Boston Terrorism Link to Benghazi

Update:

The Saudi suspect in the Boston bombing is being deported:

According to ICE the reason is under section 212 3B -- "Security and related grounds" -- "Terrorist activities"

 "looks like they were trying to make this a 'lone wolf' crime so, the Saudi government would be spared embarrassment and the U.S. would avoid explaining how a terror cell was active when we had AQ on the run."

There is some question as to how the deportation occurs in order to keep it as quiet as possible.

Abdul Rahman Ali Alharbi is connected to an important Saudi family with ties to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) per this terrorist list (h/t Atlas Shrugged).

Reuters reported President Obama had an unscheduled meetings with the Saudi Foreign Minister to discuss developments in the region:

- U.S. President Barack Obama met with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal at the White House on Wednesday and discussed the conflict in Syria, a spokeswoman said.

The meeting was not on Obama’s public schedule.

The spokeswoman, Caitlin Hayden, said the president joined a meeting between the Saudi official and Obama’s national security adviser, Tom Donilon.

President Obama must believe that the Saudi government is better able to quietly pursue Al Qaeda connections in the Boston Marathon attack. AQAP became powerful in Yemen because the Saudi Arabia branch of AQ was nearly eliminated by the Saudi government. The AQ members in Saudi Arabia were forced to retreat and join with Yemeni AQ.

This also keeps DHS, FBI and other domestic law enforcement resources concentrating on the domestic tasks at hand.

Please help us keep an eye out on how the secretive Saudi government handles the return of Abdul Al Harbi.  You may recall that reports in Boston considered him "cooperative" with law enforcement.

The Motives

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is an Algerian based jihadist cell which sometimes took orders from Osama Bin Laden. AQIM claimed responsibility for killing U.S. Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi, Libya. They took credit on facebook through their affiliate Ansar al-Sharia (AAS).

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is the Yemeni-Saudi organization founded by Osama Bin Laden. On the AQAP website, they invite jihadists to "attack sporting events" of  "the West". AQAP faces U.S. military forces assisting Yemen’s military efforts to maintain control since Arab Spring protests erupted in 2012.

AQAP is believed to have several hundred members and are Al Qaeda's most active and biggest threat to the U.S. homeland (per CIA). AQAP announced the Benghazi attack was in retaliation for the killing of the network’s number two Sheikh Abu Yahya al-Libi.

The Boston Marathon attack may be in retaliation for the killing of AQIM leader Abdelhamid Abou Zeid. Zeid was killed in fighting in northern Mali.  Djamel Okacha, also known as Yahia Abu El Hamam has taken control of AQIM. Okacha is believed to have participated in the 2009 killing of American aid worker Christopher Leggett.  Since changing leadership, AQIM has taken credit for the assault on Timbuktu.

A spokesman for al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb issued a statement on the al-Sharq website in Mauritania, saying that the attack on Timbuktu was led by an Algerian suicide bomber, belonging to the Yusuf bin Tashfin brigade, a platoon under the command of the late al-Qaida emir Abou Zeid, who was killed last month by French forces.

Additionally, trumpeting of "I killed Bin Laden" occurred in election year political ads from April 2012 through September 2012. President Barack Obama personally declared “al Qaeda is on the path to defeat and Osama bin Laden is dead.” A few weeks later Ambassador Stevens was dead, the first US Ambassador killed since 1979.

Another possible al Qaeda motivation for the Boston Marathon attack is the fact that April 15th is the day of decision to attack Abbottabad and kill Osama Bin Ladin. Per a jihadist website:

This day coincides with the anniversary of Lincoln's assassination. Two weeks from now is the anniversary of Usama bin Laden's assassination. The attack decision on Abbottabad was taken on April 15, according to the American version of the story.

The Means

The Al Qaeda terrorists claiming responsibility for the death of Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi have not been reported killed or captured.

A private intelligence group is reporting that Jihadist Says al-Qaeda's Strategy in Line with Boston Bombings

the attack is in line with al-Qaeda's strategy to exploit security vulnerabilities and weaken the enemy with small attacks that spread fear.

Al Qaeda's English language magazine Inspire taught pressure cooker bomb-making techniques. The technique was used in Islamic terrorism in Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. The pressure cookers are easy to transport across borders. The Washington Times reports on Inspire:

[..]proposing a long list of possible targets for attacks, among them “crowded sports arenas” and “annual social events.” [..]

The chapters, including the one on pressure cooker bombs, were compiled into a booklet titled “The Lone Mujahed Pocketbook,” released on Islamic militant web sites in March, according to SITE.

Logistically, Islamic terrorist have the ability to move trained operatives and support personnel into the U.S. Mexican drug cartels work with Islamic militants to traffic drugs, weapons, para-military training and sex slaves. The cartels have the available infrastructure to move men and material across our border and into major cities. 

Recent assassinations of law enforcement might be a tactical diversion for drug cartel logistical activity. Theories linking the assassinations to the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang have been investigated since December 2012 without results. On March 21st, Brietbart News interviewed a district attorney on the subject: (italics ours)

Breitbart News: Earlier you said you didn’t want to comment on the investigation, and I understand. But I have to ask. Some have said you guys were going after the Aryan Brotherhood. Some have said low-level Mexican cartels have had involvement with the Aryan Brotherhood in Texas regarding methamphetamine trafficking?

(Kaufman County District Attorney Mike) McLelland: Interesting. I can’t comment on any of that.

Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia were found assassinated on March 30th.

The Money

As mentioned above Islamic terrorist use drugs, weapons, slavery, and other crime to generate money.

AQIM received a $17 million ransom paid by France for four French citizens who were kidnapped from their guarded villas in Arlit.  Former US Ambassador to Mali Vicki Huddleston spilled the story to iTele.

Huddleston explained that like all ransoms, France paid the Malian government, “which forwarded at least some of the funds to the Salafists [Islamists].”

The statement was denied by France. However, when U.S. Navy SEALs raided Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in 2011, they found a cache of documents called “the Abbottabad papers.” The papers included communications between Osama Bin Laden and AQIM: (italics ours)

In April 2011, as the Western military intervention in Libya accelerated, bin Laden offered AQIM a point-by-point plan for how the group should handle some French hostages it had taken. He was worried that killing them would inflame Arab public opinion, at that moment grateful for France’s intervention, against al-Qaeda (in Libya). The AQIM leadership largely followed his advice.

The money is being used to kill Americans by any means necessary.

• Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) offered a 3 kilogram of gold bounty ($150,000) for the killing of the US ambassador to Yemen, Gerald Feierstein. 
• AQAP also put a bounty of about $500 on any American soldier in Yemen.

Why No Claim of Responsibility Yet 

My research has arrived at three theories why Al Qaeda might wait to claim responsibility.

More Likely

Al Qaeda may be waiting to claim responsibility until operatives and support members have retreated to safety. We may see a claim of responsibility in a few hours.  We will not see a claim of responsibility if further attacks are in progress.

An organization with hundreds of members can run a sophisticated support network. However, such networks are difficult to create and they would not want to dissemble it after a single attack. Successful operatives might be planning or executing additional attacks. A rash of attacks, like the ricin senatorial attack, would maximize the terror effect.

Armed and trained citizens are more effective than law enforcement at stopping attacks. We are everywhere, always. Examiner evaluated citizen vs police statistics in mass shooting attacks:

The average number of people killed in mass shootings when stopped by police is 14.29

The average number of people killed in a mass shooting when stopped by a civilian is 2.33

With this in mind, the next attack might be in a "gun free" zone state: Hawaii, California, Illinois, New York, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Connecticut,  Rhode Island, or Massachusetts.

Gun Deaths: Gun Suicides + Gun Murder + Gun Personal Defense

(This theory is supported by the fact that the FBI released video and photos of two suspects.)

The Internet Conspiracy

Google, Facebook, Twitter and the like may be filtering claims of responsibility. We searched French and British sources, but have not yet contacted Arabic speakers who monitor satellite channels. If the internet is locked down enough for this to be the case, we have bigger problems than terrorism.

With that said, Barracuda networks could effectively shut down some selected internet traffic.

The Ugly

America gives billions of dollars in foreign aid to countries who hate us. This aid allows us some leverage over those countries because we can take the aid away. America can always threaten to take away foreign aid, whether the aid is money, weapons or training.

Al Qaeda in Iraq admits it is fighting in Syria. The fighting in Syria is being propelled by western heavy weapons from Benghazi, Libya and American run training camps in Jordan. Al Qaeda fighters are being trained in these camps as revealed by the Washington Post: (italics ours) [This article disappeared or is blocked .. you can see the Washington Post facebook link to the article to confirm its authenticity webcache version, PDF version]

The Obama administration, which sent a force of about 150 U.S. military personnel to Jordan last year, has repeatedly refused to comment on reports that the force is training Syrian fighters.[..]

Despite growing enthusiasm, it may be too late to separate moderates from radicals among those fighting in southern Syria.

“Whether we fight under the banner of Jabhat al-Nusra or the Free Syrian Army, we are all defending our families in the name of God,” said Abu Momen, who crossed the border (from Syria to Jordan) last week along with the nightly influx of about 2,000 people. The 22-year-old said he was a fighter with the Jabhat al-Nusra group, which the Obama administration has said is a wholly owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

The future of Syria is a political bargaining chip. Al Qaeda and other Islamic forces are vying for control of the future of the country. This might allow the administration some leverage in this situation. The Syrian bargaining chip might be cashed in because the current administration would be badly damaged by linkage between the Boston Marathon attack and Benghazi attackers. Attackers who have not been brought to justice and remain at large.

Sources:

• http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/24/AR2010082406763.html
• http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/10/benghazi_osamas_revenge_on_obama.html
• http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/24/us-algeria-qaeda-okacha-idUSBRE92N0C020130324
• http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/international/africa/2013/04/al_qaida_takes_responsibility_for_timbuktu_attack
• http://www.mediaite.com/tv/emails-reveal-al-qaeda-linked-militants-took-credit-for-benghazi-attack-hours-after/
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/9998886/Boston-Marathon-bombs-al-Qaedas-Inspire-magazine-taught-pressure-cooker-bomb-making-techniques.html
• http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/apr/16/al-qaeda-magazine-pressure-cookers-make-bomb-kitch/
• http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/mar/25/al-qaeda-north-africa-appoints-new-chief-france-co/
• http://www.ndtv.com/article
• http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/al-qaeda-in-iraq-admits-it-is-fighting-in-syria
• http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/01/22/what-the-osama-bin-laden-raid-discovered-on-al-qaedas-links-in-algeria/
• http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/wheels_coming_off_uOnuODm7bwRX33t0JilbkN
• http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/03/31/Last-Words-Breitbart-s-Darby-Interviewed-Slain-Texas-DA-Before-Death
• http://www.examiner.com/article/analyzing-shooting-rampage-statistics-after-newport-school-shooting
• http://news.siteintelgroup.com/component/content/article/6-jihadist-news/2979-jihadists-hope-boston-bombings-are-acts-of-jihadi-terrorism