Benghazi Hearing Aims to Reveal High Level Decision-Makers

breitbart

By Kerry Picket 

Republicans on the House Oversight Committee say there will be “explosive” revelations that will come forth during the Committee’s hearing on Wednesday when three State Department witnesses reveal what they knew the night the U.S. consulate and CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya were attacked by terrorists. Committee members will be hearing the testimonies of State Department employees Greg Hicks, Mark Thompson, and Eric Nordstrom.

The Committee appears to be interested in finding out who ultimately made the decision to tell military assets not to send help to the Americans who were under assault in Benghazi on September 11, 2012. The attack took the lives of four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens.

Congressman Trey Gowdy (R-SC), a member of the Oversight Committee, has said the whistleblower witnesses will discuss whether or not there could have been military assets deployed during the siege that could have saved the lives of former Navy SEALS Tyrone Woods and Glenn Doherty.  

Hicks told the Oversight Committee in April:

If we had got clearance from the Libyan military for an American plane to fly over Libyan airspace. The Libyans that I talked to and the Libyans and other Americans who were involved in the war have told me also that Libyan revolutionaries were very cognizant of the impact that American and NATO airpower had with respect to their victory. They are under no illusions that American and NATO airpower won that war for them.  And so, in my personal opinion, a fastmover flying over Benghazi at some point, you know, as soon as possible might very well have prevented some of the bad things that happened that night.

“[T]he administration says we couldn’t have gotten there in time which defies logic, because they had no idea had long the attack was going to last,” Gowdy told Fox News on Tuesday night. “Mr. Thompson is going to shed light on...the siege itself and whether or not our fellow Americans were crying for help and we could have helped them and for whatever reason chose not to,” he said.

Additionally, Gowdy says he will be questioning the witnesses about the administration’s explanation for falsely blaming an online video, made in part by California resident and Coptic Christian Mark Basseley Youssef, for instigating the attack on the consulate. U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice went onto five Sunday news shows following the attack and touted the administration’s position that the video was the reason for the attack on the consulate.

“You’re going to know that [Ambassador Susan Rice] was demonstrably false. You’re going to know that she was the only person who held onto that narrative even after everyone else went away from it,” Gowdy said, adding, “And importantly..what you're going to hear that this cover up, her choosing to rely on those false talking points about the video, impeded and obstructed our ability to get at what happened in Benghazi. The [FBI] was denied access to the crime scene as a direct result of her false narrative that it was a video.”

Hicks will tell the Committee, according to Gowdy, how the State Department attempted to protect high-level officials at the Department after the attack. Excerpts of Hicks’ interview with the Committee show Hicks thought the Department's Benghazi Accountability Review Board (ARB) report did not palace blame on anyone, telling the Committee:

I thought it was incomplete. I thought that it was--that the recommendations were unbalanced in favor of building higher walls, pouring more concrete, that it was insufficiently strong in recommending that the State Department personnel needed to have more and better training to be deployed to critical threat environments…
I mean, the ARB report itself doesn’t really ascribe blame to any individual at all. The public report anyway....It does let people off the hook. In our system, people who make decisions have been confirmed by the Senate to make decisions. The three people in the State Department who are on administrative leave pending disciplinary action are below Senate confirmation level.  Now, the DS assistant secretary resigned, and he is at Senate confirmation level. Yet the paper trail is pretty clear that decisions were being made above his level. Certainly the fact that Under Secretary Kennedy required a daily report of the personnel in country and who personally approved every official American who went to Tripoli or Benghazi, either on assignment or TDY, would suggest some responsibility about security levels within the country lies on his desk...

The witnesses will likely be asked to describe what their transition was like after the attack, particularly focusing in on any threats they may have received from the State Department if they broke their silence about what they knew.

CBS News: U.S. Diplomat Contradicts White House on Benghazi

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Lt. Col. Matthew Dooley was fired: Army forsakes combat hero for Muslims

wnd

www.familysecuritymatters.org

The U.S. Army has further punished a highly respected and decorated officer in the wake of Muslim groups complaining about the approved course he taught on radical Islam at National Defense University.

In October, we reported that Lt. Col. Matthew Dooley was fired from his position at the school for the way he conducted a class on how to respond to a variety of scenarios instigated by radical Muslims. A visitor to the class found the discussions offensive to Muslims and informed some 57 Islamic organizations, which then complained to Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In addition to the firing, Gen. Dempsey promptly orchestrated a negative Officer Evaluation Report against Dooley that deeply tarnished a career that had received only sterling reviews from West Point through nearly 20 years in the service. Dempsey never discussed the incident with Dooley.

On Sunday, the Washington Times reported Dooley has been punished again, this time as he pursued the role of battalion commander. According to the Times, an Army command selection board studied Dooley’s record and candidacy for a command assignment. The five-member panel agreed to keep Dooley under consideration. Shortly thereafter, Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, who at the time was Army vice chief and subsequently became head of U.S. Central Command, overruled the board in a brief memo. His actions could effectively spell the end of Dooley’s career.

“There was no reason given, and that’s also a very disturbing aspect of it,” said Richard Thompson, president of the Thomas More Law Center, who is representing Dooley in his original appeal of his firing and negative review. “The way they’re treating him now is not only a total miscarriage of justice on a personal level, but it also is really removing an effective combat leader from the Army, and it ultimately effects the national security of the United States.”

Thompson told WND he doesn’t believe this order originated with Gen. Austin. Instead, he believes Gen. Dempsey gave the order and Austin chose to follow so as not to impair his own career. However it happened, he said Lt. Col. Dooley is the victim of a dangerous policy.

“Instead of being loyal to the people that are loyal to you, they would rather throw Lt. Col. Dooley under the bus for their own advancement or to appease the Muslims, which ultimately could lead to the destruction of the United States internally. If we cannot accurately describe who the enemy is, how can we win a war?” asked Thompson.

Dooley’s appeal of his initial punishment is still processing through the military bureaucracy. Thompson said Dooley will file a federal suit to defend his constitutional rights if the Army appeal is denied.

Don’t Forget Misha:Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s possible mentor

NewZeal

By: Bethany Stotts
Accuracy in Media

The mainstream media are absent on the Misha story, preferring to let the discussion of Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s possible mentor devolve into hearsay reporting rather than to delve in-depth into the background of this Islamist. Perhaps he undermines the narrative that this was a couple of self-radicalized kids who were just taking out their anger at America for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Who is Misha? “Misha was an Armenian native and a convert to Islam and quickly began influencing his new friend, family members said,” according to the Associated Press. “Under the tutelage of a friend known to the Tsarnaev family only as Misha, Tamerlan gave up boxing and stopped studying music, his family said. He began opposing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He turned to websites and literature claiming that the CIA was behind the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and Jews controlled the world.”

“Tamerlan loved music and, a few years ago, he sent Khozhugov [his brother-in-law] a song he’d composed in English and Russian,” continues the AP. “He said he was about to start music school.” Then, after talking with Misha, he decided that Islam could not support his musical goals.

“Musical instruments are considered haram (sinful) by Islamists,” outlines Abdel Bari Atwan in his recent book After bin Laden: Al Qaeda, the Next Generation. “Ibn Tamiyyah—a scholar widely admired by jihadis—said that music is ‘alcohol to one’s soul.’”

The younger Tsarnaev brother has confessed to the authorities that the Boston bombs were designed using the recipe outlined by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s online jihadist magazine, Inspire. But, as the Misha connection shows, Tamerlan’s views may not have been only radicalized over the Internet—they were likely radicalized first at home. The Tsarnaev brothers’ uncle, Ruslan Tsarni told the Daily Mail that “that the man responsible was a cleric aged around 30 called Misha and that he was an Armenian who, unusually for such a largely Christian people, had converted to Islam.”

“As far as he knew Misha was based in a mosque that was a short drive from Cambridge and that he was new to Islam.”

Last weekend, Christian Caryl, a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books, located Misha, also known as Mikhail Allakhverdov. “He confirmed he was a convert to Islam and that he had known Tamerlan Tsarnaev, but he flatly denied any part in the bombings,” reports Caryl. The interview doesn’t indicate whether he was a cleric, as Uncle Tsarni alleged. “I wasn’t his teacher. If I had been his teacher, I would have made sure he never did anything like this,” Allakhverdov told Caryl.

The FBI would not disclose to Caryl whether Allakhverdov was connected to the bombing, so Caryl relies on statements by anonymous government officials that he had no connection to the bombing.

Regardless of whether Misha aided in the bombings, isn’t what he taught Tamerlan—that he might have radicalized him—still of interest?

The stories between Misha and Tamerlan’s uncle Tsarni are simply irreconcilable. “A close friend of the family in Boston said that Misha was not known to have visited Tamerlan at home,” reports Caryl. (Relatives said otherwise.) “I interviewed Allakhverdov in Russian and it seems likely that in whatever contact the two men had, they would have spoken Russian.”

If these two stories don’t match, then why aren’t the media digging deeper into this issue? Perhaps they are afraid of the Islamist angle. This piece by the Los Angeles Times does little but repeat the family’s side and Allakhverdov’s assertion that he was not Tamerlan’s teacher. The Boston Herald likewise reprinted his assertion, as did CBS Boston.

“CNN has made repeated efforts to speak with Allakhverdov, but has so far been unsuccessful,” report Josh Levs and Ben Brumfield for CNN. Allakhverdov is also not speaking to The Washington Post.

Todd Wallack and Lisa Wangness of the Boston Globe, in contrast, asked the hard questions. “The Review of Books published a brief account of the interview with Allakhverdov on its blog Sunday night, saying the item was part of a longer piece on the Tsarnaev family and Boston’s Russian and Chechen community to be published in a forthcoming edition of the journal,” they wrote for the Boston Globe. “But the brief account left many questions unanswered…There was no information about Tamerlan’s religious beliefs or politics, nor was there an explanation of why the two men stopped talking.”

Since Allakhverdov clearly has no interest in speaking to the press further, as evinced by his refusal to speak to the Post or CNN, perhaps a little investigative journalism is in order. These future stories should center around facts, not hearsay quotes from either party.

However, as of this writing the media appears to have dropped the story entirely, abrogating its journalistic duties.

BENGHAZI: Names of ‘whistleblower’ witnesses revealed

Fox News

Their identities have been a well-guarded secret, known only to their high-powered lawyers and a handful of House lawmakers and staff. But now Fox News has learned the names of the self-described Benghazi “whistleblowers” who are set to testify before a widely anticipated congressional hearing on Wednesday.

Appearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will be three career State Department officials: Gregory N. Hicks, the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Libya at the time of the Benghazi terrorist attacks; Mark I. Thompson, a former Marine and now the deputy coordinator for Operations in the agency’s Counterterrorism Bureau; and Eric Nordstrom, a diplomatic security officer who was the regional security officer in Libya, the top security officer in the country in the months leading up to the attacks.

U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks on the U.S. outpost in Benghazi, Libya.

Hicks was at the time of the highest-ranking American diplomat in the country.

Nordstrom previously testified before the oversight committee, which is chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., in October 2012. Of the three witnesses, he is the only one who does not consider himself a whistleblower. At last fall's hearing, however, Nordstrom made headlines by detailing for lawmakers the series of requests that he, Ambassador Stevens, and others had made for enhanced security at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi in the period preceding the attacks, requests mostly rejected by State Department superiors.

"For me the Taliban is on the inside of the [State Department] building," Nordstrom testified, angry over inadequate staffing at a time when the threat environment in Benghazi was deteriorating, 

The other two witnesses have not been heard from publicly before.

Hicks is a veteran Foreign Service officer whose overseas postings have also included Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican and committee member, said Hicks was in Tripoli at 9:40 p.m. local time when he received one of Stevens’ earliest phone calls amid the crisis.

“We’re under attack! We’re under attack!” the ambassador reportedly shouted into his cell phone at Hicks.

Chaffetz, who subsequently debriefed Hicks, also said the deputy “immediately called into Washington to trigger all the mechanisms” for an inter-agency response.

“The real-life trauma that [Hicks] went through,” Chaffetz recalled to Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren, “I mean, I really felt it in his voice. It was hard to listen to. He’s gone through a lot, but he did a great job.”

 According to the State Department website, Thompson “advises senior leadership on operational counterterrorism matters, and ensures that the United States can rapidly respond to global terrorism crises.”

Five years before the Benghazi attacks, he lectured at a symposium hosted by the University of Central Florida and titled “The Global Terrorism Challenge: Answers to Key Questions.”

Joe diGenova, a former U.S. attorney, and wife Victoria Toensing, a former chief counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committee -- Republicans -- disclosed this week that in their private practice in the nation’s capital, they now represent pro bono two career State Department employees who regard themselves as “whistleblowers” and would be testifying before Issa’s committee at its next Benghazi hearing, on May 8. 

The lawyers said their clients believe their accounts of Benghazi were spurned by the Accountability Review board (ARB), the official investigative body convened by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to review the terrorist attacks, and that the two employees have faced threats and intimidation from as-yet-unnamed superiors.

 “I'm not talking generally, I'm talking specifically about Benghazi -- that people have been threatened,” Toensing told Fox News on Wednesday. “And not just the State Department; people have been threatened at the CIA….It's frightening….They're taking career people and making them well aware that their careers will be over.”

DiGenova told Fox News on Thursday, by way of describing his and Toensing’s respective clients: “There were people who were material witnesses, who wanted to talk to [the ARB], and they were not allowed to talk to them.

“The people that we are representing are career civil servants...people who have served the country overseas…in dangerous positions all over the world, have risked their lives and only want to tell the truth.”

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/05/04/benghazi-names-whistleblower-witnesses-revealed/#ixzz2SLMK0Ct5

Special ops called for military backup during Libya attack, sources say

Fox News

By Adam Housley

On the night of the Benghazi terror attack, special operations put out multiple calls for all available military and other assets to be moved into position to help -- but the State Department and White House never gave the military permission to cross into Libya, sources told Fox News.
The disconnect was one example of what sources described as a communication breakdown that left those on the ground without outside help.
"When you are on the ground, you depend on each other -- we're gonna get through this situation. But when you look up and then nothing outside of the stratosphere is coming to help you or rescue you, that's a bad feeling," one source said.
Multiple sources spoke to Fox News about what they described as a lack of action in Benghazi on Sept. 11 last year, when four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, were killed.
"They had no plan. They had no contingency plan for if this happens, and that's the problem this is going to face in the future," one source said. "They're dealing with more hostile regions, hostile countries. This attack's going to happen again."
Under normal circumstances, authorities in Benghazi would have fallen under the chief of mission, one source said -- the person in charge of security in the country who in this case was Stevens. But once Stevens was cornered and members of his security detail pushed his distress button, that authority would have been transferred to his deputy. However, that deputy was out of the country.
That meant the authority then reverted directly to the U.S. State Department, and oversight of the response to the attack that night fell to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Undersecretary of State Patrick Kennedy, who were calling the shots.
Sources said that shortly after the attack began around 9:40 p.m., special forces put out the calls for assets to be moved into position.
"What that does is that enacts ... every asset, every element to respond and it becomes a global priority," one source said. "I would tell you that was given and the only reason it was given is because of special operations pack."
However, the source said, "Assets did not move."
The failure of the State Department or White House to give the military permission to go into Libya, according to the source, only accentuates the significant breakdown in communication among the State Department, military, CIA and White House.
"I can see the initial confusion in the beginning. I mean, you have a situation that's developing. The problem with the State Department is they don't have procedures in place. And if they do, they haven't practiced or exercised them. And now they are making up for all the mistakes they have made, with excuse. And there is no excuse," the source said, describing a "huge breakdown between State and military."
Last October, then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta defended the response, saying the military was reluctant to put forces at risk.
"You don't deploy forces into harm's way without knowing what's going on, without having some real-time information about what's taking place," Panetta said. "And as a result of not having that kind of information, the commander who was on the ground in that area, General Ham, General Dempsey and I felt very strongly that we could not put forces at risk in that situation."
The State Department Accountability Review Board, which investigated the attack and what led up to it, also claimed that "Washington-Tripoli-Benghazi communication, cooperation, and coordination on the night of the attacks were effective."
But one source told Fox News there was "not good communication" between State and Defense "on any level."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/05/02/special-ops-called-for-military-assets-to-move-into-position-during-libya/#ixzz2S9GqlqN1

FBI seeks help identifying three suspects seen at Benghazi mission during attack

FBI seeks help identifying three suspects seen at Benghazi mission during attack

FBI.gov

The FBI is seeking information about these three individuals who were on the grounds of the U.S. Special Mission in Benghazi when it was attacked on Sept. 11, 2012.

By Richard Esposito, Jonathan Dienst and Joe Valiquette
NBC News

The FBI is seeking the public’s help identifying three suspects captured by surveillance cameras on the grounds of the U.S. Special Mission in Benghazi, Libya, when it was attacked on Sept. 11, 2012. U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three other Americans died in the nighttime assault.

The FBI, working with a number of U.S. and foreign agencies, has identified about 45 persons suspected of involvement in the attack, according to law enforcement sources who spoke with NBC News on condition of anonymity. Of those 45 about 25 have been identified, they said.

The bureau, which posted photos of the trio on its website, did not explain why it focused on them among the 25 unidentified suspects.

“We are seeking information about three individuals who were on the grounds of the U.S. Special Mission when it was attacked,” it said in a short post accompanying the photos. “These individuals may be able to provide information to help in the investigation.”

The FBI urged anyone with information to send a text or email to BenghaziTips@ic.fbi.gov.

Up to several hundred gunmen attacked the U.S. diplomatic mission and a CIA annex in Benghazi in the night of the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington by al Qaeda.

The incident has raised questions about the adequacy of security at U.S. embassies around the globe and where to draw the line between protecting American diplomats in dangerous places and giving them enough freedom to do their jobs.

U.S. intelligence officials say militants with ties to al Qaeda affiliates were likely involved in the attack and witnesses say members of the Islamist Ansar al-Shariah group were at the scene.

Libyan authorities said eight people were detained in the immediate aftermath of the attack and around 50 were "wanted for investigation.” The eight turned out to be only looters, Reuters reported in December, citing local officials.

SWAT team: ‘Boston bomber’ possibly not shot

wnd

Joe Kovacs

Jeff Campbell of the MBTA Transit Police SWAT team describes 
the wound on Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's neck.

Was Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 19-year-old suspect in this month’s bombing at the Boston Marathon, actually shot in the neck as news reports have suggested?

Or did he merely suffer a cut on his throat?

A televised interview with the SWAT team that caught the accused terrorist is raising new questions.

Until now, news media have indicated Tsarnaev likely suffered a gunshot wound to his throat.

New York’s Newsday reported, “Authorities believe Tsarnaev may have tried to shoot himself before he was taken into custody Friday night [April 19] because of the trajectory and location of the bullet wound in his neck, a source familiar with the investigation said. The shot was fired at close range, the source said, suggesting the wound was self-inflicted.”

The Boston Herald reported Tsarnaev “survived bullets to the head, neck and hand.”

However, during an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, the police SWAT team which apprehended Tsarnaev voiced a different view of the teen’s injury.

“I did see a throat injury. To me it looked more like a knife wound,” said Officer Jeff Campbell of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Transit Police SWAT Unit.

“It wasn’t a puncture hole. It was a slice where it was spread open, possibly a piece of shrapnel from one of the explosives that they were using the night before. It didn’t look like a bullet wound to me. It looked like a cut of some kind.”

Campbell held his fingers on the right side of his neck to demonstrate where the wound was specifically located.

Curiously, though, when CNN posted that interview online on YouTube, it edited out Campbell’s comments describing Tsarnaev’s throat injury.

“These remarks are from a SWAT team so they would know what a bullet wound would look like,” one analyst told WND. “So until his arrest, he was not shot in the throat.”

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was apparently photographed leaving the scene of the April 15 bombing by a man who was running the Boston Marathon.

A photo by marathon runner David Green of Jacksonville 
Beach, Fla., apparently shows bombing suspect Dzhokhar 
Tsarnaev wearing a white hat uninjured as he leaves the
scene of the April 15, 2013, explosions.

“My first reaction, as people were really charging me – you know it was a stampede – and I could either flee or kind of go and help. I pulled my camera out and took one snapshot,” David Green, 49, of Jacksonville Beach, Fla., told WFTS-TV.

“I took that one picture that could have been helpful, so it’s about the greatest win I could ever have right there to have helped.”

An FBI agent told Green his photo was the best lead the bureau had. The image gives no indication of any wound the teen may have suffered in the marathon explosions.

Dzhokhar’s older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was killed April 19 during a gunfight in Watertown, Mass., with police who had pursued him and his teen brother after the killing of an MIT police officer and a carjacking.

The Herald noted a doctor who treated Tamerlan Tsarnaev said he had gunshot, shrapnel and blast wounds, and that police said Dzhokhar, while fleeing the scene of the shootout, drove over Tamerlan’s body.

The SWAT team took Dzhokhar into custody after he was found hiding in a dry-docked boat in the back yard of a local resident.

Reports by the New York Post and Washington Post said he had no gun at the time he surrendered.

Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

Dzhokhar had apparently provided some information to investigators, until he was advised of his right to remain silent.

He immediately stopped talking after a magistrate judge and a representative from the U.S. attorney’s office entered his hospital room and gave him his Miranda warning, a U.S. law enforcement source and four officials of both political parties briefed on the interrogation told the Associated Press.

The Department of Justice said the reading of Tsarnaev’s Miranda rights was coordinated with prosecutors, the federal defender, the court reporter, the U.S. Marshal Service and the hospital.

The AP noted that before being advised of his rights, the 19-year-old told authorities his older brother, Tamerlan, recruited him only recently to be part of the attack that detonated pressure-cooker bombs at the marathon finish line.

Additional reporting by Joshua Klein.

O'Reilly: A shocking report about the Boston terror family

3 more suspects taken into custody in Boston bombing case, police say

Fox News

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (r.) was photographed in New York's Times Square last year with two of the latest suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing investigation, Azamat Tazhayakov (l.) and Dias Kadyrbayev (c.).

Three additional suspects were taken into custody in the Boston Marathon bombing case, the Boston Police Department tells FoxNews.com. 

Police would not confirm when the suspects were taken into custody, and referred further questions to the FBI.

Prior to the latest development, authorities had named only brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as suspects in the April 15 bombing at the finish line of the world famous race.

Two of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s former UMass-Dartmouth classmates, Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov, are from Kazakhstan and faced an immigration hearing this morning, sources said. Sources told Fox News they face obstruction charges in connection with the bombing. The identity of the third suspect is unclear.  

Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov are suspected of taking computers and other equipment from Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's apartment and trying to dispose of it after the bombings, sources told Fox News.

Kadyrbayev's attorney Robert Stahl says his client will be transported to the federal courthouse later Wednesday to appear on new criminal charges. On Friday, Yerlan Kubashev with the Consulate General for Kazakhstan in New York confirmed in a statement to Fox News that the consulate is helping the young men with legal representation.

Kubashev said the two men are "shocked at the bombings," and "they express sorrow to the bombing victims and their families."

Police did not confirm the gender of the third suspect, but Fox News confirmed the person is a U.S. citizen. More information was expected to be provided by the US Attorney's office later Wednesday.

Three people were killed and more than 200 injured when the pair allegedly set two bombs, at least one of which was made from a pressure cooker packed with explosives and shrapnel, amid the crowd. 

Tamerlan Tsarnaev died April 19, after a shootout hours after authorities showed the brothers on surveillance video and named them as suspects.  Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, is in a prison hospital after being wounded in the shootout with police as he and his brother made their getaway attempt. He is charged with using a weapon of mass destruction to kill, a crime that carries a potential death sentence.

Authorities have searched the Rhode Island home of the parents of Katherine Russell, Tamerlan Tsarnaev's widow.

Click for more from MyFoxBoston.com

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/05/01/3-more-suspects-taken-into-custody-in-boston-bombing-police-say/#ixzz2S42OV2TG

Boston Plot/ Saudi Arabia-USA: Yet another communication that never arrived

canadafreepress/ By Judi McLeod 

We’ll never know for sure whether Saudi Arabia really did warn the USA in writing about the terrorist attack intentions of one Tamerlan Tsarnaev, but we do know that President Barack Obama slept through the slaughter in Benghazi.

“A senior Saudi government official told Daily Mail that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia sent a written warning to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in 2012.  According to the source, the letter was pertaining to Tsarnaev and potential terror threats.” (Daily Mail, May 1, 2013).

Is this a Saudi Arabia/USA “You-cover-my-back-and-I’ll-cover-yours” game?

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud bin al-Faisal attended an unscheduled White House meeting with President Barack Hussein Obama on April 17, 2013.  Odd that nothing was mentioned about the written warning from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on that day.

During the time period of 2012 when a Saudi Arabia official says the letter was sent, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was busy nailing returning war vets, “bible thumping” Christian and Tea Party patriots as the real potential terrorists.  Don’t Saudi Arabians surf the Internet?

“In addition to sending the warning to America, the Saudi government also denied an entry visa to Tsarnaev in Dec. 2011 when he purportedly sought to take the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, the source claimed. 

Well bully for the Saudi government.  Can they now promise in writing that they will stop their massive funding of terrorism conducted in all countries of the world due to Wahhabism (ultra conservative branch of Sunni Islam)?

“The source went on to say that, although the letter, which purportedly came from the Saudi Minister of Interior, did not name Boston specifically, it did cite Tsarnaev and it was “very specific”.  The Saudi official also told the outlet that the notice warned the U.S. government that “something was going to happen in a major U.S. city”.

That’s exactly what countless Americans have been saying ever since Obama got himself elected, knowing at heart that Obama is much more like the Saudis than he is like them.

The U.S. government, incidentally is denying that such a communication was ever received.

The Saudis would know that the U.S. government does not hear communication from places such as Benghazi where the death of four Americans including Ambassador Chris Stevens commemorated the 11th anniversary of 9/11.

We don’t know which month the Saudis sent their warning letter about Tamerlan Tsarnaev in 2012.

But we do know what Obama was doing during the entire year of 2012:  campaigning, vacationing, playing golf, continuing his obsessed Fundamental Transformation of America (read Take Down).  And, oh yes, throwing in with Russia,  making his open mic promise that “after my election I have more flexibility” to Dmitry Medvedev, president of the other country that supposedly tried to red flag the U.S. about the Tsarnaev brothers.

Saudi Arabia must—just like Obama—think Americans are stupid.

Boston carjack victim on narrow escape: 'God was with me'

 

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Read on TODAY.com >>

Search for human remains at 9/11 plane debris site in NYC begins

usnews

By Shimon Prokupecz, NBCNewYork.com

Workers for the New York City medical examiner's office have begun sifting soil for possible human remains at a site near the World Trade Center where a chunk of airplane debris believed to have come from one of the 9/11 hijacked jetliners was found.

The aircraft part has been identified as a piece from a 767 wing, officials said Monday. NBC 4 New York, which first reported the finding in an alley near ground zero last week, has also learned the answer to the mystery of a rope that was found intertwined in the part — according to a law enforcement official, a detective who responded to the original call about the part last week tried to move it with a rope.

Authorities on Friday had said the rope might have indicated the part was lowered into the alley, but have since interviewed everyone who had contact with the part last week and have now answered that question. The official tells NBC 4 New York that the detective found the rope nearby and was trying to move the part to find a serial number or other identifying mark.

The NYPD also said Monday that a Boeing technician has confirmed that the 5-foot part is a trailing edge flap actuation support structure.

"It is believed to be from one of the two aircraft destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001, but it could not be determined which one," NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said.

On Sept. 11, American Airlines flight 11 hit the north tower at 8:46 a.m., and United flight 175 hit the south tower at 9:03 a.m. A FEMA graphic below shows that all the other plane parts in the immediate area were from flight 175.

Police and officials from the city medical examiner's office were on scene Monday preparing to sift the soil under the part for lost human remains. Officials said the part will be removed later in the week when that process is complete.

The part was found wedged between two buildings in a very narrow alley only about 18 inches wide between the rear of 50 Murray St. and back of 51 Park Place, the site where a mosque and community center has been proposed three blocks from ground zero.

The part bears a "Boeing" stamp, followed by a series of numbers.

The NYPD said the landing gear was found after surveyors hired by the property owner inspecting the rear of 51 Park Place called police on Wednesday. 

Most of the rubble from the 9/11 attack was cleared from the 16-acre site by the spring of 2002. Other debris, including human remains, has been found scattered outside the site, including on a rooftop and in a manhole, in years since.

Report: CIA Seeks Al-Qaeda 'Inspire' Magazine Editor

Breitbart News 

www.politisite.com

Two weeks after the devastating Boston Marathon bombings, the UK Telegraph now reports that the CIA is seeking the editor of Al-Qaeda’s English-language Inspire magazine, the source from which the Tsarnaev brothers apparently learned how to build pressure cooker bombs. The prior editor was killed by US drones in 2011 in Yemen.

The article in Inspire that inspired the Tsarnaevs was titled “How to Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom.” The CIA source told the Telegraph, “Inspire clearly is a powerful propaganda tool.” A former CIA officer also said, “They are intensifying investigations into who is behind this publication, and where the money for it is coming from.”

European Muslims Traveling to Syria to Fight 'Holy War'

breitbart

By Ben Shapiro 

With America battling the threat of Islamist terrorism from within, Europe is experiencing a dangerous phenomenon of its own: exporting of Islamism from Europe to the Middle East. According to the Associated Press, European mayors are now attempting to limit the travel of their citizens to Syria to fight “holy war” against the Assad regime in Syria. The AP reports: “Through much of western Europe, scores of Islamic youths have heeded the call to take up arms for a cause that is only a few hours away by plane. The phenomenon has alarmed authorities amid signs that the insurgency is becoming increasingly radicalized, with strong infiltration by al-Qaida.”

The lack of integration of many young Muslims into Western countries has created the threat of domestic-based terrorism inside Europe. Now, that terrorism may be exported elsewhere. The United States has already dealt with American immigrants fighting on behalf of Al-Qaeda in Somalia. For years, the FBI has been trying to unlock the secrets of what ABC News describes as “a recruiting pipeline from the Twin Cities, which boast large Somali immigrant problems, to Somalia.” Similar phenomena have been described with regard to terrorists originating in Western countries traveling to Iraq and Afghanistan, as well.

In order to prevent the same sorts of activity in Belgium, Belgian officials have participated in an anti-terror sweep designed to arrest potential terrorists wanting to travel to Syria. In Brussel, a mayor banned a Muslim soup kitchen he felt was recruiting angry young Muslims to Syria.

Just as importantly, Europol, the European police agency, says that fighters who return from foreign countries after participating in terrorism “have the potential to utilize their training, combat experience, knowledge and contacts for terrorist activities inside the EU.” After America’s experiences with the Chechnyan-visiting Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Europe is deeply concerned about something similar happening on its own soil.

The European hard left is attempting to stop European authorities from shutting down such travel, however. Jos Vander Velpen, chairman of the Belgian League of Human Rights, says “We are talking about views that these youngsters hold, and you cannot change opinions with a repressive approach.” That was precisely the attitude taken by the authorities with regard to the Tsarnaevs.

Eric Holder: Soft on Terror, Again

breitbart

By Joel B. Pollak 

On April 27, Attorney General Eric Holder defended a federal judge's decision to read confessed terrorist Dzhokhar Tsarnaev his Miranda rights after only 16 hours of interrogation, saying: “Everything was done appropriately, and we got good leads.” Holder's statement confirmed earlier reports that he had foreknowledge of, but failed to object to, U.S. Magistrate Judge Marianne B. Bowler’s decision to "mirandize" Tsarnaev.

Judge Bowler's sudden appearance at Tsarnaev's hospital bedside prompted alarm from the FBI agents who were questioning him. Holder is correct that the FBI had managed to obtain "good leads"; what he does not acknowledge is the leads they might yet have uncovered. 

The failure to insist on as full an interrogation as possible fits a pattern of Holder standing up for terrorists' rights despite the danger to American lives.

During his confirmation hearings in 2009, Holder came under scrutiny for his role as President Bill Clinton's Deputy Attorney General in granting clemency to terrorists from the radical Puerto Rican radicals in the FALN organization. As the Los Angeles Times reported, Holder “instructed his staff at Justice's Office of the Pardon Attorney to effectively replace the department's original report recommending against any commutations.”

The FALN case was not the only troubling evidence of Holder’s sympathy for terrorists. Holder served as senior partner in the Covington and Burling law firm, which took on the cases of 17 Yemeni terror detainees being held at the Guantánamo Bay prison. Holder also represented Chiquita Brands International in a plea bargain over payments to the AUC, a Columbian terrorist paramilitary organization, as Michelle Malkin noted in 2009.

In 2010, Liz Cheney and her Keep America Safe organization pointed out that Holder’s Department of Justice (DOJ) included nine lawyers who had previously represented Al Qaeda terror suspects. Critics charged, falsely, that Cheney was arguing that terrorists did not deserve lawyers. She did not dispute their right to counsel, but did question whether those who volunteered to provide it could be trusted with the nation’s security.

Indeed, over and over again, Holder has placed his left-wing political agenda ahead of national security. He insisted on trying 9/11 master plotter Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in federal court in New York City until he was forced to back down under political pressure. Shortly after the 2012 election, Holder seized the opportunity to bring Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law to New York City for a civilian trial, again regardless of the risk.

One of Holder’s top priorities at the DOJ was to investigate the CIA for interrogations of terrorists conducted under the administration of President George W. Bush. Ultimately, Holder decided not to bring any charges, but the investigation had reportedly damaged morale at the intelligence agency. Intelligence-gathering from terror detainees has since become a repeated source of trouble, from the Christmas Day bomber in 2009 to Tsarnaev.

Holder famously promised that bin Laden would not be read his rights because he would be killed first. As with much of the Obama administration’s policy on terrorism, however, bin Laden has proved to be an exceptional case. Holder has shown enthusiasm for the expansive use of executive powers, such as the use of drones, but has shown less enthusiasm for his fundamental responsibility of enforcing the law and keeping America safe.

Marc Thiessen, writing at the Washington Post, notes that Holder suggested in mid-2010 that the rules around Miranda warnings should be reformed to reflect the realities of international terrorism. Such changes were a "top priority," Holder promised. Yet despite Democrats holding control of both houses of Congress, Holder "failed to deliver," Thiessen observes, leaving the U.S. unequipped to deal with Tsarnaev.

Celebrated defense lawyer and civil libertarian Alan Dershowitz was calling for Tsarnaev to be mirandized even before Judge Bowler had done so, largely because he believed the public safety risk had passed once both suspects had been neutralized. But others called Holder's move premature, and Rep. Peter King (R-NY), chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence went further, calling it "absolutely disgraceful."

After the Boston Marathon bombings, President Barack Obama promised: “But make no mistake, we will get to the bottom of this, and we will find out who did this, we'll find out why they did this." The DOJ had advance warning of the judge’s intent and did not dissuade her. At best, Holder’s conduct reflects appalling incompetence and confusion. At worst, it is part of an effort to place the rights of terrorists above the lives of Americans.

Source-Female DNA found on bomb components in Boston Marathon probe

Fox News

Female DNA was found on bomb components used in the attack this month on the Boston Marathon, a source familiar with the investigation confirmed to Fox News, though the source cautioned that it is too early to draw hard conclusions from that evidence.
"No one should expect that the investigation is over," the source told Fox News in confirming the development first reported by the Wall Street Journal, adding that it is just one piece of evidence that investigators are looking at.
The revelation about female DNA came on the same day that the FBI went inside the Rhode Island home of bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev's widow's parents, and the nearby family of a man identified as his mysterious mentor hired a family spokesman to keep the media at bay.
"We are there as part of our ongoing investigation, but we aren't permitted to discuss specific aspects of our case," an FBI official said outside the suburban Providence home where Katherine Russell and her 3-year-old daughter are staying.
Authorities suspect Tsarnaev and his younger brother dropped, then detonated two bombs near the finish line of the April 15 marathon, killing three and injuring more than 260.
The 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed several days after the bombing in a shootout with police. The 19-year-old brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was captured alive but wounded and is now at a medical detention center.
Russell has not been named as a suspect in the April 15 bombing. A home health aide, she reportedly worked up to 80 hours per week and did not know her radical Muslim husband's plans to carry out a terror plot. The widow has kept a low profile since the attack, and is believed to have been living with her parents in West Kingston, R.I., since her husband was exposed as a terrorist and then killed in a police shootout.
Meanwhile, an attorney for the family of a man who some of Tsarnaev's family members say is the mysterious "Misha" who radicalized Tamerlan Tsarnaev said his parents are under extreme stress and fearful of all the publicity the case has brought them. They confirmed their son, Mikhail Allakhrdov, is the Misha who was a spiritual tutor of Tsarnaev's some years ago. But in an interview with The New York Times, Allakhrdov, a Ukrainian Christian who converted to Islam, said he had not had contact with Tsarnaev for several years and that he never encouraged him to take up violence.
Richard Nicholson told reporters he expects law enforcement will "be asking additional questions" of the parents, implying that authorities have already spoken with the family.
"At some juncture they will be closing that part of the investigation," Nicholson said.
Fox News' Mike Levine contributed to this report.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/04/29/marathon-bombing-probe-female-dna/#ixzz2RwsXNosN

Via terror plot suspect a 'very good boy,' mom says

CBC News

The mother of one of the two suspects accused of trying to carry out an al-Qaeda-supported plot to derail a Via Rail passenger train for almost a year doesn't believe the charges against her son, saying he is a "very good boy" and a genius who loves to study.

"It surprised me. I didn't believe it. I am certain my son cannot commit such an act," Raoudha Esseghaier, mother of Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, told Radio-Canada from her home in Tunisia "I know it because I've raised him and I know him by heart."

• Jason Kenney wants to know why Via terror suspect wasn't deported
• Via terror plot suspect says Criminal Code 'not a holy book'

Raoudha said her son, who had been doing doctoral research at the Institute National de la Recherche Scientifique in Varennes, Que, runs experiments and does research.

"He is a very good boy. He loves his studies. Chiheb is a genius. Since his childhood, believe me, he's been passionate about his studies," she said. "When he was four, he knew how to read and count. Since his childhood, he is studying. Even when we would say, 'come play,' he would answer 'no, I don't want to. I prefer to study.'"

His father, Mohammed Rached Esseghaier, questioned the evidence against his son

"When someone wants to derail a train, he needs equipment, something, or, at least, a plan with [targets] spelled out. But they have not found anything."

• Via terror plot suspects deny allegations
• Charges against Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jaser

But the father did admit that in the last few years his son had changed and that the changes did not please him.

Earlier this week, Esseghaier, a Montreal resident who is from Tunisia, appeared in court, where he said that the Criminal Code should not apply to him because it's "not a holy book."

He, along with Raed Jaser, 35, of Toronto, are facing terrorism related charges in an alleged plot to derail a Via Rail passenger train. Esseghaier has been remanded into custody until his next appearance on May 23.

Watched for almost a year

CBC News reported this week that the RCMP had been following Esseghaier since May 2012. At that time, two undercover surveillance officers watched him on an Air Canada flight to Cancun, where he was to attend a biomedical conference.

Esseghaier's behaviour on the plane was "bizarre," and he had an altercation with a female flight attendant after he went to the washroom, sources say.

Salafist Surge: Germany faces extremist Islamic threat

RussiaToday

Makhachkala: Dusty Russian city where Boston suspect felt he ’belonged’

worldnews

2013 Getty Images

A view of Makhachkala, where suspected Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev spent time, on April 25.

By Adrienne Mong, Correspondent, NBC News

MAKHACHKALA, Russia — This dusty capital of Dagestan, Russia’s southernmost republic in the North Caucasus region, was home briefly last year to one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the 26-year-old alleged mastermind behind the Boston attacks, spent six months in the Russian Federation in 2012. At least half of that time he was in Dagestan, visiting his father Aznor Tsarnaev, who had moved back from the U.S. a year earlier. Investigators are trying to retrace the younger Tsarnaev’s footsteps and determine whether he met any Islamic militants during his stay.
His father maintains his son's innocence and said he only met relatives while he was there. He said his son was so taken with the place that he began talking about moving to Dagestan. In an interview with NBC News earlier this week, Aznor said his son "felt he belonged" there.

Adrienne Mong / NBC News

The beach in Makhachkala, Russia, the port city in Dagestan Tsarnaev spent several months in 2012. Its economy is growing rapidly and corruption is rife.

Tough town
A port city that dots the western edge of the Caspian Sea, Makhachkala is surrounded by low-lying mountains on its other sides. (Dagestan means “land of mountains.”)
The beaches reflect none of the glossy luster of Black Sea resorts; speed bumps seem to outnumber traffic lights; Residents and hotel guests complain about long periods of water shortages.
Nonetheless, the capital is enjoying robust economic growth. Construction sites are everywhere and new hotels are being built. Shops are full of well-known western brands, including Apple’s iPhones. Cafés are teeming with young people and families.

But life is not easy in this North Caucasus town. Take the mayor, for instance.
Said Amirov has survived 15 assassination attempts since the 1990s; one of them put him in a wheelchair. He refuses to be photographed in it, wanting to project an image of power and authority in a culture obsessed with male athleticism and physical prowess (wrestling and soccer are the most popular sports).
Though named the Best Mayor of Russia 2012, Amirov is an emblem of corruption, according to one local journalist. When asked about corruption during a press briefing this week about the Boston bombing suspects, Amirov dismissed the topic: “Corruption exists everywhere.”
However, local residents say corruption is particularly rampant in Dagestan.

In an interview with reporters, Zubeidat Tsarnaev, the mother of Boston bombing suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, insists her sons are not responsible for the marathon attacks and expresses her regret in relocating the family to the U.S.

“If you have money, you can get anything done,” said a former policeman, who quit his job because he couldn’t stomach the corruption in the local police force.
In a town that features a clothing shop called “Tony Montana” – named after the Cuban gangster played by Al Pacino in “Scarface” – men swagger in leather jackets and sweatpants. Police checkpoints dot the main roads and semiautomatic weapons are on plentiful display.
The majority of women wear hijabs and long skirts, but it’s not unusual to see women with uncovered hair, three-inch Louboutin heels and tiny skirts.
With a population of half a million, the capital is also a cultural crossroads. Dagestan is Russia’s most ethnically diverse republic with more than 30 ethnic groups.
Sectarian strife
Apart from geography, Islam is the other tie that binds so many diverse groups. Arab conquerors introduced the religion to Dagestan in the seventh century, making it the oldest Islamic republic in the Russian Federation. Dagestan has between 1,800 to 2,000 mosques, according to official Russian government reports, more than neighboring Chechnya or Ingushetia.
During Friday prayers, hundreds of men streamed toward the white multidomed Central Mosque, the largest in Makhachkala. As they prayed, heavily armed men – some dressed in camouflage, some in civilian clothes – ringed the edge of the mosque grounds.
It is the perfect snapshot of the strife surrounding Islam in Dagestan.

Adrienne Mong / NBC News

The Central Mosque in Makhachkala. Dagestan is the oldest Islamic republic in Russia.

In 1999, Chechen rebels invaded, marking the beginning of the second Chechen war. The arrival of Chechen fighters in Dagestan deepened sectarian rifts between Sufis (those who mix Islam with local customs) and Salafis (ultra-conservative Sunni Muslims who believe they are practicing a “pure” form of Islam and adhere strictly to Shariah law).
As terrorist attacks spread throughout Dagestan – now considered more volatile than Chechnya – Russia’s security forces have cracked down further on dissidents and suspected militants, fueling violence, tension and fear.
“As soon as we began preaching Salafism, the government began targeting us,” said Gadzhi Mohamed, who helps run a local Islamic civil rights organization called “Akhlusuna.” In fact, “as soon as someone says ‘pure Islam,’ they become an enemy of the people, created by the state.”