Judicial Watch reports that Ft. Lauderdale Airport shooter Esteban Santiago Converted to Islam, Identified as Aashiq Hammad Years Before Joining Army
The Ft. Lauderdale Airport shooter is a Muslim convert who years before joining the U.S. Army took on an Islamic name (Aashiq Hammad), downloaded terrorist propaganda and recorded Islamic religious music online, according to public records dug up by the investigative news site of an award-winning, California journalist. This is pertinent information that the Obama administration apparently wants to keep quiet, bringing up memories of the Benghazi cover up, in which the president and his cohorts knowingly lied to conceal that Islamic terrorists attacked the U.S. Special Mission in Libya.
Information is slowly trickling out that links the Ft. Lauderdale Airport shooter to radical Islam while the official story from authorities is that the gunman is a mentally ill, Hispanic Army veteran named Esteban Santiago that became unhinged after a tour in Iraq. Only one mainstream media outlet mentions the possibility of Santiago’s “jihadist identity,” burying it in a piece about New York possibly being his initial target. A paragraph deep in the story mentions that investigators recovered Santiago’s computer from a pawn shop and the FBI is examining it to determine whether he created a “jihadist identity for himself using the name Aashiq Hammad…” The rest of the traditional mainstream media coverage promotes the government rhetoric that omits any ties to terrorism even though early on a photo surfaced of Santiago making an ISIS salute while wearing a keffiyeh, a Palestinian Arab scarf.
The public records uncovered in the days after the massacre suggest Santiago (Hammad) is a radical Islamic terrorist that’s seriously committed to Islam. Besides taking on a Muslim name, he recorded three Islamic religious songs, including the Muslim declaration faith (“there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger”) known as the Shahada. He also posted a thread about downloading propaganda videos from Islamic terrorists on a weapons and explosives forum. The investigative news site that unearthed this disturbing information connected the dots between Santiago, who is of Puerto Rican descent, and Hammad, an identity he created in 2007.
The Miami Herald, however, denies it,
Suggestions of Santiago’s possible connection to Jihadists stem in part from the gunman’s visit to an FBI office in Anchorage two months ago. Authorities said Santiago, who was agitated and incoherent, claimed that he was hearing voices urging him to join ISIS and that the CIA was pressuring him to watch terrorist training videos.
Yet federal agents, who have examined Santiago’s computer, have not uncovered any tangible evidence that Santiago heeded the voices he claimed he heard.
Sources also pointed out that Santiago did not follow the pattern of other ISIS-inspired terrorists by proclaiming support of the terrorist group as other “lone wolf” radicals have done — among them, Omar Mateen, the gunman who killed 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando last year.
Despite Santiago’s rambling statement to the FBI in November, he was not placed on any federal “no-fly” lists, and following his brief stint in a psychiatric facility, his gun, which had been taken away after the FBI visit, was returned to him.
Either way, Santiago/Hammad killed five and shot six others. Dozens more were injured during the airport evacuation.
Hi Fausta. Got banned out of HotAir but quick for my comments. Understandable since Ed and Duane haven’t yet accepted reality yet. The reality I mean is that Trump is obviously the DO-er conservative that Ted Cruz never would have been. Why? Trump is EXTREME HIGH ENERGY and sincerely focussed in fixing what Obama destroyed by building back up the Private Sector. In short… the basics of rugged individualism, the rule of law, in summation: real conservatism. Ed can’t stop thinking Trump is narcissistic like Obama. He isn’t. He just is not anything like Obama. But Ed and Duane seem to HAVE to believe this to justify their #NeverTrump stance. This is exactly what is wrong with liberals…. they don’t learn… they posture. I told Ed I don’t know why I admired him so much. SMART people learn from their mistakes… they don’t double down on them. BTW… miss you.
Daniel, I like Ed & Duane even when I don’t agree with some of their positions.
I’m very impressed with Trump’s cabinet nominees, and with Pence as VP.
Thanks for your reply. I think part of the difficulty/challenge for the #NeverTrump crowd is when they see Trump accomplishing the conservative dreams we’ve had all our lives, they are going to have to fight off what I’ll call the Henry V Syndrome… you know… the St. Crispin’s Day speech, where they are going to curse themselves for not being in the fight. But it’s even more difficult than that for Ed and Duane and they are going to realize they actually fought against all the good Trump is going to do… and this is going to wreak havoc on their characters until a time they do face the fact they are just wrong. Just dead flat out wrong. They aren’t remotely at that point yet, and I think as long as they don’t distance themselves from Hugh Hewitt, who really is a very negative force, they are going to remain mired in error-prone assessments. If you doubt this about Hugh… watch MY video on it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPVZC2w8WxY
Oh… and for more light hearted fun… watch my video on Ed and Duane’s prediction about Trump’s chances of becoming President. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHOiYtIxWjo
Without a doubt, Trump’s win is a gamechanger. We’ll see how it all works out.
I’m cautiously optimistic.
Fausta… you typed: “I’m cautiously optimistic.”
Well I’m not. I KNOW things are going to be MUCH better than any of us can presently comprehend. I understand this guy. Why? I’m often honest to a fault myself. I asked my billionaire friend about Trump and my friend’s first words about him were, “well, he’s honest.” That he is. I also don’t drink or smoke AT ALL. Another reason I get this guy is that he doesn’t feel he has to play the social games others do; he’s comfortable in his own skin. But there is one thing he is that I’m not… a genius. VERY few people in life can amass a billion, and millions and millions try.
If I were a brain surgeon or a billionaire, maybe I could associate better with the caliber of focus and accomplishment that a Donald Trump or a Ben Carson has, but I’m all too average — but I am smart enough to know that they are seriously superior to me in certain ways. And it’s in the ways that are just the kind of traits we need in a President and his team right now.