From the 140 Character Mind of Rep. Pete Hoekstra

Yesterday America faced its first attempted terrorist attack of the Obama Administration. If you have not been watching the news, and come directly to Kicking Ass Ann Arbor for breaking news a day late, a Nigerian man attempted to light some sort of incendiary device in his pants while his Northwest Airlines flight was entering Detroit Metro Airport. He was quickly subdued by some pretty heroic passengers, included a Dutch film director who sustained serious burns to his hands.

Immediately, Representative Pete Hoekstra (R-MI2) took to Twitter and the Detroit Free Press to “connect the dots” for the President between the terrorist’s Yemeni link, Al-Qaeda, and the Fort Hood Massacre.

“People have got to start connecting the dots here, and maybe this is the thing that will connect the dots for the Obama administration”

He said all of this before even being briefed on the incident as the ranking member o the House Intelligence Committee. This represents a dangerously brash political play by Hoekstra on politicizing a security threat hours after it occurred. Making these bold statements without a thorough security briefing is foolish at best, but is in line with Hoekstra’s previous idiotic lapses with security information.

Additionally, Hoekstra completely ignores recent developments in Yemen. The bubbling hot-bed of terrorist activity has gotten significant amount of attention from the Obama Administration. Think Progress lays out exactly how the Administration has taken action against Yemeni al-Qaeda here, but some of the salient facts:

• Just this week the NYT reported that the Pentagon has been supplying intelligence and military hardware to Yemen in recent strikes on al-Qaeda targets.
• Obama noted in his West Point Afghanistan speech, “We will have to be nimble and precise in our use of military power. Where al Qaeda and its allies attempt to establish a foothold — whether in Somalia or Yemen or elsewhere — they must be confronted by growing pressure and strong partnerships.”
• Homeland Security Adviser John Brennan also noted in August, “Even as the President takes a more focused view of the threat, his approach includes a third element: a broader, more accurate understanding of the causes and conditions that help fuel violent extremism, be they in Pakistan and Afghanistan or Somalia and Yemen.”

Even if you ignore the statements of the Administration regarding Yemen it would be extremely difficult to ignore the military strikes on extremist targets of the past couple of weeks. They were carried out with American support and American intelligence, which I would say is a pretty thorough “connecting the dots” on the part of the Obama Administration.