Freedom Rider: San Bernardino and government terror

It must not be forgotten that the United States government has an established practice of luring black American and Middle Eastern individuals into committing or appearing to commit terrorist acts. The Newburgh Four and the Liberty City Seven are among those now serving long prison terms under these circumstances. The individuals convicted usually carried out their handlers instructions and in some cases didn’t commit a crime at all. They were said to have pledged an oath to al Qaeda or plotted a terror attack entirely concocted by an agent provocateur. In other cases, such as that of the so-called underwear bomber in 2009, inexplicable plots make the case for more war and interventions abroad.

On December 2, 2015, fourteen people were shot to death in San Bernardino, California as they gathered at a work place meeting. Several eye witnesses described shooters or suspicious persons fleeing the scene as three white men wearing black military type clothing. Five hours after the shooting a married couple of Pakistani ethnicity, Syed Farook and Tafsheen Malik, were shot to death by police and named as the perpetrators. Farook was an employee who left the location prior to the shooting. He was a brown skinned man and would not have been described as white. No one reported seeing a female shooter. The FBI made no mention of a third suspect, declared the Farooks as the perpetrators and announced the case closed.

It is possible that eyewitnesses who spoke to the media were incorrect but it is also questionable that the same media won’t raise the issue or ask the FBI to comment. Whatever the motivation for the unacknowledged discrepancy, the public is left to ask the questions that the press and politicians won’t. The divergent description of suspects is not the only problematic issue with this case.

Two days after the attack, the Farooks’ landlord gave the media access to their apartment and the crush of reporters rendered the location useless as a crime scene. The FBI’s response was very odd. They claimed they were finished with their investigation and had no need to secure the home. It is an understatement to call that assertion highly implausible. After numerous press reports that Tafsheen Malik posted public support for jihad and martyrdom on social media, the FBI was forced to admit that she had expressed these views in private messages intended only for a small group of people.

There are more questions than answers because the Farooks are dead. An associate named Enrique Marquez admits to purchasing guns for Farook. He called 911 in a panic and confessed as much. After checking himself into a psychiatric facility Marquez was charged with hatching terror plans in 2011 and 2012 with Farook that the two never carried out. He has not been charged in the San Bernardino shootings at all.

Every terrorist act results in calls for war, increased surveillance, and support for imperial aggressions abroad. If the official version of the San Bernardino shooting is accepted without questions, the government has a free hand to convince the public of anything that suits its agenda.

FBI direct James Comey used the terror attacks in Paris to make a case against encrypted communications. The Paris attackers didn’t encrypt any of their text messages, but that is not the point. Comey and the rest of the U.S. intelligence community want to make sure that no one has privacy from the government and the corporate media dutifully went along with advocating for his bogus claims.

It is open to question whether Syed Farook or Tafsheen Malik shot anyone in San Bernardino, California on the date in question. The possible scenarios are many. Perhaps he shot and she didn’t, or they had accomplices, or they were in league with others who did the shooting while they did not. Maybe they were complicit but also turned into doomed patsies fated to take the fall. Unfortunately, it is true that dead people tell no tales.

President George W. Bush used the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, to invade nations and kill hundreds of thousands of people. President Obama followed suit with never-ending occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq, and new regime change plots for Libya and Syria. In the process, he created a massive refugee crisis.

The United States also created ISIS but now whips up fear of its unwanted child in order to manipulate support for more war. It isn’t hard to make uninformed and racist Americans fearful. After the November terror attacks in Paris they sought to ban the refugees whose desperation was created by their own government. Every terrorist act creates a greater reluctance to ask questions and a greater willingness to kill other people.

Who benefits? There are people and interests who gain advantage from terror and violence. Letting fourteen people die is a price they are willing to pay. Frightened people will accept lies and propaganda and avert their eyes from their nation’s wrongdoing. That is why no one should be shy about asking how three white men can suddenly turn into a Pakistani man and woman.

Margaret Kimberley’s Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR, and is widely reprinted elsewhere. She maintains a frequently updated blog as well as at freedomrider.blogspot.com. Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgendaReport.com.