Coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing has ignored admitted bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s connection to his college’s Muslim Student Association, a group that has close relations with both the Muslim Brotherhood and a local imam friendly with an al-Qaida operative.
Although a student leader and the mainstream media have downplayed Tsarnaev’s ties to the the group, Tsarnaev associated frequently with the Muslim Student Association (MSA) at University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth.
The Washington Post on April 27 reported that Tsarnaev, who has admitted his role in the Marathon terrorist bombing to police, played intramural soccer with MSA members, contradicting earlier reports that the U. Mass-Dartmouth student spurned an invitation to join the controversial Muslim Brotherhood-linked student organization.
“For a time, Jahar played on an intramural soccer team composed of students involved with the campus Muslim Student Association,” explained the Post’s Marc Fisher, a fact that has since been missing from coverage.
In fact, Tsarnaev played soccer with the Muslim Student Association nearly every week, according to MSA Secretary Bassel Nasri in an interview with George Stephanopoulos and Diane Sawyer on April 19, 2013. Nasri simply neglected to say they were MSA games. Although Stephanopoulos described Nasri as “a soccer buddy” of Tsarnaev, neither he nor Sawyer mentioned that they were co-religionists and that the soccer games were organized by the Muslim Student Association.
While new facts about the Boston Marathon bombing may yet emerge, what we already know is enough to qualify it definitively as a terrorist act perpetrated by people motivated by a radical interpretation of Islam. To most people, this is sufficient proof that American soil has yet again become the target of Islamist terrorism. While this fact has certainly disappointed assorted cognoscenti in the mainstream media who fervently hoped that the perpetrators would turn out to be right-wing extremists, it is no longer easy to contest it.
Instead, a new narrative has taken hold among the bien-pensants and their army of terror “experts”: the myth of the self-radicalized lone-wolf terrorist. The members of this species, we’re told by USA Today, do not appear to be “engaged terrorists,” nor are they “part of a widespread organized terror plot.” Rather, they “fit the pattern seen in Europe of disaffected young men” who self-radicalized on the Internet. However, fear not: It is still possible that “the brothers were right-wing terrorists,” according to unnamed experts, and a learned scholar from the University of Leicester tells us they may have “had some connection with a neo-Nazi group.”
The message this epic nonsense conveys is that these disaffected young men do not present much of a threat since they’re not involved with al-Qaeda and, therefore, with “engaged terrorism,” whatever that means. Even if true, this would be cold comfort to the victims of the Boston massacre. But not only is it patently false, it represents an insidious and craven apologetic for the mayhem radical Islam has wreaked and will continue to wreak in America.
So let us briefly look at the mythical self-radicalized lone-wolf terrorist. There have been 19 documented foiled terrorist attacks on American soil since 9/11. The vast majority of the suspects were born and raised in America and radicalized here long before some of them sought training and assistance from foreign jihadists. Nor were they radicalized on the Internet. In virtually every case, they embraced Islamism in American mosques and Islamic centers under the control of radical Wahhabi, salafi, or Muslim Brotherhood imams, some of whom turned out to be wannabe jihadists themselves. This unfortunate reality is neither a coincidence nor an aberration
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During nearly 20 years as a senior analyst with the national security division of the Rand Corporation, Alexiev directed numerous research projects for the Department of Defense and other agencies. He is the author of several books and myriad monographs and articles on national security issues. His present research focuses on issues related to Islamic extremism and terrorism. Alex Alexiev is an adjunct fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C.
Brigitte makes the case for throwing out political correctness by quoting statistics:
“Since Obama became president we have arrested 226 homegrown terrorists; 186 of them are Muslims…. We have a problem in this country when a faith based group that accounts for less than 2% of the American population is responsible for over 80% of terrorist attacks or plots against the United States…. 540,000 people are on the government watch list, that’s not just a minority…over half a million people are on the government watch list. That’s a major problem. We need to throw political correctness in the garbage where it belongs and start calling a spade a spade”
Means, opportunity and motive are the three crucial elements of investigating a crime and establishing the guilt of its perpetrator. Means and opportunity tell us how the crime could have been committed while motive tells us why it was committed. Many crimes cannot be narrowed down by motive until a suspect is on the scene; but acts of terrorism can be. Almost anyone might be responsible for a random killing; but political killings are carried out by those who subscribe to common beliefs.
Eliminate motive from terrorism and it becomes no different than investigating a random killing. If investigators are not allowed to profile potential terrorists based on shared beliefs rooted in violence, that makes it harder to catch terrorists after an act of terror and incredibly difficult before the act of terror takes place.
The roadblock isn’t only technical; it’s conceptual. Investigations consist of connecting the dots. If you can’t conceive of a connection, then the investigation is stuck. If you can’t make the leap from A to B or add two to two and get four, then you are dependent on lucky breaks. And lucky breaks go both ways. Sometimes investigators get lucky and other times the terrorists get lucky.
Federal law enforcement was repeatedly warned by the Russians that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was dangerous, but operating under the influence of a political culture that refused to see Islam as a motive for terrorism, it failed to connect the dots between Chechen violence in Russia and potential terrorism in the United States, and because it could not see Islam as a motive, as a causal factor rather than a casual factor, it could find no reason why Tamerlan was a threat not just to Russia, but also to the United States.
The missing motive factor has led to a rash of lone wolf terrorists whose acts are classified as individual crimes. Nidal Hasan’s killing spree at Fort Hood was put down to workplace violence, but workplace violence isn’t a motive, it’s a bland description. The motive was obvious in Hasan’s background and his behavior; but the military, an organization that by its nature has to be able to predict the actions of the enemy, had been crippled and left unable to see Islam as a motive.
WITN: While the nation is mourning what happened in Boston on Monday and the piecing together details of a deadly fire and explosion in Wake, Texas on Wednesday night, many are taking Thursday to also remember a terrorist attack on the U.S. Embassy in Beirut 30 years ago.
On this day in 1983, what has been classified as an act of terrorism killed 52 American diplomats, military personnel, and Lebanese Embassy colleagues. 100 Americans and Lebanese were also wounded in the attack.
At the time, the attack on Embassy Beirut was considered the single largest attack on a U.S. diplomatic facility.
The casualties of the April attack in 1983 were more than quadrupled nearly six months later.
On October 23rd of the same year, Lebanese terrorists drove a truck packed with explosives into the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241 U.S. military personnel.
In a statement issued Thursday, Secretary of State John Kerry looked back at both bombings from 1983 and to the more recent embassy bombing in Libya.
“The recent loss of State Department colleagues in Zabul, Ankara, and Benghazi remind us of the sacrifices made by our colleagues around the world who work at U.S. diplomatic missions to promote and protect democracy, enhance freedom and justice, and facilitate development,” wrote Sec. Kerry.
A local, public memorial service is set for 10a.m., Saturday, April 20th in Jacksonville in the Lejeune Gardens off Highway 24.
Camp Lejeune will participate in the remembrance service, which will include songs, the laying of wreaths, and reading names of military members lost in the April 18th bombing.
My cousin, Ken Haas, was among those killed in the embassy. You can read about it here.
Startling information that is being suppressed by the media
“Innocent” Saudi has ties to several Al-Qaeda Terrorists
A couple of weeks ago we warned America about the very serious problem of Saudi infiltration; many of these Saudi nationals criminals and terrorists.
After the bombings, a Saudi by the name of Abdul Rahman Ali Al-Harbi was hospitalized and became a ‘suspect’, then a ‘person of interest’. His apartment was searched by federal and local authorities. No confirmation has been given so far to his involvement. The Media were quick to claim his innocence, of course.
This brings us to the Boston marathon bombings. Foreign Policy is reporting that he’s ‘no longer a person of interest’, which means he’s “innocent”, right?
Perhaps a quick look at the Arabic sources should raise the eyebrows of every American relative to the extent of the problem at hand. Many from Al-Harbi’s clan are steeped in terrorism and are members of Al-Qaeda. Out of a list of 85 terrorists listed by the Saudi government shows several of Al-Harbi clan to have been active fighters in Al-Qaeda:
A couple of weeks ago we warned America about the very serious problem of Saudi infiltration; many of these Saudi nationals criminals and terrorists.
After the bombings, a Saudi by the name of Abdul Rahman Ali Al-Harbi was hospitalized and became a ‘suspect’, then a ‘person of interest’. His apartment was searched by federal and local authorities. No confirmation has been given so far to his involvement. The Media were quick to claim his innocence, of course.
This brings us to the Boston marathon bombings. Foreign Policy is reporting that he’s ‘no longer a person of interest’, which means he’s “innocent”, right?
Perhaps a quick look at the Arabic sources should raise the eyebrows of every American relative to the extent of the problem at hand. Many from Al-Harbi’s clan are steeped in terrorism and are members of Al-Qaeda. Out of a list of 85 terrorists listed by the Saudi government shows several of Al-Harbi clan to have been active fighters in Al-Qaeda:
#15 Badr Saud Uwaid Al-Awufi Al-Harbi
#73 Muhammad Atiq Uwaid Al-Awufi Al-Harbi
#26 Khalid Salim Uwaid Al-Lahibi Al-Harbi
#29 Raed Abdullah Salem Al-Thahiri Al-Harbi
#43 Abdullah Abdul Rahman Muhammad Al-Harbi (leader)
#60 Fayez Ghuneim Humeid Al-Hijri Al-Harbi
Source: http://aalhameed1.net/vb/showthread.php?t=1565
There are specific Saudi clans that are rife with members of Al-Qaeda, which makes it quite alarming as to why nearly a hundred thousand student visas are issued to these. Americans are clueless as to clan ties when it comes to terrorism.
Lesson one: Terrorism and crime by the Saudis is interlinked extensively within families, as we see in the Harbi clan.
Saudi national is being questioned under guard in hospital after two powerful explosions struck the elite Boston Marathon Monday, April 15, causing at least two deaths and more than 100 injuries among the runners and the spectators packing the streets. These figures are expected to rise, as the injured are treated, many of them with amputated limbs. The two blasts were seconds apart, apparently in or near the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel at the finishing line, three hours after the winners passed.
The Boston police advised people to stay home after closing the city’s airspace and and also the mobile phone service to prevent the detonation of explosives. Air links between Boston and New York are suspended. The Secret Service closed the pedestrian walkway in front of the White House in Washington and the Pentagon was placed on heightened terror alert after Barack Obama was briefed on the Boston bombings.
President Obama, addressing the nation, said: “We don’t know what happened, but we will get to the bottom of who and why… and the perpetrators will be held accountable and feel the full weight of justice.”
New York counterterrorism police are deployed at Manhattan landmarks and strategic areas in the city.
After the twin explosions, the Boston authorities found two more explosive devices at the Boston Marathon and dismantled.
No information has been released about the cause of the explosions but they are being treated by the US authorities as a major, multiple terrorist event. Ball bearings found strewn at the scene of the blasts and in the pockets of victims were seen as consistent with terrorist methods and the same signature found in similar attacks in Israel and other places.
The Boston Marathon with thousands of runners from many countries is one the most prestigious events of its kind in the world.
The head of an extremist Jordanian Muslim Salafi group said he’s “happy to see the horror in America” after the explosions in Boston.
“American blood isn’t more precious than Muslim blood,” said Mohammad al-Chalabi, who was convicted in an al-Qaida-linked plot to attack U.S. and other Western diplomatic missions in Jordan in 2003.
“Let the Americans feel the pain we endured by their armies occupying Iraq and Afghanistan and killing our people there,” he said early Tuesday.
A Mideast counterterrorism official based in Jordan said the blasts “carry the hallmark of an organized terrorist group, like al-Qaeda.” He did not give actual evidence.
New York counterterrorism police are deployed at Manhattan landmarks and strategic areas in the city.
After the twin explosions, the Boston authorities conducted a controlled explosion of a suspicious package. Two more explosive devices were found at the Boston Marathon and dismantled.
No information has been released about the cause of the explosions but they are being treated by the US authorities as a major, multiple terrorist event.
The head of an extremist Jordanian Muslim Salafi group said he’s “happy to see the horror in America” after the explosions in Boston.
“American blood isn’t more precious than Muslim blood,” said Mohammad al-Chalabi, who was convicted in an al-Qaida-linked plot to attack U.S. and other Western diplomatic missions in Jordan in 2003.
“Let the Americans feel the pain we endured by their armies occupying Iraq and Afghanistan and killing our people there,” he said early Tuesday.
A Mideast counterterrorism official based in Jordan said the blasts “carry the hallmark of an organized terrorist group, like al-Qaeda.” He did not give actual evidence.
In the “official worldview”, terrorism is a product of deprivation. The old, “They’re depraved on account of being deprived” cliche. The reality is that’s a myth.
Not a single study could make a cogent case that terrorism had economic roots. This lack of evidence culminated in a recent review of the literature by Martin Gassebner and Simon Luechinger of the KOF Swiss Economic Institute.
The authors estimated 13.4 million different equations, drew on 43 different studies and 65 correlates of terrorism to conclude that higher levels of poverty and illiteracy are not associated with greater terrorism. In fact, only the lack of civil liberties and high population growth could predict high terrorism levels accurately.
So does this relation also hold for Pakistan? It appears so. Christine Fair from Georgetown University documents a similar phenomenon for Pakistan. By utilising data on 141 killed militants, she finds that militants in Pakistan are recruited from middle-class and well-educated families. This is further corroborated by Graeme Blair and others at Princeton University.
They too find evidence of a higher support base of terrorism from those who are relatively wealthy in Pakistan. In a robust survey of 6,000 individuals across Pakistan, it is found that the poor are actually 23 times more averse to extremist violence relative to middle-class citizens.
This should not come as a surprise. Left wing terrorists were also largely drawn from the middle and upper classes. Lenin’s father was a nobleman. Castro’s father owned a plantation.
The reason why Islamic terrorism is so often conflated with poverty is because the left insists on justifying it and willfully ignoring its true causes and agendas.
Like any nationalist or ideological movement, Islamism is not out to remedy some occupation or oppression. It is out to impose a theoretical notion of how things should run developed by its leaders on everyone else by force. This isn’t resistance, it’s tyranny.
We’ve already seen how in Egypt and Tunisia, the revolutions of the Arab Spring gave way to even worse forms of oppression. This is how it always works in such revolutions.
My own work too comes to a similar conclusion. Exploiting the econometric concept of Granger causality and drawing on data from 1973-2010 in Pakistan, I document a one-way causality running from terrorism to GDP, investments and exports.
The results indicated that higher incidence of terrorism reduced GDP, investments and exports. However, higher GDP, exports and investment did not reduce terrorism.
The bottom line: when the economy was not doing well, terrorism did not increase and vice versa.
That should be obvious considering that the Middle East’s core of terrorism is in oil rich Muslim countries who have the wealth and leisure to plot terrorism and global domination.
To understand what causes terrorism, one need not ask how much of a population is illiterate or in abject poverty. Rather one should ask who holds strong enough political views to impose them through terrorism.
By Charles C. Johnson:
