Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Washington paper publishes charge that Obama Administration policies hampered FBI’s efforts to stop and then catch Boston Marathon bombers


After reading this article, you could easily conclude that  —  From his position in the Oval Office, President Barack Hussein Obama infected our national and international defenses against Islamist terrorism with a severe case of  “paralysis by analysis”


In a lengthy and detailed article, it has been reported by the Washington Times that: “U.S. officials familiar with the FBI’s counterterrorism training program and its controversial public outreach program to Muslim groups said FBI policy toward Islam—that it should not be used to describe those who seek to wage jihad or holy war against the United States and others they regard as infidels—has prevented both effective counterterrorism investigations and training. ***   The officials said the problem is that most field agents understand the nature of the threat but have been hamstrung by policies imposed by senior FBI leaders who are acting under orders of political appointees in the Obama administration, including Islamic advisers to the White House. The policies have prevented the FBI from conducting aggressive counterterrorism investigations of Islamic radicals or those who are in the process of being radicalized.” (See “Blind Eye: Conciliatory FBI policies toward Islamism hampered probe into Boston bombers” by Bill Gertz, 4/23/13, Washington Times [http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/apr/23/blind-eye-conciliatory-fbi-policies-toward-islamis/?page=2&utm_medium=RSS&utm_source=RSS_Feed#ixzz2RIgpXnI7
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As part of its report, the Washington Times cited security and counterterrorism experts as follows: “The fact is religion has been expunged from counterterrorism training,” said Sebastian Gorka, a counterterrorism specialist with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “The FBI can’t talk about Islam and they can’t talk about jihad.” ***  “... Patrick S. Poole, another counterterrorism specialist, about FBI policies on Islam: “I have zero doubt it affected their investigation of Tsarnaev.”

Although it was done in a subdued way, the Times’ author, Bill Gertz, finally directed some of his verbal fire at President Barack Obama and Democratic Congressman Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to congress.

Gertz pointed out that on Friday President Barack Obama said that in the age of instant communications people should not “jump to conclusions” about the attacks. He called for further investigation of the attacks and the use of courts, stating “that’s why we take care not to rush to judgment — not about the motivations of these individuals; certainly not about entire groups of people.” On Monday, the White House said  that Dzhokar Tsarnaev would be tried in civilian courts and not as an enemy combatant like the al Qaeda terrorists in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. [In addition, it was decided to give the surviving Tsarnaev brother Miranda warnings very early in his time in custody.]

Gertz also noted that Democratic Congressman Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Congress, said on Monday that even though there are indications that the Tsarnaev brothers’ attack was linked to the majority Muslim Russian enclave of Chechnya and its dispute with Russia. “It is not necessarily the case that anyone should jump to the conclusion that there was any religious motivation here.” [Ellison specifically did not describe many of the international Islamist and domestic Muslim links to the Tsarnaev brothers that have been widely reported in the main stream media.]




3 comments:

Galewyn Massey said...

UPDATE; including at least one important issue of fact [resolved ?]: Peggy Noonan had a lot of interesting things to say about “the brothers Tsarnaev” in her “Daily declarations from the Wall Street Journal columnist...” (See “Two Brief Thoughts on Boston” by Peggy Noonan, 4/22/13, WSJ Peggy Noonan’s Blog [http://blogs.wsj.com/peggynoonan/2013/04/22/two-brief-thoughts-on-boston/]).

Her lead paragraph contains this very relevant intertwined compound and complex question relevant to the multi-departmental federal investigation: “The past few days I’ve looked through news reports searching in vain for one item: how did the brothers get their money? Did they ever have jobs? Who or what supported them? They had cellphones, computers, stylish clothes, sunglasses, gym equipment and gym membership, enough money to go out to dinner and have parties. They had an arsenal of guns and money to make bombs. The elder brother, Tamerlan, 26, had no discernible record of employment and yet was able to visit Russia for six months in 2012. The FBI investigated him. How did they think he was paying for it? The younger brother, Dzhokhar, was a college student, but no word on how he came up with spending money. The father doesn’t seem to have had anything—he is said to have sometimes fixed cars on the street when he lived in Cambridge, for $10 an hour cash. The mother gave facials at home. Anyway, the money lines. Where did it come from?” That is Noonan’s first thought.

Her second thought was equally poignant and it relates to a big item in the Obama Agenda: “As for immigration, it’s hard to believe that under the present circumstances there will be great public clamor to support the Gang of Eight bill to legalize and regularize. Something tells me it’s going to be back to the drawing board for immigration reform...” Her reasoning on this point is clear, “A major problem for those who want an immigration bill is lack of faith in government to do all the jobs it’s set itself well.... — the ability to track and deal with a Tamerlan Tsarnaeu [sic, vs “Tamerlan Tsarnaev”], or to patrol and control a huge border— is a big reason why which people lack faith. Because, you know, they read the papers.”

With all of that, I have to raise a simple question fact about one thing that Peggy Noonan seemed to take for granted — where did Noonan get the factoid that Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev “had an arsenal of guns” ?

BUT THERE WAS NO “ARSENAL OF GUNS” !

I have not seen any list or catalog of the weaponry carried or used by these “Wild and Crazy Guys,” nor have I heard any security official describe the types or number of guns that they had in their possession as an “arsenal.”

In fact, there is at least one very credible report that at the height of the shootout or “firefight” the terrorist-brothers had only one firearm between them ( See “Police believe Tsarnaev brothers killed officer for his gun” by John Miller, 4/23/13, CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley [http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57581048/police-believe-tsarnaev-brothers-killed-officer-for-his-gun/] [with video link of John Miller’s Report] ). Miller’s article and TV report are clear and unambiguous, “Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev only had one real gun and one pellet gun.”

Galewyn Massey said...

UPDATE: "MISHA" ?
Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, said that Russian and U.S. investigators have asked her about “Misha,” an Armenian convert to Islam, who supposedly influenced Tamerlan (“Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s Friend & Teacher Misha, the Bombings’ Mystery Man” by Anna Nemtsova & Christopher Dickey, 4/24/13, Daily Beast [http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/04/24/tamerlan-tsarnaev-s-friend-teacher-misha-the-bombings-mystery-man.html]).

“Misha” is a new name that has cropped-up in the Boston Marathon bombing case. It’s a name that is familiar to multiple family members of the two young men accused of the atrocity; and it is apparently an item of interest to the Russian and American security services as well. Tsarnaev's uncle, Ruslan Tsarni, says that “Misha” is an Armenian convert to Islam, who had a huge influence on the elder brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev. According to that uncle, “Somehow he just took his brain”; and under Misha’s influence, Tamerlan gave up boxing and music and withdrew into himself. Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, said that “Misha is a friend in Boston.... I hope he is healthy and sound. He is a young man. There is no negative.” In her opinion, the investigators are barking up the wrong tree, looking into this young man. “Misha is a crystal-clean young man, an Armenian, a Muslim with a red beard.” She also described the young man as “a new believer” and “an intellectual.” What Zubeidat did not say, and what reporters have not yet ascertained, is Misha’s last name or location. Apparently the family only knew this “crystal clean” man with a red beard by his first name.

In a a lengthy and detailed “biographical” report on “Misha” and Tamerlan Tsarnaev report by the Daily Mail, Elmirza Khozhugov, 26, the ex-husband of Tamerlan's sister, Ailina, said that in 2008 or 2009, Tamerlan met Misha, a slightly older, heavyset bald man with a long reddish beard. Khozhugov didn't know where they'd met but believed they attended a Boston-area mosque together ( See “The hunt for Misha: Bomb investigators search for mysterious 'bald, red-bearded Armenian man' accused of radicalizing Tamerlan” by James Nye, 4/24/13, Daily Mail/Mail Online [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2314095/The-hunt-Misha-Bomb-investigators-search-mysterious-bald-red-bearded-Armenian-man-accused-radicalizing-Tamerlan.html#ixzz2RUQsrsro]).

Galewyn Massey said...

UPDATE: Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton said the Obama Administration’s reaction to the Boston bombings was similar to its reaction after the attack in Benghazi, in both cases refusing to acknowledge broader links to terror. In a Wednesday night interview with Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren, Bolton said that Obama those working for him “...are so blind to the world that [they] can’t acknowledge that there is an international terrorist threat.” (See “Bolton: Obama Blind to Terror Link in Benghazi, Boston” by Kenneth Hanner, 4/25/13, Newsmax [http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/Bolton-Obama-Benghazi-Boston/2013/04/25 /id/501361#ixzz2RXx7I7Nj]).

Events in Boston last week show that the ideology that blinds the White House and America’s security apparatus to the reality of the threat of international terror is dangerous for the security of our country and all its people.