Flight 253 passenger says ‘Christmas bomber’ didn’t act alone

Contradicting claims by the U.S. government and most of the media, one of the passengers aboard flight 253 is telling reporters the man known as the “Christmas bomber” had an accomplice.

Kurt Haskell and his wife Lori, both Michigan Lawyers, have repeated their story consistently to anyone who will listen. They’ve even dedicated a blog to their experience.

According to Kurt Haskell, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was not alone when he prepared to board the plane in Amsterdam. Haskell says Abdulmutallab was accompanied by a “well-dressed Indian man” who spoke for him and seemed to be in charge. Haskell said he first noticed them because they seemed to be an “odd couple.”

After approaching the ticket counter, Haskell says the Indian man tried to convince the agent to let Abdulmutallab board the plane without proper identity saying, “This man needs to board the plane and he doesn’t have a passport” After the ticket agent refused, the Indian man explained to the agent that “He [Abdulmutallab] is from Sudan, we do this all the time.”

Haskell then says the Indian man and Abdulmutallab were sent down the hall to speak to a manger.

A Jan. 22 article by ABC titled “Alert: Female Suicide Bombers May Be Heading Here From Yemen” supports Haskell’s story. Buried at the very end of the article, ABC reporters make this shocking statement:

“Federal agents also tell ABCNews.com they are attempting to identify a man who passengers said helped Abdulmutallab change planes for Detroit when he landed in Amsterdam from Lagos, Nigeria.

Authorities had initially discounted the passenger accounts, but the agents say there is a growing belief the man have played a role to make sure Abdulmutallab ‘did not get cold feet.’ ”

A more recent twist to the “official” story was reported by the Detroit News. In an article titled “Terror Suspect kept visa to avoid tipping off larger investigation, ” reporter Nathan Hurst says a top State Department official has revealed that Abdulmutallab was intentionally allowed to keep his visa so as not to interfere with a larger investigation. The article claims that:

“Patrick F. Kennedy, an undersecretary for management at the State Department, said Abdulmutallab’s visa wasn’t taken away because intelligence officials asked his agency not to deny a visa to the suspected terrorist over concerns that a denial would’ve foiled a larger investigation into al-Qaida threats against the United States.”

A ‘progressive’ distraction

Glenn Beck and FOX News have a new left wing enemy — the progressives. Much of the rhetoric that was aimed toward Democrats in previous years is now being used against the supposedly sinister grandchild of the Bull Moose Party.

Most historians trace the beginnings of the progressive movement to Teddy Roosevelt’s resignation from Republican ranks and formation of his own Bull Moose Party. A party which advocated things such as minimum wage laws and prohibition.

Beck and FOX are correct that the Progressive Party and modern progressives are in favor of  increasing the scope of the national government — but all for the “common good.” Basically, a progressive sees things that are wrong within a society and attempts to make them right through the force of government.

While I don’t agree with much of the progressive platform, I do admire its concern and commitment to the downtrodden. The modern progressive movement is not some left wing, God-hating crusade that wishes to steal your children from you and place them in fascist indoctrination institutions. On the contrary, the progressives gave us things like child labor laws and women’s suffrage.

Perhaps what disturbs me most about (mainly) Beck’s anti-progressive banter, is that it distracts Americans from the real issue. How often do we hear Beck and other conservative media pundits claiming that it’s not about left versus right, Democrat versus Republican? And yet, they continually play the fear card, saturating their viewers with an us-versus-them mindset.

The progressives are not “evil” as some would have you believe. They are not what threatens America or the world. But neither is the Tea Party movement, moral majority, conservatism, communism or socialism. As long as Americans of all political ideologies are fed and accept the divisive rhetoric that causes them to see a targeted group as the “enemy” we will never be free.

History as a weapon

I’ve been in school for almost 20 years. I’ve studied history for probably a fifth of that time. At the very least, I should have a firm grasp on my own country’s, if not the world’s, history. And yet I’ve been told so little.

Not to worry, I can tell you about the World Wars and who the “bad guys” were. I can tell you about the fall of the Berlin Wall and how the Civil War was fought over slavery. I can tell you about Betsy Ross and the pilgrims. But what I can not tell you about is the omitted history — the history that makes a difference.

The years spent in the classroom sitting in painful plastic chairs never prepared me for the truth I would uncover outside its walls.

My lengthy American history books somehow omitted the chapters on American imperialism. I never learned about America’s occupation of Haiti or its invasion of the peaceful Philippines. Nor was I taught about the 1928 CIA overthrow of the democratic Iranian government. Likewise, my European history lessons failed to mention the fait of the Aborigines or King Leopold’s holocaust in the Congo. 

But King Charlemagne, I can tell you about.

History is a weapon and for those who wield the power of the pen, the weapon is theirs. Until America’s institutions teach that which has been omitted, the only hope for I and others is self-education.