Informed Comment

Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion

Juan Cole is President of the Global Americana Institute

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Yemen, UAE links in Detroit Terrorism Attack

Christian Purefoy is reporting on CNN that Abdul Mutallib ran into a radical Muslim network while studying in London. He was last registered in class at University College London in June 2008. This fall he had wanted to go study in Cairo, but his father was worried about his unsavory friends and afraid he would hook up with Egyptian radicals there. So the family sent him to study in Dubai instead. Sometime in late October he sent the family a text message that he was going off to Yemen and that the family would find it difficult to trace him because he was throwing away his phone's sim card. So it appears that he was recruited into a radical Salafi cell in the United Arab Emirates that sent him to Yemen.

See Glenn Greenwald's interview with Gregory Johnsen, a Yemen expert at Salon this week.

End/ (Not Continued)

3 Comments:

At 2:15 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sorry Juan, this is off topic but I thought you might want to see this:

This picture, in public display, threatens the people of Iran in the case any harm is inflicted to Ali Khamenaie

It say we will slit your throat with razors id harm inflicted on Khamenie:

http://www.iranian.com/main/blog/varjavand/frightening-picture-0

 
At 7:37 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I suggest we don't take images like these as genuine without a second look. Images like these have been photoshoped in abundance before to indict the regime. I highly doubt a billboard threatening 'slitting of throats' would be officially sanctioned by the regime.

My bet, based on previous experiences and false hopes, is that this will surface to be another of a myriad of internet hoaxes.

 
At 3:12 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I see that SITE is saying that al-Qa'ida is claiming responsibility for the Nigerian's attempted bomb on the Detroit plane.

In the past, SITE has reported al-Qa'ida claims of responsibility, when no-one else has been able to access the supposed websites of origin.

 

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