The disinformation that has accompanied the investigation and reporting of the Boston Marathon bombing has been nothing short of spectacular. Perhaps there is no greater example than Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s comments in the wake of the event.
When TheBlaze first began to dig deeper into the story of the Saudi national, who was once considered a ‘person of interest’ in the bombing investigation before being downgraded to a ‘witness,’ Napolitano refused to even entertain questions about Abdul Rahman Ali Alharbi. She called Rep. Jake Duncan’s inquiry into the matter “so full of misstatements and misapprehension that it’s just not worthy of an answer.”
Well, apparently Napolitano had a change of heart because during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on immigration reform yesterday, she responded to questions about the Saudi national posed by Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa.
GRASSLEY: With regard to the Saudi student, was he on a watchlist, and if so, how did he obtain a student visa?
NAPOLITANO: He was not on a watchlist. What happened is — this student was, really when you back it out, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was never a subject. He was never even really a person of interest. Because he was being interviewed, he was at that point put on a watchlist, and then when it was quickly determined he had nothing to do with the bombing, the watch listing status was removed.
The inconsistencies in this comment are truly unbelievable. First, Napolitano denies Abdul Rahman Ali Alharbi was on a watchlist, only to then confirm he was on a watchlist – but only because he was a witness and they didn’t want him to somehow get away. To further complicate matters, she then admits he was considered at least somewhat suspicious because it wasn’t until they “determined he had nothing to do with the bombing” that his name was removed from the watchlist.
Do you follow that?
“That doesn't even make sense,” Glenn said exasperatedly on radio this morning. “Now, she's trying to get you to believe that this Saudi Arabian national wasn't a person of interest, they put him on a watch list because he was being interviewed. And once they discovered he wasn't involved, this person who of course they knew she just said wasn't a person even of interest, then they removed him.”
There is tremendous depth to this story, and Napolitano’s comments do not even begin to scratch the surface. Sadly, no one in the media seems to have the nerve to touch it. “And there's no one in the media – and believe me, you guys are – you people in the media are really truly criminal. You're criminal, and you should be asking why is it my network will not report this news? You have really good, really good reporters. Why is my network not reporting this news? There has to be an answer, and I'll bet you guys can come up with it about [snapping fingers] that fast. Why is my network not covering this news?”
Glenn has compared this story to the Monica Lewinsky scandal that was initially brushed off as a right-wing conspiracy, until Matt Drudge was able to expose the truth. It is unclear what affect this information will have on the Obama administration, but Glenn made a very bold prediction.
“The administration is coming undone here with this,” he explained. “I guess it takes – what does it take? I'm hoping that it doesn't take more. But apparently what it takes is a few Americans getting their arms and legs blown off in a U.S. city. That's what it will take for Americans to wake up out of their slumber. Maybe, maybe. If it doesn't, we are going to pay a much higher price to wake up.”
“But as horrible as this sounds, maybe this is the only pain we have to have. It sounds like I'm minimizing that pain. I know how horrible that was,” Glenn concluded. “But the pain from here gets much, much worse if you don't wake up.”
