Now your remark about being "willfully obtuse" makes sense. It is your preferred defense technique. You come on here toss a lot of cuss words around and insults and then when directly challenged, you play stupid as an excuse to not to provide any responses or any links then you prop up strawmen. Nice try.

In the first post I was very clear. I said:

"In fact, members of his staff are admitting they had been tipped off and were expecting a "Christmas Surprise" Attack from Al Qaeda executed by a Nigerian. They knew it was Al Qaeda before the plane landed."

You said:

Where do you get this shit? Prove it, link it.

The link says:

A high-ranking counterterrorism official told CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier Wednesday that U.S. intelligence agencies "knew Al Qaeda was promising a Christmas surprise" but weren't able to piece together the details in time to prevent the attempted bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight arriving in Detroit.
"We'd been tracking this stuff for months, without being able to connect the dots of what was happening, and what was going to happen," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The Obama administration Counter terrorism official said they knew a Christmas surprise attack was coming. If you think I am doubting him or giving him more credit than he is worth, what he is saying is they were on the look out for intel that would tell them who and where the attack would occur. I never said they knew what plane he was flying in on and watched it leave Amsterdam. That's your strawman. He claims he knew an attack was coming on Christmas day. They should have raised alerts, but Obama has signaled he doesn't like alerts. Maybe it causes different agencies to be aware something is about to happen, instead of the chaos and lack of coordination we witnessed. This official would have been the first to be alerted that an incident occurred on Christmas day on a Northwest plane 20 minutes outside Detroit. The second he heard the news, the answer of where and who was answered. At that moment he knew Al Qaeda had struck. The subsequent facts have proven it to be the case. The NYtimes bolsters this claim by stating:

According to a page one story in the New York Times, two federal officials told the paper that U.S. intelligence was aware that a Nigerian Muslim was preparing an attack, yet officials did nothing to give warning of such an attack.
The paper reported Wednesday: "Two officials said the government had intelligence from Yemen before Friday that leaders of a branch of Al Qaeda were talking about 'a Nigerian' being prepared for a terrorist attack."
Although the attacker was not named, officials said his identity would have been evident had it been compared with information about Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old Nigerian charged with trying to blow up an American passenger jet on Christmas Day.
But despite those signals, the administration never raised a terror alert, and would-be bomber Abdulmutallab was allowed to board a plane bound for the United States.
Critics also have charged that, although al-Qaida has engaged in multiple terror attacks at the same time and has promised more attacks soon, the administration has yet to raise Homeland Security's terror threat level. It remains at "yellow" or "elevated" — as it has for several years.

Did I claim Obama knew Abdulmutallab had a bomb on Christmas eve? No. So stop playing stupid. They knew when and how and had a description of the Al Qaeda terrorist and I don't doubt that this official did his best to connect the dots under the unreasonable constraints Obama put his intelligence personnel under. They knew when, Christmas day. They knew he was Nigerian. How hard would it be to do a database search using the key words "Nigerian + Yemen + CIA report from famous rich father who is banging our door down + Flying using his own name on Christmas day". Hell, just type in "How many Nigerians coming to America for Christmas?"

The fact is Obama's attempts to "not scare" anyone and convince everyone we are not at war, "Don't jump to conclusions", we need to discard the alert system, has created the same stovepiping that Jamie Gorelick created under Clinton. Obama has tried to disassemble the tools in place, instead of building on them, and the CIA report sat on someones desk and collected dust.

And you are still pretending this guy is not Al Qaeda. What are you waiting for his badge number or identification number? He sang like a bird and gave detailed information of his whereabouts and even if he had not, the forensic evidence is enough already. Who are you kidding? This Yemeni group has had 5 major plots, 4 in the US since Obama took office and You still don't want us to "jump to conclusions". And you call me scared. The only thing that is scary is your "willful obstuseness".

Is there something magical for you about Guantanamo or are you claiming it is impossible to be arrested and placed in ANY military detention center as an enemy combatant."
You said: Dude, it was you who kept bringing up GITMO, not me:

When I said ANY in all caps, it was obvious I was asking you to clarify your assertion, since as usual, you toss out loose remarks with no sourcing.

You had said:

Nobody ever has been, or ever will be, shipped to GITMO after being arrested here.

Again...slowly...Are you asserting that no person arrested here has ever and will never go to ANY military detention center and face military tribunals as opposed to civilian? Yes, you were. But I gave you more credit than you were due, because you like to play dumb, as a lame excuse to not respond to questions. Since we are not often at war on our own soil, I could see why it is difficult for you to comprehend the concept. In this case you are wrong.

What's all this Japanese sub and Nazi saboteur non-analogous filler? You claimed since Adulmutallab's crimes "were committed in a foreign land, blah, blah, blah" we should have taken some other course of action. I asked you what exactly and now you're trying to obfuscate with hypotheticals. How about a straight answer?

No, you asked me if the canadiens should have apprehended him, which is more of your narrow minded law enforcement garbage that ignores we are at war. You refuse to respond and then say things like "blah, blah, blah" and respond to questions with questions, because you don't have an answer. I asked you about the Germans and you refuse to answer. The Germans did land on US soil, with explosives and firearms in civilian clothes in the north and the south. They were captured by law enforcement officials who on orders from the President were held in Military detention, faced Military tribunals and then FDR signed their order for execution. Then they were killed.

Nobody ever has been, or ever will be, shipped to GITMO after being arrested here.

I'm sorry you are wrong. It is possible to be arrested by law enforcement and held in Military detention. I also gave a more contemporary example in AL-Marri. You ignore that clear refutaion of your lame remark. It is becoming clear why you run and hide using this "willing obtuseness" game.

He's already a shoo-in for attempted mass murder with an explosive, if we can add "material support for al-Qaeda" he'll be gone for life. Oh, I get it, you think he knows about other plans and this is an episode of '24'. Sorry, it's doubtful he would be given any info about any other AQ operations because that would be stupid.

Cute! Obviously you are not as dumb as you let on. I don't give a damn if he gets life or life and day if it means he is in your pink panty prison in Illinois. He is an enemy combatant, he can get life in a military detention center, preferably Gitmo. And if next week if we want to use him as an asset or a year from now or 50 years from now, we can, because we are at war. As I said, because of your mindset, he is now mirandized and lawyered up and we have no intel and that puts people at risk. And you think its cute to joke about TV shows when lives are at stake, so as usual you toss out "guesses" without sourcing...and as usual, you are wrong again. Before you had him mirandized, he said there are as many as 25 more individuals on their way to Europe. Intelligence officals have reason to believe there is truth in this. So what you casually pass off as "doubtful" endangers lives and that just doesn't seem to register on your Radar screen, because you are too focused on treating these guys like shoplifters.

A suggestion: Think, research, then type.

Instead of just tossing out flippant remarks...Oh probably no one is going to do anything, maybe.

Wow, I can see why that mindset instills confidence in the American people that the left can protect this country.

The US congress passed a war resolution against Al Qaeda and anyone associated with them. This guy is an enemy combatant in a war. Many Presidents in our history have taken enemy combatants on US Soil and placed them in military detention. I gave you two 20th century examples. This guy's situation is even more damning. He came from Yemen, a place where we are currently engaging in military operations, he took weapons from our enemy at that location, and then attempted to use them against American civilians while en route from the location he acquired the weapons to US soil. He committed an act of war and is an enemy combatant. He should be put in Guantanamo bay and stay there until the war is over or until he dies, which ever comes first.

But you continue to be "willingly obtuse".

People like you and people like me will probably never agree on the perfect way to handle each of these different cases but unlike you, I am sure I know what version of America, its values, and Constitution I want to protect. The version that sets us apart from the people that want to do us harm. One set of rules and stick with 'em. You seem to think all this can be chucked out the window because you're scared.

There is no perfect way, its war. And as far as what you want to protect, your casual and flippant disregard for the facts shows you don't want to protect anything. There is one set of rules, and its called the rules of war and whether you like it or not War is a phenomenon mentioned in the constitution and in our statutory laws, it just so happens you are uncomfortable about admitting that, so like Obama, you pretend. The anger on this board about the negative press Obama is getting is because you don't want to accept the fact that America doesn't like this pretend game anymore. You don't like being wrong. But protecting American lives is more important than your hurt feelings.

Next time you want to come on here and toss around a bunch of crap without anything to back it up, I have a suggestion: Think, research, then type.... or put a cork in it.

Please read my above post and hopefully that will clarify my assertion.

....there is no evidence anywhere in the CBS story or anything I have seen that matches your characterization of Obama's understanding of the event as it unfolded.

A poll was taken a couple of years ago that said two thirds of Democrats believed Bush knew about the 911 attack before it happened and chose not to stop it. I consider that disturbing and delusional.

If you are implying that I am claiming that Obama had actionable intelligence on his desk of the person and the flight and chose to let it happen, then you have misunderstood what I said.

I have absolutely no doubt that had our President known and had such actionable intelligence he would have stopped it, just as he has done on several other occasions. A prime example would be the case of Najibullah Zazi, the Al Qaeda bomb suspect from Denver arrested in September. In that case he was planning to target public places with liquid explosives similar to other Al Qaeda plots like the 2006 Transatlantic plot and the London Subway Bombings. In these cases, Al Qaeda uses a bomb type that uses simple store bought products like Hair care products composed of Hydrogen peroxide and the orange drink, Tang. The detonator is concealed in a AA battery.

My contention is that although Obama acts on real threats, he has created an environment that hampers the ability of the intelligence community to operate efficiently. By his admission that a review and upgrade of procedures are in order, I believe this bolsters my argument. If this leads to an improvement, he deserves credit for attempting to remedy the problem.

An unfortunate byproduct of his attempts to keep Terror plots low profile and out of the headlines is that he does not get credit for the successes he rightfully could take credit for. I welcome the recent appearance that he is going to respond vigorously to the threats coming out of the horn of Africa. He deserves credit for that as well, if it comes to pass.