American Police State Needs More Easy-Bake-Terrorists

FBI Tracked Chattanooga Shooter’s Family for Years

land destroyer

July 17, 2015 (Tony Cartalucci – LD) – Once again, another convenient shooting has helped supercharge anger, hatred, fear, and division across the Western World after an alleged “Islamist extremist” opened fire on and killed 4 US Marines at a recruiting station in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Without any knowledge of how the US has in fact created Al Qaeda and its many global affiliates, including vicious terrorist groups plaguing Southeast Asia, and the most notorious to date, the so-called “Islamic State” (ISIS), the American public will predictably react in a manner that will simply further justify America’s meddling across the globe amid its self-created and perpetuated “War on Terror.” It will also help in efforts to further tighten control over the American public itself, with increased justifications for expanding police state measures and future pushes to disarm the American people.

Yahoo News would report in their article, “Shootings at Chattanooga military facilities leave 4 Marines, gunman dead; act called ‘domestic terrorism‘,” that:

A U.S. official told the Associated Press that Abdulazeez had not been on the radar of federal law enforcement before Thursday’s shooting. 

But also added:

His father had been investigated several years ago for “possible ties to a foreign terrorist organization” and added to the U.S. terrorist watch list, according to a report in the New York Times, but that probe did not surface information about Abdulazeez, the paper said.

This means that yet another case of “domestic terror” has involved someone either investigated by the FBI, entrapped by an active FBI operation where FBI investigators posed as terrorist leaders and walked a patsy through every step of a terrorist attack before arresting them and thus “foiling” the attack, or linked directly to someone the FBI was investigating.

Ironically, the immense omnipresent police state the West has erected to combat the so-called “terrorist” threat, including the total surveillance of all communications online and across all telecommunication networks, at home and abroad under the National Security Agency (NSA) will only expand, despite it once again apparently failing, and despite attempts by special interests on Wall Street and in Washington to claim this latest attack “again” somehow circumvented these already sweeping measures.

Meanwhile, The US Continues Supporting Extremists Abroad

And while this latest attack is passed off as a “domestic terrorist attack” and the result of “Islamic extremists,” rather than a false flag event, the US continues to openly support the very “terrorists” it claims threatens its homeland and has inspired these sort of attacks.

Just recently, the Washington Post literally allowed a spokesman of Al Qaeda to defend his faction’s role in the fighting in Syria, and his condemnation of the United States for not rendering more aid for the cause of overrunning and destroying the Syrian nation – a goal the US itself is likewise pursuing.

Labib Al Nahhas, “head of foreign political relations” for terrorist organization Ahrar al-Sham, wrote in his Washington Post op-ed titled, “The deadly consequences of mislabeling Syria’s revolutionaries,” that:

Stuck inside their own bubble, White House policymakers have allocated millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars to support failed CIA efforts to support so-called “moderate” forces in Syria. But these “moderate” groups have proved to be a disappointment on nearly every count, not least of all in confronting the Islamic State.

He also states:

That question should prompt Washington to admit that the Islamic State’s extremist ideology can be defeated only through a homegrown Sunni alternative — with the term “moderate” defined not by CIA handlers but by Syrians themselves.

Essentially, the Washington Post afforded a terrorist organization space to make an appeal to the American public for military support. Ahrar al-Sham regularly coordinates with and fights within operations led by Al Qaeda’s Al Nusra Front, a US State Department designated terrorist organization from which ISIS itself sprung.

Al Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham are described as the “closest” of allies by Western think-tanks and media reports. It is also revealed that Ahrar al-Sham worked along side ISIS itself.

A Stanford University report under “Mapping Militant Organizations” explained (emphasis added):

Ahrar al-Sham quickly became one of the largest military organizations operating in Syria, and it has been active in efforts to unite the Islamist opposition under a single banner. It rejects the idea of Western intervention but sometimes works alongside Free Syrian Army brigades. It routinely cooperates with al-Nusra and, until relations soured in 2013, also worked with ISIS. In February 2014, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence called Ahrar al-Sham one of the three most effective rebel groups in Syria.

The Washington Post isn’t the only voice in the Western media promoting Al Qaeda. Foreign Policy in 2012 abhorrently proclaimed, “Two Cheers for Syrian Islamists: So the rebels aren’t secular Jeffersonians. As far as America is concerned, it doesn’t much matter.” As much as an admission that the US is backing what is essentially terrorism in Syria, the Foreign Policy article attempted even then to promote the alleged “pragmatism” of supporting Al Qaeda to eliminate America’s foreign enemies.

Image: 100’s of trucks a day pass over Turkey’s border with Syria, destined for ISIS territory. NATO literally is supplying ISIS with an endless torrent of supplies, weapons, and fighters meaning that no matter how many token airstrikes the US carries out, many times more fighters and materiel will fill the void. 

And while Foreign Policy and terrorists writing in the pages of the Washington Post demand more weapons and support from the West, it is already a documented fact that immense and constantly flowing supply convoys are streaming out of both NATO-member Turkey and US-ally Jordan’s territory, into Syria and Iraq, for the purpose of resupplying ISIS. This explains ISIS’ otherwise inexplicable ability to not only maintain its impressive fighting capacity as it simultaneously wages war against both the Syrian and Iraqi armies, but to expand its fighting to all fronts opposed to US regional hegemony.

This includes Yemen, Libya, and even Egypt where ISIS most recently managed to hit an Egyptian naval vessel with a missile. Foreign Policy would again weigh in. Their article, “Islamic State Sinai Affiliate Claims to Have Hit Egyptian Ship With Missile,” states:

The use of a guided missile to strike an Egyptian ship represents a higher level of technological sophistication than what has been previously observed in Sinai attacks. It is unclear, however, exactly what kind of missile was used in the attack, beyond the militant group’s claim that it was a guided munition.

Militant groups in the region have in the past used guided missiles to attack government ships in the Mediterranean. During the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, an Iranian anti-ship missile fired by the militant group struck the Israeli warship Hanit, badly damaging the vessel and killing four crew members.

Of course, Foreign Policy and others across the Western media will be quick to point out that Hezbollah is a state-sponsored militant organization which receives its weapons from Syria and Iran. The question then becomes how ISIS replicated this level of “technological sophistication,” and which state-sponsors put the missiles into their hands.

The US supporting Al Qaeda is not really news. Al Qaeda was initially a joint US-Saudi venture to create a mercenary army to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan during the 1980’s. This mercenary army would again fight Russian interests in Serbia and Chechnya before eventually being used as the pretext for US invasions and occupations of both Afghanistan and Iraq from 2001 onward. In 2007, it was revealed that the US, Saudi Arabia, and Israel sought to use the terrorist organization to raise a proxy military front to overthrow Syria and Iran. The resulting bloodbath in Syria beginning in 2011 is the operational execution of this documented conspiracy.

Al Qaeda and its various affiliates serve both as a proxy mercenary front to strike where Western forces cannot, and a pretext to invade abroad. It also serves as a constant justification for increased tyranny at home. With the most recent shooting carried out by yet another target of the FBI’s “investigations,” and the predictable divisive backlash that will follow, it is assured that the American public will be further blinded to the fact that this so-called “Islamic extremism” was born in Washington and on Wall Street, in Riyadh and Tel Aviv, not in a mosque or springing forth from the pages of the Qu’ran.

In fact, the vast majority of the world’s Islamic people are locked in mortal combat with the West’s mercenary terrorist forces, with tens of thousands of them having shed their blood fighting Al Qaeda everywhere from Libya to Egypt, to Iraq and Syria. While the US attempts to pose as the leading power in the fight against extremism, its token airstrikes deep within Syrian territory are quickly undone by the torrent of supplies it itself oversees flooding into Syrian territory. For every fighter killed by a US airstrike, 10 more are being trafficked in through US and NATO-run networks stretching as far afield as Xinjiang, China.

The US presence in Iraq and Syria serves simply as one of several planned stepping stones to eventually and directly intervene militarily in toppling either or both governments, before moving on to Tehran.

The “War on Terror” is a fraud, and each “terrorist attack” a carefully orchestrated means of further perpetuating that fraud.

Al Qaeda Fights on Same Side as Saudi-Backed Militias in Yemen

Yemeni fighters loyal to exiled President Hadi evacuate an injured comrade during clashes with Houthi rebels in Aden on Thursday. Yemeni fighters loyal to exiled President Hadi evacuate an injured comrade during clashes with Houthi rebels in Aden on Thursday. Photo: saleh al-obeidi/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Local militias backed by Saudi Arabia, special forces from the United Arab Emirates and al Qaeda militants all fought on the same side this week to wrest back control over most of Yemen’s second city, Aden, from pro-Iranian Houthi rebels, according to local residents and Houthi forces.

As Yemen’s conflict degenerates into a precarious tangle of alliances, it poses a new quandary for the U.S. Yemen was a cornerstone of the American global counterterrorism strategy until earlier this year when the Houthis drove out a government that was working with Washington. The U.S. then backed a Saudi-led coalition that launched airstrikes against the Houthis in March.

Although the U.S. continues to conduct separate airstrikes targeting AQAP militants in Yemen, its plans to build a robust counterterrorism force in the country to deny al Qaeda a haven have been wiped out. Yemen has been a staging ground for several global terrorist attacks.

Meanwhile, Saudi-backed militias are spearheading efforts to roll back Houthi gains and reinstate the government that the rebels drove into exile in neighboring Saudi Arabia. But they have turned to Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, for help, according to local residents and a senior Western diplomat. This puts the U.S.-allied Gulf kingdom on the same side as one of the world’s most notorious extremist groups.

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry spokesman couldn’t be reached for comment.

The AQAP militants are exploiting the chaos to expand across Yemen, according to Western officials. At the same time, the regional coalition has been criticized for ignoring the group’s territorial gains since the onset of the conflict, while relentlessly targeting Houthi rebels.

Houthi forces and their allies said special forces from the U.A.E.—one of the chief Saudi partners in the Yemen military campaign—fought alongside the Saudi-backed militias in the southern city this week. They said they captured a few of the Emiratis, interrogated them and found Emirati identity documents on them.

The U.A.E.’s state news agency reported Thursday that an Emirati serviceman died fighting in Yemen—the first public acknowledgment that foreign forces from the coalition are on the ground in Yemen. Emirati government officials didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The Yemen conflict was sparked when the Houthis seized control of the government in the capital San’a in February and forced the government’s resignation. Until this week, the Houthis controlled most of Aden with the sea and air ports being key footholds. But in the past few days, control over those ports and the bulk of the city has reverted to the other side as the Saudi-led coalition ramped up efforts to reclaim the city to restore the ousted government.

Yemeni forces fighting the pro-Iranian Houthi rebels headed to the front lines in the southern port city of Aden on Thursday. Yemeni forces fighting the pro-Iranian Houthi rebels headed to the front lines in the southern port city of Aden on Thursday. Photo: Reuters

There were conflicting reports that several exiled officials of Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s government returned to Aden in the wake of the victory to try to set up a parallel government. A leader of a Saudi-backed militia said two government ministers and an intelligence official allied with Mr. Hadi came back on Thursday. Yemeni government officials denied that they had arrived in Aden, but said there is a plan to bring members of the exiled leadership back to the port city imminently.

The local militias used trucks and weapons supplied by the Saudi-led military coalition to finally push the Houthis out of the Aden ports after a five-month battle, local residents said. AQAP militants celebrated the victory alongside the militias, parading cadavers of Houthis on a main commercial street in the city to a cheering crowd, according to residents and video posted online on Monday.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether AQAP and the Emirati-backed militias fought side by side, or battled the Houthis separately in different parts of the city.

Aden wasn’t the first victory for AQAP in this conflict. In April, the group captured al-Mukalla, the country’s largest eastern seaport. The Saudi-backed militias have also acknowledged that they fought with AQAP against the Houthis in Ataq, the capital of Shabwa province, earlier this year.

Since 2011, the U.S. has spent nearly $500 million to train and equip Yemen’s security forces to battle AQAP. The U.S. has also backed the Saudi-led regional coalition with intelligence and logistical support since it formed in March, imposing a crippling aerial and naval blockade across Yemen.

American officials acknowledge that AQAP is one of the war’s biggest benefactors, but say Houthi rebels are ultimately to blame for overthrowing the government in February and sparking the conflict.

AQAP, which claimed responsibility for the January assault on a French satirical magazine in Paris that killed 12 people, has the longest reach of any of the world’s terrorist organizations and is the most capable of orchestrating global attacks, U.S. officials say.

“Unfortunately, in many areas, the locals and tribes are turning to AQAP to halt the Houthi advance,” said a senior Western diplomat in the region, acknowledging the support that Saudi-backed militias are receiving from al Qaeda militants.

“They are turning to anybody who will help them resist against the Houthis,” the diplomat added.

The Shiite-linked Houthis have repeatedly accused the Sunni kingdom of Saudi Arabia of working with the Sunni extremists of al Qaeda—a group the kingdom publicly says it is battling—to check the influence of rival Iran. Saudi Arabia has supported radical jihadist groups in past regional conflicts, although the monarchy is currently battling a rise of extremism at home.

Earlier this year, a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition acknowledged that the alliance was providing weapons to Yemeni militias that support the ousted government. But he denied those militias were fighting alongside AQAP. The allied militias, known as popular committees, often receive the Saudi support via airdrops.

This week, the popular committees retook several neighborhoods in Aden from Houthi rebels under the cover of dozens of Saudi airstrikes before reclaiming the airport on Tuesday. By Wednesday, the city’s seaport also fell to the Saudi-led alliance, a crucial win for the efforts to reinstall the ousted government, the Western diplomat said.

But As the popular committees fanned out across Aden, residents were surprised to see AQAP militants swarm the city alongside them.

“I’m confused over who has captured Aden, seeing al Qaeda flags flying in some parts [of the city] and on dozens of armored vehicles,” said a resident.

Another resident living in Crater, a neighborhood in Aden just south of the city’s airport, described the scene similarly.

“We were surprised to see some fighters raising al Qaeda flags and dragging some rebels on the streets of Crater tonight,” said the second resident.

Saudi Arabia cobbled together a regional coalition to intervene in Yemen in March, after Houthi rebels forced President Hadi to flee the country from Aden, where he had moved his government after fleeing San’a. Mr. Hadi and his government are currently operating in exile from Saudi Arabia.

In April, AQAP overran al-Mukalla, Yemen’s most significant eastern seaport located in Hadramout province, looting the central bank and staging a prison break to free some of its operatives. AQAP jointly runs the city with local tribes, according to residents. They have renamed their forces the “Sons of Hadramout,” and imposed elements of their brand of strict Islamic law in the city, banning the chewing of khat, a mild narcotic.

Tribes that rule the city jointly with AQAP have received some Saudi support, residents say, including fuel to keep the city running.

Write to Maria Abi-Habib at maria.habib@wsj.com

Chattanooga Man Wages Personal War Against Two Marine Recruiters

chattanoogaChattanooga Marine recruitment center

chattanooga shooterMuhammad Youssef Abdulazeez was booked as Mohammad Youssduf… Photo by Contributed Photo /Times Free Press.

What we know about the Chattanooga shooter

chattanooga times free press

Everything we know about the man responsible for killing four Chattanooga Marines

Four members of the military were killed in two attacks on military centers in separate parts of Chattanooga by an unknown gunman, leading to lockdowns at local hospitals as well as the Army Recruiting Center on Lee highway as well as the Naval and Marine Reserve Center at the Chattanooga Riverpark, where shots were fired.

A single shooter, described by witnesses as a white man driving a silver Ford Mustang convertible, began firing shots at 10:45 am.m. at the Lee Highway recruiting center, then led police on a chase to the Amnicola Highway location, where further shots were fired.

A U.S. official says the gunman in the shootings in Tennessee has been identified as 24-year-old Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, according to the Associated Press.

He was believed to have been born in Kuwait, and it was unclear whether he was a U.S. or Kuwaiti citizen. The official was speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing, sensitive investigation. It was not immediately clear whether the gunman’s first name was spelled Muhammad or Mohammad.

A man named Youssuf Abdulazeez attended UTC, spokesman Chuck Cantrell said, and graduated in 2012 with a degree in engineering.

Abdulazeez is from Hixson, Tennessee, which is just a few miles across the river from Chattanooga. He was booked for a DUI in April 2015.

Police in Hixson kicked a reporter out of the neighborhood that contained a house apparently owned by Abdulazeez. The reporter saw a SWAT team and FBI agents staging at a nearby strip mall. The house, which Hamilton County records is owned by Youssuf S. Abdulazeez, is appraised at $206,100 by the Hamilton County Assessor of Property.

Abdulazeez allegedly killed four Marines and shot one police officer in the attack at Amnicola Highway. A soldier and a police officer were wounded in the attack, according to the Associated Press. Dennis Pedigo, a Chattanooga police officer, is in stable condition.

Abdulazeez’s father, Youssuf Abdullazeez, was appointed as a “special policeman” for Chattanooga’s Department of Public Works in March 2005.

Erlanger’s Trauma Center received three shooting victims, a Chattanooga police officer and two members of the military.  One of those patients was discharged from Erlanger this afternoon; the other two are still being treated.

Officials have said the shooter is dead and that the active shooting situation has ended. The shooter did not work at either of the facilities, according to the FBI. Today’s attack came with no warning, the FBI said.

A sign on the outside of the Lee Highway location had a “no guns allowed” sign posted. During the news conference, the FBI confirmed that guns were generally prohibited at federal facilities.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam called the situation a “tragedy” and “sickening.” The Governor’s mansion, along with many other sensitive facilities in the region, was put under heightened security immediately following the shootings.

U.S. Attorney Bill Killian said during a press conference that he would classify the violence as an “act of domestic terrorism.”

During the attack on Amnicola Highway, numerous Chattanooga and Hamilton County officers “actively and enthusiastically” engaged the suspect, said Chattanooga Police Chief Fred Fletcher.

Witnesses at both the Amnicola and Lee Highway sites reported hearing multiple gunshots in each case, with the bulk of the firing happing at the Amnicola Highway location. Shortly after the shooting, blue markers littered the ground outside the recruiting station on Lee Highway where shots were fired, and police completely blocked off Amnicola Highway to traffic.

A photo taken after the attack from a helicopter and posted on Twitter showed the shooter’s Ford Mustang with doors opened, parked next to a bent gate that was positioned in such a way that it appeared to have been rammed by the vehicle.

President Obama has been briefed on the situation, and multiple law enforcement agencies have responded to the scene, including the FBI.

Carolyn Taylor, who works at Binswanger Glass across Amnicola Highway from the incident site, said she heard what sounded like over 100 gunshots.

“It was eight, 10 rounds at a time,” she said. “Several people were shooting.”

Taylor said the police arrived and took the employees behind the building and later let them back inside.

She said the business was still locked down more than two hours after the shooting and police were bringing food into the employees.

At Lee highway, witnesses also reported hearing multiple gunshots.

Nicholas Donahue, an employee at Desktop Solutions, said there were two groups of four to eight shots.

Another witness said he saw the shooter drive away at high speed after the shooting there.

Toscano Italian Grill co-owner Mohamed Elbardissy heard shots and saw the shooter drive away at high speed.

“He was driving a silver, convertible Mustang — a white guy,” Elbardissy said.

“One of the guys, he got shot in his leg,” Elbardissy said. “He was trying to join the Navy.”

Victims were rushed to Erlanger, where police officers put the hospital on lockdown. Shortly after the shooting, there were more than half a dozen police cars with lights flashing, and ambulances arrived one after another.

Police officers at Erlanger guarded the door with high powered rifles and ordered the news media across the street.

Erlanger CEO told a reporter the hospital was on lockdown “so that we could actively manage the disaster.”

At one point, officers closed a curtain outside the Emergency Room, obscuring the ambulance from public view. They continued to work on the person in the ambulance for several minutes before bringing him inside the hospital. He appeared to be awake and sitting up.

Family members arrived later and were escorted inside by other police officers, who put their arms around the women.

Bruce Gans, owner of Tri-State Pools at 6220 Perimeter Drive, near Lee Highway where the shooting occurred at the U.S. Naval Recruiting Station, heard at least three gunshots this morning.

“We had the back door of the store open when we heard ‘Pop, pop, pop,’ which sounded liked an AR-15. Within minutes, it seemed, cops were all over the place. We heard rumors that five Marines had been killed. We locked the doors.”

“I just heard all the shooting,” said Fred Wright, a counter salesman at Carquest Auto Parts downhill from the U.S. Army Recruiting Office at 6219 Lee Hwy.

Then Wright saw recruiting office personnel come running.

“All of them starting running through the brush and the briars,” Wright said. “One of them was yelling, ‘Call 911, someone’s shooting at us.'”

“Three of them came in here, and we called 911,” Wright said.

Bradley Square Mall in Cleveland, which also has a recruiting office, was also locked down after a “shots fired” call. However, after clearing the mall shortly before 2 p.m., police said that there was no shooting in Bradley County. It was set to reopen at 5 p.m.

Chattanooga State Community College, which is down the road from the shooting on Amnicola, was also on lockdown until further notice, said spokeswoman Eva Lewis.

Lewis said she could see Chattanooga Police and Chattanooga State patrol cars circling around campus.

A Rave alert was sent out to students warning those on campus to get inside and stay put and those with classes now and this afternoon to stay away, she said.

The lockdown was lifted after police said the “active shooter” situation was over, but Lewis said the campus will close for the day.

The campus was being closed for the day out of respect for the families of the victims, and in recognition of the emotional day for students’ parents and the students themselves, she said.

Chattanooga State’s campus on Amnicola HIghway will return to a normal schedule on Friday.

Cleveland, Tenn., police responded to reports of a shooter at Bradley Square Mall and the mall was locked down but no shots were ever fired, authorities said.

West’s counterpart at the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office, Ed Ramsey, told the Times Free Press around 1:45 p.m.that the mall would reopen at 5 p.m.

“Everything’s back to normal,” Ramsey said.

About an hour after the shots were fired in Chattanooga, McMinn County Sheriff Joe Guy said officers were sent over to the area around the recruiting center in Athens, Tenn., “just as a precaution.”

Gerald McCormick, Tennessee house majority leader, said he was “deeply saddened to hear of today’s horrific events in our hometown of Chattanooga.”

“My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. I have been in contact with state and local officials to monitor any developments. I have the utmost confidence in our law enforcement agencies to handle this situation in a swift and professional manner.”