Monday Morning Catch-Up: The Regime Dropped The Ball

Breitbart TV: SEN GRAHAM: ‘THE BALL WAS DROPPED’ ON BOSTON BOMBER:

CNN: Sen. Graham on the FBI’s handling of suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, now dead, in a discussion with Sen. Schumer on last week’s bombing. The two also weighed the possibility of the death penalty for the other suspect, Dzhokhar.

Mediaite: Sen. Feinstein, Rep. King Clash Over Suspect’s Enemy Combatant Status: ‘The Battlefield Is Now In’ The U.S.

Seeing a pattern,    King said that there have been about five preventable attacks that have taken place in the past few years.

King countered that he wasn’t concerned with the conviction, because he knows the suspect will indeed be convicted, but rather he wants to be able to obtain additional intelligence from Tsarnaev. That can only be done “effectively” if he’s treated as an enemy combatant. Asked about Tsarnaev not being on an FBI watch list following his trip to Russia, King wondered what was “deficient,” “what went wrong.” Lauding the FBI for their work resolving the case, the congressman said, in terms of taking action beforehand, this was just the latest in a series of such mishaps.

“The threat is coming from within the Muslim community in the these cases,” King doubled down, asked about his recent remarks about “increased surveillance” of that community. Ninety-nine percent of Muslims are “outstanding Americans,” he added, but still, that is where the threat originates.

Feinstein didn’t find that discussion to be very “helpful,” emphasizing instead the need to look at the facts. It’s worth looking into, she added, but there’s no need to create “hatred” and “disdain” on television about it.

You know – the question isn’t what a left-wing politician, wallowing in suicidal PC BS considers “helpful”. It’s what the potential victims of the next terror attack finds “helpful”. Do they think labeling Evangelicals, Catholics and Mormons ” religious extremists”  is helpful? Or would they consider upping our counter-intelligence game a bit by focusing on real threats from Islamic fundamentalists perhaps a little more helpful. How would the Tsarnaev brothers’ surviving victims in Boston answer that question?

Guess where PMSNBC’s Melissa Harris Perry and her panel come down on that question.

Rick Moran, PJ Media: MSNBC’s Harris-Perry ‘Leans Forward’ and Steps in it:

Melissa Harris-Perry, the MSNBC weekend host who doesn’t believe your children belong to you, also doesn’t believe that the religious faith of the Tsarnaev brothers matters to the investigation of the Boston bombings.

Harris-Perry must have been visiting her home planet the last few days, so perhaps we can excuse her for being a little behind the breaking news curve. Still, wherever she calls home, don’t they get the New York Times orWashington Post?

I apologize in advance if you’re watching this on a full stomach:

Sooper Mexican: 2011 FLASHBACK: DHS Secretary Napolitano Says No “Logic” In Profiling Muslim Men Under The Age Of 35:

From Real Clear Politics:

“You’re not using good logic there. You’ve got to use actual intelligence that you received. And, so, you might — all you’ve given me is a kind of status. You have not given me a technique for tactic or behavior. Something that would suggest somebody is not Muslim, but Islamic, that has actually moved into the category of violent extremists,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said at a forum on U.S. security and preventing terrorist attacks.

The Weekly Standard: Don’t Rule Out Anything:

In an exceptionally well-reported story in the Daily Beast Friday, we read this:

“One U.S. intelligence official who was regularly briefed on the investigation told Newsweek that he and his colleagues all but ruled out al Qaeda central or one of its affiliates giving direct and specific instructions for the attack.”

***

This is not, of course, the first time we’ve seen an apparent eagerness from the Obama administration to minimize or dismiss the possibility of broader ties to international terrorism after attacks or attempted attacks on U.S. interests. Three days after the attempted bombing of an airplane on Christmas Day 2009, President Obama suggested that the attempted attack was the work of “an isolated extremist.” He made the claim despite the fact that the bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, told interrogators in interviews shortly after his capture that he’d worked with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Five months later, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano called the attempted bombing of Times Square by Faisal Shahzad a “one off” attack. Other administration officials downplayed the likelihood of ties to foreign jihadists. But several days later, Attorney General Eric Holder acknowledged that the Pakistani Taliban “helped facilitate” the attack. “We know that they probably helped finance it and that he was working at their direction.”

Perhaps most famously, the Obama administration downplayed involvement of al Qaeda affiliated terrorists in the attacks in Benghazi on September 11, 2012. Despite ample evidence of their involvement – including real-time reporting from U.S. officials on the ground in Benghazi, a memo September 12 from the CIA station chief in Tripoli with details of the attacks and who conducted them, and communications intercepts from those involved in the assault – administration officials for days (even weeks) suggested that the attacks came spontaneously in response to an anti-Islam video.

These initial assessments fit nicely with the administration’s broader narrative about the end of the War on Terror and the imminent demise of al Qaeda. They were also wrong.

Why, then, would U.S. intelligence officials be ruling out ties to jihadist groups – or ruling out anything,for that matter – so early?

It’s an especially important question given what we know about Tamerlan Tsarnaev. CBS News reported Friday that the FBI had previously interviewed the elder Tsarnaev on a suspicion of ties to extremist groups. According to the CBS affiliate in Boston, the FBI initially denied ever contacting Tsarnaev. But later, after Tsarnaev’s mother spoke of the FBI contacts in an interview with Russian media, the FBI acknowledged that the older Tsarnaev had been under scrutiny.

The FBI now:

Jihad Watch:  “We have no doubt the brothers were not acting alone:” FBI hunting 12-member jihad terror sleeper cell linked to Boston jihad murders:

More than 1,000 FBI operatives are working on this. They need 10,000 of these politically correct, defanged Keystone Kops, and even then they probably won’t find this cell. They are forbidden to examine the motives and goals of the type of people they’re looking for — to do so would be “Islamophobic,” according to the Obama Administration. So they’re fumbling along in the dark, pretending that there is no such thing as an Islamic terrorist while hunting for Islamic terrorists.

Weasel Zippers: Flashback: FBI Purges Training Material of “Anti-Islam” Documents, Will Ensure Future Material Isn’t Critical Of Islam…

Shockingly, sticking your head in the sand doesn’t make a threat go away.

February 15, 2012:

An internal FBI investigation into its counterterrorism training has purged hundreds of bureau documents of instructional material about Muslims, some of which characterized them as prone to violence or terrorism.

The bureau disclosed initial findings from its months-long review during a meeting at FBI headquarters on Wednesday with several Arab and Muslim advocacy groups, attended by Director Robert Mueller. So far, the inquiry has uncovered and purged over 700 pages of documentation from approximately 300 presentations given to agents since 9/11 — some of which were similar to briefings published by Danger Room last year describing “mainstream” Muslims as “violent.” And more discoveries may be forthcoming, as the FBI continues its inquiry and responds to Freedom of Information Act requests for the documents themselves.

Andrew McCarthy, NRO: Jihad Will Not Be Wished Away:

Willful blindness remains the order of the day, as it has since the World Trade Center was bombed in 1993. It is freely conceded that, when the identities and thus the motivation of the Marathon terrorists were not known, it would have been irresponsible to dismiss any radical ideology as, potentially, the instigator. But in our politically correct, up-is-down culture, to suggest “Outlook: Islam” was unthinkable. So the most likely scenario — namely, that jihadists who have been at war with us for two decades had, yet again, attacked innocent civilians — became the least likely scenario in the minds of media pundits. Instead, they brazenly prayed (to Gaia, I’m sure) for white conservative culprits with Tea Party hats and Rush 24/7 subscriptions. As our Kevin D. Williamson quipped, the “literal Caucasians” they got were not quite what they had in mind.

To listen to the commentary was to assume that the jihad’s nimble post-9/11 shift from heavy bombs and airliner missiles to IEDs had never happened. Prior to 2009, much agitprop was made over the thousands of American troops killed and maimed by IEDs in Iraq — they signified, the Left told us, that George Bush had brought al-Qaeda to previously jihad-free Baghdad. So did IEDs at the Marathon mean the same jihad had now come to Boston? Perish the thought. Surely the Marathon bombing was the work of either the right-wing extremists Janet Napolitano has been warning us about since 2009, or those notoriously violent Catholics and Evangelicals that today’s Army equates with Hamas and Hezbollah.

Legal Insurrection: Politically correct epistemic closure counterattacks Boston Marathon bombing reality:

Beginning Monday there had been a non-stop attempt to pin the blame for the Boston Marathon bombing on the “right wing” and Tea Party.

It wasn’t so much an argument based on facts as a hope based on politics, most clearly by David Sirota at Salon.com, but he was far from alone, Add Boston Marathon Bombing to pile of Failed Eliminationist Narratives.

Reality smashed those hopes in the face.

As it became indisputable that the perpetrators were Chechen Muslims who expressed support for Jihad and al-Qaeda (although the full extent of their connections is not known), the narrative shifted.

Now the emerging narrative is that these killers were not part of a vast foreign conspiracy but isolated “lone wolves” who became disenchanted with American society, who were not fully integrated into society, who were unhappy with their lives here and thus became radicalized.

Roger L. Simon, PJ Media: Boston and America … Where the Fish Rots from the Top:

The Obama administration and most of those working for it have taken Islamic terrorism about as seriously as I am taking the Memphis Grizzlies/L.A. Clippers game  currently on my TV — in other words, at best mildly interested. Not being a fan of either team, I could watch — I could switch to something else.

And when Islamic terrorism does rear its head, as in Benghazi, the administration evinces something worse than disinterest — dishonesty, lies, coverup and prevarication (sometimes aided by Tapper’s CNN cohort Candy Crowley).

And they don’t stop. They haven’t offered anything yet even remotely resembling a transparent account of the Libyan events or of their motivation. The secretary of State has told us it’s not even important. (How does that look in the light of Boston?)

So why would we expect the nation’s police department — the Federal Bureau of Investigation — to take these matters with the requisite seriousness?  The message they are getting from the top is …meh.  Until something happens, Islamic terrorism is way down this administration’s list of priorities.  And when it happens, the “t-word” is only mentioned under the most extreme duress (or possible political fallout). And the word “Islam” is abjured even when someone yells “Allahu Akbar!” while shooting everyone in the room.

The Daily Mirror: Boston bombers: FBI hunting 12-strong terrorist “sleeper cell” linked to brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev:

The FBI was last night hunting a 12-strong terrorist “sleeper cell” linked to the Boston marathon bomb brothers.

Police believe Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were specially trained to carry out the devastating attack.

More than 1,000 FBI operatives were last night working to track down the cell and arrested a man and two women 60 miles from Boston in the hours before Dzhokhar’s dramatic capture after a bloody shootout on Friday.

A source close to the investigation said: “We have no doubt the brothers were not acting alone. The devices used to detonate the two bombs were highly sophisticated and not the kind of thing people learn from Google.

“They were too advanced. Someone gave the brothers the skills and it is now our job to find out just who they were. Agents think the sleeper cell has up to a dozen members and has been waiting several years for their day to come.”

Doug Ross: TERRORISM AND THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: Willful Ignorance or … ?

The President asserts that officials don’t know the bombers’ motives and that he’ll get to the bottom of it.Here’s a tip that should save him some time: Jihad.As Andrew McCarthy adroitly notes, no matter how many times the Obama administration tries, “Jihad will not be wished away.”And, as an aside, we still have no earthly idea what Barack Obama did before, during and after the attacks in Benghazi that killed four Americans including an Ambassador.

The Conversation: The Terrorists Didn’t Fail:

Will Obama’s Homeland Security take a much needed break from targeting pro-lifers, 2nd Amendment supporters and traditional marriage proponents and focus on real threats to America?

And by that, I don’t mean putting in place more policies that infringe upon our freedoms as we see at our nation’s airports.

Oh, there’s a reason why Americans have been subjected to humiliating pat downs and “naked scanners” at airport screenings since the Fall of 2009.

It’s because the counter-terrorism policies of this administration, under Obama, Holder and Brennan, have failed to keep us safe.

Here’s the tally of terror attacks on US soil that have taken place since Obama took office.

May 2009, Binghamton NY: N.Y. Shooting Massacre
June 2009, Little Rock, AR: Military Recruiting Center Shooting
November 2009, Fort Hood, TX:Fort Hood Gunman Who Killed 12, Wounded 30 Survived Gun Battle
December 2009, Detroit, MI: Panty-bomber, Northwest Airlines Flight 253
May 2010, NYC: Faisal Shahzad, Times Square Attack
September 2012: Benghazi terror attack on US Consulate in Libya
April 2013: The Boston Marathon bombing

This represents quite an uptick since Bush left office. What changed?

As blogger AJ Strata noted in April of 2010, the Obama Administration Confused national defense and criminal defense.

When President Obama was candidate Obama, his national security team was clear that they were going to roll back the Bush hair-trigger defenses and do things very differently. They were adamant to prove we were not really at war, and that we could fight the bloody-mad Jihadists using courtrooms and prosecutors. Their naivete knew no bounds.

The Obama administration decided early on that  they knew enough about the threat to adjust Bush’s early warning network to be much less intrusive on suspects. Strata noted that “they were arrogantly wrong. Their changes introduced openings that al Qaeda and its allies exploited with surreal success.”

Other than enacting more intrusive policies on everyday Americans, it doesn’t look like the administration has changed it’s national security posture at all,  since then.

Weasel Zippers: Tom Brokaw: America Partly To Blame For “Islamic Rage” Behind Boston Terror Attack…

Brokaw, only the latest shameful member of Team Deflection.

“There are a couple of things to remember here, David, I think for all of us,” Brokaw intoned. “With the death of Osama bin Laden, Islamic rage did not go away. In fact, in some ways it’s more dangerous. This is a perfect example.”

He said Americans need to take a hard look at “the roots” of why so many Muslims, including Americanized terrorists like the Tsarnaev brothers in Boston, want to kill them.

“There’s a lot that we still need to know about what motivated them, obviously,” Brokaw said, noting the Muslim faith of both bombers. “And the fact is that that Islamic rage is still out there.”

Atlas Shrugs: FBI DETAINS TWO ASSOCIATES OF BOSTON JIHADI IN NEW BEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS:

Are they part of the jihad sleeper cell?

Previously at Atlas: Boston Bombing Jihad Attack: 3 More Arrested

FBI detains two men at Hidden Brook apartment complex South Coast Today, April 20, 2013 (hat tip armaros)

NEW BEDFORD — Agents wearing FBI and Department of Homeland Security jackets detained two men at the Hidden Brook apartment complex just hours after releasing three people believed to be associated with Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

A neighbor who declined to identify herself said the same two men were among the three people taken into custody by the FBI Friday afternoon.

An FBI spokeswoman could not provide any information on the two men, both of whom were led away in handcuffs around 3:50 p.m. Saturday, or anything related to the apartment, citing the “ongoing” nature of the investigation.

The neighbor would not provide further details when pressed by reporters.

Doug Ross:  LIBERALS SHOCKED, CONFUSED: Heavily-Armed Boston Bombers Didn’t Have Gun Permits:

Or explosives permits, for that matter. A perplexed Associated Depress reluctantly reports:

Massachusetts police official say the brothers suspected of bombing the Boston Marathon before having shootouts with authorities didn’t have gun permits.Cambridge Police Commissioner Robert Haas tells The Associated Press in an interview Sunday that neither Tamerlan Tsarnaev (tsahr-NEYE’-ehv) nor his brother Dzhokhar had permission to carry firearms.

According to his Twitter page, Troy Crossley is a 20-year old rapper who resides in Chelsea, Mass. He is emerging as one of Twitter’s most vociferous supporters of the surviving Boston Marathon bombing suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Crossley, who exchanged tweets with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev prior to Monday’s bombing (see, e.g., here, here, and here), has accumulated nearly 10,000 Twitter followers.

It would take all day to document all of his pro-Tsarnaev tweets.

CBC News:  Alleged terror plot thwarted by arrests in Ontario, Quebec:

Canadian police and intelligence agencies will announce later today they have thwarted a plot to carry out a major terrorist attack, arresting two suspects in Montreal and Toronto, CBC News has learned.

Highly placed sources tell CBC News the alleged plotters have been under surveillance for more than a year in Quebec and southern Ontario.

The two men are expected to appear in court tomorrow.

Police have made a number of arrests in southern Ontario and Quebec following a joint operation between Canadian and U.S. authorities.(CBC)

The investigation was part of a cross-border operation involving Canadian law enforcement agencies, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Weasel Zippers;  Tweets In March Show Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Was “Poppen Fireworks” And Planning To “Do More Damage” With Friends:

Troy Crossley, a friend of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, has taken to Twitter trying to cast doubt on whether his friend is guilty of the Boston bombings.  He has turned into Alex Jones and is now trying to raise money, allegedly for his friend’s defense.

This would all be a bit crazy and worthy of snark.

Except for the fact that he and one of Dzhokhar’s other friends, @xxjungaxx, another Twitter defender, exchanged tweets with Dzhokhar about fireworks, doing more damage and getting to “fuk shit up”.

Twitter expressions of twenty-somethings sometimes use “fuk shit up” without meaning much. What makes the tweets interesting is the clear reference to fireworks and damage.

Eight days before the above discussion which referenced use of  prior “fireworks”,  there were unexplained explosions in nearby Hanover, about half an hour away. Hanover is a town on the way from UMass Dartmouth, where Dzhokhar went to school, and Cambridge, where he lived.

Keep reading.