Following the March 22, 2024 Crocus City Hall massacre in Russia, there is serious debate centering claims of the arrested terrorists who said they were hired to murder people at the Crocus City Hall. Meanwhile, Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) simultaneously issued two statements claiming responsibility, although counterterrorism experts saw suspicion behind such hurried statements as well as statements of the Biden administration. Experts say, even if the March 22 massacre was implemented by ISIS or ISKP, it does not relieve Ukraine as well as the United States and Washington’s European allies from being held responsible, as it is well-perceived – ISIS in many ways today is a controlled client of Western intelligence establishments.
Commenting on the March 22 massacre, former US Marine Corps intelligence officer Scott Ritter said, “This was a political act linked to an American policy objective being implemented by Ukrainian intelligence services”.
He said, “These aren’t hardcore ISIS followers. These are people who self-identified as ISIS by posting an image that was picked up by the ISIS media arm and then published and ISIS looked at it and said, ‘okay, they’re doing all the right things. They published a photo, they made Shahada – announced the creed of Islam. So, we’re going to say yes, this is ISIS, this is ours’”.
Ritter added that the attackers attempted to return to their “true north” of Ukraine after the attack rather than going out as professed “martyrs”. “These aren’t jihadists, these are mercenaries”, Ritter concluded. “These are people who took money to commit an act of irregular warfare”.
Scott Ritter explained various aspects of the attackers’ alleged profession of faith seem amiss.
“Shahada is the Islamic creed that is extraordinarily important because that’s how one says ‘I am Muslim’”. It’s a very pious act. It only counts if it’s meant seriously. And there’s nothing in the Islamic religion that says that you have to raise a finger. That is something that has come into trend with jihadists because Osama bin Laden did that”.
“So, you’ll see a lot of al-Qaeda Islamists do Shahada raising their right hand”, he continued. “Right hand, by the way, is very important – it’s the hand of righteousness, it’s the clean hand, it’s the hand that does good. The left hand is the hand of Satan, the hand of evil, the hand that does bad”.
“These four perpetrators of this action in Moscow posted a photograph of them giving Shahada with their left hand, which tells you they have no clue what they’re doing”, said Ritter. “These aren’t Muslims. These aren’t real Muslims. These are people who are pretending to be Muslims”.
Ritter also pointed to the fact that the perpetrators fled the scene of the terrorist attack afterwards, rather than fighting to the death. Islamic terrorists typically go out as “martyrs”, he noted, following their “true north” to eternal reward in Heaven. Friday’s attackers instead attempted to flee to Ukraine, suggesting their “true north” is Kiev.
“The biggest takeaway, though, is that they blurred their faces,” he claimed. “If you’re getting ready to announce your creed to Islam and you’re going to be a martyr, navigating true north to heaven and the 72 virgins that await you, you want your faces seen. You’re announcing this piously, publicly. They blurred their faces. Why?”
“It’s a political act, it had nothing to do with Islam or nothing to do with a conflict between Russia and Islamic forces in Afghanistan or Syria. This was a political act linked to an American policy objective being implemented by Ukrainian intelligence services”, Ritter added.
It may be mentioned here that, recently released video from the scene of the attack appeared to show one of the terrorists named Shamsutdin Fariddun (born on September 17, 1998) scoping out the Crocus City Hall venue on March 7, 2024. The evidence has led to speculation the attack was originally intended to be carried out before Russia’s presidential contest in order to disrupt the election and undermine trust in President Vladimir Putin.
The terrorist was apparently dissuaded from striking at that time due to the security presence at the concert hall leading up to a performance by the popular Russian singer Shaman.
The analyst said both major branches of ISIS were “largely defeated” after intelligence agencies successfully infiltrated the groups. But afterwards Western countries decided to utilize the notorious terrorist gangs for their own ends, Ritter claimed.
“What we did is once we captured ISIS, we started using ISIS for our own purposes”, he said. “For instance, in Syria, targeting them against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. We have American officials bragging. Hell, even Hillary Clinton at one time bragged about how we controlled ISIS to undermine Assad”.
It may be mentioned here that, in August 2014, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton blamed the rise of Islamist militancy outfit Islamic State (ISIS) and others on failures of US policy under President Barack Obama.
Clinton specifically faulted the US decision to stay on the sidelines of the insurgency against Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad as opening the way for the most extreme rebel faction, the Islamic State.
“The failure to help build up a credible fighting force of the people who were the originators of the protests against Assad – there were Islamists, there were secularists, there was everything in the middle – the failure to do that left a big vacuum, which the jihadists have now filled”, Clinton told The Atlantic.
Whatever Hillary Clinton or other key-figures in the US administration may say or may not say – truth is – America cannot deny its contribution in the emergence of Al Qaeda, Islamic State and other Islamist militancy outfits throughout the world. Moreover, American policymakers have been also lying about these global terrorist entities. For example, following America’s retreat from Afghanistan, President Joe Biden proclaimed – Al Qaeda is finished. But recent reports suggest, taking advantage of Afghanistan ruled by the Taliban, Al Qaeda is continuing to grow further – both militarily and financially. I will write a separate article on this matter. Please stay tuned!
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