“Kingdom Come” ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ Kings†Prophets†Princes

“Someday someone will die-and [legal] wall or not-the public will not understand why… the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in December 1988, the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, the bombing of the U.S. Marines at the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia in 1996, the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, and the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000. Even the foiled Millennium bombers, caught when crossing the Canadian border in December 1999 as they prepared to blow up Los Angeles International Airport, owe their capture not to an intelligence success, but to the vigilance of an obscure agent at the U.S. Customs Service named Diane Downs.” – I.C. Smith, Former Special Agent at the FBI

Investigation is the forte of the FBI as Intelligence Collection is that of the CIA.  Rare, however, is the case where both bring together their expertise, knowledge and assets to prevent acts of terrorism – domestic or foreign.

Visiting a Mosque some years back I spoke to Michael German, a former FBI agent. German, at the time was working as a Fellow in the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, at the New York University School of Law. After his presentation, I pointed to the so called “turf war” between agencies and how this failure in collaboration was counterintuitive.

I also spoke to the Mosque’s Imam. I asked him how he felt about having a former agent of the government present at his Mosque speaking to members of his community. Did he trust him?

Without divulging what the agent or the Imam said, I can say they both appeared to be genuinely interested in addressing the issue at hand – terrorism.  But, from different vantage points.  

Guardians’ Compass Not Always Pointing East

Prayer in the direction of Mecca is a custom for millions around the world. For many, “whatever the Saudis decide, their influence on the rest of the Muslim world will be enormous, both because of their immense oil wealth and because of their moral authority as the guardian of Islam’s two holiest cities, Mecca and Medina.”

In Mark Weston’s Prophets and Princes: Saudi Arabia from Muhammad to the Present, “Millions of Muslims, including many Saudis, see the seventh century, when Islam grew so rapidly, as a golden age when saints ruled the world, a utopia that they want to restore.” That utopia no longer exists in a world ruled by Western powers.

Perpetrators of September 11, 2001 attack have been described as Muslims against the West’s ideas of modernization and capitalism. US, targets of envy or justice?

Saudi Arabia, unlike other countries, is not economically dependent on the West. At least not while its main commodity, oil, stays in demand.

Kingdom and its Princes are known for their abundance in wealth. If the “Saudi people choose to be moderate or militant in the future depends on whether they believe globalization can enrich their lives without endangering their faith.”

Statecraft or Command Decision?

My January 2019 paper, “Statecraft or Command Decision?” notes that coming into power and appointed Crown Prince in June 2017, Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s actions were reportedly critiqued.

Recall what transpired at the Ritz-Carlton Riyadh and “the crackdown that started on November 4 [2017].” The hotel apparently “turned into a detention centre for hundreds of Saudi princes and tycoons . . .”

Did the incident sow the seeds of vengeance from the “kingdom’s highest profile businessmen”? Time may tell. Speaking of vengeance and princes, I am reminded of prophets, masters and masterminds.

Saddam Hussein’s name conjures up oil money, invasion of Iraq, and his execution – all linked to capitalist Western powers. Justice by his people or execution by his enemies? Were not these so-called enemies once his friends, that is, friends with benefits? Yes, US masters and businessmen.

History tells us that Iraq neither befriended Iran or Israel. Yet, ironically or conveniently, it appears Hussein viewed Persians and Jews, not the Americans, as invaders. Reason? Oil competition and ideology. Funny how Christian businessmen hold no reservations.

Of course, time changes everything. In a “CONFRONTATION IN THE GULF” the New York Times reported on Sept. 23, 1990 that “On July 25, President Saddam Hussein of Iraq summoned the United States Ambassador to Baghdad…

SADDAM HUSSEIN: This is a message to President Bush.

“So what can it mean when America says it will now protect its friends? It can only mean prejudice against Iraq…Everyone can cause harm according to their ability and their size. We cannot come all the way to you in the United States, but individual Arabs may reach you.”

A decade later, followers of the Mastermind Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden set foot in America. Seems Hussein’s words were prescient. Yet, it took another decade for the US to hunt and kill the mastermind?

I.C. Smith, Former Special Agent at the FBI notes in his 2004 book Inside, A Top G-Man Exposes Spies, Lies, and Bureaucratic Bungling Inside the FBI “an early September 2001 e-mail from an unidentified New York FBI agent to the FBI’s National Security Law Unit:

“Someday someone will die-and [legal] wall or not-the public will not understand why we were not more effective in throwing every resource we had at certain ‘problems.’ Let’s hope the National Security Law Unit will stand behind their decisions then, especially since the biggest threat to us now, UBL [Osama bin Laden], is getting the most ‘protection.’”

Or, was the master plan all along to invade Afghanistan and Iraq? Again, Hussein’s words were prescient, “America says it will now protect its friends.” So who were the US friends? Answer that and you find the real masterminds.

American news program 60 Minutes interviewed Saad Aljabri “former intelligence official” from Saudi Arabia. Allegations were made against the Kingdom’s Prince.

Michael Morell, former Deputy & Acting CIA Director comments’ clearly emphasized the importance of intel provided by Aljabri. Morell seemed to appreciate the predicament Aljabri appeared to be in. But was it not out of Aljabri’s own making? Morell, we’ve seen this before.

Edward Snowden and the acts of treason, betrayal, and disloyalty come to mind. In my October 2019 paper, “Blowing the Whistle on CIA, NSA and U.S. President,” I noted thatin 2013, Snowden “blew the whistle,” but not in the usual manner of following the “chain of command.”

Snowden decided to forego the “proper channels” of the National Security Agency (NSA) and sought a messenger, the “Fourth Estate.” Or, in Aljabri’s case TV’s “60 Minutes.”

Irrespective of Snowden’s actions being seen as heroic by some in the public, others see him as a traitor whose disclosures benefited the enemy. Could the same hold true for the Kingdom’s Saad Aljabri “former intelligence official?”

Speaking of intelligence and kingdoms, United Kingdom’s intel agencies have reportedly signed a data deal with Amazon. Recall the whistleblower at the defunct Cambridge Analytica who exposed the British data firm’s collection of Facebook user data?

However, will UK’s intel agencies be forced to testify at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on privacy regulations as did the whistleblower? Not a bloody chance.

The Kingdom in the West, Britain, may wish to put its “House” in order while there’s still light. “The sun never sets on the British flag. God doesn’t trust it in the dark.”

911, What’s Your Emergency? US, What the F&@k Happened?

 “The reasons for the FBI’s failure to prevent the attacks of September 11, 2001, were managerial, not structural…The FBI had become so enmeshed in its overseas investigations that it ignored the very real possibility that the same terrorists it was tracking abroad could commit even more devastating acts of terror here in the U.S. Even after the failed attempt in late 1999 of the Millennium bombers, who sought to blow up Los Angeles International Airport, the FBI dug in its heels, focusing as it long had on terrorism committed against embassies and other U.S. targets abroad. Just as in 1993 when the existence of a New York terrorist cell emerged only after World Trade Center was bombed, so history repeated itself on September 11 while the FBI still had its blinders on when it came to domestic activity by international terrorists.” –   I.C. Smith, Former Special Agent at the FBI

I imagine the Japanese Kamikazes and German Nazis, if alive today, may find present day suicide bombers, Islamophobia, anti-Semitic acts, and “hate crimes” ironic. Poetic justice or life imitating art?

“Blow this Place to Kingdom Come” is a popular phrase in Western books and films. Bombings appear to be a thing of past. Still, the world remains dangerous.

On a past trip from Europe to the States, I had among my gifts a lighter in the shape of a hand grenade. No problem passing customs. But not today.

Why would the US not consider such objects “weapons” before 9/11 when hijacking a plane was a global occurrence? Didn’t their agents see the 1960’s film, “The Terrorists?”  9/11 gave the Feds a reason to force the public into accepting new Airport “security.”

Ripe for Execution Day Warning Signs?

The deer looks straight ahead as his known enemy dwells in his physical space. It is the rabbit who needs to look up and guard from the unknown enemy in flight. – Leticia Matlock

In the U.S., they say lightening “doesn’t strike twice.” Perhaps not in the same place. But “just as in 1993 when the existence of a New York terrorist cell emerged only after World Trade Center was bombed, so history repeated itself on September 11 while the FBI still had its blinders on when it came to domestic activity by international terrorists.”

How does the West reconcile its charges of the use of chemical weapons as “crimes against humanity” with the genocide of native Indians and nuclear bombings and use of toxic chemicals (agent orange) on foreign countries?

Security measures and risk management are standard protocol for international intelligence agencies.  “However, we must also recognize that the fault for failing to respond to these warning signs lies not just with the FBI-not even just with the United States intelligence establishment. True, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the intelligence services of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and the Marine Corps collectively failed to prevent any of these calamities from occurring. But so did the famed British MI-6, the German BND, the French DGSE, and yes, even the Israeli Mossad.”

“No enterprise is more likely to succeed than the one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.”  – Machiavelli  

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*I.C. Smith, Former Special Agent at the FBI statements in this paper are from his 2004 book Inside, A Top G-Man Exposes Spies, Lies, and Bureaucratic Bungling Inside the FBI. Smith’s statements here are not meant to reflect the present-day Whistleblower Complaint, Edward Joseph Snowden, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Central Intelligence Agency, Iraq, Israel, or Saudi Arabia.