Obama promises justice for Christmas terror plotters – From CNN
From CNN…..
(CNN) – President Obama on Saturday linked the man accused in a botched Christmas Day airline bombing to an al Qaeda affiliate based in Yemen.
The president pledged that everyone involved in the attack would be held accountable. He also highlighted his administration’s attempts to crack down on extremist enclaves in Yemen, and reiterated his longstanding promise to “disrupt, dismantle and defeat” al Qaeda.
Obama has been criticized by some political opponents for not responding more aggressively to a botched December 25 attempt to blow up a Northwest Airlines passenger jet en route from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Detroit, Michigan.
Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab is accused of trying to ignite explosives smuggled aboard the plane in his underwear. Obama confirmed Saturday that AbdulMutallab, 23, recently traveled to Yemen and “it appears that he joined an affiliate of al Qaeda.”
Michael Leiter, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said the attempted attack is a stark reminder of the threats the United States is still facing more than eight years after the September 11, 2001, attacks.
“While this attempt ended in failure, we know with absolute certainty that [al Qaeda] and those who support its ideology continue to refine their methods to test our defenses and pursue an attack on the homeland,” Leiter said in a statement Saturday.
The group, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, apparently trained AbdulMutallab, “equipped him with … explosives and directed him to attack that plane headed for America,” Obama said.
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