Had this been the Bush Administration, by now we would have wall-to-wall coverage of the developing "they knew about it beforehand and are lying to us . . . " scandal. (The same sort of news blowup would be happening with the Gosnell trial if it had been a pro-life terrorist incident or something that could be construed that way.)
EXCLUSIVE: Saudi Arabia 'warned the United States IN WRITING about Boston Bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev in 2012'
By David Martosko and The American Media Institute
- Saudis developed intelligence separately from Russia, which also warned the U.S. about the accused Boston bomber
- A letter to the Department of Homeland Security allegedly named Tsarnaev and three Pakistanis as potential jihadis worthy of U.S. investigation
- Red flags from Saudi Arabia to have included Tsarnaev's name and information about a planned explosive attack on a major U.S. city
- Saudi foreign minister, national security chief both met with Obama in the oval office in early 2013
But, it's different when the shoe is on the other foot. That's a key take-home lesson on the degree of manipulative bias in the major news.
(Indeed, I now take it as a warning sign when on something in the US, UK media keep getting the scoops and breakthroughs. U/D: CNN's Anchor Jake Tapper, is tweeting that DHS has no knowledge of such a letter. Let's see, but right now my bet is -- since this is not just about a letter but has circumstantial details -- this isa bit more than empty noise.)
In addition, the Saudis apparently are trying to downplay onward connexions, suggesting that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was not being taken seriously by other jihadists. Such should be taken with a grin of salt, in light of reports on the degree of apparent sophistication of the fuzing on the bombs being used. It seems, the bombs used electronic fuzes that were fairly sophisticated and not in simple accord with the now notorious Al Qaeda magazine article on making pressure cooker bombs. So, there is a suspicion about a possible "Master Bomber" on the loose.
This CNN vid clip (HT: WND) will bear watching:
in this context, it seems to me obvious that the captured brother should have been held as an illegal combattant, aka terrorist aka pirate, and interrogated as such, until he talks -- or in his case, writes. Then, when militarily relevant information has been extracted, he can be tried on the overwhelming evidence for terrorism and murder.
But if one is committed to pretending that the global jihad is just a fringe phenomenon best handled as a criminal matter, then I think strategic blinkers and resulting blunders are far more likely. END
