This week DHS Director Janet Napolitano visited Indianapolis to secure the perimeter of Lucas Oil Stadium. Even the food vendors, now referred to in DHS circles as the elite “Meal Team Six,” have been trained to assist in the counterterrorism effort:

Despite acknowledging there are “no credible or specific threats” to the safety of the 2012 Super Bowl in Indianapolis on Sunday, the TSA is training thousands of fast food sellers and other vendors to spot terrorists under the “First Observer” program.

“TSA said over 8,000 stadium vendors, parking lot attendants, shuttle bus drivers, and other transportation professionals received the agency’s First Observer training for detecting and assessing indicators and planning tactics of potential terrorist activities,” reports Government Security News.

At last year’s Super Bowl they tried having local restaurant maître d’s ask patrons waiting to be seated, “terrorist or non-terrorist?” Unfortunately, nobody fell for it.

If “First Observer” turns out to be a success, the Joe Biden can koozie vendors at Bank of America Stadium working the final day of the DNC Convention will be similarly trained.

So if you’re at the Super Bowl, make sure to let J-Nap know if you spot anything out-of-the-ordinary.

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

It is evil in its most unfathomable depths. There are now reports of a possible second gunman/accomplice, according to CBS News and VOA. Howie at the Jawa Report says it well: “As a Christian I have to say I condemn his actions in the strongest terms. In fact the only praise I’ve seen of the attacks were not by Christians. This is cold blooded murder and no true follower of Christ could do such a thing. We pray for the victims, their families and for those who are injured to recover.” Here is a beautiful prayer for the people of Norway.

Here in America, many on the Left have reserved their greatest outrage not for the perpetrators of the crime, but for conservatives who — like many counterterrorism watchers and mainstream media outlets around the world — initially raised the entirely reasonable possibility that the gunman was a jihadist and who pointed to recent, specific death threats and plots against Norway and Norwegian government officials by Islamic militant groups and individuals.

Those initial assessments were wrong. I was wrong. As I noted yesterday and will reiterate again today for the reading comprehension-challenged:

…the context and timing most definitely suggested jihad and there should be no apology for reading the signs and connecting several large, obvious dots.

Unlike those who speculated that the Giffords’ shooter was a Tea Party activist and held onto the assumption even after it was disproved, I will not continue to insist that jihadists bear blame for this heinous attack if it turns out they played no role.

I will continue to be vigilant in thoroughly covering the global jihadist threat — and in condemning this heinous attack in Norway whoever is responsible.

Prayers for all the innocents. Standing with Norway.

Over at the Washington Post, Jennifer Rubin yesterday afternoon published a blog post mentioning some of the same information I brought to light yesterday morning as the news of the terrifying attacks broke — namely, that bloodthirsty Norwegian-based Muslim cleric Mullah Krekar was founder of Ansar Al-Islam and that jihadists have implanted themselves in every corner of the globe. She goes on to argue for continued, vigilant war against the global jihadists who remain at centuries-old, systemic war with us.

Atlantic editor James Fallows — in a prominent rant — is now clamoring for the Post to “apologize to the world” for Rubin’s post and fumes that the post has not been updated. There may be any number of reasons for her not updating yet and being offline — family obligations, Sabbath, etc. I’m pretty sure the reason is NOT that she’s purposely ignoring or misleading her readers or intentionally insulting/smearing “the world,” as Fallows seems to suggest. (In a similar meme, Twitter libs somehow have accused me of “falling silent” about the Norway horror despite the constant updating of my blog post throughout the day and night, in addition to day-and-night-long tweets as news developed.)

More to the point, to whom and for what shall Rubin or I apologize? To Mullah Krekar? Ansar al Islam? To the other jihadi groups and operatives who supported and applauded the attacks under the assumption that it was a fellow Islamic militant?

On Twitter, my feed is overrun by self-proclaimed Muslims and progressives calling me a “racist,” “Islamophobe,” or worse and demanding penitence. But where did I ever indict moderate Muslims — and isn’t it telling that these apology-demanders conflate blog links to al Qaeda plots and jihadi death threats against the West with “the world” or the entire Muslim population?

In the muddled liberal mind, there is no difference between how Democrats behaved during and after the Arizona/Giffords shooting (and umpteenth other cases to be noted in a moment) versus how bloggers covered breaking news of the Norway massacre.

Let me patiently explain.

In the Giffords shooting, the Binghamton NY immigration cemter shooting, the Kentucky Census worker death/insurance hoax, Amy Bishop campus shooting spree, and Rep. Russ Carnahan bombing, and Faisal Shahzad Times Square bombing attempt, among others, liberal politicians and activists specifically libeled individual talk show hosts, Fox News, bloggers, and Tea Party activists as murderers. They went after the peaceful political free speech of their enemies and criminalized their policy positions without an iota of proof that such speech had any influence or impact on the real perpetrators of the crime. Even after the suspects were shown to have psychiatric problems, undecipherable political views, or views anathema to the conservative public officials and public figures bearing undue blame, leftist exploiters clung to their tar brushes.

In the Norway massacre, I illuminated explicit death threats and plots by specific jihadi individuals and organizations. It is the Left’s position that these explicitly homicidal signs and realities should be ignored in the immediate aftermath of a terror spree, but that every bullseye image and innocuous reference to “sticking to your guns” is an incitement to murder.

As always, moments like these are truly clarifying.

I’m only sorry that such ridiculous dhimmitude must manifest itself — and must be battled — amid Norway’s unbelievable suffering.

George Gooding (Seixon) passes along this photo of a massive bomb blast at government offices in Oslo:

Not much on the wires yet. USA Today has this:

The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten quotes witnesses as saying Oslo’s Market Street is “full of chaos” with people “running around bewildered,” some with blood on their faces and hands. “You can smell the sulfur fumes,” the newspaper’s reporter says.

Update: More details. The targets were the Prime Minister’s office and an Oil Ministry building, which remains on fire.

FYI: Yes, there is a militant Muslim presence in Oslo. See this.

Also: Norway’s Muslim rapist problem.

And this: Mullah Krekar claims Islam will win.

And this looks like a good excuse for a jihadi bombing, doesn’t it:

A Norwegian prosecutor has filed terror charges against an Iraqi-born cleric for threatening Norwegian politicians with death if he’s deported from the Nordic country.

The indictment, obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday, centers on statements that Mullah Krekar — the founder of the Kurdish Islamist group Ansar al-Islam — made to various media, including American network NBC.

Norway ordered Krekar deported in 2005 after declaring him a national security threat, but the decision was suspended amid worries he would face execution or torture in Iraq.

At a news conference in June 2010, Krekar said that if he’s deported to Iraq and is killed there, Norwegian officials would meet the same fate. He singled out former asylum policy minister Erna Solberg.

Prosecutor Marit Bakkevik said Krekar’s statements violated Norwegian terror laws and were meant to force authorities to halt the deportation order and to instill fear in Norwegian society.

The indictment also highlights comments Krekar made to NBC’s news program “The Wanted” in 2009. Krekar told the program the American people deserved the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and he condoned suicide bombings against Americans in Iraq. Bakkevik said the statements amounted to incitement of such attacks.

***

Update: You’ll love the reaction I got on Twitter from the experts at The Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) when I pointed out the story about Mullah Krekar.

***

Update: Police report a “massive vehicle bomb” was the source of the blast. Norwegian Twitter users reporting that police may be searching for more bombs.

Update:

The Atlantic…Al Qaeda’s problem with Norway

CSM: Details emerge of domestic terror suspect…

Norwegian Radio cited a witness who said the gunman spoke Norwegian and described him as tall and blonde. Mr. Storberget said it was unclear if the man was acting alone.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg remained defiant in the face of the attacks and said any guilty parties would be brought to justice.

“We will find the guilty and hold them responsible,” he said at the press conference. “No one will bomb us to silence. No one will shoot us to silence. No one will ever scare us away from being Norway.”

Both events are likely to prompt soul-searching in Norway, and many citizens are likely to suspect Islamic militants, says Iver Neumann, a research fellow at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI).

“Norwegian forces are currently involved in two wars, Afghanistan and Libya. Parts of the Norwegian media participated in the Danish caricature campaign [of the prophet Muhammad] in 2005. We know that Al Qaeda has put Norway on a list of potential targets,” says Mr. Neumann. “There will certainly be a debate about Norway’s relationship with Islam. And there will be a debate about the level of security we afford to our leaders.”

Norwegians are in a state of shock after a powerful explosion in Oslo’s government quarter. Police have confirmed that seven people are dead and more than a dozen were injured in the attack, which damaged the prime minister’s office and the oil ministry.

Prime Minister Stoltenberg was not near the site of the blast and was unharmed.

Terrorism author and American expat in Europe Bruce Bawer via Zombie…

Then the police announced that they had arrested a 32-year-old suspect who, they emphasized with what seemed like relief or even joy, was a tall, blond ethnic Norwegian (one police spokesman even called him an “ethnic Norwegian Norwegian,” a turn of phrase that Norwegians would describe as “smør på flesk” – i.e., putting butter on bacon, or, as we’d say in English, gilding the lily). They insisted that the suspect (although they described him not as a suspect but as a “perpetrator”) had no connection to a terrorist group, though when asked about other connections he might have, they seemed to dodge the question.

One can only imagine the backroom politics going on at Norwegian police agencies right around now.

Via the Washington Post:

In the immediate aftermath of the attack in Oslo, speculation about the party that might be responsible has centered on Ansar al-Islam, a Kurdish militant group that has been tied by U.S. officials to al-Qaeda and that carried out attacks on American troops and civilians in Iraq at the height of the war there.

Norway’s contingent in Afghanistan, or even its “cartoon crisis” of 2006, could make the country a target for any number of terrorist groups, as the Atlantic has noted.

The U.S. ambassador to Norway, Barry White, said in a telephone interview Friday afternoon that investigators were still assembling information about the attacks and had not reached any conclusions on who was responsible.

“They’re still looking at it,” White said. “Often times the early answers are the wrong ones.”

[Note from editors: In subsequent news reports, officials said the attacker was a Norwegian man.]

Still, Ansar — a Sunni group that has been formally designated a terrorist organization by the United States — could make good sense if for no other reason than the timing of the attack.

As J.M. Berger notes over at Foreign Policy, the group’s founder, known as Mullah Krekar, was arrested just last week for allegedly threatening Norwegian politicians with death if he were deported from the country.

Krekar, an Iraqi Kurd, has lived in Norway since being granted political asylum there two decades ago. He was once reportedly the target of a failed abduction attempt by the CIA. And Norway has previously attempted to deport him, only to suspend the move out of fears that he could be tortured if sent back to Iraq.

While he has acknowledged being a founder of Ansar, Krekar has denied any link to terrorism; other Ansar leaders have also denied any links to al-Qaeda.

Norway has far-right groups with a history of commiting political violence. It also has a major terrorism trial opening in October, which could also make it a target by al-Qaeda-linked groups.

Norwegian authorities are prosecuting two men who were arrested last year for allegedly planning attacks in Oslo and Denmark. They were also linked to plots in the United States and Britain, including a planned attack on the New York subway.

***

Update 8:06pm Eastern

Details on the suspect now out: Anders Behring Breivik.

The 32-year-old Norwegian man arrested for gunning down children on the holiday island of Utoya has been named locally as Anders Behring Breivik.

Described as 6ft tall and blond, he is reported to have arrived on the island of Utoya and opened fire after beckoning several young people over in his native Norwegian tongue.

Reports suggest he was also seen loitering around the site of the bomb blast in Oslo two hours before the island incident – and also before the capital’s explosion.

More than 30 are believed to have been killed – seven in Oslo and between 25 to 30 on Utoya Island, 50 miles north of the capital.

Police have said the attacks do not appear to be linked to Islamist terrorism.

But initially It was not known what his motives were – whether he had been radicalised and was part of a militant Muslim group waging Jihad or was alternatively trying to further a home-grown political cause.

Update: Here is a cryptic Twitter message from Sunday in the name of “Anders B. Breivik”…”One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100 000 who have only interests.”

More: “Right-wing tendencies.”
***

We will wait to see what details emerge and I will continue to update this post. As the above WaPo article and countless Mainstream Media stories throughout the day noted, the context and timing most definitely suggested jihad and there should be no apology for reading the signs and connecting several large, obvious dots.

Prayers for all the innocents. Standing with Norway.

***

Update: Absolute evil…At least 80 youths killed at the camp, according to police.

Update: Latest from the NYTimes includes more details about Breikvik and also this…

After the shooting the police seized a 32-year-old Norwegian man on the island, according to the police and Justice Minister Knut Storberget. He was later identified as Anders Behring Breivik and was characterized by officials as a right-wing extremist.

The acting chief of police, Sveinung Sponheim, said Mr. Breivik, who is not known to have any ties to Islamic extremists, had also been seen in Oslo before the explosions. The police and other authorities declined to say what the suspect’s motivations might have been, but many speculated that the target was Mr. Stoltenberg’s liberal government.

…Initial reports focused on the possibility of Islamic militants, in particular Ansar al-Jihad al-Alami, or Helpers of the Global Jihad, cited by some analysts as claiming responsibility for the attacks. American officials said the group was previously unknown and might not even exist.

Still, there was ample reason for concern that terrorists might be responsible. In 2004 and again in 2008, the No. 2 leader of Al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahri, who took over after the death of Osama bin Laden, threatened Norway because of its support of the American-led NATO military operation in Afghanistan.

Norway has about 550 soldiers and three medevac helicopters in northern Afghanistan, a Norwegian defense official said. The government has indicated that it will continue to support the Afghan operations as long as the alliance needs partners on the ground.

Terrorism specialists said that even if the authorities ultimately ruled out terrorism as the cause of Friday’s assaults, other kinds of groups or individuals were mimicking Al Qaeda’s signature brutality and multiple attacks.

***

Update: Here’s a short piece on Breivik’s odd and brief social media trail — including the Facebook account opened only days ago.

Mumbai 2006.

Mumbai 2008.

And now, more bloody horror for India again:

Three near-simultaneous explosions have shaken India’s commercial capital Mumbai (Bombay), police say.

The Indian home secretary said two people had been killed and more than 100 wounded.

One explosion was reported in the Zaveri Bazaar, another in the Opera House business district and a third in Dadar district.

Indian media have quoted the home ministry as saying the explosions are a terrorist attack.

Mumbai was the scene of a 10-man raid and co-ordinated attacks in November 2008 in which nearly 170 people were killed.

The latest explosions hit the city around 1900 local time (1330 GMT) as workers were making their way home.

The three explosions in Mumbai have taken place in some of the most crowded neighbourhoods in the city.

Zaveri Bazar is a bustling market area famous for its jewellers. It has been targeted before: during the serial blasts in the city in 1993, 17 people were killed and 57 injured when a scooter packed with explosives blew up there.

Opera House, next door, is also a bustling business district teeming with traders. And Dadar, in the heart of the city, has one of the most crowded railway stations on Mumbai’s busy suburban train network.

The choice of locations makes it clear that the blasts were intended to cause maximum casualties. But early footage of one of the blast sites – a ripped-off cover of a bus shelter and a car with its glass shattered – points to a medium-level and possibly crude explosion.

So far, there is no evidence to suggest that Mumbai is under attack the way it was in November 2008. And this could easily be the handiwork of a local group.

The city has been put on a state of high alert.

The authorities have not yet said who they believe might be behind the explosions and no group has said it carried them out.

I think we can safely rule out Lutherans and Amish.

***

Via the Telegraph:

nevitably suspicion falls on Pakistan and its Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group, which was behind the 2008 attacks. Particularly as it comes on the apparent birthday of Ajmal Qasab, the only gunman captured alive in that attack. So it’s no surprise that Pakistan’s prime minister and president have got in fast with their condemnation. Talks are due later this month between the two nuclear-armed rivals and now is a time for cool heads. This could well be linked to Mumbai’s criminal underworld or to one of India’s own terrorist groups.

***

Update: At least 10 dead, 54 injured.

Update: Stating the obvious…

Indian Home Minister Palaniappa Chidambaram says the blasts occurred “within minutes of each other” around 6:45 p.m. “Therefore we infer that this was a coordinated attack by terrorists,” he says.

Chidambaram says the city has been placed on “high alert.”

“I would appeal to the people of Mumbai and people all over the country to remain calm and maintain peace,” the minister says.

Meanwhile, while much of the nation was distracted by Weiner, climate change and Sarah Palin’s emails…

ABC News:

Police detained a man near the Sept. 11 memorial at the Pentagon this morning after he was reportedly found carrying a suspicious device and pro-al Qaeda literature, officials said.

The man appears to be a U.S. citizen of Ethiopian ethnicity. He would not make any admissions to the police.

The man’s backpack contained what officials believe is ammonium nitrate and spent 9mm shells as well as written material that contained statements including: “al qaeda taliban rules,” sources told ABC News.

One source told ABC News that they need final confirmation on whether it is ammonium nitrate and it’s not clear whether this was a workable device.

The New York Post reports there may be other suspects.

Ed Morrissey links to a Washington Post article containing more details:

The man was found in the cemetery after it closed and Schlosser said authorities decided it was “important” to locate his vehicle following an interview with him. Arlington County police found the car off of Washington Boulevard near the Pentagon early this morning, Schlosser said.
[...]
Channel 9 is reporting authorities are planning to do a controlled explosion of the suspicious vehicle.

This has also caused major Beltway roads to be closed.

JWF sarcastically notes: “What a horrific shame that meanie Peter King has been holding hearings on Islamic radicalization.”

Update:

The FBI said the man had a backpack with him. Items found “in bags” in the backpack were deemed suspicious, but later determined to be non-explosive material. At one point, it was believed that police were searching for one or two more people who fled the scene on foot when police stopped the vehicle, according to NBC News Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski. But the FBI later said they believe the man was acting alone and there was “no reason to believe any other individuals acted with him.”

“Early reports” are often downgraded like this, so we’ll keep an eye on this one.

Update II: He’s been identified:

The man in custody for carrying a backpack with “suspicious items and products” inside Arlington National Cemetery overnight is a U.S. Marine Corps reservist, military and law enforcement sources tell Fox News.

Yonathan Melaku, a Lance Corporal Marine corps reservist who lives in Virginia and who is Muslim, has been identified as the suspect in custody, Fox News has learned.

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

From the letter:

30 May 2011
2000 hours

The Conspiracy charge details 167 overt acts allegedly committed in furtherance of the 9/11 attacks…

Click on the link for a full list of charges.

Adnan Shukrijumah has been a fugitive since 9/11, was rumored to have crossed the Mexican border, and was indicted last year in the NYC/Zazi bombing plot. Pakistan may be harboring him, as noted earlier this week.

And there is also — of all places — a Shukrijumah tie to Trinidad and Guyana.

An Al Qaeda fugitive with ties to Trinidad and Guyana may rise to the top post in the global terror network whose iconic leader Osama Bin Laden was killed Sunday.

Adnan Gulshair El Shukrijumah, who is known to have lived in and visited Trinidad, was last year elevated to head Al Qaeda’s external operations council—with a mission to recruit, plan and execute terrorist attacks against the United States and its western allies.

…Intelligence officials in the US report that El Shukrijumah, who studied computer science and chemistry in the US, came to Trinidad months before the September 11, 2001 terror attack that killed 3,000.

He is reported to have stayed on the compound of a Muslim organisation in Central Trinidad which some reports claimed was linked to a mosque in the US with ties to terrorism.

Despite a search by the FBI in Trinidad in 2003, with the assistance of local law enforcement, El Shukrijumah, 35, has not been found.

Head of the Islamic Missionaries Guild Imtiaz Mohammed said on Wednesday he and others were interviewed by the FBI who they believed knew Shukrijumah.

The FBI in 2004 set up a permanent office in Trinidad, to continue its counter terrorism operations.

Lesson: There is no respite from Muslim terrorists.

Erick Stakelbeck puts it all together in The Terrorist Next Door.

bin Laden is dead. Jihad lives.

***

Previous:

5/30/11 – Where is Adnan Shukrijumah? We’re looking at you, Pakistan.

6/30/10 –
The return of Adnan Shukrijumah

6/8/07 – Nothing to see here, move along

6/2/07 – Busted: NYC terror plot; Updated with criminal complaint

6/9/06 – 9/11-linked pilot on the loose

10/22/04 – THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION/TERRORIST CONNECTION, PART XXXLVIII

8/18/04 – WHERE IS ADNAN SHUKRIJUMAH?

While the White House capitulated on the OBL death photos, Reuters was apparently willing to fork over money for pictures of bodies at the bin Laden compound other than bin Laden.

The story and photos are here.

Question: Who did Reuters pay? The camera man was reportedly a “Pakistani security official.”

Details:

Reuters is confident of the authenticity of the purchased images because details in the photos appear to show a wrecked helicopter from the assault, matching details from photos taken independently on Monday.

U.S. forces lost a helicopter in the raid due to a mechanical problem and later destroyed it.

The pictures are also taken in sequence and are all the same size in pixels, indicating they have not been tampered with. The time and date in the photos as recorded in the digital file’s metadata match lighting conditions for the area as well as the time and date imprinted on the image itself.

The close-cropped pictures do not show any weapons on the dead men, but the photos are taken in medium close-up and often crop out the men’s hands and arms.

One photo shows a computer cable and what looks like a child’s plastic green and orange water pistol lying under the right shoulder of one of the dead men. A large pool of blood has formed under his head.

Looks like Reuters took great pains to verify the photos. As well they should. Just as a friendly reminder, Reuters has quite a colorful history when it comes to war on terror-era fauxtography. Remember Adnan Hajj?

If the child’s water pistol brings back memories, it should. More jihadi-related fauxtography here and here and here.

Speaking of fauxtography…via left-wing Poynter:

Reuters, AP photojournalists describe staging of Obama photo taken after TV announcement of bin Laden’s death…

It is time for this kind of re-enactment to end. The White House should value truth and authenticity. The technology clearly exists to document important moments without interrupting them. Photojournalists and their employers should insist on and press for access to document these historic moments.

In the meantime, anyone who uses these recreations should clearly disclose to the reader the circumstances under which they were captured.

Remember how we were waiting for the pic of the century yesterday?

Looks like it’ll be a century before anyone ever sees it.

In the least shocking news of the day, the most transparent president ever has decided not to release the bin Laden photos/video.

MSNBC’er Chuck Todd just tweeted the news: “Pres. Obama has decided NOT to release any photos.”

More from CBS News.

Dhimmitude and non-disclosure prevail.

Back to business as usual, America.

Islamic Rage Boy, 1. Obama, 0.
***

The Flame Game nonsense:

Meanwhile, sources say, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are advising the president about concerns at the Pentagon and State Department that releasing a photograph could prompt a backlash against the US for killing bin Laden where one does not seem to currently exist.

Snort.

Double-snort.

So members of Congress get to see the photos.

A top Republican who has seen the death photo of Osama bin Laden says releasing the picture publicly could endanger U.S. forces in Afghanistan or elsewhere.

Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, says the picture could inflame anti-U.S. sentiments around the world and hamper intelligence cooperation with the United States. He says conspiracy theorists won’t be persuaded no matter what the U.S. does.

But the people who pay their salaries do not.

Like I said:

Back to business as usual, America.

***

As I’ve reminded you all many times over the last decade:

We didn’t start the fire.

The eternal flame of Muslim outrage was lit a long, long time ago.

You can’t further “inflame” a global inferno anymore than the deadly inflammation the Koran has inspired for centuries.

***

Oh. Dear.

Obama really said this.

Really?:

POTUS to CBS “Imagine how the American people would react if Al Qaida killed one of our troops…and put photos of the body on the internet”

First: He compared the killing of a mass murderer fugitive to terrorist targeting of our American men and women in uniform.

And then he had the clueless gall to suggest — despite years of peaceful suffering and endurance from the American people who have been exposed to grisly al Qaeda death/beheading videos and pictures — that somehow we would react violently if shown graphic photos of our defenders of freedom.

Update: Chuck Todd who reported above corrects — It was GOP Rep. Mike Rogers who made the odious comparison.

Dhimmitude is bipartisan.

Back to business as usual, America.

***

Via White House press secretary Jay Carney, Obama lectures that we “don’t need to spike footballs” and echoed GOP Rep. Rogers’ line that OBL is not a “trophy.”

RennaW hits the nail on the head in her rejoinder to Obama’s admonishment about spiking footballs: “Said the guy who said ‘I won’…and spent $150 million on inauguration.”

My latest syndicated column was inspired by Five for Fighting singer/songwriter John Ondrasik’s tweet this morning suggesting that President Obama invite former President Bush to join him at Ground Zero on Thursday. Late tonight, word spread that just such an invitation was reportedly extended.

Unfortunately, Bush has apparently declined. Given how Paul Ryan was treated upon his Obama unity invitation, you could hardly blame him.

But as my column spells out today, I wish President Bush would reconsider. It’s a missed opportunity for President Obama to move the country forward and upward beyond the pre-9/11, Bush Derangement Syndrome-wracked morass that so many of his fellow travelers would return to in a heartbeat.

Perhaps President Obama will throw in more than just an obligatory nod to his predecessor on Thursday in his absence.

Imagine every “I” replaced with “We.”

Hope^TM lives.

Related: Nobody does libspoof better than Iowahawk. Here’s one of his best ever.

***

Obama’s unity call: Show, don’t tell
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2011

In the spirit of post-bin Laden peace, love, and harmony, President Obama has asked all Americans to “harness” national good will and stand together. The commander-in-chief could practice what he preaches — by inviting President Bush to stand with him at Ground Zero in New York City on Thursday.

It would be an extraordinary – dare I say “unprecedented,” to borrow one of Obama’s favorite words? — act of political maturity, good faith, and transcendent unity against our common jihadi enemies. Tonight, some reported that Obama had invited Bush — who declined. If that’s true, Dubya needs to change his mind — for America’s sake.

Stay with me, folks. Suspend your disbelief, cue John Lennon’s “Imagine,” and wave your olive branches in the air like you just don’t care. Now, picture the uplifting, patriotic, post-partisan scene:

Side by side, the Democratic commander-in-chief and his GOP nemesis would join hands at the former site of the World Trade Center towers; pay heartfelt tribute to the thousands of victims of Osama bin Laden here at home and around the world; and pledge continued support for our military, intelligence, and homeland security personnel at home and around the world.

President Bush would graciously reiterate his congratulations to President Obama for a “momentous achievement” in “the fight against terror.”

President Obama would sincerely reiterate what he told Capitol Hill lawmakers at a dinner Monday night: “Obviously we’ve all had disagreements and differences in the past. I suspect we’ll have them again in the future. But last night, as Americans learned that the United States had carried out an operation that resulted in the capture and death of Osama bin Laden, we you know, I think we experienced the same sense of unity that prevailed on 9/11. We were reminded again that there is a pride in what this nation stands for, and what we can achieve, that runs far deeper than party, far deeper than politics.”

And then, instead of merely paying lip service to this renewed sense of unity, Obama would actually lead from the front.

Imagine the Nobel Peace Prize winner, in front of the entire world that reviled George W. Bush for his post-9/11 response, acknowledging his predecessor’s love of country.

Imagine President Obama acknowledging the daunting challenges that faced Bush-era national security, homeland security, and legal advisers in defending our country against enemy combatants waging asymmetric war.

Imagine President Obama acknowledging President Bush’s unwavering support for the troops and grace under eight years of fire from radical leftists bent on sabotaging every last counterterrorism measure – from immediately arresting thousands of illegal alien fugitives from terror-coddling nations after the attacks, to tearing down the Clinton-era wall between intelligence and law enforcement agencies, to grappling with thorny detention and interrogation policies that bore fruit years after he left office, to weathering
endless cries of “fascist,” “bloodthirsty war-monger,” and vengeful “cowboy.”

Imagine President Obama condemning the unhinged accusations of “war crimes,” “racism,” and “Islamophobia” leveled by progressives at President Bush’s top Pentagon and Justice Department officials over two divisive terms.

Imagine President Obama rising above the din of poll-obsessed liberal opportunists — from Democrat N.Y. Rep. Gary Ackerman (who crowed that bin Laden’s death “was ‘Mission Accomplished’ moment President Bush only fantasized about”), to incoming Democratic National Committee chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida (who squawked that Obama “deserved credit” in a partisan press release just hours after the bin Laden announcement), to the ladies of ABC’s The View gabfest (who are all ready to cancel the 2012 election and anoint Obama king), to a race-baiting Grist magazine writer who exulted that “We booted the cowboy and elected a black, liberal urbanite, and he’s the one who tracked down the bad guy. It’s just too, too delicious.”

And then, before departing Ground Zero with President Bush, visualize President Obama making clear to the nation that the rally for “unity” should not be used – as “civility” was after the Tucson shooting massacre — as a tool to silence political opponents and squelch dissent.

Yes, you may say that I’m a dreamer. But wasn’t it President Obama who urged us all to “expand our moral imaginations?” Let the healing begin.

Since 9/11, homeland/national security officials have been on the hunt for Adnan Shukrijumah. He was most recently tied to the NYC 2010 bombing plot involving convicted Colorado jihadi Najibullah Zazi and I’ve been keeping track of his various alleged sightings for nearly 10 years now.

Refresher:

Adnan Shukrijumah. Does the name ring a bell? It should if you have been a regular reader of this blog since its inception in 2004.

In August 2004, I reported on the FBI search for the high-profile fugitive and al Qaeda operative billed as the “next Mohammed Atta.” There’s been a $5 million bounty on his head for six years. He has been reportedly spotted at or near the Mexican border and allegedly has met with Latin American gangs. In 2007, his name came up in wiretaps related to the busted NYC/JFK bombing plot.

Well, he’s still on the loose. And he’s still apparently hard at work on global jihad.

So, guess who may be harboring this fugitive and now-rising al Qaeda leader?

Surprise, surprise.

Rhymes with Smackistan:

He was not a member of the South Florida “sleeper” cell that plotted the 9-11 terrorist attacks, but former Broward County Community College student Adnan El Shukrijumah has risen to the top ranks of al-Qaida’s global operations, according to the Justice Department.

The Saudi-born El Shukrijumah, who studied computer science and chemistry at BCC, left his family’s home in Miramar for Trinidad the week before the Sept. 11, 2001, assaults. His whereabouts were a mystery for years.

But last July, the 35-year-old was charged along with four others in an alleged al-Qaida plot to attack New York’s subway system and targets in England.

El Shukrijumah, a one-time legal U.S. resident and citizen of Guyana, is now a fugitive believed to be in Pakistan, according to the FBI.

Staying at another Extended Stay Qaeda Residence Inn, perhaps?

***

More on Shukrijumah’s rise from Charlie Szrom.

Take everything bungling deputy national security adviser John Brennan says with a grain of salt, of course — but here are the latest details via ABC News:

“We are looking at releasing additional information, details about the raid as well as any other types of material, possibly including photos. We want to understand exactly what the possible reaction might be to the release of this information,” said White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan on “Good Morning America.”

Also up for consideration is the release of video from the “helmet cams” of the Navy SEALS who went after bin Laden. The SEALS captured the mission on tape by wearing helmet cameras.

“Any types of material related to the raid, we need to make sure that we make the right decisions. What we don’t want to do is to compromise potential future operations by releasing certain things, so we’re looking at all of this and making the right decisions,” Brennan said.

As I said yesterday about the tired old concerns that photos/video might “enflame” the Muslim world, when is it not enflamed?

Air traffic controllers have been catching a lot of grief for sleeping on the job lately. But do you know what Transportation Security Administration officials have been doing — or rather, not doing — lately? A federal watchdog revealed this week that TSA’s counterterrorism specialists failed to detect 16 separate jihad operatives who moved through target airports “on at least 23 different occasions.” The name of the TSA monitoring program paying for all this flying-blind failure, I kid you not:

SPOT.

Under the “Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques” plan, TSA’s designated behavior detection officers are supposed to closely watch travelers who pose potential security risks and who exhibit any number of appearances or activities “indicative of stress, fear, or deception.” But long-entrenched, bipartisan American political correctness hampers the kind of effective, efficient national security profiling that Israeli airline security officials practice so well.

The result? TSA’s snoozing SPOT-ters catch nobody — for fear of being accused by the grievance lobby of singling anybody out.

Stephen Lord, who specializes in homeland security issues at the Government Accountability Office, reviewed Justice Department documents showing that “in December 2007 an individual who later pleaded guilty to providing material support to Somali terrorists boarded a plane at the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport en route to Somalia. Similarly, in August 2008, an individual who later pleaded guilty to providing material support to al Qaeda boarded a plane at Newark Liberty International Airport en route to Pakistan to receive terrorist training to support his efforts to attack the New York subway system.”

Other terror suspect travelers who slipped through the cracks have been subsequently tied to the 2008 Mumbai bombings; the plots to attack a Quantico, Va., Marine base and New York City infrastructure; and an attack by a Pakistani-trained American jihadi on an Afghanistan base.

Young. Male. Muslim. Traveling to al-Qaida friendly hot spots. How did these at-risk terror tourists escape scrutiny?

The GAO noted that the TSA SPOT team uses a numerical grading system that has no basis in science or research. But TSA deployed it anyway despite the government’s lack of validation. More appalling: Nearly 10 years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks highlighted vast gaps in information-sharing and dot-connecting, TSA is still “not systematically collecting and analyzing information obtained … on passengers who may pose a threat to the aviation system.”

Nobody has guidance on how, when or what data to enter into the agency’s “Transportation Information Sharing System.” Nationwide airport access to the system, such as it is, only came online last month.

As usual, the now-unionized TSA is clamoring for fatter taxpayer rewards for their systemic failure. SPOT took in more than $211 million in fiscal year 2010; the Obama administration wants to pour $232 million into it this fiscal year — a 9.5 percent increase in funding — to subsidize 3,350 SPOT personnel.

The Department of Homeland Security wants separate funding of another $254 million to support 350 more SPOT officers. If they get what they want, TSA will have invested over $800 million since fiscal year 2007 in a program that is not spotting anyone. Labor bosses are too busy counting the $30 million in new dues they’re raking in.

In the end, the reckless ethos established by first TSA overseer Norm Mineta still haunts and hamstrings the feds’ indiscriminate grab-and-grope airline security apparatus.

Remember? Asked by CBS reporter Steve Kroft whether “a 70-year-old white woman from Vero Beach, Fla., would receive the same level of scrutiny as a Muslim young man from Jersey City,” Mineta responded in 2001, “Basically, I would hope so.”

Yep, that’s your TSA tax dollars at work: Thousands Standing Around, watching the clock while jihad jet-setters fly by.

With a presidential election less than two years away, we’ve almost certainly seen the first and last of the idiotic civil trials for “man caused disaster suspects” for a while, thanks to this close shave:

NEW YORK (AP) – The first Guantanamo detainee to face a civilian trial was acquitted Wednesday of all but one of the hundreds of charges he helped unleash death and destruction on two U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998 – an opening salvo in al-Qaida’s campaign to kill Americans.

A federal jury convicted Ahmed Ghailani of one count of conspiracy to destroy U.S. property and acquitted him on more than 280 other counts, including one murder count for each of the 224 people killed in the embassy bombings. The anonymous jurors deliberated over seven days.

Prosecutors said Ghailani faces a minimum of 20 years and a maximum of life in prison at sentencing on Jan. 25.
[...]
The trial at a lower Manhattan courthouse had been viewed as a possible test case for President Barack Obama administration’s aim of putting other terror detainees – including self-professed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four other terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba – on trial on U.S. soil.

Ghailani’s prosecution also demonstrated some of the constitutional challenges the government would face if that happens. On the eve of his trial last month, the judge barred the government from calling a key witness because the witness had been identified while Ghailani was being held at a secret CIA camp where harsh interrogation techniques were used.

The Obama Justice Department said they were “pleased” with the outcome, but in baseball terminology, they barely avoided being no-hit because they got a bloop single. If they’re “pleased” about anything it’s that they didn’t end up looking like total asses.

As for other man-caused-disaster suspects facing civil trial, about a year ago, Eric Holder blew off questions concerning what would happen if Khalid Sheik Mohammed or any of the other 9/11 defendants were found not guilty in a civil court:

Attorney General Eric Holder brushed off the question, saying, “I would not have authorized the bringing of these prosecutions unless I thought that the outcome — in the outcome we would ultimately be successful. I will say that I have access to information that has not been publicly released that gives me great confidence that we will be successful in the prosecution of these cases in federal court.”

Talk about being counter-productive to Obama’s stated goal going in. The case made by Obama during his campaign was that the military justice system had been so corrupted by years of Bush abuse that no “man-caused disaster suspect” in U.S. custody could possibly get a fair military trial. But at the same time, Holder was open in stating that only those who were certain convictions would be granted access to US civil courts.

It’s ironic that Team Obama’s answer to distancing themselves from Bush’s alleged Gitmo kangaroo court system was to grant US civil court access only to those defendants who met the criteria of the DoJ’s politically motivated and/or naive preconceived trial outcomes. Now even their “sure things” aren’t so sure — and this was only their first crack at it.

Amateur hour is about to enter its third year.

Update: Well naturally – Bush’s fault! The quote in that story is from a “senior Obama administration official” who sounds as if he’s moonlighting as legal counsel for Gitmo detainees.

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

Readers know I’ve been one of DHS Secretary Janet Clownitano’s most vocal critics — dating back to 2006, when she supported a disgraceful 9/11 memorial in Arizona poisoned by left-wing radicalism, through 2008, when the shamnesty wolf in enforcement clothing was tapped by Obama to head DHS, and, of course, over the past two years as she demonized conservative activists, botched 9/11 history, and turned homeland security into a bigger joke that it already has been.

J-Nap is now the focus of a massive national backlash over the new, invasive TSA screening procedures. She takes to the pages of USA Today to defend herself:

Nearly a year after a thwarted terrorist attack on a Detroit-bound airliner last Christmas Day, the recent attempt by terrorists to conceal and ship explosive devices aboard aircraft bound for the United States reminds us that al-Qaeda and those inspired by its ideology are determined to strike our global aviation system and are constantly adapting their tactics for doing so.

Our best defense against such threats remains a risk-based, layered security approach that utilizes a range of measures, both seen and unseen, including law enforcement, advanced technology, intelligence, watch-list checks and international collaboration.

This layered approach to aviation security is only as strong as the partnerships upon which it is built. In addition to the more than 50,000 trained transportation security officers, transportation security inspectors, behavior detection officers and canine teams who are on the front lines guarding against threats to the system, we rely on law enforcement and intelligence agencies across the federal government. We require airlines and cargo carriers to carry out specific tasks such as the screening of cargo and passengers overseas. We work closely with local law enforcement officers in airports throughout the country.

And we ask the American people to play an important part of our layered defense. We ask for cooperation, patience and a commitment to vigilance in the face of a determined enemy.

When Obama homeland security officials won’t even name that “determined enemy”, who can blame Americans for refusing to cooperate?

DHS Secretary Clownitano has cuddled with the Muslim Brotherhood, and exhibited extreme delusional behavior and dhimmitude in the face of jihadi threats. Now, she’s telling us to show a “commitment to vigilance?”

The only thing I can possibly say in her defense is that TSA’s credibility problems long predate her tenure.

Two words: Norm Mineta.

Flashback:

[60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft]: Are you saying, at security screening desks, that a 70-year-old white woman from Vero Beach, Florida, would receive the same level of scrutiny as a-a-a Muslim young man from Jersey City?

Mineta: Basically, I would hope so.

Another flashback reminder: The photo now featured on the Drudge Report of a Muslim TSA agent frisking a nun is from 2007:

The caption at Flickr (hat tip – reader KH):

From the photograher, Dean Shaddock:

This was captured as I collected my things from airport security (Detroit Metro Concourse A). I think of it as something like a Rorschach test. Is an elderly Catholic nun being frisked by a Muslim security agent the celebration of blind justice? Or is it simply an admission of absurdity?

From Thousands Standing Around to Taking Scissors Away to Touching Sensitive Areas, TSA has stood for an incompetent, political correctness-addled, homeland security bureaucracy from day one.

As the historian Arnold Toynbee put it so well: “Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder.”