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Federal Government Tue Nov 09 2010
Schakowsky and Jackson Jr. Call For Hearings On Yemen Terrorist Attack
Yesterday Rep. Jan Schakowsky (IL-09) and Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (IL-02) sent a letter to the Committee on Homeland Security calling for public hearings of the terrorist attempt to bomb synagogues in Chicago by mailing explosives in printer cartridges from Yemen.
In the letter, Schakowsky and Jackson Jr. argue that there are still lingering questions about the failed attack such as whether the bombs were meant to explode at the synagogues or on the plane or if the whole plan was a "dry run" for a later terrorist attack.
"Clearly, the investigation into these attacks will last for many months. That investigation, will involve sensitive intelligence and security matters that must remain top-secret. In no way should any hearing jeopardize that classified information," they write.
Schakowsky and Jackson Jr. concede in the letter that public hearings would be time consuming but the hearings would also show the public that the government is serious about national security.
UPDATE: USA Today reports that British officials determined that one of the bombs were meant to explode during the plane's flight.
You can read the rest the letter below the fold.
Jackson Schakowsky Homeland Security Letter
Jeff Smith / November 9, 2010 11:13 PM
As the congresspersons' letter makes clear, it's inaccurate and even misleading to use the phrase "terrorist attempt to bomb synagogues in Chicago" and, in the headline to this post, "terrorist attack," given the lack of information. Two packages were shipped, to nonexistent people, one to a group that moved from the address some time ago, the other to an inactive Orthodox group. So no "synagogues" would have been bombed even if the devices had been operational, delivered (to people who didn't exist), and detonated.
We (the public) haven't been fully told what the contents or capability of the packages was. There doesn't seem to be proof of who shipped them -- one arrestee was let go. So obviously we don't even know the motive. But supposedly investigators on three contents believe that the packages weren't intended to blow up in Chicago.
Further investigation and transparency here is good because the incident, predictably, is being used to justify further security crackdowns, and even drone attacks. And because it involves some shady characters and doesn't seem to really add up. But it helps nothing if it's used just to keep fear whipped up.