Tomorrow's war

Terrorism | Yemen becomes new ground zero on terror following Northwest bombing attempt | Jamie Dean

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When a 23-year-old Nigerian man tried to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane filled with 300 passengers during final descent into Detroit on Christmas Day, the al-Qaeda-linked terrorist proved an important point: Less talk of terrorism won't produce fewer attacks by terrorists.

Rep. Pete Hoekstra—the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee and a congressman from Michigan—said the Obama administration had tried to "downplay the threat from terrorism" over the last year by speaking of it less. He added: "In reality, it's getting much more complex."

The complexity reaches to Yemen, where Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab lived from August until December. The failed airline bomber told authorities that al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen gave him the explosive device for the Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight and taught him how to use it. A Yemen-based group called al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed responsibility for the attack and produced a photo of Abdulmutallab.