The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

The Face of a Terrorist Mastermind?

Posted on | December 10, 2015 | 65 Comments

 

Enrique Marquez may not look like a terrorist, but he is now a focus of the FBI investigation in San Bernardino:

As federal officials scour the backgrounds of the couple who went on a terrorist rampage here last week, they are looking carefully at Enrique Marquez, a childhood friend and relation by marriage of the husband, Syed Rizwan Farook. It was Mr. Marquez, 24, who bought the two assault rifles that Mr. Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, used to carry out the attack, which killed 14 people and wounded 21 others.
Mr. Marquez, who works at a Walmart store, bought the weapons legally in 2011 or 2012 and either gave or sold them to Mr. Farook, federal officials said. Investigators have spoken with Mr. Marquez and were keeping close tabs on him; although they have not named him as a suspect, they believe he has knowledge about the Farook family and its recent activities.
In November 2014, Mr. Marquez married Mariya Chernykh, whose sister, Tatiana, is married to Syed Raheel Farook, brother of Syed Rizwan Farook. Tatiana Farook is a hairstylist and makeup artist who also goes by the name Tatiana Gigliotti. She and her husband were witnesses at the wedding of Mr. Marquez and Ms. Chernykh, according to a marriage certificate released by the California Department of Public Health.
Another of Mr. Farook’s siblings, Saira, is married to Farhan Khan. For some period of time the Khans attended the same mosque as Mr. Marquez, who is a convert to Islam, according to people who know them.
Mr. Marquez could be crucial in helping the Federal Bureau of Investigation determine when the couple began their plot and understand more about their thinking.

Meanwhile, we learn more about these disciples of the Religion of Peace:

Syed Rizwan Farook, the man at the center of last week’s massacre in San Bernardino, Calif., might have plotted an attack as far back as 2012 with one of his longtime friends, senior law enforcement officials said Wednesday.
In addition, the F.B.I. revealed Wednesday that Mr. Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, were discussing jihad and martyrdom online in 2013 before they were married and she came to the United States.
The new timeline suggests that the couple were considering violent action before the Islamic State rose to prominence in 2014 and began trying to inspire sympathizers to carry out attacks in the West.
And the disclosures raise questions about how thoroughly American law enforcement and immigration officials vetted the wife before giving her a visa to enter the United States from Pakistan a year before the shooting, which left 14 dead and 21 wounded.
“ISIL inspiration may well have been part of this, but these two killers were starting to radicalize towards martyrdom and jihad as early as 2013,” the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, said during testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, using an acronym for the Islamic State. . . .
Mr. Marquez has been cooperating extensively in recent days with federal authorities, discussing at length his relationship with Mr. Farook. . . .
The authorities are still seeking to corroborate what Mr. Marquez is telling them. Because he provided two of the four weapons used by the attackers, some investigators have questioned his credibility, thinking that he might exaggerate what he knows about the couple to win favor with the authorities.
Mr. Marquez is also said to have mental health issues. Shortly after the attacks, he checked himself into a mental health facility in California.

So, he’s crazy? I repeat: Crazy People Are Dangerous.




 

Comments

65 Responses to “The Face of a Terrorist Mastermind?”

  1. DeadMessenger
    December 10th, 2015 @ 8:54 pm

    Well, that’s good enough for me!

  2. DeadMessenger
    December 10th, 2015 @ 9:08 pm

    “I’ll take ‘Obama Maladministration’ for $500, Alex.”

    “Obama’s intention in disregarding immigration law by admitting unvetted aliens into the US.”

    “What is Obama doing deliberately?”

    $500

  3. mole
    December 10th, 2015 @ 11:28 pm

    Useful idiot would be my guess.
    The sort wgho would be kneeling in the snow with the nagant pressed to the back of their necks and whimpering to themselves “if only comrade Stalin knew, this wouldn’t be happening”… Just before he saw his brain go flying past his eyes.
    He radiates ‘the gay” in that pic, and I have the worlds worst gaydar.

  4. theoldsargesays
    December 10th, 2015 @ 11:32 pm

    And how do you feel about that?

  5. Daniel Freeman
    December 11th, 2015 @ 2:18 am

    Oh, I thought he was just an effeminate, excitable gamma. Got more of a “would murder your family” vibe than “would smoke your pole.”

  6. mole
    December 11th, 2015 @ 2:49 am

    Possible, as I said, worlds most underdeveloped gaydar. I actually got hit on once by a gay dude and dint know till my girlfriend pointed it out later on.
    Im never going to Thailand… it would end up being a pain in the butt.

  7. Dana
    December 11th, 2015 @ 9:22 am
  8. Quartermaster
    December 11th, 2015 @ 10:30 am

    When you check yourself in, you can check yourself out.

  9. Quartermaster
    December 11th, 2015 @ 10:31 am

    Yes.

  10. Quartermaster
    December 11th, 2015 @ 10:31 am

    Great!

  11. marcus tullius cicero
    December 11th, 2015 @ 11:06 am

    …the dude looks like Colbert…

  12. theoldsargesays
    December 11th, 2015 @ 3:51 pm

    There you go!
    A long long time ago in the city by the bay I attended (at the urging of and paid for by my father) “The Forum”, one of Werner Erhard’s self-awareness workshops.
    It made me self-aware enough to flee the Bay Area and return to a more realistic life on the Central Florida coast.
    Alas, my father, to this day, is still a resident of the People’s Republic of Berkeley. I visit when I can but cannot fathom the culture of kookiness that resides within most of it’s inhabitants but….that’s okay, better they than I.

  13. Prime Director
    December 11th, 2015 @ 4:26 pm

    he’s just an exitable boy

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uJefPK_UkdM

  14. From Around the Blogroll | The First Street Journal.
    December 12th, 2015 @ 1:16 pm

    […] Stacey Stacy McCain on The Other McCain asks if this is The Face of a Terrorist Mastermind? Me? I think he looks like Pajama […]

  15. McGehee
    December 13th, 2015 @ 4:01 pm

    No, it’s Olaf from Frozen.