I also don't think someone is acting on their own indiviual accord when their plane ticket is financed by the group and the group trained him in explosives which is the case of the underwear bomber. They didnt just send him on his merry way. They trained the 'soldier' and financed his mission. Hes apart of the group I'd say or maybe I'm misinformed but i thought he was trained in yemen.
From wikipedi
a obviously not the most reliable source but im in a rush. "Yemeni officials said that he was in Yemen from early August 2009, overstayed his student visa (which was valid through September 21), and left Yemen on December 7 (flying to Ethiopia, and then two days later to Ghana)." "Yemeni officials have said that Abdulmutallab traveled to the mountainous Shabwah Province to meet with "Al Qaeda elements" before leaving Yemen."
The New York Times reported that "officials said the suspect told them he had obtained plastic explosives that were sewn into his underwear and a syringe from a bomb expert in Yemen associated with Al Qaeda."
from what i read it sounds like he was def sent on the mission by al qaeda or some group of islamic fanatics using the name al qaeda like they all seem to do nowadays. jesus i can't spell qaeda for the life of me.
According to a U.S. intelligence official, intercepts and other information point to connections between the two: "Some of the information ... comes from Abdulmutallab, who ... said that he met with al-Awlaki and senior al-Qaeda members during an extended trip to Yemen this year, and that the cleric was involved in some elements of planning or preparing the attack and in providing religious justification for it.
What a free thinking individual the underwear bomber was. Like I said all that came from wikipedia which might of been entered in by george w bush for all i know. But i remember reading very similar things from bbc news and other credible new sources when this was front page news.