memeorandum: Abdulmutallab: More Like Me In Yemen — Accused Northwest Bomber … (ABCNEWS)

11:45 AM ET, December 28, 2009

Top Items:

U.S. Widens Terror War to Yemen, a Qaeda Bastion — WASHINGTON — In the midst of two unfinished major wars, the United States has quietly opened a third, largely covert front against Al Qaeda in Yemen. — A year ago, the Central Intelligence Agency sent several of its top field operatives …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Moderate Voice, Washington Post, Philly.com, The Washington Independent, Raw Story, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Strata-Sphere, Gawker, Taegan Goddard's …, Truthdig, Riehl World View, Guardian, The Page, ATTACKERMAN, Matthew Yglesias and Althouse

Wall Street Journal:

The Terror This Time — Janet Napolitano says the system worked. No, we were brave and lucky. — Printer — Friendly — A U.S. government that has barred the phrase “war on terror” has nonetheless acknowledged that a failed Christmas day bomb attack on an airliner was a terrorist attempt.

Discussion: Guardian, And So it Goes in Shreveport, The Strata-Sphere, Taylor Marsh, Cato @ Liberty, Israel Matzav and Commentary

Kenneth Chang / New York Times:

Explosive on Flight 253 Is Among Most Powerful — Sewn into the underwear of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was a powerful plastic explosive, the authorities say. — Had Mr. Abdulmutallab, sitting in seat 19A of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Friday from Amsterdam to Detroit …

Discussion: Townhall.com, The Foundry, National Review Online and BBC

ABCNEWS:

Abdulmutallab: More Like Me In Yemen — Accused Northwest Bomber Says More Bombers On the Way; Al Qaeda Promises to Hit Americans — American officials have cause to worry there may be more al Qaeda-trained young men in Yemen planning to bring down American jets.

Discussion: Hot Air, National Review Online, Gateway Pundit and Wizbang

Michael O'Brien / The Hill: GOP accuses White House of ‘stonewalling’ terror attempt inquiries

Washington Wire:

Napolitano Reverses Course, Says Air Security Did NOT Work — A day after saying “the system worked” — and being pressed by CNN's Candy Crowley about how exactly that was the case — Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano changed tack Monday and said that the U.S. air-travel security net …

Discussion: Washington Post, Wake up America, NewsBusters.org, Real Clear Politics, Sister Toldjah, Betsy's Page, Another Black Conservative, National Review Online and Fausta's Blog

Washington Post:

Uninvestigated terrorism warning about Detroit suspect called not unusual — When Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's father in Nigeria reported concern over his son's “radicalization” to the U.S. Embassy there last month, intelligence officials in the United States deemed the information insufficient to pursue.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Matthew Yglesias, The Mahablog, Hot Air and The Confluence

Eileen Sullivan / Associated Press:

Napolitano concedes airline security system failed — WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano conceded Monday that the aviation security system failed when a young man on a watchlist with a U.S. visa in his pocket and a powerful explosive hidden on his body was allowed to board a fight from Amsterdam to Detroit.

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Power Line and USA Today

Josh Meyer / Los Angeles Times:
Janet Napolitano says there's no evidence of a wider terrorist plot

Discussion: Online NewsHour, The Caucus, Washington Post, BBC and The New Republic

Nick Allen / Telegraph:
Detroit terror attack: second Nigerian arrested on Amsterdam flight

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, The Jawa Report, Interested-Participant and CNN

Political Punch:
Obama “Likely” to Speak About Flight 253

Discussion: The Sundries Shack, Jihad Watch and Hot Air

Martin Fletcher / Times of London:

At least eight dead in Tehran street battles — At least eight anti-government protesters, including a nephew of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Iran's opposition leader, were shot dead yesterday as the smouldering confrontation between the regime and the so-called Green Movement finally erupted.

Discussion: Gateway Pundit, QandO, Hot Air, Jules Crittenden and Harry's Place

FRONTLINE:

The start of an Iranian intifada — [ analysis ] — An Iranian-style intifada seems to be in the making. — At the beginning of the current period of opposition, which started soon after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's controversial reelection, quiet periods of seeming normalcy occurred between what were less frequent demonstrations.

Discussion: BBC, Guardian, The Washington Note, The Washington Independent, Taylor Marsh, Reuters, New York Times and The Field on the Narcosphere

Art Beast / The Daily Beast:
Could the Mullahs Fall This Time? — Home - Cheat sheet …

Discussion: Cato @ Liberty

BBC:
Iran protesters in fresh clashes

Discussion: Informed Comment and Gawker

Lydia Saad / Gallup:

“Political Winners” Circle Filled by Figures Close to Obama — Americans divided in labeling Sarah Palin as a political winner or loser — PRINCETON, NJ — In Americans' estimation, the top three political winners of 2009 are all women closely linked with the Obama administration …

Discussion: The Hill, Real Clear Politics and The Political Carnival

Mark Whitaker / Washington Post:

Lessons from Obama's first year — Seeking to make sense of Barack Obama's first year as president — and why he has come across as competent but less magical than many Americans hoped — I've been rereading his autobiography, “Dreams From My Father.” — To revisit that memoir is to be reminded …

Discussion: The Glittering Eye and NewsBusters.org

Mark Silva / The Swamp:
Winners and Losers: Political toll of 2009

Discussion: D.C. Now and The Politico

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

The Big Zero — Maybe we knew, at some unconscious, instinctive level, that it would be an era best forgotten. Whatever the reason, we got through the first decade of the new millennium without ever agreeing on what to call it. The aughts? The naughties? Whatever.

Discussion: Ezra Klein, The Agonist, The Glittering Eye and Prairie Weather

Lee Fang / Think Progress:

Mary Matalin claims President Bush ‘inherited’ the September 11th terror attacks. — On CNN today, GOP strategist and former Dick Cheney adviser Mary Matalin argued that President Obama is speaking too much about the severe debt, deficits, and economic recession he inherited from the previous administration.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and BlogHer

CNN:
STATE OF THE UNION WITH JOHN KING

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Raw Story, The Washington Independent and Eschaton

WJKT-TV:

Memphis Man Arrested: Accused of Making Bomb Threats & Threatening to Start “Holy War” — MEMPHIS, TN - Tonight, Mohamed Ibrahim is out after posting $100 bond. Earlier in the day, he was arrested after police say he walked into several Memphis businesses and threatened to blow them up.

Discussion: Examiner, Hot Air, Atlas Shrugs, Scared Monkeys, Jihad Watch, Gateway Pundit, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and Political Byline

Patrick Gavin / The Politico:

MAX BAUCUS'S SPEECH UNDER CONSERVATIVE FIRE — “DRUNK WITH POWER? TOP DEM SLURS ON SENATE FLOOR...” reads the Drudge Report headline. — Newsbusters.org writes: “How can one explain this incredibly bizarre performance by Max Baucus on the Senate floor?

Discussion: The Washington Independent, Instapundit, Riehl World View, Examiner and NewsBusters.org