Underwear Bomber Jury Selection Hearing October 4, 2011

by Kurt Haskell

Yesterday, I went to the first day of jury selection in the underwear bomber case. I was the only passenger from the flight present. Lori could not attend as she had a hearing in Mt. Clemens that she could not get out of. The process involved picking 40 potential jurors to bring back on October 6, 2011. The selection of the jury will be made that day from the remaining 40 potential jurors. The process I witnessed involved the judge asking questions of each juror, then the prosecution asking questions and finally the defense asking questions. The prosecution and the defense were given 6 minutes each to question each juror. Only one juror was allowed in the courtroom at a time. I was in the courtroom when Umar arrived. When he entered he said "Great Mujahideen, Anwar is alive" referring to Anwar Al Awlaki and his reported recent death. He then said "We will wipe out the U.S., the cancer that is the U.S." Judge Edmunds had not yet arrived. When Judge Edmunds got there, she told Umar he should dress better to make a better impression on the jurors. He was dressed in a white t-shirt as he always is. Umar said "I wanted to wear a Yemeni belt with a dagger, but nobody would let me". Judge Edmunds then said "I don't think you'll be bringing a dagger into my courtroom". Umar then said that he wanted to change and the court went into recess. Umar returned shortly thereafter and was dressed in a tan collared shirt and a black suit coat. When he entered the court this time he said "Allah Akbar Anwar is alive". Judge Edmunds again was not in the courtroom. Jury questioning then began. I stayed for 4 hours and watched 18 jurors get questioned. Of the 18 that were questioned, 5 were sent home and 13 told to come back on October 6, 2011. Judge Edmunds indicated that either Umar or stand-by Attorney Chambers could question the jurors, but only one could question each juror. Umar only questioned one juror. He actually did a good job in questioning the one juror. He sounded intelligent and well spoken. The juror Umar questioned was juror #119, a 60 year old white female who stated that "I am concerned about being attacked after the verdict". That is what Umar questioned her about. He wanted to know if she was concerned about being attacked after a guilty verdict or a not guilty verdict. She stated that she was concerned both ways. This juror was told to come back. What was most interesting to me was the type of questions asked by Judge Edmunds and Chambers. The following questions were asked multiple times with slightly different variations:

1. Do you think after listening to the evidence that you will be able to determine whether the Defendant actually possessed a "bomb"?

2. Do you realize that sometimes the media does not always report the truth?

Obviously, each of these questions points directly at what I've been saying for months. Umar was given a fake bomb and put on this plane intentionally to stage a false terrorist attack. Also, the question about the media indicates knowledge that the media has been complicit in the lie. I spoke to several reporters once again. They were from Reuters, AP, UPI, CNN, Detroit News, and a couple of others. Also, the Detroit Free Press reporter asked to talk to me and I said "Why? You never actually report anything that I say". Sadly, the AP was the only one to report anything that I said. Here is a link to the article (The AP is used by several media outlets):

http://www.macombdaily.com/articles/2011/10/05/news/doc4e8ba1c8dad56858908674.txt

The CNN reporter did indicate that we would continue our interview on October 6, 2011. This time, as opposed to others, it seemed as if the reporters were starting to realize that my theory of events is indeed correct. I had more of them agreeing with me instead of grilling me over the evidence. This had not previously been the case. Also, I am now seeing a change in the language in regards to how this story is reported. Previously, articles would read, Umar is "being charged with attempting to detonate . . ." Now articles are stating that "The government says" Umar intended to blow up the plane . . ." This is a small but significant change. It shows that the media is now reporting that what the government says may not be what really happened. See this story for an example:

http://www.eagletribune.com/worldnational/x597293726/Airline-attack-suspect-starts-trial-with-outburst/print

Note that none of the major media outlets reported anything in reference to the two questions I listed above, however, except for the live blog from the courthouse running on Freep.com, which only indicated the following:

12:17 p.m.
"The media is taking a beating in juror interviews. The 15th person to be questioned for jury duty – a computer analyst for a major retailer -- agreed with Edmunds that the media doesn’t always get it right. It’s the same response Edmunds got from other jurors, several of whom don’t read or listen to the news. But based on what she has seen and heard, she thinks Abdulmutallab is guilty. “I don’t believe that was an innocent act,” she said in response to Chambers’ questions."

You can look at it here for now, but look quick as the Free Press is known for erasing evidence that supports the real story of events from its website:

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011111004013

Lastly, I did have a chance to talk to Chamber's associate attorney for a minute and found out that my status as a witness is currently "undetermined". That's an improvement over what I thought it was. We agreed to meet in Chambers office soon. Final jury selection is tomorrow and I will be going down to watch the festivities. Sadly, this is the only way to find out what is really going on.