DOT CONNECTING 101 – AT 7:54 P.M. ET:  Apparently the airline bomber, and the Fort Hood shooter, have a friend in common – you know, the way you have a friend on Facebook.  But this is some friend:

The Nigerian accused of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner had his suicide mission personally blessed in Yemen by Anwar al-Awlaki, the same Muslim imam suspected of radicalizing the Fort Hood shooting suspect, a U.S. intelligence source has told The Washington Times.

And...

The intelligence official, who is familiar with the FBI's interrogation of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, said the bombing suspect has boasted of his jihad training during interrogation by the FBI and has said it included final exhortations by Mr. al-Awlaki.

"It was Awlaki who indoctrinated him," the official said. "He was told, 'You are going to be the tip of the spear of the Muslim nation.'"

Uh oh.  Must not say that.  No use of the M-word.

Mr. al-Awlaki had e-mail contact with Maj. Hasan as many as 20 times from December 2008 until the Fort Hood shootings, where Maj. Hasan is accused of killing 13 people. Mr. al-Awlaki praised Maj. Hasan's actions as a "hero" and said all Muslims in the U.S. military should "follow the footsteps of men like Nidal."

Those e-mails were intercepted by the U.S. Government.  And yet, nothing was done.  If proper attention had been paid, it's possible that Fort Hood would have been prevented and the airline bomb plot detected. That is what investigators should be looking at.

In his FBI interrogation, according to the U.S. intelligence official, Mr. Abdulmutallab spoke of being in a room in Yemen receiving Muslim blessings and prayers from Mr. al-Awlaki, along with a number of other men "all covered up in white martyrs' garments," and known only by code names and "abu" honorifics.

The official said such clothing and the lack of familiarity among the men suggests al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula intends to use the men in that room in suicide missions.

Finally...

Yemen's top diplomat said Tuesday that hundreds of al Qaeda militants are in his country and pleaded for foreign help and intelligence in rooting them out.

They may actually plan attacks like the one we have just had in Detroit. There are maybe hundreds of them -- 200, 300, Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi told the Times of London.

COMMENT:  Do we need a map drawn for us  Will the president now grow up and realize that all his "outreach" does no good with people like this?  We are facing a threat similar to the Japanese kamikaze of World War II.  If someone is willing to give up his life gladly, he becomes a human bomb – a bomb with the best guidance system ever devised, the human mind.

December 29, 2009