By Keith Johnson
Did U.S., British and Saudi intelligence services really save America from a genuine terrorist attack, or was this latest underwear bomber fiasco just another false flag operation that was exposed before rogue agents had a chance to carry it out?
On May 7, AP reported that the “CIA thwarted an ambitious plot by al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen to destroy a U.S.-bound airliner using a bomb with a sophisticated new design around the one-year anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden. The would-be suicide bomber, based in Yemen, had not picked a target or bought a plane ticket when the CIA stepped in and seized the bomb, officials said.” (The official story is that bin Laden was killed by Navy SEALs in May 2011.)
Apparently, AP knew about the plot for some time, but held off reporting it at the request of the Obama administration. The next day, the story changed. According to The New York Times, the would-be suicide bomber “was actually an intelligence agent for Saudi Arabia who infiltrated the terrorist group and volunteered for the mission.”
Later in the week, MSNBC identified the Saudi agent as a British citizen and claimed that British intelligence was “heavily involved” in foiling the alleged plot. The Telegraph expanded on these claims, adding that the agent came from a “radical Islamic family,” which helped him gain trust among leaders of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
The Saudi agent is said to have spent weeks inside AQAP, where he obtained critical intelligence that permitted the CIA to direct drone strikes that killed Fahd Mohammed Ahmed al-Quso, a high-level AQAP leader and suspect in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole.
He also managed to get his hands on a sophisticated new explosive, presumably crafted by al Qaeda’s chief bombmaker, Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri. According to AP, the device was “an upgrade of the bomb that failed to detonate aboard a jetliner over Detroit on Christmas 2009.” Like the previous bomb, this one was also designed to fit inside a passenger’s underwear but had no metal parts and a fail-safe mechanism of two detonators.
This AFP writer recently spoke with Stephen Lendman, research associate with the Center for Research on Globalization. Lendman contends that the operation was fabricated to expand the “war on terror” and to justify granting more police-state powers to federal law enforcement.
“Immediately after learning of this alleged plot, FBI director Robert Mueller testified before a congressional committee on intelligence and said this latest incident shows that the FBI needs more surveillance powers,” said Lendman. “They get away with anything they want already, but the FBI is asking Congress to make legal what they are now doing illegally.”
Lendman also expects an escalation of violence against the Yemenis.
“We’ve got drone strikes and hit squads being deployed in Yemen, and we haven’t even made an official declaration of war,” he said. “Things will get worse because Yemen is strategically important to the U.S. About 3M barrels of oil pass through the waterways that border the country on a daily basis. There is now renewed focus on Yemen because of this bomb plot, which will be used as a pretext to step up measures against them.”
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Keith Johnson is an independent journalist and the editor of “Revolt of the Plebs,” an alternative news website. Keith is also a licensed private detective.
