BOMBSHELL: Saudi Arabia warned the United States IN WRITING about Tamerlan
Tsarnaev in 2012, and rejected his application for an entry visa to visit
Mecca in 2011
Saudis developed intelligence separately from Russia, which also warned
the U.S. about the accused Boston bomber
A letter to the Department of Homeland Security named Tsarnaev and three
Pakistanis as potential jihadis worthy of U.S. investigation
Red flags from Saudi Arabia included Tsarnaev's name and information
about a planned explosive attack on a major U.S. city
Saudi foreign minister, national security chief both met with Obama in
the oval office in early 2013
By David Martosko and The American Media Institute
PUBLISHED: 22:46 EST, 30 April 2013 | UPDATED: 22:46 EST, 30 April 2013
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia sent a written warning about accused Boston
Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev to the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security in 2012, long before pressure-cooker blasts killed three and maimed
hundreds, according to a senior Saudi government official with direct
knowledge of the document.
The Saudi 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 denied an entry visa to
the elder Tsarnaev brother in December 2011, when he hoped to make a
pilgrimage to Mecca. Tsarnaev's plans to visit Saudi Arabia have not been
previously disclosed.
Was it preventable? A senior Saudi official says his country warned the U.S.
about Tamerlane Tsarnaev in 2012, advising the federal government that he
planned an attack on a major U.S. city
Was it preventable? A senior Saudi official says his country warned the U.S.
about Tamerlane Tsarnaev in 2012, advising the federal government that he
planned an attack on a major U.S. city
In this Feb. 17, 2010, photo, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, smiles after accepting the
trophy for winning the 2010 New England Golden Gloves Championship
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano testifies on Capitol Hill in
Washington, Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Did she know? Janet Napolitano (R) sits atop the Department of Homeland
Security, the agency that allegedly received a detailed letter from the
Saudi kingdom about Tsarnaev (L) and three Pakistani jihadis
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.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev was placed on a U.S. terrorist 'watch' list after
'multiple' warnings from Russian authorities to the FBI
The radicalization of Tamerlan Tsarnaev: Older 'bomber' studied Koran
for days at a time and witnessed 'bombings and shootings' in Islamic
Dagestan capital
'I'm willing to die for Islam': Boston Marathon bomber's chilling texts
to his mother reveal he was prepared to sacrifice his life for jihad
Boston bomber was caught discussing jihad with mother: Russia 'recorded
call between Tamerlan Tsarnaev and parent but failed to tell FBI'
The letter likely came to DHS via the Saudi Ministry of Interior, the agency
tasked with protecting the Saudi kingdom's homeland.
A Homeland Security official confirmed Tuesday evening on the condition of
anonymity that the 2012 letter exists, saying he had heard of the Saudi
communication before MailOnline inquired about it.
While U.S. intelligence agencies are exploring the possibility that Tsarnaev
learned to make pressure-cooker bombs while visiting Dagestan in 2012, Saudi
Arabia was his first choice for a travel destination
While U.S. intelligence agencies are exploring the possibility that Tsarnaev
learned to make pressure-cooker bombs while visiting Dagestan in 2012, Saudi
Arabia was his first choice for a travel destination until the kingdom
turned down his visa request
As many as 4 million Muslims make pilgrimages annually to the Grand mosque
in the city of Mecca. Tsarnaev sought to join them for an 'Umrah' journey, a
trip that happens outside of the month reserved for the annual Hajj
As many as 4 million Muslims make pilgrimages annually to the Grand mosque
in the city of Mecca. Tsarnaev sought to join them for an 'Umrah' journey, a
trip that happens outside of the month reserved for the annual Hajj
A DHS official denied, however, that Homeland Security received any such
warning from Saudi intelligence about Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
'DHS has no knowledge of any communication from the Saudi government
regarding information on the suspects in the Boston Marathon Bombing prior
to the attack,' MailOnline learned from one Homeland Security official who
declined to be named in this report.
The White House took a similar view. 'We and other relevant U.S. government
agencies have no record of such a letter being received,' said Caitlin
Hayden, a spokesperson for the president's National Security Council.
An aide to a Republican member of the House Homeland Security Committee
speculated Tuesday about why the Obama administration contradicted the
knowledgeable Saudi official.
'It is possible the Department of Homeland Security received the information
from the Saudi government but never passed it on to the White House,' the
GOP staffer said. 'Communication between DHS and the White House's national
security apparatus isn't always what it should be.'
'I can easily see it happening where one hand didn't know what the other was
doing because of a turf war.'
'Just like the different agencies in the Boston JTTF [Joint Terrorism Task
Force] want credit for breaking the Tsarnaev case,' the aide added, 'they
sometimes jealously guard the very intel they should be sharing the most
freely. Sometimes it makes no sense at all.'
Obama said Tuesday that an inter-agency review would leave no stone unturned
in an effort to learn whether government agencies could have done more to
prevent the Boston bombings
Obama said Tuesday that an inter-agency review would leave no stone unturned
in an effort to learn whether government agencies could have done more to
prevent the Boston bombings
Homeland Security
This image shows the remains of a black backpack that the FBI says contained
one of the bombs that exploded during the Boston Marathon
Two backpacks were left in shreds after the bombs they contained were
detonated in the midst of dense crowds on Boston's Boylston Street. The
Department of Homeland Security has been left to explain why
House Homeland Security Committee chairman Mike McCaul plans to announce on
Wednesday an investigative hearing to probe what U.S. intelligence knew
prior to the Boston attacks, two senior Republican sources told MailOnline.
Separately, President Obama announced Tuesday that the U.S. government will
launch a wide-ranging inquiry into the sharing of information among the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security and
other intelligence and law-enforcement agencies of the federal government.
'We want to leave no stone unturned,' the president said in a rare White
House press conference.
The internal review will be led by Director of National Intelligence James
Clapper and several inspectors general.
'This is not an investigation,' Clapper's spokesman Shawn Turner said in a
prepared statement. 'This is an independent review of information-sharing
procedures. It is limited to the handling of information related to the
suspects prior to the attack.'
It is not yet clear whether information from Saudi Arabia will be involved
in Clapper's inter-agency review.
Utah Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz appeared on CNN Tuesday afternoon,
upbraiding the Obama administration for presuming that the federal
government's handling of intelligence prior to the Boston bombings was
appropriate and effective.
'As soon as the bombing happened we had officials, locally and from the
feds, saying, "Oh, this was an isolated case, there was just one person
involved." We didn't know that,' Chaffetz said.
The 'starting point' for a federal investigation, he said, must be, 'This is
unacceptable, we will not stand for it, we will get to the bottom of it, and
we will not rest until we figure it out.'
'Mr. President,' he said, addressing Obama, 'the starting point should be an
intolerance that this thing happened.'
WASHINGTON - JULY 29: Rep. Michael McCaul speaks during a hearing on July
29, 2010 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC
WASHINGTON - OCTOBER 10: Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) listens during a hearing
on Capitol Hill on October 10, 2012 in Washington, DC
GOP momentum? House Homeland Security Committee chair Mike McCaul (L) plans
to convene a hearing to investigate the government's failure to prevent the
Boston bombings. Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R), who serves on that committee,
said on CNN that an inquiry should not presume all is well
The high-ranking Saudi official whom MailOnlne interviewed 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.
He suggested that the Saudi Ministry of Interior sent the letter out of an
abundance of caution in order to be helpful to the United States, even if
its intelligence on Tsarnaev wasn't yet fully developed.
'With Saudi Arabia it's always code red,' he said. 'There's no code orange,
or code yellow. Always red.'
The Saudi government, he added, alerted the U.S. in part because it believed
American authorities should be inspecting packages that came to Tsarnaev in
the mail, in order to search for bomb-making components.
Saudi Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz met with
President Obama in January
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud bin al-Faisal met with Barack Obama in an
unscheduled meeting just two days after the Boston bombings
Saudi Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz (L) met with
President Obama in January. His counterpart in the Saudi foreign ministry,
Prince Saud bin al-Faisal (R) had an unscheduled meeting with Obama just two
days after the Boston bombings
This New York City building houses the Saudi consulate that's nearest to
Boston. It's here that Tamerlan Tsarnaev likely applied for an entry visa, a
request that the Saudi government denied
This New York City building houses the Saudi consulate that's nearest to
Boston. It's here that Tamerlan Tsarnaev likely applied for an entry visa, a
request that the Saudi government denied on security grounds
The written warning also named three Pakistanis who may be of interest to
British authorities. The official declined to provide more details about the
warning to the UK, but said the two governments received the same
information.
The Ministry of Interior, he said, sent the letters in 2012, likely after
Tsarnaev returned from Russia to the United States in July.
President Barack Obama's published schedule indicates that he met in the
Oval Office with Prince Mohammed bin Naif bin Abdulaziz, the Saudi Interior
minister, on January 14, 2013.
The Saudis denied Tsarnaev entry to the kingdom when he sought to travel to
Mecca in December 2011 for a pilgrimage known as an Umrah - one that is
undertaken during months that don't fall within the regular Hajj period of
the year.
That rejected application came one month before he traveled to Russia, where
U.S. intelligence sources believe he acquired training enabling him to
construct and detonate the bombs that he and his younger brother placed hear
the Boston Marathon's finish line.
The younger brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, is in federal custody at a prison
medical facility.
Celebration turned to mourning on April 15 after Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his
younger brother Dzhokhar allegedly detonated two powerful bombs near the
finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing 3 and injuring more than 200
Celebration turned to mourning on April 15 after Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his
younger brother Dzhokhar allegedly detonated two powerful bombs near the
finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing 3 and injuring more than 200
The Saudi official speculated that Tsarnaev's residence in the United States
might have made it more difficult for him to gain entry into the kingdom.
'U.S.-based Muslims who become radicalized and want to visit Mecca create an
unusual problem,' he said, compelling the Saudi government 'to carefully
examine applications.'
In the wake of the April 15 Boston Marathon bombings, Saudi Foreign Minister
Prince Saud al-Faisal met with Secretary of State John Kerry on April 16,
and then had an unscheduled meeting with President Obama on April 17.
'This is the DNA of the Saudi government,' said the Saudi official,
referring to officials in the royal court in Riyadh. 'This is how they work.
They sent the letter, but that wasn't enough. They then sent their top guy
to meet personally with the president.'
He dismissed the idea that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was likely trained by al Qaeda
while he was outside the United States last year.
The Saudis' Yemen-based sources, he explained, said militants referred to
Tamerlan dismissively as 'the volunteer.'
'He was a gung-ho, self motivated jihadi who wasn't tasked by a larger
group,' he said.
'There is no reason for anyone in Afghanistan to have in his thinking a
scenario like this,' the official added, referring to pressure-cooker bombs
at the Boston Marathon. 'He took the initiative. That's why they call him
"the volunteer".'
'The Boston thing is beneath them,' he said of al Qaeda. 'They don't think
like this. This is like a firecracker to them. They want something big.'
Richard Reid was apprehended afte ra failed attempt to blow up an airliner
with bombs concealed in his shoes. The Saudi government provided specific
intelligence about Reid to the U.S. before he tried to bring down the
transatlantic flight
Tamerlan Tsarnaev waits for a decision in the 201-pound division boxing
match during the 2009 Golden Gloves National Tournament of Champions
Richard Reid (L) was apprehended after a failed attempt to blow up an
airliner with bombs concealed in his shoes. The Saudi government provided
specific intelligence about Reid to the U.S., and now it has been revealed
that they wrote to the American government about Tamerlan Tsarnaev (R) in
2012
Tamerlan may have boasted about his plans online, the Saudi official said,
offering an explanation for how Yemen-based sources first learned of him.
Militants have well-developed social networks that can enable news to
migrate quickly across vast distances.
The Saudi government sometimes tracks radicals by launching fake jihadi
websites to attract extremists. The Ministry of Interior then tracks them
electronically, often across the world, and shares information with
governments it considers friendly, including the United States.
'The Saudi Arabian government is doing everything it can to wipe out these
people and treat America as a true friend,' the official said.
The Saudi intelligence services have a long history of providing credible
information to American and British intelligence services about looming
threats.
'This is the fourth time the Saudi Arabian government has given the U.S.
specific intel' about a possible terror plot, the official said, citing
prior warnings about Richard Reid, the so-called shoe bomber who repeatedly
tried to light a fuse in his shoe to bring down American Airlines flight 63
bound for Miami in December 2001.
He also cited the 300-gram 'ink-cartridge bombs' planted on two cargo planes
headed for the United States from Yemen in October 2010. Those explosives
were intercepted in Dubai, and at an East Midlands airport in Great Britain.
The terror: A Boston firefighter carried an injured girl away from the scene
after the Boston Marathon bombings. In all, Tsarnaev is believed to have
killed three Americans, including an eight-year-old boy
The terror: A Boston firefighter carried an injured girl away from the scene
after the Boston Marathon bombings. In all, Tsarnaev is believed to have
killed three Americans, including an eight-year-old boy
Tamerlan Tsarnaev's namesake was a 15-century Central Asian warlord who
referred to himself as 'the sword of Islam.' Sometimes spelled 'Tamerlane'
in English, he was known for his cruelty.
When he conquered Baghdad, he reportedly made a pyramid of human skulls from
unfortunate residents of that city.
Although still revered in Chechnya and throughout Central Asia, the original
Tamerlane is sometimes vilified in modern-day Saudi textbooks.
Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2317493/BOMBSHELL-Saudi-Arabia-warne
d-United-States-IN-WRITING-Tamerlan-Tsarnaev-2012-rejected-application-entry
-visa-visit-Mecca-2011.html#ixzz2S0mkWoOr
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