OH DEAR, OH DEAR, THEY REALLY MUST TALK – AT 7:48 A.M. ET:  As the Brits say, there is a bit of bother over whether the airline perp acted alone.  From London's Daily Mail:

Home Secretary Alan Johnson today declared he did not believe the Christmas Day airline bomber was acting alone.

He must chat up our secretary of Homeland Security, Janet "Big Sis" Napolitano, who said exactly the opposite. 

British security services are now hunting for possible accomplices of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab as they probe his links in the UK.

Mr Johnson said: 'We don't know yet whether it was a single-handed plot or (there were) other people behind it - I suspect it's the latter rather than the former.'

The minister also confirmed this morning that Abdulmutallab had been put on a UK watch list after he was refused a student visa following an application to study at a bogus college.

He suggested the U.S. authorities should have been warned about the British ban, which was issued last May, saying he 'doubted' there had been any 'hiccup' in procedures.

'If you are on our watch list then you do not come into this country. You can come through this country if you are in transit to another country but you cannot come into this country,' Mr Johnson said.

I like this guy's directness.  Bring him here.  Give him a job.

The revelation will increase incredulity that the 23-year-old, who was also on a U.S. watch list, was not stopped before he boarded the Amsterdam-Detroit flight on Christmas Day.

Ah yes, incredulity.  We're shocked, shocked, that something went wrong.  Like at Fort Hood.  Like at
9-11.  Like at...what's the next one to come?

December 28, 2009