Obama cites apparent al-Qaida link in bomb plot – Yahoo! News
HONOLULU – An al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen apparently ordered the Christmas Day plot against a U.S. airliner, training and arming the 23-year-old Nigerian man accused in the failed bombing, President Barack Obama said Saturday.
In his most direct public language to date, Obama described the path through Yemen of Abdulmutallab. He also emphasized that the United States would continue its partnerships with friendly countries — citing Yemen, in particular — to fight terrorists and extremist groups.
Obama’s homeland security team has been piecing together just how Abdulmutallab was able to get on the plane. A top counterterrorism official said Saturday that al-Qaida and others extremists are working to test U.S. defenses and launch an attack on American soil.
The failed attempt against the plane “is the starkest of reminders of the insidious terrorist threats we face,” said Michael Leiter, director of the National Counterterrorism Center. A senior administration official had said the United States increasingly was confident of a link between Abdulmutallab and an al-Qaida affiliate, but Obama’s statement was the strongest connection between the two. The official said regular updates from the White House Situation Room and from his homeland security advisers gave Obama enough confidence to use this radio address — typically, focused on domestic priorities — to communicate a stark message about Abdulmutallab.
It appears that he joined an affiliate of al-Qaida, and that this group — al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula — trained him, equipped him with those explosives and directed him to attack that plane headed for America,” the president said in his weekly radio and Internet address. Officials have said Abdulmutallab’s father warned the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria that his son had drifted into extremism in the al-Qaida hotbed of Yemen. Intelligence officials prepared for what was shaping up to be uncomfortable hearings before Congress about miscommunication among anti-terror agencies and sweeping changes expected under Obama’s watch.
Obama noted that in recent years, the al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen has bombed government facilities there as well as Western hotels, restaurants and embassies. The United States provided Yemen $67 million in training and support under the Pentagon’s counterterrorism program last year. Obama said the money had been well spent: “Training camps have been struck, leaders eliminated, plots disrupted. Petraeus arrived in Yemen on Saturday and met with President Ali Abdullah Saleh, a Yemeni government official said. Security officials in Yemen said Saturday the government deployed several hundred extra troops to two mountainous eastern provinces that are al-Qaida’s main strongholds in the country and where Abdulmutallab may have visited.
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Obama address: http://www.whitehouse.gov
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Obama takes daughters for shave ice treat – Yahoo! News
KAILUA, Hawaii – President Barack Obama took his daughters and friends Friday to sample a Hawaiian delicacy of ice shavings and flavored syrup, joshing with his group about winning college football teams on New Year’s Day.
Obama and about 20 people drove to a shave ice store the president has visited during past trips to Hawaii. “It’s the Snowbama,” Obama said, noting that the store lists the combination on its menu.
“I like my shave ice straight, no frills,” said a casual Obama, wearing a white T-shirt, khaki shorts and sandals.
While waiting in line Obama teased a friend who rooted for Oregon.
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Obama wishes US a happy New Year – Yahoo! News
HONOLULU – President Barack Obama is wishing the nation a happy New Year with “brighter days … ahead of us.”
The White House released the message while Obama and his family are on vacation in Hawaii, the state where he lived as a child.
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13 state AGs threaten suit over health care deal – Yahoo! News
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Republican attorneys general in 13 states say congressional leaders must remove Nebraska’s political deal from the federal health care reform bill or face legal action, according to a letter provided to The Associated Press Wednesday.
“We believe this provision is constitutionally flawed,” South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster and the 12 other attorneys general wrote in the letter to be sent Wednesday night to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
“As chief legal officers of our states we are contemplating a legal challenge to this provision and we ask you to take action to render this challenge unnecessary by striking that provision,” they wrote.
In a rare Christmas Eve vote, Senate Democrats pushed sweeping health care legislation to the brink of Senate passage, crushing a year-end Republican filibuster against President Barack Obama’s call to remake the nation’s health care system. The letter was signed by top prosecutors in Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Michigan, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington state. All are Republicans, and McMaster and the attorneys general of Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania are running for governor in their respective states.
Republican U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint of South Carolina raised questions about the legislation, which they said was amended to win Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson’s support.
House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., said the letter was a political ploy.
“If Henry McMaster wants to write federal law he should run for Congress not governor.”
While it’s not uncommon for states to challenge federal laws in court, one legal expert said political bluster was likely behind the letter.
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