Orlando Shooter Had Terrorist Connections That Were Ignored By the FBI

The Islamic Center of Fort Pierce, Fla., is seen in Fort Pierce, Fla., Sunday, June 12, 2016. The mosque is where Omar Mateen worshiped. Mateen killed 50 people at a nightclub in Orlando, Fla., on Sunday, June 12, 2016. (AP Photo/Ben Fox)

Every time we have one of these “lone wolf” Islamic terrorist attacks we inevitably find that they had contacts with radical Islamist elements which were frequently ignored by a federal government so fearful of being called bigoted by accused terrorist groups like CAIR that they willingly decide to ignore evidence and hope.

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Nidal Hassan, the Fort Hood shooter, was in known contact with militants and nothing was done.

The mosque of the San Bernardino shooters was under investigation until that investigation was peremptorily closed.

The FBI admits to having interviewed Omar Mateen, the Orlando shooter, three times because of terror related activities. Less remarked upon is his mosque, the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce. Philip Haney, the Department of Homeland Security agent who led the investigation into the San Bernardino mosque, says (forgive me the Whirled Nuts Daily link but that is who he talked to):

The Fort Pierce mosque’s website features a link that demonstrates its relationship to the Shariah Board of America, a division of the Rahmat-e-Alam Foundation, which operates the Darul Uloom Chicago madrassa.

The madrassa is closely affiliated with the Institute of Islamic Education, which was a major component of Haney’s Tablighi Jamaat case.

Along with the State Department’s and Department of Homeland Security’s quashing of the case in June 2012, the administration subsequently ordered the deletion of an additional 67 records related to a report on the Institute of Islamic Education.

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The Fort Pierce mosque also was the mosque of an American suicide bomber:

The FBI in 2014 investigated a potential connection between Omar Mateen — who on Sunday killed at least 50 people in Orlando — and Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha, according to The Associated Press.

Agents determined that contact was minimal and did not constitute a substantive relationship at that time, FBI agent Ronald Hopper told the AP.

The connection between the two may be just a coincidence — but a troubling one, given Abu-Salha’s history.

The 22-year-old Palestinian American carried out a suicide attack in Syria in May 2014 on behalf of an al Qaeda-linked militant group, driving a massive truck bomb into a restaurant filled with government soldiers.

The mosque is not a huge one,

The Islamic Center of Fort Pierce, Fla., is seen in Fort Pierce, Fla., Sunday, June 12, 2016. The mosque is where Omar Mateen worshiped. Mateen killed 50 people at a nightclub in Orlando, Fla., on Sunday, June 12, 2016. (AP Photo/Ben Fox)
The Islamic Center of Fort Pierce, Fla., is seen in Fort Pierce, Fla., Sunday, June 12, 2016. The mosque is where Omar Mateen worshiped. Mateen killed 50 people at a nightclub in Orlando, Fla., on Sunday, June 12, 2016. (AP Photo/Ben Fox)
Interior view, Islamic Center of Fort Pierce
Interior view, Islamic Center of Fort Pierce

As the man says, “Wait, there’s more.

Mateen also had connections with a former US Marine and undercover FBI agent turned radical Muslim cleric who was released from prison last year.

Marcus Dwayne Robertson, known as Abu Taubah to his follower, managed to convert 36 people during time in prison for arms offenses. Mateen was a member of the Timbuktu Seminary, an educational website run by Robertson that police believe is used to dispense his radical teachings, according to Fox News.

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At some point one has to wonder exactly what it takes to get the FBI to do something. If one were the random white supremacist and had the same background as Omar Mateen it is difficult to believe that at some point you would not have been arrested and charged with felonious mopery or any one of the “three felonies a day” virtually all US adults commit.

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