Flight 253 Bomber Indicted

The new US District Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan wasted no time in indicting Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab with

attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, attempted murder and other charges. No terrorism charge has been filed to date.

Can't have terrorism charges of course in these days of "man caused disasters" As an aside, and interestingly enough, on March 16, 2009 Napolitano in her repeat of the "man caused disasters" quote stated to Der Spiegel the following -

"Napolitano: Our policies will be guided by authoritative information. We also have assets at our disposal now that we did not have prior to 9/11. For example, we are much better able to keep track of travellers coming into the US than we were before. The third thing is to work with our international partners and allies to make sure that we are getting information and sharing information in an appropriate and real-time fashion.

Apparently that didn't work too well in this case now did it? Heckuva a job there Napolitano!

In addition the State Department revoked his visa, so he's now a sad little jihadi who blew his one shot at the America dream.

(at least they didn't issue him one post attack as the INS did for Mohammed Atta).

Of course it looks like he'll be a guest at one of our finer federal institutions for awhile:

"The charges ... could imprison him for life," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement. "This investigation is fast-paced, global, and ongoing, and it has already yielded valuable intelligence that we will follow wherever it leads.

"Anyone we find responsible for this alleged attack will be brought to justice using every tool -- military or judicial -- available to our government."

In Detroit, U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said: "The attempted murder of 289 innocent people merits the most serious charges available, and that's what we have charged in this indictment."

The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Nancy G. Edmunds.

Abdulmutallab, 23, is being held at Milan federal prison.

The most serious charge brought against Abdulmutallab -- attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction -- carries a penalty of up to life in prison.

That charge and the attempted murder count mirror the charges brought against shoe bomber Richard Reid, who attempted to use chemical explosives hidden in his shoes to blow up an American Airlines flight in 2001. He is now serving a life sentence.

- Too bad we don't try him and then execute him as happened to saboteurs in prior wars instead of wasting good prison space with his useless scumbag self.

One Tone Deaf Administration

The Bush Administration has unnecessarily embroiled itself in a new scandal: that of the firing of the 8 United States District Attorneys by declaring that the were fired for performance reasons and then denying the possibility that the firings were political and possibly influenced by the White House.

Who gave the administration such asinine advice? The administration should have done what most employers do in similar circumstances: merely verify past employment and that the attorneys involved were no longer employed. To do otherwise in today’s hyper-partisan and hostile media environment was I=simply inane, and has created a scandal -- including the possibility of a Senior Justice Official taking the Fifth Amendment when questioned by Congress -- where one did not exist.. If necessary and when pressed the Administration could and should have simply announced that:

The United States District Attorney serve at will, at the will and pleasure of the Office of the President, and it was determined that they were no longer going to be retained for reasons which will not be discussed. The President appreciates their service and wishes them well.

That is all that should have been said and it would likely have headed off the entire brouhaha over performance issues, politics and what role if any the White house had in the decision.

Then when asked if politics had anything to do with it they, instead of heatedly denying it, should have responded: These are political appointments, so of course there are political considerations, once again we will not discuss the reasons for their removal but note that they serve at will, and the Presidnet thanks them for their service.

In doing so the administration would have likely headed off this current faux scandal, and also prevented casting these attorneys in a bad light due to claims they were fired for performance issues. In contrast, their current tone-deaf approach of blithely declaring the situation was purely due to performance issues, and without political considerations, has opened them to this attack by the Media and Democrats when it is almost unquestionable that politics did have some role in their firings.