A Brief History
On December 25, 2009, one of the most bizarre terrorist plots to destroy an airliner and its passengers failed when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was unable to get his bomb hidden in his underwear to explode.
Digging Deeper
The 23 year old Nigerian man was educated at the University College in London, England and had earned a degree in mechanical engineering in 2008. He attempted to further his education with classes toward a Master’s degree at Wollongong University in Dubai. Unfortunately, this son of one of the richest men in Nigeria squandered his education by becoming a radicalized Islamist terrorist, influenced by the Al-Qaeda terrorist group that masterminded the 9/11 attacks. Umar was known to Western intelligence agencies as a possible threat due to his habit of posting his feelings on the internet, including talking about his sexual frustration at length. It seems his parents would not allow him to marry until he had earned his Master’s degree.
British intelligence did not allow Umar to return to Britain and further notified the US intelligence community of the possible threat he posed. Umar obtained his explosive device in Yemen and headed to the US where he was to attend an Islamist seminar in Texas. Incredibly, though the State Department wanted to bar Umar from traveling to the US, the US intelligence agencies over ruled them and allowed Umar to travel to the US in an effort to use Umar as bait to catch more important terrorist suspects.
Umar began his terrorist journey by flying from Ghana (Africa) to Amsterdam, Netherlands, where he got on a Northwest Airlines flight to Detroit, Michigan. As the jetliner approached Detroit, Umar went to the rest room where he readied his bomb, and covered his body with a blanket when back in his seat. Manipulating the device hidden in his under shorts with acid that was supposed to set off the explosion, Umar only succeeded in catching himself on fire. Other passengers quickly subdued Umar and put the fire out with a fire extinguisher, dragging the now pants-less sap to the front of the cabin. Umar admitted to trying to blow up the plane and was arrested upon landing.
Umar also admitted his ties to Al-Qaeda and was convicted of terrorist acts and sentenced to 4 life sentences with an additional 50 years.
Along with the equally unsuccessful “Shoe Bomber,” the “Underwear Bomber” showed the great lengths Islamic terrorists would go to in order to harm Americans. Even a person born into wealth and privilege could be a potential terrorist.
Question for students (and subscribers): Do US regulations and efforts at airport security go far enough, or not far enough, in your opinion. What measures would you like to see increased or decreased when it comes to passenger searches and regulations? Please share your ideas in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
United States Congress Senate. ATTEMPTED TERRORIST ATTACK ON NORTHWEST AIRLINES FLIGHT 253. BiblioGov, 2011.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="15069 https://www.historyandheadlines.com/?p=15069">31 Comments
He deserves LIFE IN PRISON!
It is so frustrating to fly because of idiots like this. While I understand the want for safer skies, sometimes this makes traveling unbearable. I travel a lot and with young children, it is so expensive now because you cannot pack drinks for the kids, and are forced to pay 4$ for a beverage.
They should have just let the guy burn to death.
It is unfortunate, but the world we live in dictates that out security measure be as stringent as possible as it relates to airline travel.
I remember when this happened! That could have been an awful tragedy.
I cannot believe that U.S. Intelligence thought it was a good idea to let him in the country as bait and not have him searched. Luckily, no one was injured but him. For a mechanical engineer, he wasn’t too bright.
I’m glad he wasn’t successful blowing up the plane
Im glad he didn’t succeed and everyone was ok but he should have never been able to get on the plane in the first place.
This goes along with my comment earlier about the terrorist article, there is always going to be another terrorist trying to harm. It scares me that people are bred to think the way to have honor is by killing innocent people.
Glad to see that everyone was okay .
The intelligence community puts too many lives at risk at times. Unfortunate his wounds did not kill him.
Why did I not hear of this on the news? This is a crazy story, he does not fit the stereotypical physical description of a terrorist. We are lucky that the bomb did not work properly.
Terrorist are going to whatever it takes to hurt the U.S. and we need to remember that because our society is known for forgetting about what happen in the past or lesson learned from previous incidents.
Our justice system really did its part here. Four life sentences, thats great!
For someone that sounded so smart he sure made a lot of stupid mistakes, his biggest throwing away his future by associating with Al-Qaeda and becoming a terrorist. It really was a stroke of luck that he idiotically caught himself on fire before he could do any harm. The biggest question that comes to mind is why he turned to terrorism when he was wealthy, smart, and had been given access to the best education and schools possible?
For some reason, I cannot remember ths happening but our justice system did something right for once!
I’ve never heard of this before. I was shocked to see the mistakes he made.
I find it remarkable that we are willing to protect such a criminal.
Simple mistakes could have huge consequences, thank god this wasn’t the case in this situation.
Are you kidding me?! Umar’s defense team felt that his sentence was too harsh due to his genitals and legs being destroyed and no one else suffered injury. Really, how can you defend someone who openly admitted to a terrorist attack?! How would you feel if one of your family members was on that flight?!
So a life sentence is too extreme because his genitals were hurt? So we value genitals over lives now?….. Get outta here!!! That’s crazy!
Glad he was the only one injured. I always laugh when people complain abut being patted down and searched. I have always felt that if you have nothing to hide then it shouldn’t be a big deal.
Wow, I don’t ever remember hearing of this “underwear” bomber. Glad he was the only one that was hurt.
Wow… I never knew the government to actually care about peoples feelings. They really did not give him a life sentence because of his genitals.
I recently traveled to florida wearing my sweatpants that I had rolled over at the top. The security lady kept asking me to pull up my pants and I clearly did not understand what she meant. She eventually rolled her eyes and let me go through. I was annoyed, she was annoyed. I am still thankful for increased security measures.
Reasons like that is why I prefer to drive I will take my chances on the road, there are places I would love to visit especially those countries my ancestors came from.
I feel like every terrorist should get life sentences because they want to kill innocent people.
As annoying as all the checks are at airports, I’m glad security is so important there.
People find airport security checks to be annoying, I find it to be a necessary evil. Those security checks help prevent scary things like this from happening.
I do not fly often but my brother and sister-in-law fly often. For that I am thankful for the strict security checks. It helps to set my mind at ease that they are in somewhat less danger than if these security checks were not in place. Nonetheless, I always am relieved when they have safely landed.
As Angela stated i do not fly often but my aunt and uncle fly frequently. I also am very thankful for the strict guidelines for the security.It makes it easier to believe flying is a safe way of travel for when I do travel by flying.