With the president’s decision to escalate the war in
Afghanistan and
an attempted Christmas day attack on a plane headed for Detroit, the
last month of 2009 was a somber reminder of what defined the decade:
terrorism.
The end of the year is traditionally a time of reflection. But the
tumultuous way the U.S. closed out the past ten years leaves many
Americans wanting to look forward, not back.
The latest chapter in the war on terror seems eerily similar to shoe
bomber Richard Reed's failed attack eight years earlier. Umar Farouk
Abdulmutallab, the man suspected of Friday's attempted explosion,
carried on him the same highly explosive compound as Reed tried to
use.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said this morning on Meet
The Press that it was too early to tell if this incident can be called
a security failure or if the suspect is a part of Al Qaeda.
Though
she would not acknowledge if negligence may have played a role
in the
incident, it is clear that questions will continued to be asked about
the safety procedures of foreign airports.
Robert Gibbs, White House press secretary, then joined me and echoed
Napolitano's hesitance to speculate and the Obama administration's
commitment to review no-fly list procedures. Like many Americans, the
president is curious how something like this could happen again.
Gibbs told me Obama wants "a review to ensure-- and figure out why--
an individual with the chemical explosive that he had on him could get
onto an airliner in Amsterdam and fly into this country."
And while we will close 2009 on a frightening note, Mayor Michael
Bloomberg, NBC's Andrea Mitchell, Gov. Deval Patrick and former
Speaker Newt Gingrich shared some positive predictions for the next
decade. You can find it all in our Web site.
Happy New Year.
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