The Boston Marathon bombings are a continuation of a Muslim jihad against the United States dating back before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, says a former FBI agent dedicated to warning America about the Islamist threat.
John Guandolo, a former counterterrorism agent, posted a Web report over the weekend pointing out that the Boston Marathon attack is not an aberration but one in a string of foiled and executed assaults on American soil by self-described jihadists.
More attacks are to be expected, he said, even as the mainstream media and President Obama say they are having trouble explaining why two Muslim brothers carried out the twin bombings that killed three and injured more than 170.
“It is truly astounding to watch newscasters continue to ask the question ’WHY?’” wrote Mr. Guandolo, who runs the website Understanding the Threat to America.
“Why did they do this? What will it take for the U.S. media and American leadership to face the reality of the imposing danger breathing down our necks the global Islamic Movement,” Mr. Guandolo wrote. “These men did this because they are commanded to. The global jihad is on.”
The Washington Post website’s home page headline on Saturday blared, “Search for Why Begins.”
SEE ALSO: Terrorism on U.S. soil: By criminal or enemy combatant?
Mr. Guandolo, who has lectured to the military, government groups, students and private citizens, points to the Muslim Brotherhood as a main driver of jihadist thought.
The Brotherhood is committed to imposing Muslim law, called Shariah, worldwide, according to internal documents seized by the FBI after al Qaeda attacked the U.S. in 2001.
Wrote Mr. Guandolo: “In the United States, there exists a massive Jihadi support network led by the Muslim Brotherhood/Hamas [a Palestinian movement deemed by the U.S. as a terrorist group] and used by jihadis raised here in America, or those who come in from overseas. According to evidence in numerous federal terrorism trials, the largest Islamic organizations in America are fronts for jihad and controlled by the Brotherhood.”
Mr. Guandolo points to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing as the most overt pre-9/11 act of Islamist war on the United States. Since then, there have been a string of failed and successful attacks:
The so-called underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to ignite a bomb in a packed airliner approaching Detroit on Christmas Day 2009.
Richard C. Reid, a radicalized Muslim from London dubbed the “shoe bomber,” also attempted to light a bomb on a flight to the U.S. Both self-proclaimed jihadists were stopped by the air crew and passengers.
SEE ALSO: Islamic extremists deny link to Boston Marathon bombing
Army Maj. Nidal Hasan yelled the Islamic terrorist’s buzzword “Allahu akbar” (“God is great”) as he killed 13 in 2009 at Fort Hood, Texas a rampage that the Obama administration classifies as workplace violence, not terrorism.
Faisal Shahzad could have killed hundreds in New York’s Times Square on May 1, 2010, if two street vendors had not spotted smoke from his complex car bomb that included a pressure cooker. The Pakistani Taliban taught Shahzad how to make the explosive.
“Brace yourselves, because the war with the Muslims has just begun. Consider me only the first droplet of the flood that will follow me,” Shahzad said in court.
Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Chechen Muslim brothers accused of the Boston Marathon bombings, appear to be part of that “flood.”
The FBI and intelligence agencies are investigating how the Tsarnaevs became radicalized to the point where they placed two pressure cooker improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on Boylston Street near the finish line of the iconic race.
Tamerlan, 26, had a YouTube account that featured clips on terrorism and radical Islamic leaders, such as Feiz Mohammed, a cleric in Australia. His 19-year-old brother, Dzhokhar, maintained a Russian social media page that paid homage to radical Muslims.
A pressure cooker bomb is a calling card of Islamist militants. Constructed as anti-personnel IEDs intended to maim as many as possible, they have turned up wherever Islamist terrorists are active Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, North Africa and South Asia.
The Department of Homeland Security became so alarmed about the increasing use of easily obtained pressure cookers that it issued a bulletin in 2004 that said, in part:
“Typically, these bombs are made by placing TNT or other explosives in a pressure cooker and attaching a blasting cap at the top of the pressure cooker. The size of the blast depends on the size of the pressure cooker and the amount of explosive placed inside.
“Pressure cooker bombs are made with readily available materials and can be as simple or as complex as the builder decides. These types of devices can be initiated using simple electronic components including, but not limited to, digital watches, garage door openers, cellphones or pagers. As a common cooking utensil, the pressure cooker is often overlooked when searching vehicles, residences or merchandise crossing the U.S. Borders.”
• Rowan Scarborough can be reached at rscarborough@washingtontimes.com.
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