THE United States’ failed foreign and domestic policies have left Americans exposed to homegrown terror attacks like the New Orleans massacre, a 9/11 first responder claimed.
The New Year’s Day celebration on the world-renowned Bourbon Street descended into chaos after an ISIS-inspired Shamsud-Din Jabbar plowed through dozens of revelers with a pickup truck, killing 14 and injuring more than 35 others.
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The FBI said Jabbar, who was born in Texas and served a decade in the US Army, rented a Ford F-150 Lightening in Houston before driving over 340 miles to New Orleans, where he committed the terroristic act at around 3:15 am on January 1.
Armed with an assault rifle and a remote detonator wired to set off explosives in the Bourbon Street area, Jabbar was killed in a shootout with New Orleans police.
FBI officials said Jabbar’s attack was inspired by ISIS after he pledged his allegiance to the terrorist organization during the summer.
Federal investigators are still working on determining a motive behind Jabbar’s actions and what may have radicalized the Army veteran, who was honorably discharged in 2020.
Hours before the attack, Jabbar, 42, posted five videos on social media where he proclaimed his support for ISIS as he traveled from Houston to New Orleans on the evening of December 31, the FBI said.
CAUSE FOR CONCERN
The attack has sent shockwaves across the United States as thousands of football fanatics descended into New Orleans on New Year’s week for the annual college football Sugar Bowl.
The championship game, which was supposed to be played on January 1, was postponed until Thursday afternoon following the tragic event.
The terrorist attack has even raised concerns about the forthcoming NFL Super Bowl, which is set to take place at the Superdome in New Orleans on February 9.
Bryan Stern, a 9/11 first responder, said law enforcement officials from all ranks should be worried about the big game in February.
“If I’m Homeland Security, FBI, law enforcement, I’m nervous,” Stern told The U.S. Sun.
“The way tech is today – it has never been this easy to kill lots and lots of people. That’s just the nature of progress. You kill more people with cars than you do with horses and buggies.
“The rapid progression, the unbelievable connective tissue that we have, ability to influence people positively or negatively with truth or lies.
“You spin all that together, and your target population have their head in the sands who are not worried – that’s a real problem.”
Stern continued, “If I’m at Super Bowl and a whole bunch of army vets who are computer nerds are wearing a T-shirt that says ‘lives matter,’ do you think a police officer is going to give them scrutiny?
Who was Shamsud Din Jabbar?
THE man police suspect drove his car into a crowd of New Year’s Eve revellers in New Orleans was 42-year-old Shamsud Din Jabbar.
He is believed to have killed 14 people in what authorities are investigating as a terrorist attack before cops shot him dead.
More details are emerging about the US Army veteran who was born and lived in Texas.
Jabbar had a criminal history after being arrested in Katy, Texas, in 2002 for misdemeanor theft.
He was also arrested in 2005 for driving without an invalid license.
Documents viewed by The U.S. Sun confirmed Jabbar held a real estate license from 2019 until it expired in February 2021.
In a YouTube video uploaded on May 12, 2020, Jabbar introduced himself as a Team Lead for the Midas Group and Property Manager at Blue Meadow Properties.
He shared that he was born and raised in Beaumont, Texas, but was living in Houston at the time of the video.
During his 10-year stint in the Army, Jabbar said he served as a human resources specialist and IT specialist from 2007 to 2015.
He was deployed to Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010.
Between 2015 and 2020 he served in the Army Reserve as an IT specialist, the Army said.
Jabbar is a dad to two daughters and had two previous wives.
It’s unclear when his second divorce happened, but court files show that a restraining order was granted against him in 2020.
The New York Times reported a court document that the suspect filed in August 2022 as part of a divorce proceeding said he worked at the accounting firm Deloitte and made about $120,000 a year.
A ISIS flag was found in the truck by cops following the attack after it had been attached to a pole on the truck’s trailer hitch, the FBI said.
Jabbar had only converted to Islam within the last year and was “being all crazy” the new husband of his ex-wife said, the New York Times reports.
“No, he’s afraid. The Bourbon Street attacker, by all accounts, was not a crazy person. Therefore, your defensive posture has to be to defend against everything.
“Problem is everyone’s not paying attention, and low tech and people are inspired – that’s a recipe for pretty dangerous stuff. That’s pretty scary.
“If I was a bad guy, I probably wouldn’t hit Super Bowl because I would want to succeed.
“If they get caught, it’s really bad. I could see a couple of enterprising bad guys do a ‘Hail Mary.’
“But one of biggest barriers is Super Bowl tickets. It’s expensive to go to the Super Bowl and hard to get things in.
“[It’s] always hard to be in [law enforcement], but in today’s day and age, where if you say wrong thing – you might go to prison. They have an incredibly tough job ahead of them. Very tough.”
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‘AFRAID TO ACT’
Stern underscored a pressing confluence of policy issues in the United States that has created an uncomfortable climate among police officers nationwide.
“Right now, we have, you know, we clearly have a failed foreign policy,” he added.
“I don’t think that’s in dispute by anybody. That’s not a political statement, but, you know, ISIS is on the rise.
“They’re communicating more, they’re doing more.
“So, at the same time here domestically, US law enforcement in most jurisdictions, you know, a lot of people don’t want to talk about it, but I have a lot of police officer friends, and they’ll all tell you, they’ll all say the same thing.
“They’re afraid to act because of racial issues, because of [Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion] stuff, because what if somebody records them yelling at somebody on an iPhone, they’ll get in trouble.
“If they arrest people, nothing happens. So, ‘I go through the motions,’ lots of that kind of sentiment.
“Whether that’s right or wrong, that is kind of the tone of American law enforcement.”
I think there’s a predisposition to assume terrorism is a foreign thing.
Bryan Stern
Stern continued, “I have a lot of friends and family in the New York City Police Department, and they are scared to death, scared to death to act, on a number of occasions.
“So, there’s that piece of it from a physical security perspective, from the bad guy inspiration perspective, failed foreign policy leads to problems.”
Stern raised the alarm at how easily foreign terrorism fractions can radicalize Americans through the use of a smartphone.
“There’s a big misnomer that in order to be a bad guy, you can’t be an American,” he added.
“Well, Lee Harvey Oswald, Timothy McVeigh, you know, America in today’s world, where you can be radicalized off an iPhone.
“I think there’s a predisposition to assume terrorism is a foreign thing.
“My point is in today’s world, with the connectivity that we have because of iPhones and the Internet and Facebook and Instagram, and all different things, the radicalization process for a terrorist.
“A poor foreign policy leads to domestic problems. We’ve seen this in history over time for years. That’s not new.
“Our foreign policy at this time is so poor. Our standing as a superpower, our standing as a good country, as a strong country, as a country of values, as an ethical country, all those things that make people love you or hate you, all those things are at least in question.”
