I'm frazzled by the criticism of Janet Napolitano for anything other than saying something inartful. Of course the system did not work, but I knew exactly what she was talking about; the moment trouble was reported on that flight, the system kicked into motion.
As for how someone on a list managed to get on that flight so easily, I'll address that as we are only just beginning to find out.
But first, let me be absolutely blunt; if Tom Ridge, the first Secretary of Homeland Security and a former Republican Governor can defend Janet Napolitano, than so can you.
What? The first Homeland Security Secretary and a Republican-to-boot defended her? Yup.
CNN, emphasis added:
The former secretary was less critical of current Secretary Janet Napolitano than many other Republicans for comments she made praising the way some protocols had worked.
"I don't think any right-thinking person actually believed that Secretary Napolitano thought the system worked," he said. "Obviously, it was flawed. I think what she was referring to was that after the incident occurred, there are certain procedures and protocols to put in place. That worked smoothly."
The media needs to learn how to set the tone of a discussion. Let me be blunt; we don't know everything. Far from it. Obviously there are still flaws in the system, and this incident may serve the greater good by exploiting some of these flaws. Yet there was something I heard recently that completely blew my friggin' mind.
Telegraph, emphasis added:
American lawyer Kurt Haskell, who was standing in line with his wife Lori on Christmas morning at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, said Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was with a man aged about 50 of Indian appearance in an expensive suit talking with a ticket agent.
Mr Haskell claims that the second man told the ticket agent Abdulmutallab was from Sudan and did not have a passport. The ticket agent then referred the men to her manager down the hall, and Mr Haskell did not see the suspect against until after the failed bombing attempt.
In other words, Abdulmutallab's name might not have even been known when he boarded the flight. If this account is true it would mean that someone in the Amsterdam airport should be fired.
But forget about that; Janet Napolitano made a dumb gaffe. She said something poorly. That is surely deserving of the public's anger and the attention of our leaders and our media. Why should it matter if maybe some stoned-Dutchy let a passport-less Underwear Bomber on a flight? Janet said something dumb, and her hairdo is kinda funky.(that was snark.)
Kossack CIndyCasella blogged about that here just yesterday and unfortunately it wasn't read much. It's still worth a read as it focuses on this recent twist of a possible accomplice.
Way too many people have already decided what happened. They should wait for all of the details to come out.