Obama Reluctantly Connects Al Qaeda to Terror Plot

In his weekly Internet and radio address, the president said Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula "trained him, equipped him with those explosives and directed him to attack that plane headed for America."

In his most direct public language to date, the president described the path through Yemen of 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian accused of trying to destroy Northwest Flight 253. The president also emphasized that the United States would continue its partnerships with friendly countries -- citing Yemen, in particular -- to fight terrorists and extremist groups around the globe.

After days of refusing to connect Umar with a larger terrorist network the president today announced that connection. This is no longer the isolated attack of just a few days ago. The information has been there all the time so why did Obama finally admit what we all knew long ago. The answer, as I see it is simple, he came to realize that the information was coming out no matter how determined he was to keep it from the American people. This secret could not be kept.

Obama's homeland security team has been piecing together just how Abdulmutallab was able to board the plane. Officials have described flaws in the system and by those executing the strategy and have delivered a preliminary assessment.

A senior administration official had said the United States was increasingly confident there was a link between Abdulmutallab and an Al Qaeda affiliate, but Obama's statement is the strongest connection between the two.

"We're learning more about the suspect," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address that the White House released on Saturday as the president vacationed in Hawaii.

"We know that he traveled to Yemen, a country grappling with crushing poverty and deadly insurgencies. It appears that he joined an affiliate of Al Qaeda, and that this group -- Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula -- trained him, equipped him with those explosives and directed him to attack that plane headed for America," the president said.

Obama and those in the administration still continue to tie the terrorist to poverty and will not face the reality that's it Islam and not poverty that motivates these radicals. This will continue in this belief and nothing will move them from it. Their political correctness and multiculturalism will allow them to see any other cause.

There is little doubt that heads will roll and the blame put on this agency or that. But in the end the Obama administration will not point the finger at itself, at the one person where the buck stops. Obama will never admit that his political correctness stance has made many in the security agencies hesitant to step forward with vital information for fear they may lose their jobs and be label Islamic homophobes. This is the root of the problem and Barack and those close to him will never recognize this and look to place blame elsewhere.

Officials have said Abdulmutallab's father warned the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria that his son had drifted into extremism in the Al Qaeda hotbed of Yemen. Abdulmutallab's threat was only partially digested by the U.S. security apparatus and not linked with a visa history showing the young man could fly to the United States. read more from FOX News

Nationalism and the Sleeping Giant

Nationalism

Following the close of WWI and WWII and the collapse of colonialism rampant nationalism swept through Africa, the middle east and Asia. This movement was hailed by most liberals and progressives in the west while at the same time these same voices began to condemn the old nationalism of Europe and the United States. For these progressives patriotism was OK for the newly emerging states, but not for the old nations of western Europe and the United States. This double standard quickly gained support in the west and spun out-of-control in western Europe leading to the ascendancy of the EU. In America this movement gained strength, but its inroads were not on the European scale.

Then came 9/11 and the world, particularly the west was jolted. Many began to see new threats: first the obvious one of radical Islam and next a somewhat more obscure one, "a lack of nationalism in the west". Slowly it became evident that national pride had been diminished and replaced with the new multiculturalism that recognized no national boundaries. And it was this new multiculturalism that provided the breeding ground for yet another emerging force that of "Pan-Islamic Nationalism". An old enemy of the west that had once been vanquished was raising its ugly head again and threatening not only western Europe, but also the new world.

Until 9/11 western Europe had stood virtually alone against the onslaught of this new enemy as most Americans were unaware of this new danger. 9/11 changed everything, but the entrenched forces of liberalism and multiculturalism in Europe and America will not go quietly into the night. Their Utopian dream of a world without borders will not be easily brushed aside.

The tide appears to be turning as a new nationalism, a new pride in country and tradition is growing in Europe; while at the same time the patriotism of many Americans is being revitalized. To paraphrase Admiral Yamamoto, "this new enemy has awakened a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve", America and her friends in Europe have had enough and our gates are no longer open to those who would trample our traditions. A new patriotism, a new national pride is being born in the west and soon the forces of multiculturalism and pan-Islamic nationalism will feel the wrath of this sleeping giant.