Was Somali Man's Terror Attempt Dry Run?

By Douglas V. Gibbs

In November a Somali National attempted to board an airplane with powdered chemicals, liquid, and a syringe in the hopes of blowing up an airplane. News of this attempt has surfaced, and is still being investigated, around the same time as the plot to blow up Flight 253 on Christmas day occurred.

The arrest of the Somali terrorist in Mogadishu, Somalia, could possibly be linked to the Detroit bomber, though the two terror plots had major differences. One difference was the amount of materials, and how the materials were hidden on the body. The Somali was also not as careful about hiding the explosive materials, while the Nigerian of Flight 253 used his posterior cavity for the concealment of the explosives.

Though it is not clear that the Somali is connected with al-Qaeda, as is the Nigerian bomber(s), the tools used to make the bomb, a syringe, liquid chemicals, and powdered chemicals, was similar between the two bombers.

The investigation of the Somali bomber, though known by U.S. officials before the Christmas Day terror attempt, did not expose itself to the public until after the Detroit incident. Now, however, the two events are being compared, and the likelihood that they are linked, or both have al-Qaeda connections, are being studied.

Similarities may not necessarily reveal that the two bombers were trained by the same group, but is a probable indicator that these men, and more, were trained, prepared and ordered to carry out these acts of terrorism by organizations of some kind - a likelihood that contradicts President Obama's claim that these are isolated events of terror by individuals acting on their own accord (isolated extremists).

Any terror attempt, in this writer's opinion, by Muslims are a part of a whole, a part of the worldwide Jihad, and are there for acts of terrorism that are connected to the whole. No acts of Muslim-initiated terror are isolated events.

U.S. investigators have indicated that Abdulmutallab, the Detroit-bound flight 253 Nigerian suspect, told his captors that he received training and instructions from al Qaeda operatives in Yemen. Yemen is a is a "jumping-off point" for foreign fighters slipping into Somalia, as well. Large swaths of Somalia are controlled by an al-Qaeda-linked insurgent group, al-Shabab. Therefore, some believe the possibility of al-Qaeda being involved in both terror plots is high.

In the case of the Somali suspect, however, the route of the flight was carrying mostly Somalis, leaving investigators to question what the target might have been. Could it be that the attempt was merely a dry run, to see if it was possible to get away with the larger amount of chemicals? After all, the Somali suspect was carrying over two pounds of powder, and liquid, chemicals.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

Somalia: Plane Attack Attempted in Nov. - CBS News

Obama Describes Nigerian As ‘Isolated Extremist,’ Despite Ties to Yemen - CNS News