This is very interesting: Graeme Wood notes here that “the idea that the Islamic State simply scans the news in search of mass killings, then sends out press releases in hope of stealing glory, is false,” and that those who claim that ISIS is in the habit of taking credit for attacks it had nothing to do with “do not have a preponderance of prior examples on their side.”
Wood does, however, note one false ISIS claim: “In June, a gambling addict shot up and torched the Resorts World casino in Manila, Philippines. The Islamic State claimed credit, with a dubious follow-up alleging that Jessie Javier Carlos, 42, converted to Islam some months before, without telling anyone. That explanation appears to be a total lie.”
However, there is a considerable number of terror analysts who believe that the Resorts World casino attack was indeed an Islamic State jihad attack. And in the course of this report, we learn this: Sidney Jones, director of the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, says, “It isn’t true that ISIS has a history of claiming others’ attacks as their own.” And Rohan Gunaratna, author of Inside al-Qaeda and head of the International Centre for Political Violence & Terrorism Research, adds: “The propaganda organs of ISIS such as Amaq exaggerate but do not falsely take credit for attacks mounted by other entities.”
“ISIS ‘sanctioned, if not directed’ Resorts World attack – expert,” by Maria A. Ressa, Rappler, July 2, 2017 (thanks to the Geller Report):
MANILA, Philippines – One month after the Resorts World attack in Manila, terrorism experts tell Rappler they believe the Philippines prematurely dismissed claims by the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, IS, ISIL or Daesch, and asked for an investigation into its claim the Resorts World gunman was a recent convert to Islam.
The June 2 attack was “at the very minimum sanctioned – if not directed – by the Islamic State,” Veryan Khan, editorial director and founder of Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium (TRAC), told Rappler. TRAC is a digital intelligence repository focused on global terrorism and political violence.
“It’s very likely that the Resorts World was a terrorist operation,” said Sidney Jones, director of the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, cautioning authorities against dismissing ISIS claims as “propaganda.”
“It isn’t true that ISIS has a history of claiming others’ attacks as their own,” added Jones. “There’s usually a basis for it, even though their media departments don’t always get the details right.”
Khan and Jones are echoed by Rohan Gunaratna, author of Inside al-Qaeda and the head of the Singapore-based International Centre for Political Violence & Terrorism Research.
“The propaganda organs of ISIS such as Amaq exaggerate but do not falsely take credit for attacks mounted by other entities,” said Gunaratna, who, based on his study of ISIS, warned Philippine authorities of possible attacks a month before Resorts World and Marawi. (READ: ISIS planning more attacks in PH and region – terror expert)
Experts who closely track the Islamic State agree: an ISIS claim of responsibility usually means the attack might have been planned, funded and directed by ISIS or inspired by the group’s sophisticated propaganda….
“Why Did the Islamic State Claim the Las Vegas Shooting?,” by Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, October 2, 2017:
…But already I hear a familiar chorus of doubt: The Islamic will “take credit for anything,” it says, “even hurricanes.”
The doubters do not have a preponderance of prior examples on their side. The Islamic State does not claim natural disasters. Its supporters rejoice in them, but they reserve their official media for intentional acts. Of course, insurance agents and Christians, too, sometimes consider the weather “an act of God.”
The vast majority of the Islamic State’s claimed attacks were undertaken by men acting in its name, often after leaving short video statements confirming their intentions. The Amaq news agency is the preferred venue for the initial claim, usually within a day. (Sloppy reporters sometimes mistake the rejoicing of online supporters, meteorological or not, for an official claim.) If they were really so promiscuous with their claims, we would long since have ignored them, as we do claims from other yahoos who have tried to take credit for atrocities authored by others. The idea that the Islamic State simply scans the news in search of mass killings, then sends out press releases in hope of stealing glory, is false. Amaq may learn details of the attacks from mainstream media—and often gets those details wrong, also like mainstream media—but its claim of credit typically flows from an Amaq-specific source.
This Las Vegas claim may yet turn out to be false as well. They have offered no evidence—no cell-phone video from the killer, pledging allegiance in broken Arabic; no selfies of him, raising a finger of monotheism. Another absent sign of Islamic State involvement is videos from Paddock’s rifle-scope. At attacks like the Holey Bakery in Dhaka, Bangladesh, the killers have uploaded real-time images, exclusive and corroborating imagery for Amaq. As with many subsequently verified attacks, we have not yet, in these early hours, seen any such evidence.
If their claim is a rare false one, it will not even be the first false claim to feature a casino. In June, a gambling addict shot up and torched the Resorts World casino in Manila, Philippines. The Islamic State claimed credit, with a dubious follow-up alleging that Jessie Javier Carlos, 42, converted to Islam some months before, without telling anyone. That explanation appears to be a total lie. A false claim of credit in Las Vegas will effectively shred the Islamic State’s news agency’s credibility. It will become a news agency that was once reliable, and now associates itself indiscriminately with heavily armed crazy people in casinos….
James says
Latest news: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/10/02/las-vegas-strip-shooting-multiple-casualties-reported-near-mandalay/
58 dead, about 406 wounded.
According to the WaPo: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/10/02/police-shut-down-part-of-las-vegas-strip-due-to-shooting/?utm_term=.d9640f18aec7
“[Sheriff] Lombardo said the death toll in Las Vegas had reached at least 58 by Monday morning, a number that could rise, as police are still investigating the scene. Lombardo also said an additional 515 people were injured, though he did not specify how many of the people were wounded by gunfire or injured in the chaos that followed.“.
eduardo odraude says
That video’s first ten seconds is big news: a very good chance it means that at least one other person was involved.
Therefore this is probably not a lone wolf loony. This is someone sane enough to cooperate with others on a detailed plan over a period of time.
Guy Forester says
Dr. Gorka has pointed out the fallacy of the lone wolf attack. How does one get fully automatic weapons? Either a FFL or you alter a semiauto that is capable of being altered. People do not wake up one day and decide to massacre hundreds at a concert using military grade weapons. The locations of the room, the hotel, and the venue smells of advance preplanning and others would have or should have seen something.
Yes, people can go to great lengths so hide stuff. However, if he was really a convert, anyone see him at a mosque? What about behaviors, postings, discussions, changes in habits noted by others, such as his live in girl friend?
This thing smells like a dead fish. I doubt that we will get the full truth about this unless there is another Phil Haney out there willing to spill the beans that he was tracking this guy or his handlers and was told to drop it. That is what happened with the WTC in 93 and 911, as well as Ft. Hood and San Bernardino.
Flavius Claudius Iulianus says
John Guandolo presents this idea. I’m glad to hear that Dr Gorka agrees.
Kay says
What is this you’re saying? Someone was told to drop investigations?
Guy Forester says
To clarify: I suspect that we will not get the full story on this. Phil Haney was in DHS and was looking into mosques and the instigation of Islamic terrorism. He ended up retiring as he was told by his superiors to not only stop what he was doing but to destroy all of his notes. Haney stated that his investigation was capable of connecting dots and identifying the San Bernardino terrorists, possibly prior to any attacks. I have read similar reports regarding the 1993 and 2001 WTC attacks. It was well known that what’s his face at Ft. Hood was in contact with Al Awlaki and had expressed his jihadi sentiments.
So, I do expect every effort will be made to block anything that will clearly ID this man’s true beliefs and intentions unless they fit the MSM white gun nut, Trump supporter mantra.
Zak says
The disgusting hypocrisy that the west posses has been exposed to the world.
The operations of the Islamic state in the west has exposed to the world this hypocrisy and kufr and hatred towards Muslims.
It’s not unknown to anyone in the west that their governments contribute daily in striking the lands of Muslims for years.
And it’s not hidden to anyone in the west that the victims of their government’s crusader strikes are mostly civilians, women, children, elderly and even babies in their mother’s wombs weren’t spared from their criminal bombings on Muslims.
And if you talk to anyone in the west about the crimes of their government, you won’t hear a single condemnation.
As though, the scattered body parts of Muslims bombed by their government and their blood doesn’t belong to “Humans” who deserve to live.
So we tell them; The time has come for you to wake up from your drunkenness and feel what we feel on a daily basis. If it’s a big thing to you that you’re bombed into body parts, then it’s an even greater thing to us that a single drop of blood from a Muslim is spilt in the land of Khilafah.
If you have accepted the killing of Muslims in Iraq and Syria, why don’t you accept the killing of your people in Paris, Brussels, Manchester, Barcelona and elsewhere?
The true killer of your people is your government and your acceptance of killing innocent people in the lands of Muslims. And now that you know the cause. You should know that the bombings of Islamic State in your western countries will never stop until your governments stop bombing Muslims in their lands.
And you already know from all Islamic State blessed operations in the countries of the cross like Paris and Brussels – Your governments and all their security forces cannot save nor protect you when the time comes for Islamic state to respond.
butros says
I expect that the outcome will be the opposite…. more muslims killed on a global scale with muslims run out of western nations
Donald R Laster Jr says
It is to expected as people wake up and start defending themselves against the Islamic invading army. People will remember that this is a 1400 plus year old war and that Islamics are citizens of a hostile State that are invading countries by any means possible.
Jack Dawkins says
ALLAH = SATAN
MUHAMMAD = MURDERER
ISLAM = DEATH
Donald R Laster Jr says
You do realize that if Mohammad had not started this 1400 year old war back in the 600s when his lies about the god (allah when translated means “the god”) he worshiped, Hubal the moon god, also known as Baal, were rejected by Jews, Christians, and others, this war would not exist. Mohammad and the citizens of the government he created have been killing people non-stop for 1400 plus years. By rights all of the people who are not part of Islam can justify killing every citizen of Islam in self-defense since the laws of Islam require its citizens to kill and subjugate all people who are not citizens of Islam. Be careful what you wish for. Mohammad and the citizens of the government he created are the problem and this problem is 1400 plus years old.
Chand says
So, Zak, you support the Islamic State?
Ya, innocent Muslims are killed by Kaffir states (sometimes, by mistake) and so there will be revenge attacks. Okay, accepted.
But what is this Islam you defend? There is no such thing. Muslims are divided among themselves. Islamic State kills Shias. They’ll kill Ahmadiya, Bahaiis, Druze, Sufis and whoever else they consider non-Muslims although these people too believe in Allah, Muhammad and the Koran.
They live in the barbaric dark ages 1400 years ago in their minds while enjoying all modern inventions of humans. They enslave fellow humans and brutalize them. This is not Islam. It is un-Islamic. Killing kafirs was an injunction at a time of war during the time of Muhammad. By kaffirs he meant his enemies…………..those who did not believe in Allah. But that was then. This has no relevance now. Fourteen hundred years have passed.
The Islamic State is a rouge, criminal organization born in the prisons of Iraq, created by criminals and evolved out of their relentless and brutal murder of Shias in Iraq. It is based on a particular brand of Salafi Takfiri Wahabbism, claiming sole rights to represent Islam.
All of Islamic State’s supporters, soldiers and leaders should be sent packing to Jannat/Paradise as soon as possible. The problem is that Sunni Kurdish women fighters in Syria are contributing to this packaging and sending and so Islamic State soldiers killed by them might not even reach paradise. The Koran says that martyrs will go to paradise but doesn’t mention what’ll happen killed by women!
Donald R Laster Jr says
The civil law of Islam says to kill those who do not follow the laws of Islam. That is one reason when a former Islamic rejects Islam they are killed by other Islamic. The fact that the man may or may not have had problems is irrelevant. If Islam recruited him and he chose to become Islamic he was doing what Islamic law says to do force Islam on the non-Islamic. Don’t forget we have over 1400 years of examples of what Islam says to do to force Islam on everyone. People need to take the time to learn what Islam teaches and instructs its citizens to do.
Jack Diamond says
You apparently have your Own Private Islam, in mind. There is no basis for claiming the violence and hate in the Qur’an and Sunnah toward disbelievers are “then”, and this is “now”, and therefore these commands from Allah and Muhammad are no longer relevant and actually, un-Islamic. Where in the Qur’an, where in Islam, is the command of sura 5:51 (do not take Jews or Christians for friends or allies, and if you do, you are one of them {apostate}) rescinded or abrogated or consigned to history or considered of the moment, then but not now? btw this chapter 5 is considered the last revealed in the Qur’an.
I defy you to quote from one classic scholar of Islam, from one mainstream school of Islamic jurisprudence, from one highly regarded orthodox imam today, that would agree with you. The last revelations of warfare in the Qur’an (sura nine) are not abrogated, not cancelled, not consigned to ancient history. There is no then and now. Where is there a then or now in sura 9:29? Or in sura 9:5? They are current, till the Day of Judgment, and Muslims are bound to them. This Qur’an is immutable and unchangeable. That is not my opinion, it is the opinion of all the above. All those learned Muslims you consider un-Islamic.
gravenimage says
More claptrap from Chand:
But what is this Islam you defend? There is no such thing. Muslims are divided among themselves. Islamic State kills Shias. They’ll kill Ahmadiya, Bahaiis, Druze, Sufis and whoever else they consider non-Muslims although these people too believe in Allah, Muhammad and the Koran.
They live in the barbaric dark ages 1400 years ago in their minds while enjoying all modern inventions of humans. They enslave fellow humans and brutalize them. This is not Islam. It is un-Islamic.
……………….
Claiming that there is no such thing as Islam–and that Islam does not call for savagery against unbelievers–is utter rot.
Brutalizing Infidels is not un-Islamic. In fact, there is nothing so in line with the diktats of the Qur’an, the Hadith, the Sira, and the model of the vicious “Prophet”.
gravenimage says
“Zak” wrote:
The disgusting hypocrisy that the west posses has been exposed to the world.
………………………..
How *dare* the “filthy Infidels” be so “hypocritical” as to take issue with Muslims slaughtering us? *Bad* dhimmis!
More:
The operations of the Islamic state in the west has exposed to the world this hypocrisy and kufr and hatred towards Muslims.
………………………..
Well, that’s true–just look how the Islamic State took the moral high ground by raping children, crucifying teenagers who snacked during Ramadan, used Infidel girls as sex slaves, and committed genocide? sarc/off
More:
It’s not unknown to anyone in the west that their governments contribute daily in striking the lands of Muslims for years.
………………………..
In other words, any attempts to defend against Jihad justify more and more Jihad…
More:
And it’s not hidden to anyone in the west that the victims of their government’s crusader strikes are mostly civilians, women, children, elderly and even babies in their mother’s wombs weren’t spared from their criminal bombings on Muslims.
………………………..
What *absolute crap*. The civilized West does everything possible to protect innocent civilians. Muslims love to hide behind women and children, though, as “Zak” well knows.
More:
And if you talk to anyone in the west about the crimes of their government, you won’t hear a single condemnation.
………………………..
A “condemnation” for things “Zak” is lying about?
More:
As though, the scattered body parts of Muslims bombed by their government and their blood doesn’t belong to “Humans” who deserve to live.
………………………..
What crap. We fight back against those who attack us–it is Muslims who regard Kuffar as worthy of death, not the other way around.
More:
So we tell them; The time has come for you to wake up from your drunkenness and feel what we feel on a daily basis. If it’s a big thing to you that you’re bombed into body parts, then it’s an even greater thing to us that a single drop of blood from a Muslim is spilt in the land of Khilafah.
If you have accepted the killing of Muslims in Iraq and Syria, why don’t you accept the killing of your people in Paris, Brussels, Manchester, Barcelona and elsewhere?
………………………..
Muslim apologists try this all the time–pretending that Muslims target innocent civilians as “revenge”. But this is utter crap–the West was not at war against any Muslim country during 9/11, as “Zak” well knows.
More:
The true killer of your people is your government and your acceptance of killing innocent people in the lands of Muslims. And now that you know the cause.
………………………..
That we haven’t all submitted to Islam yet? We all know this.
More:
You should know that the bombings of Islamic State in your western countries will never stop until your governments stop bombing Muslims in their lands.
………………………..
More tripe.
More:
And you already know from all Islamic State blessed operations in the countries of the cross like Paris and Brussels – Your governments and all their security forces cannot save nor protect you when the time comes for Islamic state to respond.
………………………..
Another apologist for utter savagery–he *knows* what the Islamic State is, and *this* is his moral ideal. *Just sickening*.
Chand says
gravenimage says: “……….the West was not at war against any Muslim country during 9/11……”
Wrong. The US was at war with Alqaeda already and had attacked their camps in Afghanistan after the Jihadi attacks on the US Embassies. So the US was in a state of undeclared war against the Jihadis, including the Taliban govt. of Afghanistan. Bin Laden had then declared that civilians would be attacked in revenge, saying they don’t distinguish between people in uniform or without, citing the US nuclear bombings on Jap cities in WW II.
Although
I do not dispute the rest of your replies to Zak, the jihadi supporter, my enemy too.
gravenimage says
Actually, Osama bin Laden claimed that 9/11 was “revenge” for our having posted troops in Saudi Arabia–at their request–to protect against possible attack by Saddam Hussein. Really, you’d think he’d keep this sort of thing straight.
And the idea that Chand is against Jihad–given his unending stream of apologia for Islam here–is a bit hard to swallow.
Jack Diamond says
Hey Zak, what was your address again? I seem to have lost it. Have something to send you.
This war, your jihad, was declared 1400 years ago by Muhammad. All your nonsensical grievance-mongering doesn’t change the terms of that war, which have only to do with one’s belief or non-belief in Islam and Muhammad: “qital/KILL those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the Religion of Truth {Islam} (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the jizya (ransom for their lives) with willing submission and feel themselves subdued.” 9:29
Here is your pal bin Laden, after writing the same kind of bullshit you just wrote to the kaffirs, telling the actual truth to fellow Muslims:
“There are only three choices in Islam: either willing submission, or payment of the jizya thereby physical, though not spiritual submission to the authority of Islam, or the sword–for it is not right to let him live (an infidel). The matter is summed up for every person alive; either submit, or live under the suzerainty of Islam, or die.”
{What does this have to do with any specific political grievances? Or fighting just to defend your land? This is permanent eternal religious war. Oh, and all your “lands” are occupied territory. Why did the Islamic armies not just stay in Arabia, Zak? Out of self-defense?}
“Muslims and especially the learned among them, should spread Sharia law to the world, that and nothing else…(said Muhammad:)”I have been commanded to battle mankind until they declare there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah…He also said, per Berida..”Call them to Islam, if they respond (convert) accept this… if they refuse to accept Islam, demand of them the jizya…if they refuse, seek the aid of Allah and fight them.
Does Islam, or does it not, force people by the power of the sword to submit to its authority, corporeally if not spiritually? Yes.”
“In fact, Muslims are obligated to raid the lands of the infidels, occupy them, and exchange their systems of governance for an Islamic system, barring any practice that contradicts the Shari’a from being publicly voiced among the people as was the case at the dawn of Islam…They say that our Shari’a does not impose our particular beliefs upon others, this is a false assumption. For it is, in fact, part of our religion to impose our particular beliefs upon others.”
“Offensive Jihad is an established and basic tenet of this religion. It is a religious duty rejected only by the most deluded. Divine foundations that are built upon hating the infidels, repudiating them with tongue and teeth till they embrace Islam or pay the jizya with willing submission and humility. The Prophet was “sent in the final hours with the sword so that none is worshipped but Allah alone, partnerless.”
—-“Moderate Islam is a Prostration to the West”
Osama bin Laden {The Al Qaeda Reader, R. Ibrahim)
Have a nice death, Zak.
Dov Berrol says
Nobody seems to be talking about how this guy was able to bring several large guns into his hotel room. Just like the Fort Lauderdale airport gunman who somehow was able to bring an unloaded gun onto his flight, with ammunition stored somewhere else. We may need to require metal detectors and x-ray machines now at hotel registration areas so that high-rise hotels don’t become launching pads for deadly blasts of gunfire from balconies and windows. I also have a sneaky suspicion that this murderer in Las Vegas did not act alone – the Indonesian girlfriend might have even been an ISIS romantic plant to get a white American to commit this massacre.
Eric says
ISIS may make false claims of attacks they have nothing to do with to cause psychological distress.
What about this female companion of his? Paddock’s younger brother had moved Paddock earlier and said that Paddock had no guns.
There are more questions than answers here.
Eric
wool says
Shut ur trap u fuckiing racist .there aare many white europ.muslims who support terrorism
gravenimage says
Of course there are white Muslims who support Jihad terrorism–Muslim apologist wool is quite right in that. In fact, pious Muslims of all ethnicities support Jihad terror.
That is the whole problem.
Chand says
Wool says: “there aare many white europ.muslims who support terrorism”.
Not true. There are very few. A minuscule minority. Most among them have psyche issues or are ex-criminals who are trying to find some glory in their lives (or after death).
gravenimage says
*My God*–what rot. The idea that white Muslims are–somehow–impervious to the calls for violence from Islam–even when they wage violent Jihad themselves–makes no sense at all.
Chand says
gravenimage says: “In fact, pious Muslims of all ethnicities support Jihad terror.”
Utterly untrue. Most pious Muslims do not support Jihadi terrorism. No matter what the Koran says about fighting and killing kafirs, most humans (and BTW Muslims are humans, in case you’ve forgotten) follow their hearts and conscience and do not want to commit or support horrible crimes against innocents, especially in the name of Allah/God. They do not want to offend God and most humans know or feel that murdering an innocent is a grievous sin.
However, wars and violent conflicts are extraordinary circumstances and humans, from all races and religions, who are otherwise normal, end up committing crimes and such.
Jack Diamond says
Sentimental nonsense.
What offends God and what offends Allah are two very different things.
Allah does not regard his enemies (and therefore a Muslim’s enemies) as innocent.
Sin is in not doing what Allah and Muhammad have obligated (even if it’s a thing you, the Muslim, hate–like fighting). Many Muslims retain a conscience, that is why they are bad Muslims and not pious. That is why they are wishy washy Muslims. That is why they decide to leave Islam altogether.
“Most pious Muslims” do support jihad, an obligation from Allah and the “sixth pillar” of Islam, to remove the obstacles to the spread of Islam because the entire earth was declared unto Muhammad to be a mosque; because the realm of kuffar, dar al-Harb, has no ultimate right to exist. Every pious Muslim believes in Allah’s laws. Maybe you’ve heard of them. No pious Muslim will ever denounce them. They are a litany of crimes.
Every Muslim believes every word of the Qur’an. A pious Muslim practices the Islam of Muhammad and the Qur’an. That Islam is violent. It calls on a Muslim to hate the unbelievers, to lie to them, to terrorize them, to subjugate them, to kill them. If a Muslim chooses to retain his humanity it is in spite of Islam,
which hardly makes him a pious Muslim, does it?
gravenimage says
More from Chand:
gravenimage says: “In fact, pious Muslims of all ethnicities support Jihad terror.”
Utterly untrue. Most pious Muslims do not support Jihadi terrorism.
…………………………..
What is this claim that pious Muslims reject the teachings of the Qur’an and Hadith and the model of the “Prophet” Muhammed based on? Certainly, not on what Muslims themselves say.
More:
No matter what the Koran says about fighting and killing kafirs, most humans (and BTW Muslims are humans, in case you’ve forgotten) follow their hearts and conscience and do not want to commit or support horrible crimes against innocents, especially in the name of Allah/God. They do not want to offend God and most humans know or feel that murdering an innocent is a grievous sin.
…………………………..
The idea that one does not regard Muslims as human if one dares object to their raping and murdering us is simply grotesque. *Of course* humans are capable of such evil if they adhere to a savage creed like Fascism or Islam.
As for the idea that Muslims don’t want to commit crimes against innocents, this is true–but they do not regard any Infidels as innocent. Thus, we are fair game to rape or slaughter, as Chand no doubt knows.
More:
However, wars and violent conflicts are extraordinary circumstances and humans, from all races and religions, who are otherwise normal, end up committing crimes and such.
…………………………..
And what is this war against Infidels based on? On forcing us to submit to Islam. Pious Muslims have been waging this war against us for 1400 years now.