Was Orlando Shooting A False Flag? Shooter Has Ties To FBI, Regular At Club, Did Not Act Alone?

By Brandon Turbeville

As mainstream media organizations continue to be afire with reports regarding the recent Orlando shooting, a number of details are escaping the public consciousness that might point to an even more sinister motivation for the killing of 50 innocent people at the Pulse nightclub. Most notably, that the attack could very well have been orchestrated by the FBI and other relevant U.S. intelligence agencies in order to guide public opinion, galvanize the American people, and for other “political” purposes.

Indeed, in my article “5 Reasons To Question The Official Story Of The Orlando Shooting,” I listed a number of questionable aspects regarding the shooting such as the fact that the FBI was well aware of Omar Mateen, his ideology, and his potential violence years before the attack yet did nothing, as well as the fact that this father is a Taliban-supporting TV host from Afghanistan. I also pointed out that Mateen himself had connections to a known ISIS recruiter and suicide bomber. In addition, I discussed the FBI’s history in relation to creating terrorist attacks in order to “bust” them and subsequently take the credit for stopping terrorist attacks.

FBI Foreknowledge, ISIS Sympathies, Taliban Ties

What may at first sound like an instance of senseless violence brings with it a number of other questions. For instance, the FBI was already well aware of Mateen and his connections to radical jihad and terrorism. According to CNN’s article, “50 Killed in Florida Nightclub, Shooter Pledged ISIS Allegiance,” two officials tell CNN that the FBI had investigated Mateen at some point for possibly having ties to or sympathizing with Islamic extremism. A law enforcement official said there were two cases opened involving Mateen but the probes didn’t result in enough evidence to charge him with anything.

The investigations were reported by a number of mainstream media organizations and later confirmed by the FBI itself during a press conference. The FBI admitted that Mateen had been interviewed by agents twice in 2013 due to comments made about radical jihad which were overheard by coworkers. He was interviewed for a third time one year later due to his connection to Moner Mohammad Abu Salha, an American who had traveled from Florida to train in Syria and later to return to the United States in order to recruit other Americans to fight in the Western-backed terrorist brigades attempting to overthrow secular and legitimate government, Bashar Al Assad.

Salha allegedly returned to Syria and blew himself up in a suicide bombing. It is also interesting to note that Mateen’s father Seddique Mateen is a political personality in his own right having hosted a TV show and apparently declared himself a presidential candidate for Afghanistan. Seddique has denounced the Pakistani government and expressed support and encouragement for the Taliban movement.

Still, the question regarding the fact that Mateen was on the FBI’s radar is extremely important. One key aspect suggesting a false flag that should be looked for soon after the attack is any possible connection the suspect or group of suspects may have had with intelligence agencies. A connection to any one of these organizations and institutions may go some length in explaining how the attack was coordinated, the motivation of the perpetrators, the actual involvement (or not) of the suspects, and who actually directed the operation. For instance, on 9/11, many of the alleged hijackers had previously had close contact with the FBI, CIA, and other high-level intelligence agencies (both home and abroad). Likewise, the Tsarnaev brothers who have been accused of masterminding and carrying out the Boston Bombing had ties to the FBI before the attack.

In many instances, connections to certain military agencies and communities should serve as the same red flag as connections to intelligence agencies since these institutions have largely been blended together.

The Presence Of FBI “Informants”

The FBI did much more than simply “investigate” Mateen – they introduced him to “informants” as well. According to the New York Daily News in the article, “FBI spied on Orlando gay club terrorist Omar Mateen for 10 months in 2013: FBI Director James Comey,”

Mateen first appeared on authorities’ radar in 2013 after the security guard’s colleagues alerted the FBI to inflammatory statements he made to colleagues claiming “family connections to Al Qaeda,” according to Comey.

Mateen also told coworkers he had a family member who belonged to Hezbollah, a Shia network that is a bitter enemy of ISIS — the network he pledged allegiance to the night of the carnage, Comey noted.

The FBI’s Miami office opened an inquiry into Mateen.

“He said he hoped that law enforcement would raid his apartment and assault his wife and child so he could martyr himself,” Comey said.

Nevertheless, FBI investigators investigated Mateen, who was born in New York, for 10 months. They introduced him to confidential informants, spied on his communications and followed him. They also interviewed him twice.

Connections To Known Terrorists, FBI Informants, CIA Assets

Mateen was not only connected to Mohammed Abu Salha, he also maintained ties with Marcus Dwayne Robertson, a notoriously violent radical Muslim/CIA Asset.

The Daily Mail describes Robertson in the article, “Orlando terrorist connected to radical Muslim cleric who was released from prison last year after he converted 36 people in jail and ‘runs a website used to dispense his teachings,” by writing,

Robertson, who is also known as Abu Taubah to his thousands of followers, converted at least 36 people to his version of Islam while he was imprisoned for four years in jail.

Early Sunday authorities brought Robertson, who was living in Florida, along with several other associates in for questioning.

According to Fox News, a law enforcement source said: ‘It is no coincidence that this happened in Orlando. Mateen was enrolled in (Robertson’s online) Fundamental Islamic Knowledge Seminary.’

Police believe that Robertson’s Timbuktu Seminary is used to dispense his radical teachings, sources told Fox News.

Robertson, who was a former US Marine and undercover FBI agent before turning into a radical Imam, was released from prison last year despite warning from officials and prosecutors that he would recruit people to carry out horrendous acts of violence.

He was considered so dangerous that he was kept shackled with his own security detail away from other inmates.

Whenever he was transported to court, authorities had a seven-car caravan of armed federal marshals escort him.

He was eventually moved to solitary confinement after prison officials discovered that he was trying to radicalize his fellow inmates.

After serving as a Marine for six years, Robertson, 47, went on to become a bank robber, before turning FBI informant after his arrest in exchange for a short prison sentence.
He was dismissed by the FBI in 2007 after allegedly attacking his CIA handler, and then began preaching Islamic extremism.

He was thrown in jail for tax fraud back in 2011, prosecutors attempted to have ten years added to his sentence last year after discovering documents preaching terror among his possessions. However, a judge released him.

Robertson has openly preached against homosexuality, as wiretaps from 2011 proved that he instructed one of his students to file fake tax returns to get a refund to pay for travel to Mauritania for terror training.

According to Fox News, federal law enforcement officials have been familiar with Robertson since as early as 1991.

Robertson became the leader of a New York gang known as ‘Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves’ and robbed more than 10 banks, private homes and post offices at gunpoint.
They shot three police officers and also attacked an officer after he suffered injuries from a homemade pipe bomb.

In that same period, authorities claimed that Robertson, who was known as ‘Ali Baba,’ also ‘served as a bodyguard to Omar Abdel Rahman, who led the terrorist group that carried out the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center,’ Fox News reported.

When he was arrested in 1991 he cut a deal with prosecutors who let him serve four years in prison before he went to work undercover for the FBI in 2004 to document terrorists’ plans in Africa and the United States.

Thus, the best efforts of the FBI, CIA, and their media mouthpieces are to attempt to convince readers that Robertson was a legitimate radical Muslim (aside from his ties to the U.S. military, FBI, and CIA) but that he was simply too much of a loose cannon to be used as an informant and was therefore cut loose from the program. This claim would actually mean two things: First, Robertson may have been a loose cannon but he was still willing to work as an informant. Secondly, despite his being known as a radical jihadist with a notorious criminal history, he was released from prison on numerous occasions having served less time than many with simple drug offenses to their names. In reality, however, the story purporting to show Robertson as a legitimate terrorist are most cover for what was and still is a CIA/FBI asset.

It should also be noted that Robertson was known to have acted as the bodyguard for Omar Abdel Rahman, the alleged leader of the terrorist group that carried out the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, another “sting” operation that resulted in a terrorist attack going live.

The FBI History Of Creating Terrorist Attacks

For some time Tony Cartalucci of Land Destroyer has been painstakingly documenting instances of the FBI organized, arming, funding, and directing domestic terror attacks only to foil those attacks later and claim success in preventing terror attacks on American soil as well as the possibility that many of these attacks simply do not get foiled but are allowed to take place for political purposes.

For instance, in his article “CONFIRMED: FBI Introduced Florida Shooter To ‘Informants,’” Cartalucci provides an excellent overview of the FBI’s history of creating terror attacks that can be “foiled” later or even allowed to go live. Cartalucci writes,

Among the activities these informants carry out includes providing and training suspects in the use of real explosives, providing suspects with arsenals of weapons precisely like those used in the recent shooting in Orlando Florida, and encouraging suspects to adopt “radical ideology” over the course of the investigation. Suspects are given the false impression that they are working on behalf of terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda or the self-proclaimed “Islamic State,” often cultivating delusions of grandeur among otherwise mentally ill suspects.

The Intercept in its recent article, “Before Nightclub Shooting, FBI Pursued Questionable Florida “Terror” Suspects,” would note that the FBI’s Miami office who investigated Mateen, has been “among the bureau’s most active and aggressive counterterrorism units.”

It would also report on the specifics of this unit’s activities:

For more than a year ending in April — a time during which investigators will now be looking for any clues from Mateen that might have been missed — the FBI in Miami focused on a counterterrorism sting that targeted James Medina, a homeless man with mental problems.

The Intercept would reveal that the FBI informant, not Medina, came up with the idea of crediting the planned attack to the “Islamic State.” In fact, upon reading the FBI’s affidavit (.pdf), it is clear the FBI’s informant encouraged and walked Medina through every aspect of the planned attack, including providing him with what he thought was an explosive device.

Upon reading Medina’s incoherent conversations with various FBI informants, it is clear he possessed neither the mental or technical capacity on his own to perpetrate the attacks he was arrested for.

The Intercept would continue:

Nearly a year before Medina’s arrest, the FBI’s Miami office arrested another supposed terrorist, 23-year-old Cuban-American Harlem Suarez, also known as Almlak Benitez, whom former co-workers described as “a little slow.” The government alleged that Suarez conspired with an FBI informant to bomb a beach in Key West in support of the Islamic State. The FBI provided a fake backpack bomb.

Finally, the Intercept would reveal:

The Orlando shooting isn’t the first case to raise this question. In 2011, when the FBI investigated Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, agents did not deem him a threat.

Instead, at about the same time, the Boston FBI started a nine-month sting operation against Rezwan Ferdaus, who had no weapons and no connections to international terrorists, and whose mental wellness had deteriorated so much that he was wearing adult diapers at the time of his arrest on terrorism charges.

Rezwan Ferdaus, like Medina, was provided assistance by the FBI every step of the way, including being provided 24 lbs of C4 explosives, 6 fully automatic AK47 rifles, and 3 grenades – the FBI’s own affidavit reveals (.pdf). He was brought deep into a fictional world where he believed he was working directly with Al Qaeda for nearly a year – told that “detonation devices” he constructed and passed on to FBI informants were “used” in Iraq to “kill” American soldiers.

The FBI’s informants conduct similar practices in virtually all of their investigations.

In 2010, the FBI investigated naturalized US citizen and Oregon resident Mohamed Osman Mohamud. In their own official statement titled, “Oregon Resident Arrested in Plot to Bomb Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony in Portland,” released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office on November 26, 2010 it was stated :

According to the affidavit, on November 4, 2010, Mohamud and the undercover FBI operatives traveled to a remote location in Lincoln County, Ore., where they detonated a bomb concealed in a backpack as a trial run for the upcoming attack.

The FBI in February 2012 provided another suspect with live explosives in the lead up to what was ultimately a foiled suicide bombing planned with the help of FBI informants at the US Capitol.

USA Today reported in their article, “FBI foils alleged suicide bomb attack on U.S. Capitol,” that :

According to a counterterrorism official, El Khalifi “expressed interest in killing at least 30 people and considered targeting a building in Alexandria and a restaurant, synagogue and a place where military personnel gather in Washington before he settled on the Capitol after canvassing that area a couple of times,” the Associated Press writes. During the year-long investigation, El Khalifi detonated explosives at a quarry in the capital region with undercover operatives. He is not believed to be affiliated with al-Qaeda, officials said.

Considering the disturbing activities conducted by FBI informants during these “investigations,” the FBI appears obligated to tell the American public just what their “informants” were doing with Florida shooting suspect Omar Mateen in the 10 months they were “investigating” him beginning in 2013.

Did they also walk Mateen through planned attacks he ultimately backed out of? Did he eventually change his mind again after the FBI’s investigation was allegedly closed?

The American media and US elected representatives have an obligation to ask these questions, obtain this information from the FBI, and to reevaluate the FBI’s means and methods of investigating potential suspects through what is clearly a dangerous process of entrapment, indoctrination, and deceit.

Was Mateen Being Handled By The FBI?

In addition to the “investigations” being conducted by the FBI into Mateen’s conduct, there is the very real possibility that Mateen himself was being handled and/or lulled into radical jihad, culminating in the very attack that took place in Orlando.

One piece of information that would lend credence to this hypothesis comes from a New York Daily News report that claims Mateen was actually a regular at the Pulse bar. According to the New York Daily News report, “Orlando Shooter Was Regular At Pulse Gay Club; Former Classmate Says Omar Mateen Was Homosexual,”

The homophobic maniac who murdered 49 people inside Orlando’s gay-friendly nightclub Pulse Sunday morning had been hanging out there for three years and chatted with men via online dating services like Grindr, said multiple witnesses who claimed to have firsthand knowledge of Mateen’s habits.

. . . . .

Mateen, who had married again, this time to Noor Salman who bore him a son, also visited Pulse several times over the past three years, according to club patrons.

One couple, who work together as drag-dancing performers, said they’d seen Mateen as many as a dozen times at Pulse.

Ty Smith and Chris Callen also said they’d seen him escorted drunk from the club more than once.

. . . . .

“I’ve seen him a couple of times at Pulse, a couple of other people that I’ve spoken with, including an-ex security guard, have actually witnessed this guy at Pulse many times before,” said Callen, who performs as Kristina McLauglin.

“One friend was a security guard there two years ago and she remembers him,” Callen told the Daily News.

He estimates Mateen began showing up about three years ago. Everybody was blown away to realize he was the man responsible for the slaughter.

“It’s shocking to everyone because we saw him there before,” said Callen.

He said one night Mateen got angry about a religious joke and pulled a knife on a friend. But it was nothing the friend couldn’t handle, Callen said.

The performer recalled his first words with Mateen three years ago.

“He was a nice guy,” he said of the shooter. “He was at the bar. He was actually talking with another guy. I turned around. I was in drag. I said hello. He seemed comfortable,” Callen said.

“As I was onstage he was standing next to somebody, having a conversation, having a good time close to the stage. Later on that night … he was out there dancing with another guy. It could be he just went crazy. Maybe he got radicalized and hated who he was,” Callen said.

Interestingly enough, if Mateen began frequenting Pulse around three years ago (2013) that would put his first foray into being a regular at the club around the same time as his first “investigation” at the hands of the FBI.

Was Mateen blackmailed into terror for his sexuality? Was he recruited, radicalized, and facilitated by U.S. intelligence and his regular visits to Pulse merely an act of casing the joint? Did he think he was part of a drill? Did he believe he was really fighting jihad?

It has been admitted that Mateen was “introduced to informants” around this time. So what did they tell him? What did they do with him? The answers to these questions will likely never be known but what is known is that the FBI keeps records of these types of things, so the organization has some serious explaining to do regardless.

More Than One Shooter

Despite mainstream news organizations’ attempts to minimize victims’ reports of more than one perpetrator in the Orlando shooting, authorities are now being forced to acknowledge the possibility that Mateen did not act alone. According to WSB-TV in Atlanta,

Channel 2’s sister station in Orlando, WFTV, is reporting that they expect an arrest in connection to the Orlando nightclub shooting that left 50 dead, including the shooter.

A top law enforcement source told WFTV an arrest, elsewhere in Florida, is expected of an alleged accomplice.

Janiel Gonzalez, who was in the club on the night of the shooting, seems to think there must have been more than one perpetrator. In an interview with the Palm Beach Post, he recounted a second man holding the door shut and keeping everyone inside. Interestingly enough, it was on the side of the club that the shooter virtually ignored during his rampage. As Palm Beach Post reports,

“I remember telling myself, ‘This is not how I die,’’’ Gonzalez, 26, said.

“When I dropped to the floor and saw people crying and covered in blood. The scent of the ammunition and bullets, I was like ‘This is real life. This is happening right now.’”

He said he never saw the gunman, who was in an adjacent room about 20 feet away. He said he thought the initial burst of gunfire lasted eight or nine minutes.

“He kept on shooting and shooting and shooting, rapid fire,’’ Gonzalez said, “and he’d change (clips), put in more ammunition — bud-dudda. I could smell the ammo in the air.’’

He said he heard another gun from a different direction, so he wonders if there were two gunmen.

“Everybody dropped to the floor. We were trying to look for an exit. But the main exit was right next to the entrance where the shooter was shooting,’’ he said.

“In a moment of desperation we were all crawling on the floor trying to find a place to exit. I looked to my right and I could see people going through some curtains. We were digging through the curtains and found a door.’’

But he said the door was blocked by a man. He wasn’t sure if it was a club security person or an accomplice to the gunmen.

“Fifty people were trying to jump over each other trying to exit the place. There was a guy holding the door and not letting us exit. He’s like ‘Stay inside, stay inside.’ As he is saying that, the shooter keeps getting closer and closer and the sound of the bullets is getting closer. Everyone starts to panic. People are getting trampled. Let us out, let us out!’’’

Gonzalez’ first thought was that it was a hate crime. “This guy is trying to prevent us from leaving. Maybe they’re working together,’’ he said.

Gonzalez said he feel lucky because he hung out on the left side of the club, while the gunman concentrated fire on the right side.

“When you enter the club, there’s a right wing and a left wing. The shooter entered and went straight to the right. He never came to the left (side), which is the hiphop room where the majority of my friends were. Everybody in the right (wing) room got injured.’’

“I’m pretty sure it was more than one person. I heard two guns going at the same time. It was very, very crazy.’’

The Security Firm

Despite all of the “investigations” into Mateen’s ideology and his connections with known terrorists, he was still able to gain not only a gun (the point of focus by the anti-gun left) but a security clearance as part of his job. But the most interesting aspect of Mateen’s employment was that he worked for G4S Secure Solutions, one of the largest security firms in the United States and formerly known as Wackenhut. The company is notorious for its connections to the FBI, CIA, military industrial complex, and the “shadow government” apparatus itself.

Not only does Wackenhut/G4S boast of a board that reads like a list of some of the most powerful intelligence players in the country, but it has been closely involved in surveillance, espionage, and innumerable clandestine operations. The organization essentially has a revolving door with the CIA and functions as just another wing of the intelligence community.

Conclusion

While the right-wing media blames Muslims and the left-wing media blame guns, perhaps it would be more effective if thinking individuals would examine the possibilities that this attack was a false flag incident designed to push an agenda that would benefit those in power in some way or other. Out of this attack we will no doubt see another push for the evisceration of the Second Amendment and other civil liberties as well as increased hype regarding ISIS as a threat to the American way of life and a greater attempt at justification for foreign adventures.

While the information presented above may not be enough evidence to prove in the court of law that the Orlando attack was a false flag attack, it is, without a doubt, reason enough to question the official story thus far and is highly suggestive of the possibility that the largest mass shooting in U.S. history was indeed a false flag attack engineered and directed by elements in the U.S. government intelligence community.

If the attack is attributed to a lone jihadist nut the FBI has some serious explaining to do since it appears that the agency itself is the greatest initiator of terrorist activity inside American borders and is either the most incompetent anti-terror fighter in the U.S. or it is complicit in the attacks that continue to take place.

Brandon Turbeville – article archive here – is the author of seven books, Codex Alimentarius — The End of Health Freedom, 7 Real Conspiracies, Five Sense Solutions and Dispatches From a Dissident, volume 1 and volume 2, The Road to Damascus: The Anglo-American Assault on Syria, and The Difference it Makes: 36 Reasons Why Hillary Clinton Should Never Be President. Turbeville has published over 650 articles on a wide variety of subjects including health, economics, government corruption, and civil liberties. Brandon Turbeville’s radio show Truth on The Tracks can be found every Monday night 9 pm EST at UCYTV. His website is BrandonTurbeville.com He is available for radio and TV interviews. Please contact activistpost (at) gmail.com.

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