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Sunday Morning Book Thread 04-21-2013: Miscellaneous Observations [OregonMuse] �
April 21, 2013
Sunday Morning Open Thread
Ball status: DROPPED (with apologies for the NYT link):
The F.B.I. responded to the [Russians'] request in 2011 by checking �U.S. government databases and other information to look for such things as derogatory telephone communications, possible use of online sites associated with the promotion of radical activity, associations with other persons of interest, travel history and plans, and education history,� it said in a statement.
In January 2011, two counterterrorism agents from the bureau�s Boston field office interviewed Tamerlan and family members, a senior law enforcement official said on Saturday. According to the F.B.I.�s statement, �The F.B.I. did not find any terrorism activity, domestic or foreign,� and conveyed those findings to �the foreign government� by the summer of 2011. (emphasis added)
Yet ...
After Tamerlan�s visit to Dagestan and Chechnya, signs of alienation emerged. One month after he returned to the United States, a YouTube page that appeared to belong to him was created and featured multiple jihadist videos that he had endorsed in the past six months. One video featured the preaching of Abdul al-Hamid al-Juhani, an important ideologue in Chechnya; another focused on Feiz Mohammad, an extremist Salafi Lebanese preacher based in Australia. He also created a playlist of songs by a Russian musical artist, Timur Mucuraev, one of which promoted jihad, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors statements by jihadists. (emphasis added)
That's some awesome police work there, FBI.
What, we found out he didn't have a Chechen Jihadi MySpace account and wasn't a member of Friends of Hamas, so we just checked the boxes and closed his file?
I mean, I know law enforcement has a hard job to do, and some of this is like looking for a needle in a haystack. But it's beginning to look like this guy had a big, red ribbon tied to the needle.