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Nigerian man sets off explosive device on plane landing in Detroit

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I see the weed hasn't worn off for this person.

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Another nutter.

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According to this AP report, it was not a firecracker.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_airliner_disturbance

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Thanks Nimbus. A nutter, yes, with a 'sophisticated' device, maybe strapped to his leg in some way.

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How was thia not caught at security?? Time to get the dogs to search folks before they are allowed on plans - that might stop the majority of terrorists flying as many Muslims dislike dogs.

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Pretty soon we will have to fly naked. When will this ever end? Look, if a guy looks like an Islamic Terrorist, scrutinize him. Making everyone including 85 year old caucasian women take off their shoes doesn't seem to be the ultimate answer. It is NOT racial profiling - It's commen sense.

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It is NOT racial profiling - It's commen sense." No, it is racial profiling. I'm asked by many here if I'm Arab so to the unsuspecting, you are saying I should be frisked. Additionally, I notice a lot of white guys joining up for AQ lately, how many Hispanics? I've heard of only one.

If you want common sense, fight them the right way and maybe this crap will go away. Trying to chummy up to them is NOT the right way.

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@Geodeal

Wow! I agree with skipthesong. There are a lot of people trying trying to blow up things for their own reasons. Like the "Caucasian Guy in the Wheelchair" who tried to blow up a post office a couple of days ago in the US. Should we stop and search all overweight Caucasians in wheelchairs? Just overweight Caucasians? Or just Caucasians in wheelchairs? That would profile a lot of Caucasians in the US. They would be yelling in the streets of Reverse racism. Possibly you included. So it is OK for governments to do it to other groups as long as you don't belong to it?

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So a Nigerian jihadist flying from Amsterdam tries to blow up a plane to Detroit.

What a better way to illustrate the international nature of the Jihad.

And in the meantime, the US goverment is sending more soldier on a wild goose chase to the mountains of Afghanistan.

Will they ever wake up?

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How to stop this? Make everyone fly naked!

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I just don't understand why they continue to target planes, probably one of the hardest things in the world to commit a terrorist act on. They're successful so infrequently that I can't imagine anyone actually thinks they'll die on a terrorist attack on a plane. Headlines? I guess, but the train and bus bombings in Spain and London got headlines just the same.

That being said, I flew to the US about 2 weeks ago and was able to get my lighter on board without any problems. In Japan they didn't even ask me to take off my shoes, but they did in the US. Overall security seemed a little less intimidating.

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Arrest and execute every member of a suicide bombers family. That will stop evil islam cold.

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Obama was notified of the incident and ... is monitoring the situation ... from his vacation spot in Hawaii.

America barely missing another terrorist attack is not enough to end his "vacation"? Looks like surfing, shooting hoops toking on his Maui Wowee is more important. Great to know Obama has his priorities in order.

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@RomeoRamenII

What did Busk Jr. do after the 9-11 attacks? He just sat there and continued reading a book? See the difference?

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Look for Obama to host another beer summit at the White House between this "misunderstood" Muslim terrorist and the plane's passenger who acted "stupidly".

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RomeoRamenII,

It's Christmas. Nothing happened fortunately. The proper authorities are still sorting out the information. Do you want Obama to open his mouth again before getting enough of the information first? He's learning his lesson.

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@RomeoRamenII

Not sure what your boyfriend was doing on 9-11. And to be honest, I really >don't want to know, either.

He was with his family but your mother took care of me real good! She is great with salads. I wouldn't kiss her this holiday season.

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Time to get the dogs to search folks before they are allowed on plans - that might stop the majority of terrorists flying as many Muslims dislike dogs.

I'd feel safer knowing you didnt have any position of responsibility anywhere.

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Well, incidents like this make me feel I need to tell myself that it really is just TOO funny that the few remaining supporters of bush, worst president of all time who kept reading about his pet goat even after the second plane accidentally flew into the WTC towers,can't see that ALL religions have extremists.And here is another thing - even though terrorism is against everything Ghandi and I stand for, clearly, said terror is clearly a reaction against SOMETHING. I won't say what that something is, in part because I can't really explain it, but it is a talking point I am going to stick to.

The superlibs of the world might say I am the type that gets all his news and opinion from JapanToday but, well, I don7t care! It's just the way that I roll, dammit!

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RamenRomenII

Considering my mother passed in 1987, it's good to know you're into having >relationships with dead people.

She simply told me you were her baby! Whether that was literally or metaphorically didn't matter. I still suggest not kissing the women in your life anytime soon.

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Gombei424Canada: Well, incidents like this make me feel I need to tell myself that it really is just TOO funny that the few remaining supporters of bush, worst president of all time who kept reading about his pet goat even after the second plane accidentally flew into the WTC towers,can't see that ALL religions have extremists

Not only funny but sad. It reeks of denial, all these whacky comments they make. Anything but admit the enormous error of Bush jr. in the White House. They insult us, put words in our mouth, and make irrelephant statements.

Anyway, it sounds like the detonator went off but failed to set off the main explosive. When security fails, thank God for ineptitude.

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WilliB: What a better way to illustrate the international nature of the Jihad.

Sort of like pulling to a guy in a nuthouse or prison in America to illustrate the nature of the United States. And there is probably some guy in a turban, doing just that to , your brother, on the other side of the fence, wrecklessly inciting violence.

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you'd think the fact that he was carrying a one-way ticket would have raised some suspicions

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numbskull:"Not only funny but sad. It reeks of denial, all these whacky comments they make. Anything but admit the enormous error of Bush jr. in the White House."

Bingo! Bang on, mon ami. As one Canadian to another I think you know how maddening it is, and that is why we constantly need to point out to them, that even though we live outside of their country and are not of course even US citizens, we still understand there screwed up nation better than they EVER can!

"They insult us, put words in our mouth, and make irrelephant statements."

Double bingo! "Irrelephant"! Ha ha ha, it's too funny and I love it! You know, you really could be the next Margaret Atwood. Well, anyways, it's a good thing they caught this misguided idealist who was NOT on any kind of "jihad" mission or some such nonsense. If he had succeeded it would have vindicated paranoid rightists on both sides of the Atlantic.

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It appears that this guy got on board with some kind of bomb that didn't set off the metal detectors. We've seen guns not made of a detectable metal.

I'm so glad that it didn't explode and cause real damage.

The difference between 9/11 and this is that 1000s died. I mean after finishing his book reading to the kids, bush should have finally gotten to Washington to make plans to attack Iraq. This was an attempt and Obama's not needed here. If we had an event that caused mass deaths then maybe so.

But the good part of this story was no body was injured. < :-)

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Look.....It seems to be an isolated incident involving one plane and not a planned coordinated attack were several planes had different suicide bombers on-board. BUT I can't say that 100 percent and it would be nice for President Obama to at least make a statement that this seems to be the case here. I'm not trying to score political points or slam the President for not hightailing back to Washington based on what I've read so far in the news reports. It doesn't seem warranted or needed.

What I am going to slam him for is not at least making a Five minute statement to the press and the Nation that based on the information that he has at this moment that this is not a cause for alarm that this another coordinated attack as 9/11 was and an isolated incident that thank God didn't bear the results the terrorist wanted and was thwarted.

He could at least do that instead of leaving it to "Senior Adminstration" officials to put out the information. It would re-assure many nervious folks traveling right now.

Seriously Folks.....Is that so much to ask of our President at this time?

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numbskull,

Newsflash this thwarted attack has happened on Obama's watch, and so far he doesn't seem to want to let this 'ruin' his vacation by making a statement about it.

Moderator: Readers, please stop trying to turn this into a debate on Obama. Focus your comments on the incident itself.

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At this moment in time, outside of the al-Qaida connection, this is pretty small pototoes. About the last thing we need is statements and actions from people so high up as to make this appear bigger than it really is. Such a thing would not create calm. It would ensure panic.

Further, the plane orginated in Nigeria. You cannot blame any U.S. authority for not seeing or being able to prevent it. Its the same as Richard Reid, whose flight originated in Paris.

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Having lived in Lagos, Nigeria for a year and a half, I can tell you that airport security is an oxymoron. It is one of the most corrupt places on the planet, as well.

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Wonder what they offered this dude to fry his groin on a plane????

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Sounds like another 'Qaida wannabee, thankfully with a half-baked bomb.

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Yeah, in the end we should consider ourselves lucky. If we can learn what he used and how he got the items on board maybe we can prevent a real tragedy in the future.

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Jhansen:

" How to stop this? Make everyone fly naked! "

That won´t prevent it either, since the jihadis already have used butt-bombs (as shown in the attack on King Faahd). If you want to be completely safe, cavity search for every passenger would be required.

A more intelligent approach would be profiling the way El Al does... but that would mean singling out muslims for special attention, oh horror, just imagine the political incorrectness.

So, we just have to live with the occasional international jihadist plane bomber.

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"That won´t prevent it either, since the jihadis already have used butt-bombs"

Heh, that's my own personal favourite invention from the Islamic terrorists. Not only must it be pretty painful, hard work getting it up there, but apparently it only kills the bomber. In the case you cite, all it did was blow the idiot in half.

Tragic.

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Well, it looks like Allah refused to help yet another terrorist get it right. You think Allah might be trying to send a message?

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sailwind,

We don't know for sure that it's not a coordinated attack and not an isolated incident. It looks to be that way, but not for sure yet (what if it later turns out to be wrong and people let their guards down?).

Based solely on preliminary information at the moment, the US President can be accused of "lying" trying to downplay the incident to appease Muslim resentment or foreign authorities who didn't require secondary safety checks. Best just to keep his mouth shut and let the security authorities who know more than him about this incident do their due diligence.

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What is really scary is that this guy got a 2-year visa for the US to attend a "religous ceremony".

That is a heck of a long time for a religious ceremony, and obviously nobody in the clueless US administration asked what kind of religious ceremony we are talking about.

Profiling El Al style would have prevented him from getting on board with his explosives, but don´t expect that common sense in the US or Europe.

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The instant this guy tried to pull something the passengers were all over him. This is a much greater deterant to terrorism than any amount of airport security.

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Profiling El Al style would have prevented him from getting on board with his explosives, but don´t expect that common sense in the US or Europe.

That would be giving up liberty for supposed security, and then we'd deserve neither, to paraphrase Ben Franklin. You think Israeli Airlines are that secure? Paranoid maybe, but secure? No more or less than any when it comes to this kind of thing. You're also confusing democracy in Europe with what passes for democracy in both the US and Israel.

Short of flying naked, more effective security checks are obviously needed. Amsterdam, apparently, had the latest of full-sized x-ray machines, but they missed whatever this loonie was carrying. That is where things fell apart. Let's not condemn the entire planet to USDHS norms because of a machine failure. Especially when the whole thing was a non-event.

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geodeal: "It is NOT racial profiling - It's commen sense."

Nope, it's simply racial profiling, as skip said. You start the racial profiling (and Islam is not a 'race' by the way, so what if you get a white guy who doesn't LOOK Islamic?) and ease off on security for others and you get others with a grudge who set off bombs, or go on gun rampages, etc. I don't like it, and I don't like that once again this is going to make things harder at security, but I'd rather they check all and be safe, so long as they check WELL (didn't here).

guest: "Arrest and execute every member of a suicide bombers family. That will stop evil islam cold."

I don't even know why I'm taking you up on this, but I'll try to break it to you softly -- that makes you as much, if not more, the terrorists they are.

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Perhaps if home land security did not post the how to stop people from bringing bombs on planes from a few weeks back (they forgot to black out much of it), this guy would have not even attempted to do this. Thanks a lot Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab. You just created even longer lines than we have had already.

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smithjapan:

" Nope, it's simply racial profiling, as skip said. You start the racial profiling (and Islam is not a 'race' by the way, so what if you get a white guy who doesn't LOOK Islamic?) "

EXACTLY. Islam is not a race, so profiling islamists has NOTHING to do with racism. That is just the typical cheap shopt.

Again, El Al has (out of necessity) been profiling all its passengers, and they have an outstanding safety record, in spite of being (obviously) the target of choice for every islamic terrorist.

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I like the ideal of stripping the passengers at stations, one set for men and the other for women. After being inspected will ALL of their belongings sent for more processing to cargo. Then they will be issued orange jumpsuits with P on their backs for Passenger. Flying just keeps becoming more and more "fun"!

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Profiling has and always will be a common law enforcement pratice. It's only when the Left find it convenient to use it as an excuse to attack people or policies that they do not like that it is an issue.

Profiling is a method to narrow down a search. For example, if a bank robber is reported to be a white man driving a blue Chevy truck, then that is the profile that law enforcement will use to look for the perpetrator. However, it is possible that the robber could have ditched the blue truck and stolen some other car - the cops know that. However, it's just a means to begin the search. Otherwise, there would be no practical way to employ limited law enforcement resources. It is just common sense.

It is not the fault of law enforcement that the overwhelming majority of those that commit terrorists acts are Muslim. It is the fault of Muslims themselves that they have allowed their religion to be hi-jacked for political ends. This is just another example of how political correctness can kill.

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And why were these conditions made in the first place Yuri? You seem to have missed that. These airport screenings weren't made out of thin air for nothing.

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Stewart Baker has posed ten great questions on this failed terror attempt:

Early reports about the failed Christmas bombing of NW 253 raise questions that need answers. Because, frankly, if the reports are true, al Qaeda never should have gotten this close to a successful attack.

According to early reports, the suspect is 23-year-old Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, and his name "appears to be included in the government's records of terrorist suspects, according to a preliminary review." The first question, then, is how he managed to get a visa to come to the United States.

One report suggested that the visa was granted to attend a religious meeting. Is there some political correctness problem that makes State reluctant to deny visas for such travel?

A visa might have been granted for a good reason (a chance to interrogate or arrest him) but only in circumstances where he was watched closely. At a minimum, data about him should have gone to DHS and FBI from State. Did it?

Even if it didn't, TSA and DHS should have identified him as a possible risk from his travel reservations. Did they? If not, why not?

If they did, was he screened specially at Schiphol? Did DHS put an air marshal on his flight?

Sometimes travel reservation data is spotty and badly recorded, but that shouldn't be true for the passenger manifests that NW should have sent to DHS. Those should come straight off the passport. Did it? Should airlines be held liable for deaths caused by bad manifest information?

How good was the air travel screening in Nigeria?

If it wasn't that good, and I suspect it wasn't, in part because the plane was not bound for the US, did Schiphol fall down on the job by not properly rescreening Abdulmutallab?

Have we let European objections to US screening standards affect the security of flights with connecting passengers?

One passenger is said to have helped thwart the attack by climbing over several less active passengers to grapple with the terrorist, apparently suffering burns to his hands in the process. How long will it take Secretary Napolitano (at least) or President Obama (my preference) to visit this guy in the hospital if these facts turn out to be true? Passengers are the last and most effective line of defense in cases like this. But the incentives to sit tight are still great. We need to honor the heroes who react quickly to thwart attacks in the air.
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How about one flight for Muslims and another flight for non-Muslims and see what happens.

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It appears that some banker in Nigeria is claiming this terrorist as his son. I don't know how I'd feel if I got a call from authorities saying that my child had done something wrong. Or watching on TV news and seeing that this is 'my child' that committed this chaos. < :-)

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HonestDictator, yes I understand the reason. Maybe the Israeli system might work. Theirs is set by behavior of the passengers. Oh I do not know finding terrorists is outside of my experience.

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Waiting fo the behaviour of the passengers is kind of too late once they're on the plane don't you think? Pretty much if someone is up for doing something to the extent of bringing explosives, weapons etc as they have done in the past and even now, its best to make sure they do not bring them on the plane in the first place, and if they are identified as a hostile person in the passenger database and still allowed on the plane they need to be watched.

As scary at it is, there are plenty of very agressive people and orginizations that don't have any considerate thoughts for the people they plan to kill. Pregnant passengers, children, etc are nothing but additional victims to them. Keep that in mind.

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Cheers to the hero who jumped him!!

If the explosive was something that could be mixed on the flight, components that he could have put in his pockets or underwear, then adding extra security measures is not going to make a difference.

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I'm pretty sure it would have stood out if he had them packed in unatural areas Dolphin. And if someones pockets are loaded up with chemicals I'm pretty sure that would be a red flag.

When I get on a flight the only thing in my pockets are my wallet, keys, and maybe my passport. In the carry on might be my laptop, PSP, an electric razor, and toothbrush and toothpaste, and an anti-persperant. And thats on a 21hr flight time with 2 transfers.

I'm guess the security was lax from Nigeria, and since this man was on transfer to another flight it was probably assumed that he was cleared and was not required to go through another security check in Amsterdam. Then the final flight from there to Detroit gave him enough time to do whatever he thought he could do to make a fire cracker with products in his carry on.

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This piece of trash has nothing to worry about. Obama will soon have him represented by a nice liberal defense attorney, and he'll be sitting pretty in no time...

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The man's family can afford to hire their own defense attorney, so they won't be provided one by the state.

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This is not the first time recently that naughty stuff has been hidden in body cavities. Sounds like the beginning of a trend.

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Suzurf:

" One report suggested that the visa was granted to attend a religious meeting. Is there some political correctness problem that makes State reluctant to deny visas for such travel? "

LOL! That much should be glaringly obvious. If granting 2-year visas for "religious ceremonies" to young fundamentalist muslim men, is Obamas way to address terrorism, then good night.

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YuriOtani:

" Maybe the Israeli system might work. Theirs is set by behavior of the passengers. "

El Al screens every passenger. A young muslim man, engineering student in London, visits to Yemen, travelling alone, one way, paying in cash, little baggage, with a religious visa, would have raised a forest of red flags.

There is no way this young wannabe martyr would have gotten on board an El Al flight with his explosive underpants.

But profiling is too politically uncorrect for the US. So, we have to accept some loss of life sometimes.

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It is unbelievable that this guy was allowed on this plane.I even read that his father warned US authorities about his son`s "increasingly extreme views" 10 months or so ago. Is it possible that the passenger who got burnt hands defused the bomb before it detonated.If so he really is a massive hero. Why did the terrorist not go to the toilet to set off his bomb? That is my biggest question

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Humm.. this was probably just a test for the terrorists to see if their new device would be detected. Probably more attempts like this one yet to come.

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Mr Obama - You are telling your grandfather's story to your uncles. America claimed to be having such technology by which even a small car can be located and photographed on the road, it is having technology to monitor billions of telephone calls coming out and going into the the coutnry. Omar's father has informed the American authorities about his involvement with the terrorist, why his visa was not cancelled? If a person apply for American visa in one country and its declined this is saved in the computer. Should the same guy apply in another country it is known that this guy has applied in another country and his visa application declined. This could have been done in SITA system which all airlines and most of the travel agents use. Mr. Obama, you are American president doesnt necessarily means that you are intteligent and the most smart guy in the world. Your administration has not taken any initiative to prevent it because America wants the terrorism to remain in the world so that Americas dominience remains. This is engineered as it was for the 9/11 just to remain in the middle east for donkey years. You need to think that American financial condition is no better than a street begger. Bush has started the ending of America and you are taking it forward. A little advise to you, cut of your ties with the best friend, you will have more than 70 friends, and I am sure you at least have this intellegence to understand 70 is more than one. We don't deny America is a great country, a democretic country but its a Quasi state just like Palestine - you can not formulate your own policy without the endorsement of your friend. Infact your friend runs America and you know it better. So make America a sovreign State.

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