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According to BBC News, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had a six-inch plastic explosive sewn to his underwear, which he attempted to detonate moments before the plane was due to descend.
Lack of cooperation between the United States and the United Kingdom played a part in this could’ve-been attack. According to Newsweek, in May 2009, Umar Farouk had been denied his visa application to the UK, in which he claimed to be studying in what authorities concluded to be a fictitious school. Farouk’s name was placed on the UK’s Home Office Security watch list, which meant he was banned from entering the country, except in transit. The British government hadn’t shared this information because they classified it as an immigration fraud rather than a national security issue.
Since this incident, Obama and his administration has also been heavily criticised for being weak on terrorism. Umar Farouk was said to be carrying no luggage, coat and passport as he boarded the plane. A well-dressed South-Asian man, who claimed that Farouk was a Sudan refugee, accompanied him. Despite these red flags, Farouk was still let onboard.
Obama has expressed his anger about the serious “systemic and human failures” that had made this attack possible. In November 2009, Umar Farouk’s father had contacted 2 CIA officials to state that his son had become radical in his religious views and that he might be a threat. Umar Farouk’s name was then added to the US’s Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment Database. However, his name failed to be added to the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Database and consequently to the No Fly List. Although his name had come to attention of intelligence officials months before that as having ties with Yemen and many Islam extremists, his visa was not revoked as no “derogatory information” was recorded about him.
Another equally serious question is how and where Farouk was radicalised. According to Telegraph, there have been speculations that he was recruited and radicalised in London, where he was the President of the Islamic Society at University College London. University College London has been heavily condemned for allowing extremist speakers who have been tied to various terrorist acts such as the 9/11-terror attack to speak at the society’s events. During his tenure as President, Umar Farouk organised lectures such as “Jihad vs. Terrorism” and a seminar entitled “War on Terror Week”, and reportedly had multiple communications with Islamic extremists.
However, it seems the general consensus was that he was recruited by Al-Qaeda when he was in Yemen, studying Arabic at the San’a Institute fir the Arabic Language. In August 2009, Umar Farouk made a call to his father to tell him that he was dropping out of his course and was “never coming (going) back”. He reportedly spent most of his time attending lectures at Iman University, which according the Sunday Times was notorious for its links to terrorism.
According to Marc Sageman, a forensic psychiatrist and former Central Intelligence Agency case officer in Afghanistan, the general perception of terrorists is one of desperation; “poverty, broken families, ignorance, immaturity, lack of family or occupational responsibilities, weak minds susceptible to brainwashing - the sociopath, the criminals, the religious fanatic”.
What makes this terrorist different from your run of the mill suicide bomber, is probably not so much that he had come from a wealthy background, or that he had received his education in private international schools and earned his degree at the much vaunted University College London.
While these facts do contradict the usual perception that terrorists are desperate and uneducated extremists, one just has to think of the wealthy Osama bin Laden to realise this observation is exceedingly flawed. According to Sageman’s data, members of Al-Qaeda are often the “best and brightest of their societies in many ways”.
What makes you wonder about Umar Farouk is that he failed. While there have been a few failed suicide attempts before, Farouk had put up no resistance when being tackled. He had looked scared and resigned. Perhaps, the fact that he failed has humanised him and raises the question of whether he had truly wanted to succeed in his attempt.
The only thing scarier than a terrorist is a terrorist you can relate to. Umar Farouk was an everyday man; he went to a good university and was described by his peers as “the Pope”. If a good man can be brainwashed into becoming a killer, one can only imagine the power of persuasion the Al-Qaeda holds and what they’re capable of.
Umar Farouk has pleaded “Not Guilty” to his charges, which include attempting to blow up and placing a destructive device on a U.S. civil aircraft, attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and attempted murder of 289 people. He is currently being held at the Federal Correctional Institution while awaiting further legal proceedings. Watch this space for updates.
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