U.S. officials and several researchers who track terrorist groups are coming up with unexplainable defenses claiming there was no indication bin Laden or any of his top lieutenants had anything to do with or even knew in advance of the Christmas plot by a Yemen-based group that is one of several largely independent al-Qaida franchises.

My thing is, does it matter?

"He's trying to continue to appear relevant" by talking up the attempted attack by an affiliate, a U.S. State Department spokesman said.

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