Suspected Christmas 'Underwear Bomber' Chose Detroit For Cheap Airfare
NEW YORK (AP/CBSNewYork) -- It seems just about everyone is affected in some way or another by the sluggish economy.
When an admitted al-Qaida operative planned his itinerary for a Christmas 2009 airline bombing, New York was not one of his targets, despite the fact that Police Commissioner Ray Kelly stated in February that New York remains the number one terrorist threat in the nation.
The operative considered launching the strike in the skies above Houston or Chicago, The Associated Press reported. But tickets were too expensive, so he refocused the mission on a cheaper destination: Detroit.
The decision is among new details emerging about one of the most sensational terrorism plots to unfold since President Barack Obama took office. It shows that al-Qaida's Yemen branch does not share Osama bin Laden's desire to attack symbolic targets, preferring instead to strike at targets of opportunity.
Like the plot that nearly blew up U.S.-bound cargo planes last year, the cities themselves didn't matter. That threat sparked searches in Brooklyn, Newark and Philadelphia, and a United Arab Emirates Airline passenger plane was escorted by military jets to JFK Airport as a precaution.
This strategy has helped the relatively new group quickly become the No. 1 threat to the United States.
After the failed bombing and the arrest of suspected bomber and Nigerian national Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, dubbed the "underwear bomber" because the alleged bomb was found sewn into his skivvies, the question of why Detroit was targeted had gone unanswered.
It was previously reported that Abdulmutallab, 24, did not specifically choose Christmas for his mission.
Abdulmutallab considered Houston, where he attended an Islamic conference in 2008, current and former counterterrorism officials told the AP. Another person with knowledge of the case said Abdulmutallab also considered Chicago but was discouraged by the cost.
While the target and timing were unimportant, the mission itself was a highly organized plot that involved one of the FBI's most wanted terrorists and al-Qaida's go-to bomb maker, current and former officials said. Before Abdulmutallab set off on his mission, he visited the home of al-Qaida manager Fahd al-Quso to discuss the plot and the workings of the bomb.
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