The C.I.A. and an Afghan intelligence official said that the shooter had been part of an Afghan “partner force,” known as a Zero Unit, trained and supported by the agency in the southern province of Kandahar.
The C.I.A. and an Afghan intelligence official said that the shooter had been part of an Afghan “partner force,” known as a Zero Unit, trained and supported by the agency in the southern province of Kandahar.
I still find it hard to believe he would travel all the way across the country, just to shoot some random National Guardsmen at a bus stop. Dude’s either got a mental illness, or he was contracted to sow chaos.
Spent practically his entire life in a war zone, because his native country was invaded by America, and was trained to be part of a CIA death squad.
I don’t think you have to reach very far to find causality here.
“Causality” in what sense? How does his upbringing and prior training explain travelling 3/4 of the way across a continent to shoot some random people, when there are still active National Guardsmen in California? Traveling twice as far, to hit a random target simply does not make sense. Hell, there are more engaging targets in Portland right now, if he wanted to make a statement, and that’s right next door.
He literally drove the whole way…which makes this equal parts impulse and days-long anticipation. This whole thing smells off, unless he’s just mentally ill.
It makes sense because of symbolism. An attack in DC is different than attack anywhere else in the country.
If his aims were political, then of course he would go there, and not Portland, or California.
None of this means he was of a sound mind, and I would say his upbringing means that he most likely not very well adjusted, how could he be?
Whether that extends to some specific diagnosis of mental illness, such as PTSD, I can’t speak to.
So, you actually think this guy is a premeditating terrorist? With a handgun?
You think he was contracted to sow chaos as part of a false flag operation, with a handgun?
Also, terrorist attacks are generally premeditated by design.
“Contracted to sow chaos”, meaning to do relatively little damage, but raise local tensions. Which is exactly what a false flag operation is intended to do. It’s a motivator for policy change, not an actual terror attack.
If it was genuine terrorism, he wouldn’t have gone 3/4 of the way across the country, “for maximum political impact”…and then only bring a handgun. It’s a complete contradiction between intent and execution.
As much as I appreciate your armchair terrorism PhD, the most likely answer is that he had severe PTSD from his participation in a CIA death squad, where he killed his own people in Afghanistan, including children.
How many American veterans have come back with PTSD and lashed out with gun violence?
Is it possible he was reactivated, or coerced, by a nefarious actor to achieve said bad actors political aims?
Sure, but you’re making a lot of conclusions based on little to no evidence, and flatly ignoring or dismissing other more likely explanations.
By all means float the possibility that this is part of some conspiracy, but don’t pretend that you have definitive evidence that gives you just cause for excluding all other possibilities, especially the possibilities that already fit into the existing American cycle of foreign wars and domestic gun violence.
For example, what if one of his friends or family members were recently deported? Or if he was enraged that after betraying his native homeland, he saw America under Trump descending into fascism and decided to lash out by shooting American military members inside America’s Capital?
You’re hung up on his choice pistol, but how close do you think he could have gotten to his targets with a long gun in the streets of DC? How long could he have walked in DC with an AR-15 slung over his back?
Or what if he couldn’t afford a long gun? Or had other issues purchasing one?
There are many more reasonable explanations for this situation then your comments would lead people to believe, which is my point.
I will say this in your defense of your theory, he is such a terrible choice for a false flag operation, as evidenced by the immediate New York Times article about his CIA background, that it would fit my preconception of just how incompetent a Trump administration false flag attack would be.
I still think it’s one of the lesser likely possibilities, but again, I’m not dismissing that it is possible, just that there are other more likely explanations.