Failed Airplane Bombing; World Should Unite Against Dangerous Threats

On the morning of December 26, 2009, Beijing local time, a failed airplane bombing occurred at an airport in Detroit in the United States. Preliminary findings show that this attack was related to al-Qaeda. On December 26, in a China Central Television program, Oriental Horizon, commentator Ma Xiaolin pointed out that this incident reveals a large breach in international aviation security and safety. Emphasizing that this incident is definitely related to al-Qaeda, Ma suggested that each nation combat terrorism and that security and aviation companies introduce lists of “dangerous passengers” who should be tracked according to their threat level in order to prevent similar terrorist attacks from occurring.

Ma indicated that although no damage resulted from this alarming incident, the criminal suspect was able to carry explosives from a Nigerian airport in Lagos to Amsterdam in Holland and, finally, to Detroit in the U.S., clearly showing the large security breaches at several checkpoints along the way. If this incident was linked to a criminal organization, or if backup was provided by an “insider,” then there is the possibility that the suspect used a new type of explosive fuel that was not detected during security checks.

Another possibility is an oversight in security. The security department at the airport in Lagos announced that there was no problem at the security checkpoint for the flight going to Amsterdam. If there was then that there may have been an insider who either helped the suspect get through the security checkpoint or provided the explosives after. Because there are many flights and passengers going through Amsterdam’s large airport, transfer passengers do not have to go through another security checkpoint. And because of local requests passengers are able to carry a small amount of liquid-containing items onto the plane. This way, as soon as the suspect got past the Lagos airport security checkpoint, he also got the green light into U.S. airspace.

When discussing who was behind the scenes masterminding this incident, Ma pointed out that all indications place al-Qaeda under greatest suspicion: either an al-Qaeda member, someone assigned by al-Qaeda, or someone acting independently under the influence of al-Qaeda’s philosophy. Yesterday was Christmas in Western countries; over the past 10 years, al-Qaeda’s trademark has been to launch large-scale terrorist attacks on important holidays or special dates in the U.S. and other Western countries. In addition, in recent years only al-Qaeda has utilized civilian air crafts in terrorist attacks.

Secondly, according to preliminary reports, the criminal suspect stated that he was sent by al-Qaeda, that he bought explosives in Yemen and that he learned how to use them there. This information is in accordance with real-life circumstances, since Yemen is the home of al-Qaeda’s leader Osama Bin Laden and since this area has been infiltrated by al-Qaeda, particularly in recent years. Moreover, this suspect was included in U.S. intelligence agencies’ blacklist long ago as a dangerous threat because he had terrorist ties to al-Qaeda.

However, this suspect may have committed this terrorist act independently. He failed to detonate the explosives, he was in an agitated state during the incident and he yelled “Afghanistan,” other country names and anti-American slogans. Based on this, he does not seem to be a highly skilled terrorist trained by al-Qaeda. Instead, he seems more like an anti-American extremist who is motivated by religious or nationalistic reasons and who also approves of al-Qaeda’s philosophy and activities. Perhaps he initiated this terrorist attack because he despised the U.S.’s policies in the Middle East and Central and South Asia.

Lastly, Ma pointed out that the main reason why the 9/11 terrorist attacks were successfully executed was that U.S. intelligence agencies were concealing information on terrorist suspects from each other, thus causing security breaches. This recent incident makes it clear that, although the criminal suspect was placed on the U.S.’s blacklist, the U.S. did not put him on the no-fly list, allowing him to successfully execute his travel plan. Therefore, each country’s anti-terrorism, security and aviation agencies must create a network and join together to introduce a list of dangerous passengers. Based on the threat level, these agencies could share information, conduct surveillance operations and take preventive measures in order to prevent a similar security breach from happening in the future.