By: Cliff Kincaid
Why is there no motive for the Vegas massacre? Why did Stephen Paddock have a secret life?
It is terrible to contemplate, but the possibility that Stephen Paddock was an undercover federal operative or informant cannot be ruled out. He may have been either set up or used by ISIS and/or a federal agency in a scheme that backfired.
The feds may have thought they were going to catch ISIS in the act of preparing a major terrorist attack. ISIS terrorists may have thought Paddock was one of them but realized at the last minute that it was a set-up. So they claimed him as one of their own.
Perhaps he did convert to Islam after trying to get local Jihadists to buy his weapons. Or perhaps they thought he did, and he used his “conversion” to convince them he was one of them.
In short, Paddock may have approached potential terrorists with offers of weapons and bomb-making material. Or they may have approached him.
Those of us who have been around Washington D.C. for a while know that the FBI has been rocked by scandals of all kinds and a series of failures, ranging from Ruby Ridge to Waco to 9/11. Because these scandals involve death, stonewalling, and cover-up, the agencies cannot be trusted to investigate themselves.
For someone with even elementary knowledge of government incompetence and corruption, it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to consider the possibility that Paddock was a government informant or operative in a scheme that backfired.
We can anticipate there will be obligatory denials.
Reports indicate that the materials found in Paddock’s car included 1,600 rounds of ammunition, fertilizer that could be used to make explosives and 50 pounds of the explosive substance Tannerite. He had 23 weapons in the hotel room and had reportedly bought 33 guns in the past year. This guy was the perfect operative to be used in undercover stings. He had everything they needed to carry out major terrorist acts.
Paddock was a one stop shop for terrorists. He had the guns and the bombs. He was a one-man Weather Underground.
WND reporter Leo Hohmann reports that Paddock “not only worked directly for the [federal] government for nearly a decade but then worked another year-and-a-half for federal weapons contractor Lockheed Martin.” What this means is that he would have been known to the feds and could have been recruited by them. He could have been told he could atone for his bank-robbing father.
Perhaps he was a “lone wolf” who somehow “snapped.” But his arsenal, designed for a small terrorist army, and his “secret life,” have led to speculation Paddock was part of a gun-running and bomb-making operation similar to the federal Fast and Furious scandal in the Obama Administration. In this case, however, the targets were Islamists, not Mexican drug traffickers.
The Fast and Furious scandal involved the U.S. sending weapons to Mexico that were used by drug cartels to murder a federal border agent, Brian Terry. What if Paddock was part of another such operation, launched under former President Obama, to entrap alleged terrorists? President Trump’s new FBI director, Christopher Wray, has only been on the job for about two months, and may not have been able to review or stop it.
If the FBI had been able to stop the massacre, breaking into the hotel room at the last moment before the carnage, the Bureau would have looked like heroes in the eyes of the public. It would have managed to achieve some good publicity after the debacles involving Director James Comey, the Hillary email scandal, and Russia-gate.
But something went dramatically wrong. Either way, if he was an operative or not, he was able to assemble a small arsenal of weapons in a hotel room. Didn’t anybody notice? Or was he being protected by authorities who thought they were going to nab members of a terrorist cell?
All the facts are not in, but we know that one analysis of FBI undercover “sting” operations found they are now used in two of every three prosecutions involving people suspected of supporting ISIS, the Islamic State. The New York Times said, “…agents have helped people suspected of being extremists acquire weapons, scope out bombing targets and find the best routes to Syria to join the Islamic State, records show.”
You can see how dangerous this can be. These operations involve federal agents actually participating in the planning of terrorist acts and acquiring weapons.
What if Paddock, under government orders, set up his machine gun nest in the Mandalay Bay, hoping to entice some ISIS terrorists into the room and “catch them in the act.” Perhaps he thought the feds would burst in at any moment to stop it. Perhaps he had converted to the Islamist cause. In any case, in assembling this arsenal, he could easily have worked with others to make it all happen. Who were those others? That’s the big question.
One theory, therefore, is that the FBI blew it. They didn’t get there in time.
His recruitment by the FBI or another federal agency would have been a closely-guarded secret. His family and girlfriend would not have known about it. They would claim ignorance of his “secret life.”
These are difficult matters to consider. Perhaps that is why the White House is pandering to the “gun control” crowd with talk of banning so-called “bump stocks” for semi-automatics. This is how Washington avoids the topic of corruption in federal agencies. This will become a “bipartisan” feel-good moment.
We don’t have all of the pieces of the puzzle and, if something like this did happen, there will be great resistance to knowing and understanding the facts. But the involvement of the FBI and other federal agencies in the ongoing “investigation” means that they will take command and control and be in a position to engineer a cover-up regarding any ties Paddock may have had with them. This is how the Swamp works.
They will leave the puzzle in scattered pieces, to be assembled by courageous journalists and political leaders independent of the Swamp. That is, if there are any left.
Questions about Las Vegas
October 4th, 2017
The investigation of the shooting in Las Vegas continues. A crime scene so massive and with so many different crime scenes will be completely covered and no question will go unanswered. Sheriff Joseph Lombardo is doing a masterful job and both he and other investigators both local and federal have worked countless hours attempting to find out the what and why of what happened.
As always, we will not get all the answers that the American people are seeking. In the aftermath of the worst mass shooting in American history it is imperatives that the answers are clear, concise and honest. I am convinced that at the end of all the investigations, and the media has moved on to the next major story, there will still be questions about why this happened and how did it happen.
Questions remain, some may be just conspiracy and some may be factual. In either case, they are questions that need to be answered. One question is that the authorities are stating that Paddock did not check in until September 28th. A question arises when individuals who work at the Mandalay Bay assert that Paddock ordered room service on the 27th for two people. Who was that other person and why are authorities stating that Paddock did not check in until the 28th? Sources at the Mandalay Bay are claiming that Paddock actually checked in on the 25th.
Paddock, an out of shape former accountant with no military training is not capable of pulling this off by himself. With no experience in guns, ho could he have fired as rapidly and accurately as he did. As a military veteran and have experience with fully automatic weapons, they can be hard to control, jam easily and tend to overheat. Using an automatic weapon effectively takes extensive training and experience in the use of such weapons. Being a retired accountant senior citizen, I do not understand how Paddock had the skill or the stamina to fire for so long.The overheating is also a reason why suppressors (silences in Hillarys vernacular) are never used on such weapons. They have a tendency to melt and more quickly jam the gun.
How is law enforcement convinced that there was only one shooter? There are pictures that clearly show rifle fire from a lower window. And why are there recordings of law enforcement talking of another possible suspect on the fourth floor?
At the scene of the crime, why were all the exits blocked. Those 22,000 happy concert goers found themselves trapped, with ability to get out or to seek cover. The ten foot walls kept the multitude of people in the fire zone with no way out.
I have been to Las Vegas many times, living in Southern California and I can not understand how anyone, much less Paddock can carry so many weapons and ammunition into a room without being seen.
Even Trey Gowdy, the no nonsense Representative from South Carolina is skeptical. In Rep. Gowdy’s words, he is skeptical about the amount of premeditation and can not believe that a single person could have done this without assistance.
Further questions include: why so many rifles and weapons if there was only one shooter. Were the rifles that were there for another shooter? Were they all Paddock’s weapons and was he funded by others to have that so many weapons?
Paddock was found dead in his room by a self inflicted gunshot wound. Law enforcement states that he shot himself when they blew the door open to his room. Is there a ballistic report on the bullet that killed him that will close out that part of the investigation?
The broken windows on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay are the supposed site where the firing of the bullets that killed 58 people took place. Automatic weapons have a very pronounced flash, why were there no flashes from the 32nd floor? I have not heard whether flash suppressors were used, but even then there would be some flash. There are purported to be flashes from the 4th floor, but that has not been confirmed. The audio of the online videos and other videos it clearly be heard overlapping gunfire from two different weapons. Barring any further explanation, how can Paddock be responsible for all the carnage.
Paddock has no criminal history in either federal, state or local law enforcement. He had no affiliation with any activist group that is known of, although there are reports that Antifa literature may have been found in his room. Paddock was not politically active, or even religiously affiliated. Paddock did not have the ability of the meticulously planning, coordination or funding an attack such as this.
The final question I have is – has the Australian man, Brian Hodge, who was in the room next to Paddock been interviews and will that investigation be made public? He as stated “There were multiple shooters, and this same gentleman also provided information about the shooting that took the life of a security guard, supposedly shot by law enforcement.
Or another witness also from Australia, Wendy Miller who was staying next to the Mandalay Bay at the Luxor, where she described the security police chasing a Security Guard, or someone dressed as one, down the escalator that comes from the Mandalay Bay to the Luxor. Is there any information about this being given to the public about this.
These are questions that may be factual and need to be cleared by the end of the investigation. There are those that are already declaring this a “false flag” operation that is meant to lead to further gun control and eventually to a civil war. Hopefully Law Enforcement, both local and federal are aware of all these anomalies to the description they want the public to believe. Attention must be paid to those who are doing the investigation.