There were almost 300 people on the flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.
In [a] statement to the BBC, the family of Abdulmutallab said they were “grateful to God that the unfortunate incident of that date did not result in any injury or death”.
Grateful to “God”? But without “God,” the incident wouldn’t have happened in the first place. Abdulmutallab thought he was doing a good deed for “God.” It’s ridiculous to thank “God” for Abdulmutallab’s failure to make the bomb go off.
A video from the FBI showing the power of the explosive material found in Abdulmutallab’s underwear was also shown at the hearing. As the video played Abdulmutallab twice said loudly “Allahu akbar” – Arabic for “God is great”.
Abdulmutallab himself made a brief statement. During the short trial, he had fired his lawyer and attempted to represent himself.
“Mujahideen are proud to kill in the name of God,” he said in court. “And that is exactly what God told us to do in the Koran… Today is a day of victory.”
See? Piety. Might as well thank god for that.
This would-be bomber, on a failed suicide/murder mission, sees his life sentence as a “victory.” It would seem he’s not in the least aware of the hypocrisy in that.
Allah must be a real asshole if he needs 300 people to die for his greater glory or whatever the justification for Abdulmutallab’s botched mass murder was.
Grateful to “God”? But without “God,” the incident wouldn’t have happened in the first place. Abdulmutallab thought he was doing a good deed for “God.” It’s ridiculous to thank “God” for Abdulmutallab’s failure to make the bomb go off.
That’s what’s so troubling about the whole process of faith and personal revelation: it’s a trick that can be used to justify any proposition, even contradictory ones. When the would-be groin martyr cites God as approving of his actions, he is speaking from a position no less legitimate than his family which would presumably affirm the opposite.
If “God” can be used to justify everything, it can’t justify anything.
Oh, no, no, no! It can’t possibly have anything to do with religion. Clever people like Scott Atran tell us that this sort of thing has to do with fictive kinships (the fiction being Islam.) And other clever people will tell you that it’s all about cultural imperialism (Islam having no culture to speak of, no graphic arts, music, dance, theatre, etc., cultural imperialism consists of, you know, CULTURE.) Or no, it’s about economic frustration (hard to get ahead when a Saudi Prince robs you blind, because he’s descended from the prophet and you’re not.) No, wait, it’s about political frustration (the kind you get when your religious leaders deny you all political freedom.) Or youthful idealism (fueled by religious zeal.) It’s a desire for community respect (they respect jihad because the Koran tells them to…)
But really, it’s not religion. Really. And someday we’ll come up with an excuse that doesn’t suck. But just agree with us now, okay?
Luckily, he didn’t have enough explosive on him to do more than kill himself and maybe the person closest to him.
Unluckily, I think the point that he was probably a very successful terrorist is true.
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2012/02/undie-bomber-gets-life
Is his family suggesting that God intervened to prevent any deaths on that flight? If so, perhaps they could explain what God was doing on 9/11. Was he busy elsewhere? Or what?
I blame the parents