(Via WRCB) “We extend our deepest sympathies and condolences to the families of the honorable servicemembers and police officers who were victims of the shooting our son committed on Thursday in Chattanooga, Tennessee— our community, and one we have loved for over twenty-five years. 

Our prayers go out to the victims’ families, friends, and everyone who is affected by this tragedy. There are no words to describe our shock, horror, and grief. 

The person who committed this horrible crime was not the son we knew and loved.  (more…)

Supernova levels of “gaslighting” at work.   It sure would be problematic for the administration that has done little (ie. nothing) to combat growing islamic extremism if ISIS was reflected as the cause of 5 marines killed in Tennessee.

As a consequence, ignore the social media of Abdulazeez; ignore the connections to radical Islam and his radical mosque; ignore the visits to Jordan and Yemen; ignore his glorification of the Islamic State (ISIS) on his social media.  Ignore all that stuff folks, the FBI says – nothing to see here folks, move along, move along.  “Lone wolf”, gotta be.

WASHINGTON DC – Authorities are declining to link the shootings in Chattanooga, Tenn., that killed four Marines on Thursday to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) despite a suggestion from the House Homeland Security Committee chairman that the gunman was inspired by the terror group.

“At this time, we have no indication that he was inspired by or directed by anyone other than himself,” Ed Reinhold, the FBI agent in charge, said of the shooter, identified as 24-year-old Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez, during a news conference Friday.

Reinhold added that law enforcement will continue explore any potential link to terror groups. (more…)

Excerpts from Reuters looking into the travel of Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez, as well as outlining his local Mosque and affiliates.  It would be interesting to see a complete timeline of the past 24 months relating to this specific “domestic terrorist”.

Oddly, at least initially, is the sense the foreign aspects of Abdulazeez being less enthusiastically investigated/researched, by media, than say – the Tsarnaev brothers.  My gut is telling me the Fathers’ domestic terror link has something to do with the larger Holy Land Foundation case (ie. Muslim Brotherhood in North America) … 

(Reuters) U.S. authorities believe the suspect in the fatal shootings of four Marines in Tennessee visited Jordan last year and possibly Yemen as well, two U.S. government sources said on Friday, as investigators looked for any connection to Islamist militants.

Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez, 24, who the FBI identified as the shooter, died on Thursday after he killed the Marines and wounded three other people in a rampage at two military facilities in Chattanooga.

Investigators believe Abdulazeez may have family in Jordan, making a visit to that country highly likely, one of the sources close to the probe said. He may have made several stops, and a visit to Yemen has not been ruled out. (more…)

Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez stands with fighting coach Scott Schrader after winning silver at the North American Grappling Championships in this undated photo. Provided by Schrader (link)

Mohammod Youssof Abdulazeez, age 24,   has been identified by the FBI as the gunman who fatally shot four Marines and wounded a police officer on Thursday in shootings at two military recruiting and training centers in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

NBC News reports that Abdulazeez is a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Kuwait. He was born in 1990.  He came to the United States in 1996 with his parents.

CBS News reports that he/his family, were from Phoenix, Arizona. The Associated Press says he lived in Hixson, Tennessee, which is a community in Chattanooga. (more…)

(Via ABC News) The estranged son of a respected Boston police captain was arrested July 4 by FBI agents as part of a counter-terrorism operation against alleged ISIS-inspired domestic terrorists, federal officials told ABC News today.

Alexander Ciccolo, 23, of Adams, Mass., was taken into custody on gun charges after buying two pistols and two rifles from an undercover FBI confidential informant, federal officials said. In a search of his apartment, officials reported they found it loaded with possible bomb-making equipment including a pressure cooker, a variety of chemicals, an alarm clock, along with “attack planning papers” and “jihad” paperwork. FBI agents said he used the name Abu Ali al-Amriki and neighbors said he was a recent convert to Islam.

“This is a very bad person arrested before he could do very bad things,” one senior federal official briefed on the arrest told ABC News. (more…)

Sunlight is slowly creeping over the canopy of the treetops….

~ The Benghazi Brief ~

…”Ideologies are not defeated with guns, they are defeated by better ideas”..

Obama speaking at Pentagon: "Ideologies are not defeated with guns, they are defeated by better ideas" http://t.co/6xSYZwtUMP

— Newsweek (@Newsweek) July 6, 2015

(more…)

Several former advisers to President Barack Obama have rejected the likely terms of a nuclear deal with Iran, adding their names to an open letter that declares: “The agreement will not prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapons capability”.  (link)

In the face of these increasingly loud voices, and in an effort to quickly close a deal, President Obama has given up the demand of nuclear inspections for military facilities as part of the agreement with Iran.   Now the State Dept. wants to stop the unfavorable reports ASAP….

VIENNA—Officials with the Department of State threatened to call security Monday on a Washington Free Beacon reporter who was attempting to report on a briefing held by senior Obama administration figures in Vienna on the eve of an expected nuclear agreement with Iran.

Two State Department officials booted the Free Beacon from a room where Wendy Sherman, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, was talking to reporters, despite the Free Beacon’s being credentialed by the Austrian government for the ongoing Iranian nuclear talks.

Western observers present in Vienna for the talks linked the State Department’s behavior to jitters over media coverage revealing a still growing list of concessions being made to Iran by the Obama administration. (more…)

Unfortunately because former Pentagon lawyer Jeh Johnson is now head of the DHS, and specifically because Secretary Jeh Johnson is in that position as a result of his use of a career IOU for keeping his mouth shut in May 2011, and with full acceptance that Jeh Johnson is a political operative of the highest order, we are faced with the following consideration filter:

Is there really a heightened or anticipatory threat, or is Secretary Johnson merely trying to cover his ass in the event that something actually happens – so he can look back and say “we gave warnings”.

You decide.

(Via USA Today) Federal authorities have warned local law enforcement officials across the country about a heightened concern involving possible terror attacks targeting the July 4th holiday, a U.S. law enforcement official said.

While there was no specific or credible threat of attack, the official said the intelligence bulletin prepared by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI alerted local colleagues to the ongoing threats posed by the Islamic State and other homegrown extremists. The official was not authorized to comment publicly. (more…)

It has been a year since we first posted the full 11,000 word Benghazi Brief, explaining the soup to nuts events of what happened from February 2011 up to September 11th 2012.   Many people have wondered why the Mainstream Media have not picked up the story.

It has been a slow process of sunlight crossing the treetops, but Fox News has just affirmed the content with their new story:  “The Arming of Benghazi” – excerpts below.

(Via Fox Business)  The United States supported the secret supply of weapons to Libyan rebels while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State according to federal court documents obtained by Fox News.

In a sworn declaration to the District Court of Arizona May 5th 2015, a career CIA officer David Manners said, “It was then, and remains now, my opinion that the United States did participate, directly or indirectly, in the supply of weapons to the Libyan Transitional National Council.”   The timing matters because in the Spring of 2011 the Libyan opposition was not formally recognized, and the direct supply of arms was not authorized. At that time, the CIA Director was David Petraeus. (DAVID MANNERS DOCUMENT HERE)

Manners testified before a grand jury investigating American defense contractor Marc Turi who faces trial this September on two counts that he allegedly violated the arms control export act by making false statements. (more…)