Sic Semper Tyrannis

SAN BERNARDINO SHOOTING: Media Circus in Town

By Patrick BAHZAD

I hate to rub it in, but considering the amount of outright stupidity, combined with classic "denial" strategies implemented by D.C.'s "finest" and repeated almost to the last man (and woman) by the US media circus, I have no other choice but to highlight some of the prize-worthy BS stories and comments that have been aired over the last two days.

It looks now like we went from "work related violence" to "possible domestic terrorism" to "hybrid terrorist and psychopath" to – finally – "ISIS inspired act of terrorism", curtosy of law enforcement uncovering the female shooter's online pledge of allegiance to Abubakr al-Baghdadi. Surprisingly, she used a social media account, under a different name, to announce her taking this ISIS "oath". All I can say is just 'wow' ! I guess there was no more way to spin this into a direction not linked to the usual Middle-Eastern suspects ...

I think attacks in the US are likely.

 

(This was posted on 21 November, 2015 on Sic Semper Tyrannis)

There is a lot of "bleeding heart silliness" being spouted in the media as US networks try to convince themselves that IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE!  Well, IMO that is incorrect and it probably will happen here.

The US and Saudi Arabia, are, I think the two most important target areas for IS.  The US because it represents the new Rome, the great Satan and Saudi Arabia because IS sees the royal family as sinners who should not be in charge of the Haramayn.

We have pretty solid police in the US and robust external border controls at crossing points, but, in fact we have a large and potentially recruitable disaffected segment in our population among racial minorities, resident Muslim youth and the like.  Remember.  It only takes a few people to pull off such attacks.  Weapons are easy to obtain in the US and the materials with which to make explosives are everywhere.

Four of the Paris attack group had entered Europe in the last few months, two on Syrian passports as part of the migration and two on Turkish passports simply traveling within the Schengen area without much trouble.  You never know what you don't know and we don't know how many others IS has sent toward targets in Europe and North America, especially before the Paris attacks.

PM Trudeau and his political colleagues are going to admit at least 25,000 "Syrian" migrants to Canada in the next few months.  There is no possibility that the Canadian authorities will be able to adequately screen that number of people for identity or prior associations.  It will anger Canadians here for me to say so but the US/Canada border is a joke.  You can walk across it in thousands of places outside the ken of authorities on either side.

The pattern is clear, IS sends in fighters to reinforce local adherents.

IS has announced its intention to attack New York City and Washington, DC.

We should take this statement of intention very seriously.  pl

http://globalnews.ca/news/2352983/60-of-canadians-disagree-with-liberal-plan-to-accept-syrian-refugees-ipsos-poll/

SAN BERNARDINO SHOOTING: Read it and weep ...

By Patrick BAHZAD

I was working late last night on Syria - new SITREP to follow soon - when I heard about the San Bernardino events. Just like with the recent Paris attacks, that all too familiar sense of eerie 'déjà vu' set in again.

Today, this shooting is being called a case of "domestic terrorism", which it definitely is, in a very specific way. It is also a case of mislabelling the event, not taking it for what it is, probably in the misguided belief this will make it go away. It won't ...

On the other hand of course, we should not get carried away either, start panicking and blame whole communities or see (domestic) Islamic terrorists at every street corner. However, the careful wording used by officials in recent cases where a radical Islamic background was clearly the driving force should have us wonder.

Is there really no difference when a mass-shooting occurs, regardless of the ideology the shooters pretend to serve ? The US, just like France and Europe, might be in for a tough awakening some day, if politically correct narratives prevent us from calling a spade a spade.

The issue of "gun control" will be raised again in relation with this attack, no question. Whether or not new laws should be implemented is up for the American public to decide. Tighter controls and regulations might certainly have prevented other occurrences of mass-shootings in the past, although not all of them.

However, it is highly questionable whether individuals acting out of a political or ideological background would be discouraged by tougher gun laws. That is probably one important difference in the San Bernardino attack. Besides, gun control is much tighter in Europe, but it didn't prevent the Paris attacks. That is not to say the question should not be raised, but there is a separate issue at stake here, which should not be buried under partisan domestic politics.

On that note, I figured I might republish excerpts from the piece I had drafted in the aftermath of the Chattanooga shooting 'The Many Faces of Jihad' (July 17th 2015), and leave it up to the reader to make up his mind:

• The threat awareness in the US and Europe
  
  The US is in no way immune from home-grown Jihadis and the "crowd-sourcing of terrorists" (a phrase coined by James Comey, Director of the FBI) has opened new recruitment opportunities for the Middle-Eastern sponsors of terrorism.
  
  People in the US (law enforcement agencies and anti-terrorism task forces set aside) tend to considerably underestimate the potential threat they are facing in that regard. The general feeling is that the US is not as exposed as European countries and the large pool of European would-be Jihadis joining ranks with ISIS or Al Qaeda gives Americans a bit of a distorted sense of safety.
  
  Over the years (since 9/11), a number of attacks, or attempted attacks, have been foiled by law enforcement agencies on US soil, some of them just recently. There is no doubt in my mind that the officers in charge of fighting and preventing terrorism in the US are very aware that the threat is real and growing.
  
  This awareness however has not been reflected in the public debate about those issues, where ISIS in particular is mostly seen as a barbaric nuisance affecting the good people of Iraq and Syria, while not being a problem at home.

"Russia says it has proof..."

 

"Russia's defence ministry said on Wednesday it had proof that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and his family were benefiting from the illegal smuggling of oil from Islamic State-held territory in Syria and Iraq.

Moscow and Ankara have been locked in a war of words since last week when a Turkish air force jet shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian-Russian border, the most serious incident between Russia and a NATO state in half a century.

In a briefing in Moscow, defence ministry officials displayed satellite images which they said showed columns of tanker trucks loading with oil at installations controlled by Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, and then crossing the border into neighbouring Turkey.

The officials did not specify what direct evidence they had of the involvement of Erdogan and his family, an allegation that the Turkish president has vehemently denied.

"Turkey is the main consumer of the oil stolen from its rightful owners, Syria and Iraq. According to information we've received, the senior political leadership of the country - President Erdogan and his family - are involved in this criminal business," said Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov."

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 Well, pilgrims, the US has quite adequate overhead reconnaissance means.  We know all about the "columns of tanker trucks loading with oil at installations controlled by Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, and then crossing the border into neighbouring Turkey."

So, who is it that Obama and his girls think they are kidding when he claims that Sultan Tayyip is going to seal the existing border gap against IS?   Who do they think they are kidding?  pl   

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/12/02/us-mideast-crisis-russia-turkey-dUSKBN0TL19S20151202#w8wfPF7PS2Fyc4v5.97 

Obama's "impenetrable narrative," and the Paris presser.

Our colleague David Habakkuk remarked here that LTG Flynn and the DIA encountered in Obama's Borgist administration an "impenetrable narrative."  This narrative and the smug self-assurance behind the narrative were on display at Obama's pre-departure press conference at Paris on 1 December, 2015.

Things he said and what he looked like:

Syria.  Paraphrasing - "I have been convinced for the LAST FIVE YEARS that Assad must go, must be removed from office."  Well, pilgrims, five years ago was BEFORE the Syrian Civil War.  Did he simply misspeak?  Did he mean four years?  Or, was this a Freudian slip in which he really admitted that he had decided to get rid of Assad BEFORE the civil war began?  If he really did mean five years then the accusation that the US, Saudi Arabia and Israel promoted the revolt in the context of "The Arab Spring" gains weight in the debate over the origins of the civil war.

Jihadi groups in the Syrian National Congress (SNC).  Paraphrasing - "Some of these groups are not people we have much in common with and we know that the transition post-Assad will be 'messy' but these groups are important to some other countries in our coalition..."  Can there be any doubt that he was referring to Sultan Tayyip's Turkey, Wahhabi Saudi Arabia and Wahhabi Qatar?  Do he and his Borgist crew not understand that these Islamist forces seek a Syria in which their varied visions of a Sunni Islamic future are triumphant and in which religious minorities are reduced to dhimmitude.  Is this what the emperor of us all thinks is a desirable outcome in Syria?

Russia.  Paraphrasing - "They will 'come around' to our view about Syria and accept that what we want must be."  Once again, pilgrims, I see nothing in anything the Russians are doing that indicates they are going to "come around."

The War.  Paraphrasing - "Nothing the Russians have done since they began their operations in Syria has changed the situation.  They will eventually understand that a military solution in Syria is not possible."  SWMBO listened to that and remarked that this man knows nothing of war.  I agree.

 US Politics. Paraphrasing - "I rely on the wisdom of the American people to insure the election of a Democrat as my successor."  Remarkable.  In 75 years I have not seen an American president inject party into discourse on foreign soil and at an international meeting.  Remarkable.

Turkey. Paraphrasing.  "I am assured that Turkey will seal its border against movement of IS oil, people and supplies."  Sultan Tayyip must believe that he has already died and gone to heaven.

His attitude.  His imperial majesty displayed the now familiar petulant disdain for all who dared question him.  The atmosphere was the kind of thing one sees in meetings in which a teacher tries to contain his patronizing of students.  His reference to the UK as "the Brits" was painful to hear.  pl