Obama once again puts politics above security
The Obama White House on Tuesday proved yet again that it is more concerned about partisan politics than in keeping the nation safe, byヒ擁n effectヒ謡arning Al Qaeda that the Christmas Day underwear bomber is talking again.
They might as well have announced, 'Hey, AQ, if you haven't rolled up any networks he might burn, you might wanna do it now.'
For more than a month after being Mirandized, Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab clammed up like a Democrat at a TEA Party rally, allowing al Qaeda precious weeks to cover its tracks. Now, by making the Undy-bomber's sudden glibness public, the Obama White House is telegraphing AbdulMutallab's handlers that they must go underground, their plots re-schemed.
Incredibly, this happened on the same day that Obama's intelligence chiefs unanimously told a Senate hearing that it's "certain" that terrorists will attempt another attack on American within three to six months.
Administration officials left no doubt that they were revealing AbdulMutallab's new chattiness for purely political reasons, to counter criticism of their handling of the would-be attack. And, while other reports cited only administration sources, the initial story by CNN's Ed Henry left little doubt that the effort came from the very top.
"This is part of an aggressive pushback from the White House. This was late in the evening. They called me and some other reporters back to the White House for a private briefing, uh, very aggressive in trying to get this information out."
It is worth noting that Obama's travel schedule lists his return to the White House as 5:40 PM, just about the right time to sign off on Henry's "private briefing," if not give it himself. Either way, it is simply implausible to believe that the leak was not approved by Obama.
Inadvertently demonstrating just how misplaced this White House's priorities are, the unnamed ranking officials said AbdulMutallab's change of heart was the result of bringing some of his family members into the process ... a process that took weeks. Yeah, and the would-be terrorist is spilling his guts to dear old Dad like he would to a skilled interrogator.
Where the hell is Jack Bauer when you need him?
If AbdulMutallab is indeed finally talking and this isn't just an administration spin effort, the most dangerous step the administration could take is to go public with that information. It would be far better to leave al Qaeda guessing about what he's revealed or, better yet, to leave them thinking he has not produced actionable intelligence.
But Obama is once again putting his politics above your security. It's more than fitting that this happened on Groundhog Day. It brings to mind the movie of that name, and visions of Bill Murray living a terrible day ... over and over and over.