Pensacola shooter was an Islamic terrorist! No kidding??!!

Nearly a year after "a man" opened fire inside a classroom at the US Naval Air Station at Pensacola FL, killing three people and wouding another seven, Attorney General William Barr told a presser yesterday that in the months leading up to the attack, "the man" (aka Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani) communicated with al-Qaeda operatives about planning and tactics. Imagine that!!!

Why do you think the authorities, who had at first refused to utter the words "terrorism" or "Islamic" (even though they knew Mr Alshamrani was a Saudi air force officer), were until now not able to make the connection which occurred to Walt that very day?

According to Mr Barr, it was Apple's fault, for failing to help the lawmen open the shooter's phones so they could access key evidence. When they did, they discovered contacts between the Mohammedan [aka Muslim. Ed.] and operatives of al-Qaeda. Again, imagine that!!!

Said Mr Barr, “We now have a clearer understanding of Alshamrani's associations and activities in the years, months and days leading up to his attack." The phones revealed contact between Mr Alshamrani and "dangerous" operatives from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Pensinsula, or AQAP, that continued until shortly before the shooting. They also revealed that he had been radicalized since at least 2015, before he arrived in the USA, and had meticulously planned the attack.

According to FBI Director Chris Wray, the attack was "the brutal culmination of years of planning and preparation." Mr Alshamrani created minicam videos as he cased a military school building, and saved on his phone a will that purported to explain himself. AQAP released that document soon after the shooting, when it claimed responsibility for it, but at that time, US officials said they were still "investigating".

Asked whether al-Qaeda had directed or inspired the attacks, Mr Wray said it was "certainly more than just inspired." Law enforcement officials had previously left no doubt that Alshamrani was motivated by jihadist ideology, saying he visited a New York City memorial to the attacks of 9/11 over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend and posted anti-American and anti-Israeli messages on social media just hours before the shooting. Yet throughout the presser, neither Mr Barr nor Mr Wray actually used the words "Islamic" or "Islamist" or "Muslim". Strange, isn't it?

Further reading: "Obama Continues To Caution Against Labeling 9/11 Attacks 'Terrorism' Too Quickly", Babylon Bee, 20/9/16. [Just in case... you know that the Babylon Bee is satire... right? Ed.]

UPDATED: Pensacola shooter was Saudi airman! 6 others detained

Cazart!!!

The gunman who opened fire inside a classroom at the US Naval Air Station at Pensacola FL this morning, killing three people and injuring seven others, was reportedly a Saudi aviation student. The suspect has not yet been identified by authorities, nor will they admit that the mass murder was an act of Islamist terrorism. But according to the Clinton News Network (!), the shooter was a member of the Saudi military who was in the United States for training.

The suspect fired a handgun in the attack, which played out over two floors in a classroom building at a base whose main function is training. The FBI has taken over investigation into the shooting. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis confirmed that the suspect was a Saudi national attending training at the base as part of a long-standing Navy program open to US allies, of which the medieval Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one, apparently.

The motive for the violence was still under investigation. With his usual facility for ignoring the obvious, the Gov told the meeja, "There is obviously going to be a lot of questions about this individual being a foreign national, being a part of the Saudi Air Force and then to be here training on our soil. The government of Saudi Arabia needs to make things better for these victims. They are going to owe a debt here, given that this was one of their individuals."

Innocent question: Wasn't Pensacola "the cradle of aviation", where the 9/11 attackers (most of whom were Saudis) learned to fly planes into big buildings? Yet more of them are being allowed into the Paranoid States of America to learn the same things... for the same purpose??? Just askin'....

UPDATE ADDED 7/12/19: Late yesterday, Fox News reported that six (count `em, 6) Saudi nationals were detained for questioning Friday near the naval air station which was the site of the shootings. The FBI, which is leading the investigation into the shooting declined to reveal the identity of the shooter in the early stages of the investigation, but an unnamed US official told Fox News the gunman was an aviation student from Saudi Arabia named Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani. Ah yes, another "Mohammed" but of course his religion -- Muslims used to be called "Mohammedans" -- has nothing to do with his motives.

As the picture shows, the late Mohammed was a student in a US Navy training program for foreign military personnel. That program is aimed at "immersing international students in our US Navy training and culture" to help "build partnership capacity for both the present and for the years ahead," Commander Bill Gibson, the officer in charge, said in 2017. "These relationships are truly a win-win for everyone involved." Well, maybe not for those who were killed by Mohammed yesterday.