Breaking: Turns Out The Saudis Warned FBI About Tamerlan Tsarnaev In 2012

 

“We want to leave no stone unturned. Based on what I’ve seen so far, the FBI performed its duties. Department of Homeland Security did what it was supposed to be doing.” - President Barack Obama at his press conference yesterday, 4/30/13.

As it turns out, that stone was more like a boulder. And it appears it was definitely left lying on the ground.

Aside from numerous warnings from Russian intelligence the FBI and DHS sluffed off,  the London Daily Mail reported this morning that according to a highly placed source,  Saudi intelligence  sent a written warning in December 2012 to the Department of Homeland Security that Tasmerlan Tsarnaev was a dangerous jihadi. They even refused to give him a visa to when he applied for one to make the haj, the Muslim religious pilgrimage to Mecca. The information came from Saudi intelligence in Yemen, a notorious al-Qaeda stronghold and the country where the brothers went for 'religious studies':

According to a highly placed source who spoke to MailOnline, the Saudis sent a written warning about Tsarnaev to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in 2012. That was long before pressure-cooker blasts killed three and injured hundreds.

The official told MailOnline about a written warning from the Saudi government to the Department of Homeland Security, and said he had direct knowledge of that document.[...]

The Saudis' warning, the official told MailOnline, was separate from the multiple red flags raised by Russian intelligence in 2011, and was based on human intelligence developed independently in Yemen.

Citing security concerns, the Saudi government also allegedly denied an entry visa to the elder Tsarnaev brother in December 2011, when he hoped to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, the source said. Tsarnaev's plans to visit Saudi Arabia have not been previously disclosed.

The Saudis' warning to the U.S. government was also shared with the British government. 'It was very specific’ and warned that 'something was going to happen in a major U.S. city,' the Saudi official said during an extensive interview.

It 'did name Tamerlan specifically,' he added. The 'government-to-government' letter, which he said was sent to the Department of Homeland Security at the highest level, did not name Boston or suggest a date for his planned attack. [...]

The high-ranking Saudi official whom MailOnlne interviewed at length provided a wealth of detail about the warning he says his government sent to the United States. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk publicly about foreign intelligence, or about Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic relationship with the United States.

The Daily Mail added that another DHS official in-fact confirmed that the 2012 letter exists, then went on to add that he had already heard of the Saudi communication before the newspaper had even made their inquiry.

Needless to say, the wheels turned quickly in DC once this broke. The DHS claimed it had never received anything, the Saudi ambassador issued a quick denial that his government had ever warned the U.S., and the Daily Mail quickly edited its story to include that information.

So that leaves us with 2 possibilities.

One, the Administration is telling the truth and they never received any warning from the Saudis.

That's interesting in itself if the Saudis are telling the truth, because they have an extensive intel operation going on in Yemen since it's just over their southern border and because the Russians almost certainly would have extended the warnings they gave to the Americans on the Tsarnaevs to the Saudis since Tamerlan was known to be in the area.

Or two, the DHS did get warned by the Saudis, chose to ignore it just as they did written warnings from Russian intelligence, are now in serious CYA mode and got the Saudi government (who have their own reasons for downplaying any connections between Boston and the Kingdom)to play along.

Now, given the Obama Administration's well-known track record for veracity and transparency I think I have a pretty good idea of what happened, but I'll let you come to your own conclusions.

After all, as former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton famously said about Benghazi, "What difference does it make?"

Perhaps the Administration can find a poorly produced, obscure video on YouTube to blame the Boston Marathon bombings on - you never know.

The 'lone wolf' meme the Administration has been putting out about the bombings is crumbling as well, but more on that later.