WH Responds to Claim That Chicago-Bound Bomb Was 17 Minutes From Exploding
- Posted on November 4, 2010 at 1:46pm by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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PARIS (The Blaze/AP) — One of two mail bombs sent from Yemen last week was defused just 17 minutes before it was set to explode, the French interior minister said Thursday, a claim the White House says it cannot confirm.
Brice Hortefeux provided no other details in an interview on France’s state-run France-2 television, or say where he got the information about the timing.
The White House says it has no information that would confirm Hortefeux’s report. Press secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday the question of when the bombs were to go off is still under investigation and there’s no information confirming such a close call.
U.S. investigators have also said they were unable to confirm the French report.
When investigators pulled the Chicago-bound packages off cargo planes in England and the United Arab Emirates Friday, they found the bombs wired to cell phones and hidden in the toner cartridges of computer printers. The communication cards had been removed and the phones could not receive calls, officials said, making it likely the terrorists intended the alarm or timer functions to detonate the bombs, U.S. officials have said.
They also that each bomb was attached to a syringe containing lead azide, a chemical initiator that would have detonated PETN explosives packed into each printer cartridge. Both PETN and a syringe were used in the failed bombing last Christmas of a Detroit-bound airliner.
Investigators have centered on the Yemeni al-Qaida faction’s top bomb maker, who had previously designed an “underwear” bomb that failed to go off on a crowded U.S.-bound passenger jetliner last Christmas.
This time, authorities believe that master bomb maker Ibrahim al-Asiri packed four times as much explosives into the bombs hidden last week on flights from Yemen. The two bombs contained 300 and 400 grams of the industrial explosive PETN, according to a German security official, who briefed reporters Monday in Berlin on condition of anonymity in line with department guidelines.
By comparison, the bomb stuffed into a terrorist suspect’s underwear on the Detroit-bound plane last Christmas contained about 80 grams.
One of the explosive devices found inside a shipped printer cartridge in Dubai had flown on two airlines before it was seized, first on a Qatar Airways Airbus A320 jet to Doha and then on an as-yet-undisclosed flight from Doha to Dubai. The number of passengers on the flights were unknown, but the first flight had a 144-seat capacity and the second would have moved on one of a variety of planes with seating capacities ranging from 144 to 335.
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ericgt
Posted on November 6, 2010 at 3:08amI thought there were no bombs. Then there were but not detenators or power. Now there were bomb and almost exploded? sounds like “Dem Pollster: Obama Needs a Terrorist Attack to Reconnect With Voters Media”
ps to admin: the meta refresh is annoying.
Report Post »pamela kay
Posted on November 5, 2010 at 2:31amOr so they say…….
Report Post »Tri-ox
Posted on November 4, 2010 at 9:47pmWe are not safe.
Report Post »TattooQ
Posted on November 4, 2010 at 8:24pmAll we need now is Big Sis telling us “the system worked ”. Clueless isn’t just for Hollywood any more.
Report Post »Bill Wallace
Posted on November 4, 2010 at 6:17pmBeware the implications of what the White House is doing.
1. They have campaigned against the practices of GWB. Got elected on that notion.
Report Post »2. Once in office, he followed almost every practice of GWB related to terrorism…which few are reporting.
3. Stories come out that there have been a bunch of “saves” to which Obama will say, “See? We did it our way and haven’t been attacked. We don’t need to act like big bad Bush.” In reality, they have. But again, nobody is reporting on it or taking him to task on it.
BeckFan1964
Posted on November 4, 2010 at 6:15pmWhy does obama have to have proof? There was a bomb. It was diffused. Who really cares if obama has proof or not. Despite what he believes, he is not God and doesn’t have to be in the know all the time.
Report Post »HippoNips
Posted on November 4, 2010 at 3:37pmIf this is true then there wasn’t a US target after all.
Report Post »Midwest Conservative
Posted on November 4, 2010 at 2:56pmThe Intelligence system did not catch this threat. There was an informer that blew the whistle on this plot. This was an intelligence failure.
Report Post »JohnnyJT
Posted on November 4, 2010 at 2:52pmWoW! Mommy help me I’am scared.
Report Post »DagneyT
Posted on November 4, 2010 at 2:36pm“The White House says it has no information that would confirm Hortefeux’s report. Press secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday the question of when the bombs were to go off is still under investigation and there’s no information confirming such a close call.”
The regime is clueless as usual…but then there is no such thing as terrorists except at a TEA Party, right? Didn’t one donk congressional candidate recently tell us al Qaeda was no long a threat?
Bottom line, this was too close for comfort!
Report Post »Susan Harkins
Posted on November 4, 2010 at 2:18pmI wouldnt put it past this Administration to have set the whole thing up in order to stoke fear of terrorism and renew a horribly failing Presidential poll.
Smoke and mirrors — just like they think that if they blow smoke up the American consumers’ backside, that they will come out, spend money, and stoke the economy, so that they can take credit for ‘stimulating it’ via their dumb-arse shell game of monitizing the debt and quantitative easing. All BS from them. They really dont have any control over anything but creating the illusion that they are doing things that have impact. This Democrat Admininstration reminds me of the little squirt-of-a-man behind the curtain, in the Wizard Of OZ.
Report Post »wash1776
Posted on November 4, 2010 at 2:17pmGibbs and all the rest of those storytellers at the WH can’t be so dumb as to expect us to believe ANYTHING that comes from the CROOKED TONGUE SOCIETY!! If any of them decide to tell the truth for a change, that person would have a heart attack from the strain.
Report Post »Waiting4George
Posted on November 4, 2010 at 2:15pmCrisis! Explosives! Chicago! Fighter jet escort! Election day! You figure it out.
Report Post »HouseNegro
Posted on November 4, 2010 at 2:04pmSaid it another post. We are going to have to kill them all. There is no such thing as a moderate muslim. We have got to put PC in the trash.
HouseNegro
Posted on November 4, 2010 at 2:02pmAdd your comments
Report Post »walker1812
Posted on November 4, 2010 at 2:01pmThis could have been just another crisis Rahm, Hillary and Obama would not have wasted!
Report Post »Captain77
Posted on November 4, 2010 at 2:00pmDoes anyone still believe anything that comes out of the White House, or any other government office of any other government?
Report Post »snowleopard3200 {mix art}
Posted on November 4, 2010 at 2:29pmSimply put, No.
Emphatically put…Hell NO!!!
Diplomatically put…To the farthest reaches of the universe No!!!
Report Post »untameable-kate
Posted on November 4, 2010 at 2:00pmTerrorists are cowards. Too bad they scurry like roaches and we can’t stamp them out faster.
Report Post »snowleopard3200 {mix art}
Posted on November 4, 2010 at 2:10pmGot the perfect can of raid that is usable to most excellent effects…send in the special operations people to do a black operations job on these infernal terroritst.
Report Post »LadyLiberty
Posted on November 4, 2010 at 1:58pmI want George back. I feel completely unsafe with the instigator/apologist-in-chief at the helm.
Report Post »untameable-kate
Posted on November 4, 2010 at 2:05pmSecond that.
Report Post »snowleopard3200 {mix art}
Posted on November 4, 2010 at 2:12pmI cannot believe anything the White House says about this near fiasco of the bombs. They have such a record of distortions and out right lies that even a non-confirmation of anything has to be seen with major amounts of suspicion. They will never tell the full truth of what they knew, know and suspect unless it does our enemies even more good than harm.
Report Post »john seven eighteen
Posted on November 4, 2010 at 2:15pmAt this point I would even take George’s twin daughters over this administration. Could they do any worse?
Report Post »snowleopard3200 {mix art}
Posted on November 4, 2010 at 2:29pm@John 7:18
What will Mr Obama say when he gets to heaven and finds out the keeper of the pearly gates is being filled in that day by Sarah Palin?
Report Post »Clive
Posted on November 4, 2010 at 2:31pmno one in their right mind wants george back.
snowleopard, do you nee to be reminded about the white house lies from 2000-2008, talk about a “record” of distortion. we weren’t told the truth about anything, pretty much the entire time.
ILFarmer
Posted on November 4, 2010 at 2:40pmWhile ruling with Fear is easy and effective, it can only last so long before people start to fight back. Ruling with benevolence is harder but the return is far greater and longer lasting.
guess which one this administration is fond of using?
Report Post »CatB
Posted on November 4, 2010 at 3:47pmWow .. if it weren’t for luck (underwear bomber etc.) they would have nothing … oh except for Recuiting office…Ft Hood … oh never mind the MSM has forgotten those.
How about something other than LUCK as our defense.
Report Post »jzs
Posted on November 4, 2010 at 10:10pmSnowleopard, I wonder what you and Sarah are going to say at the Pearly Gates when the explain to you that Jesus wasn’t joking around when talked about helping the poor (read Psalms for reference) rather than voting for a government whose main purpose is support the wealthiest in our country. He may remind you of his requirement to “love your enemy” and “love your neighbor” as opposed to your idea to subjugate or kill the 1 billion Muslims (+20% of the World’s population) in the world because of the actions of a vanishingly small percentage of that population (BTW, that kind of over generalization has lots of names that I think apply to you) . He may even ask you the purpose of your prophesies that your country would be utterly destroyed by anyone who disagrees with you.
Don’t worry about Obama my friend. I’d worry more about “what would Christ do?” If you think His idea is to increase the divide between the rich and the poor, while you give yourself comfort because you give a few bucks at your Church, maybe you’re not living an examined life.
Report Post »jzs
Posted on November 4, 2010 at 10:29pmGeorge Bush kept us safe for eight years, unless you count the 9-11 thing. After that, there were no terrorists attacks on the US, unless you count Richard Reid and the anthrax attacks and don’t count all the terrorist attacks in Europe (not our problem). And it doesn’t count that 5000 American were killed by roadside bombs in Iraq (can’t define that as a terrorist attack on the US), or that Iran now rules as the supreme power in the Middle East now with Iraq’s helpless house-of-cards Democracy (and dang, no WMDs after all although the administration claimed that was an established fact).
Of course Bush was tough on Iran and wasn’t about to let them gain nuclear technology. Too bad they weren’t cowed by his tough guy image, because after eight years, their technology also advanced exactly eight years. Nice try. But now, thank God, we can say that‘s Obama’s fault for not being tough.
And all these foiled terrorist attacks? They only PROVE that Obama loves terrorists. If only Bush were in command, nobody would dare go after us.
Report Post »SwizzleThis
Posted on November 5, 2010 at 9:32amAgreed! Give me W
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