PolAgnostic
There is a term thrown around wildly these days which use to be the ultimate put down. “Conspiracy Theory” was the sucker punch for anyone promoting a story outside of the Establishment group think. Unfortunately for those thinking they’ve got a slam dunk insult, just like Hillary Clinton’s objective political judgment, using it hasn’t aged well.
Three years ago, anyone who suggested the Obama administration would use the FISA courts and Intelligence Community as a political tool would have been dismissed as pushing a conspiracy theory. Heck, all the Democrats in DC did just that six months ago. Oops! So when a New York Times correspondent says ISIS claims about the Las Vegas shooter may be credible, DC as a whole better consider it.
Rukmini Callimachi covers ISIS for the Times. Before that, she was the West African bureau chief for the AP for seven years. She posted a thread of tweets yesterday well worth the time to scan through them:
Rukmini Callimachi on Twitter
1. After ISIS claimed Vegas, I was waiting for them to release Naba, their weekly newsletter, to see if anything new emerged. Naba is out:
2. Under a picture of the Mandalay Bay drenched in blood they rehash the attack. New info: They are now claiming shooter converted 6 mos ago pic.twitter.com/2t53MSBNHq
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) October 5, 2017
3. Below is the @siteintelgroup translation. ISIS earlier said shooter converted “months ago.” Now they’re saying it was 6 mos specifically pic.twitter.com/Lo6hF1S65M
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) October 5, 2017
4. No proof is provided, but ISIS has rarely claimed attacks that were not by either their members or sympathizers.
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) October 5, 2017
5. ISIS members meanwhile are pointing out that after ISIS downed Metrojet over Sinai, no one believed them: pic.twitter.com/8oF4skW8VK
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) October 5, 2017
6. In their chatrooms, they are claiming that the West and the media is leading a cover-up in order to hide the “martyrdom” of their brother
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) October 5, 2017
7. I don’t take ISIS’ claim at face value. And so far, 0 evidence tying this attack to ISIS has emerged.
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) October 5, 2017
8. But here’s why I disagree with those rejecting it out of hand. I’ve been covering ISIS since 2014 and since then I have kept a timeline
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) October 5, 2017
9. Everytime ISIS claimed an attack in West, I jotted it down. Month later, I’ve gone back over list & annotated what investigation found
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) October 5, 2017
10. My list is not complete but of the more than 50 cases I have annotated, I could only find 3 false claims.
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) October 5, 2017
11. Yes, the group frequently exaggerates death tolls & yes, they inflate & distort details, but the crux of the claim is typically correct
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) October 5, 2017
12. The thing to understand is ISIS considers an attack to be their handiwork if the attacker is sent by them or if he is inspired by them.
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) October 5, 2017
13. The reason I don’t buy argument that they are now opportunistically claiming attacks to deflect from battlefield losses is as follows pic.twitter.com/mJNj4LXVnj
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) October 5, 2017
14. Beyond the attacks they’ve claimed, there are many more they could have claimed but didn’t. These are attacks where we know it was them
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) October 5, 2017
15. Remember the Thalys train shouting? They never claimed it. Attacker shared a hotel room with Abdlehamid Abaaoud, leader of Paris attack pic.twitter.com/1E536rRI2X
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) October 5, 2017
16. Remember the attack on the Jewish Museum in Brussels? Attacker was 1 of ISIS’ jailers who held European hostages. Yet they never claimed pic.twitter.com/i8l5fiQlgA
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) October 5, 2017
17. Do you remember the devastating attack on the Istanbul airport last year? Investigation determined it was ISIS. Again they did not claim pic.twitter.com/UuRWpN9NlI
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) October 5, 2017
18. And 1 day before Vegas on Saturday, a guy who’d placed ISIS flag on his car’s dashboard used it to ram police. Did ISIS claim it? Nope pic.twitter.com/HXGVkRovxK
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) October 5, 2017
19 Does this mean ISIS had a role in Vegas? There is as yet 0 evidence of that. My point: This group has been more right than its been wrong
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) October 5, 2017
20. Given ISIS’ insistence, I’m with @AmarAmarasingam: Have any reporters asked Paddock’s brother and other family members if he converted?
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) October 5, 2017
For those whose groupthink flatly rejects considering what is said above because of who she works for (bias runs both ways) or the fact “informed sources in DC” (cough*Andrew McCabe*cough) told ABC news last night there are no links, please feel free to motor on over to your choice of programming (pun intended).
Everyone else should note this “report” was made via a Twitter thread because it doesn’t fit into the New York Times Narrative.
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