there? Well, the Yemen government has been attacking and undermining Al Qaeda camps and operatives within their borders, and they've been very successful lately. And a big part of their success is the logistical and tactical support they've been getting from the Obama administration.

So really, the fact that they decided they had to retaliate is a sign that we're succeeding against them and they're desperate to derail our success. And the fact that they bungled the attack so badly shows just how completely they've been undermined lately.

Obviously, in order to keep us sssafe from crotch bombers the solution is to embargo Nigeria from receiving Fruit-Of-The Loom products.

Applying the right's logic - well their thinking, no that wont work, how their brain...hmm. Well anyway, I'm sure they can understand how Obama has prevented major catastrophes from happening.

It feels, at least to me, that people intuitively get this, despite frothing right-wing fearmongering and faux-sober Village CW. I mean, the day after Christmas, one of NY's trashy tabloids, either the Post or the Daily News, had as its front page the headline "Great Balls of Fire." Those are the perfect vehicles to stir up what the right wing is trying to cook, and they didn't take the bait, I sense because they knew their readers wouldn't buy it. There has not, as yet, been real negative movement in Obama's approval in the daily trackers, and some evidence that there's been an upswing since Christmas -- e.g., Y2K's weekly tracker. Anecdotally (admittedly), reports from holiday travelers across the board are that it's business as usual at the airports despite tighter security -- people are still flying. So trying to score political points of al Qa'ida boogeymen will probably result in diminishing returns for the Republicans this time around, if I had to guess.

I think the Intelligence community is worthy of both criticism and praise. There was enough circumstantial evidence to keep this guy off a plane and reject his entrance to the US. I also completely agree that Al Queda's capabilities have been severely weekend. The intel community should concentrate their efforts on database management. It is not that hard to maintain a database with 500K bad guys. ITunes, American Medical Assoc (800K docs) and NASDAQ have larger and more sophisticated databases. CIA may want to hire Larry Ellison as a consultant.

BTW- whats up with Chertoff and Haydon on MTP this sunday? Is Gregory auditioning for FOX?

I know how to stop further BVD bombers! Make sure they wear underpants worn by right-wingers. Those are so wet from pissing themselves, a blow-torch couldn't light the Semtex.
Don't you understand? Everytime you ring the fear bell, another terrorists looks to get on something that has wings.

Something I've tried occasionally to impress on my conservative friends: very few terrorists are the diabolically rational fanatics you see in movies or on Criminal Intent. As it turns out, most xenophobic religious fanatics are not very good at understanding what goes on in other countries, let alone passing themselves off as the locals and planning attacks that depend on detailed understanding of local culture.

So, they are most dangerous on their home ground, they don't have that many plots going on elsewhere, and good, aggressive intelligence work can spot them and interdict them.

The first idea the news chatterers had about the Oklahoma City bombing was that it was some fanatic from Lebanon (the conflict de'jure at the time). As if Oklahoma City even existed in the imagination of Lebanese fringe groups!

Writers of American B novels and TV scripts have an edge over actual terrorists, being thoroughly familiar with American culture and infrastructure.

Of course, creating terrorist characters who, chameleon-like, can pass themselves off instantly as American cops and paramedics is as easy as creating human-looking robots. All you have to do is hire an actor. Real terrorists, like actual roboticists, have to start from scratch.

This is right on. The hysteria is coming from those who don't understand that a comprehensive response to terrorism works better over time. Wildly lashing out with the your military is not a sign of strength, and since the Bush Admin didn't think through the consequences of its moves, it constantly stretched and overreached with our intelligence capabilities to the point where we could only react. Obama's approach has been good where it has been proactive and based on causes, but weak when it has taken the hammer approach (drones, killing civilians).

steve: the director of national intelligence is boasting that al Qaeda is "diminished"?

sure..

Al-Qaida faces recruitment crisis, anti-terrorism experts say - Guardian.com 9/10/09

In the 50's the mantra was "My country, right or wrong."

In the 60's it was "Love it or leave it".

in the 00's is was "You're either with us or you're against us."

Today, it is,"Real patriots vote Republican. . ."

One would like to think the fear machine is a bit worn in the transmission by its overuse. While we certainly aren't making a lot of friends in Muslim countries, we aren't quite the belligerent attack dogs we were during Bushco times either.

Henny-Penny, the sky is falling only works for so long. The trogs on the right don't seem to understand that very well. They'll just have to keep praying that an attack happens soon, or maybe they'll just plan one.

Actually, I think this is counter-intuitive only on in a very superficial sense. A little thought comes up with many instances of "weakened" powers that are nonetheless not harmless. In December of 1944 Germany launched a deadly, and ultimately unsuccessful attack on American forces in the Ardennes. But does anyone seriously doubt that by December of 1944 Germay had been "weakened". One can easily come up with innumerable other examples.

Come to think of it, the term "Intelligence Community" is kinda fruity. If we need a word to encompass all the intelligence services in every department, how about something boss like "Intelligence Sector"? Or "Intelligence Legion"? Or maybe, gosh, "Intelligence Services"?

I have long thought that "intelligence community" makes it sound like spies are a minority group contending with discrimination and disrespect. Black community, Latino community, gay community, intelligence community.

'Historically, al Qaeda attacks have featured "redundancy, simultaneity, and good planning." Last week's plot had none of those elements.'

Everyone seems to be taking Al Qaeda's word for it that they were behind this. But is that certain?

This attack looks too amateurish to be an AQ op. Even the target--Detroit, a second-rate, declining city--seems "off" as the focus of a sophisticated group like AQ. The choice of targets indicates the parochialism of an amateur like McVeigh, rather than a professional like OBL.

Blair said what?!? Clearly Janet Napolitano must step down!!

It is probably the case that an organization that can project power only by inducing the confused, depressed, mentally confused young to blow themselves up probably is pretty weak.

Al-Qaeda has been weak since 9/12. The threat may have been overstated. What Al-Qaeda had going for it on 9/11 were passengers willing to be hijacked. And that is really the end of the story with that. Can we move on to things that really kill us? Like lightning, slipping in the bathtub, and bald tires