American Morning
Is Yemen the next front in war on terror?
A branch of al Qaeda in Yemen is claiming responsibility for the attempted Christmas Day attack on a Northwest flight. The group said it was revenge for alleged U.S. strikes on Yemeni soil.
Right now among those being sheltered in Yemen is the Muslim cleric who corresponded with the suspect in the Fort Hood rampage and former Guantanamo Bay inmates who've joined Yemen's al Qaeda.
All this is raising concern that Yemen could be the next front in the war on terror.
On Tuesday's American Morning we discussed the development with Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group, and Fawaz Gerges, professor of Middle Eastern politics at the London School of Economics.
Related: Al Qaeda link investigated as clues emerge in foiled terror attack
Failed attack ignites debate over security
When President Obama spoke out on the terrorism scare in Detroit he entered a debate that had already begun over his administration's new approach to combating terrorism. Our Jim Acosta has the report.
Al Qaeda taking credit for 'advanced' device
Authorities say Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab used a pair of underwear to smuggle explosives onto Northwest Flight 253 last week. The big worry is that it was never detected by airport security.
A federal report obtained by CNN says the 23-year-old Nigerian claims he got the bomb in Yemen, along with instructions on how to use it. A branch of al Qaeda in Yemen is now claiming it was behind the plot. Our Jeanne Meserve has the report.
Source: Explosive sewn in underwear
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/12/29/abdulmutallab.jpg caption="Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab is accused of trying to blow up an airliner as it landed in Detroit on Christmas."]
Romulus, Michigan (CNN) - Part of an explosive device that failed to take down a plane last week was sewn into the underwear of the Nigerian man accused of igniting it, a law enforcement official told CNN Monday.
Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab is being held for allegedly trying to blow up a flight carrying 300 passengers on Christmas Day.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility Monday for the attack, saying it was in retaliation for alleged U.S. strikes on Yemeni soil.
In a message written in Arabic, dated Saturday and published Monday on radical Islamist Web sites, the group hailed the "brother" who carried out the "heroic attack."
The group said it tested "new kind of explosives" in the attack and hailed the fact that the explosives "passed through security."
"There was a technical problem that resulted in a non-complete explosion," the message said.
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- The suspect's underwear appears to have been modified, apparently to house explosive material.
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- A piece of the detonator used in the botched Christmas Day attack shows what appear to be burn marks.
A preliminary FBI analysis found that the device AbdulMutallab is said to have carried aboard the flight from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Detroit, Michigan, contained pentaerythritol tetranitrate, an explosive also known as PETN. The amount of explosive was sufficient to blow a hole in the aircraft, a source with knowledge of the investigation told CNN Sunday.
Educating America: The big business of the SAT
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/09/01/college.board.art.jpg caption="The College Board says all revenues from its products are reinvested into improved or additional services that support its mission."]
By Carol Costello and Bob Ruff
During the 1950s, "What's My Line" was a popular television show featuring celebrity panelists trying to guess the occupation or identity of a real person. The panelists were given a hint and then asked the person a series of questions.
Imagine this. Had the panelists been asked to guess the name of an American organization based on the following hints, how many would have guessed correctly? And how many would have guessed that it's a nonprofit organization?
- Its business is education.
- Its president makes roughly $900,000 in salary, benefits, and perks.
- 12 of its executives make more than $300,000 in salary and benefits.
- Total yearly revenues hover near $600 million.
- Students are its main consumers and it charges them $45 each time they use the featured product.
- If a student wants the product faster, he gets charged more.
- If a student wants detailed information on the product, he gets charged more.
- And if if the student wants to buy by phone, that's extra too.
If you've followed our "American Morning" series this week you may have already guessed that we're talking about the College Board, which owns the SAT – a test required for entry into the nation's most competitive colleges. Critics say that that with its highly-paid executives and big business outlook, the College Board doesn't look or act very much like a nonprofit educational institution that earns tax benefits from the IRS.
Fairtest is a consumer watchdog group that opposes most standardized tests. It has criticized the SAT as a test that isn't fair to students who can't afford college prep classes designed to "beat" the test. The group also says the College Board is placing more emphasis on making money than fulfilling its mission – to connect students "to college success and opportunity with a commitment to equity and access."
We found Patient Zero; here's how
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://am.blogs.cnn.com/files/2009/12/lagloria31.jpg caption="Dr. Sanjay Gupta and crew found patient zero tucked away in this small mountain village in La Gloria, Mexico"]
By Danielle Dellorto, CNN
It was late April. I remember it being a somewhat quiet news day when I received the call. It was an editor on our international news desk alerting us that about 100 people had gotten very ill in Mexico City with severe flu-like symptoms.
They had no clue what was causing it at the time. The only thing health officials were telling us was that the patients had contracted a highly contagious virus that hadn’t been seen in humans before. The hunt was on: Dr. Sanjay Gupta and I hopped on the next flight out to Mexico City to track down the mystery virus that was getting so many people so sick.
Within 24 hours of arriving, the dense city of about 8 million people had literally turned into a ghost town. The mayor was urging people to stay inside; the hospitals were overcrowded; schools, public transportation, and restaurants closed their doors. At one point, I remember walking down the unusually empty streets of Mexico City in awe. It was an eerie feeling, but also a defining moment for me as a journalist. I realized that people, not just in Mexico City, were scared of this unknown killer virus. What was it? Would they be infected? What should they do? We didn't know it at the time, but H1N1 influenza was about to become a global epidemic and the world was already looking to us for answers.
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