Why Did Fox News and Townhall Scrub the Todd Starnes ‘Saudi National’ Story?

Posted on | April 23, 2013 | 47 Comments

Let me start by saying that I consider the obsession with the “Saudi national” — a student who was questioned after the Boston Marathon bombing — an annoying distraction from the main story of the terrorist act committed by the Brothers Tsarnaev.

This is not to say that the story isn’t interesting in its own right: Why would authorities be so hasty to turn Abdul Rahman Ali Alharb loose, at a time when the actual perpetrators were still at large and it was impossible to rule out a larger conspiracy?

An interesting question, and Tiffany Gabbay at the Blaze reports that Glenn Beck is trying to get some answers about it:

While Alharbi has gone from a person of interest, to a witness, and now to someone deemed unimportant to the case, sources have told TheBlaze that there is more to this story than is being told by the media or the government.
“We let everyone have all of the other information because we care more about the truth, more about you getting the news,” he said before explaining that since he owns TheBlaze outright, readers and viewers needn’t worry about the network being beholden to outside interests or foreign (i.e. Saudi) money.
“There is not ever going to be a member of CAIR crossing this threshold to have a private meeting with me to tell me exactly what would be in my best interest. I’m not taking the meeting. We move differently here. We are an American network, owned by an American. I am sick and tired of being told there is nothing left to see, move along,” he added.

Ah! This is it, you see? Glenn Beck (and others) believe the “Saudi national” story is being suppressed because Certain Unnamed News Organizations — which might sound like Nox Fews — are beholden to Arab money and being intimidated by Muslim Brotherhood pressure groups. And who am I to say they’re not?

More likely, however, I think the bosses at Nox Fews and other organizations share my newsman’s instinct that this “Saudi national” angle is a distraction, a detour from the main story, and quite possibly a snipe hunt — a complete waste of time and energy. But if you think the Saudi national story is important, your paranoia about it being deliberately suppressed by a CAIR-directed conspiracy is likely to be stoked when you discover that a Certain Unnamed News Organization deleted Todd Starnes’s article about it.

Fair and Balanced. We Report, You Decide. IYKWIMAITYD.

Category: Conspiracy Theories, Fox News, Glenn Beck, Media Bias, Saudi Arabia, Terrorism

Comments

47 Responses to “Why Did Fox News and Townhall Scrub the Todd Starnes ‘Saudi National’ Story?”

jensan1332
April 23rd, 2013 @ 10:03 am

@smitty_one_each #TellOffDC Tell them we demand action on Saudi National who is being deported. https://t.co/8F6nfCLTkH
sidl56
April 23rd, 2013 @ 10:06 am

RT @smitty_one_each: TOM Why Was the ‘Saudi National’ Story Scrubbed? http://t.co/ZCUpZF6iSH #TCOT
SnakebiteJones
April 23rd, 2013 @ 10:07 am

RT @smitty_one_each: TOM Why Was the ‘Saudi National’ Story Scrubbed? http://t.co/ZCUpZF6iSH #TCOT
Rob Crawford
April 23rd, 2013 @ 10:10 am

The guy’s part of a clan that brags about its involvement in “jihad”. The Saudi government intervened to get him cut loose. The Obama administration, which has made it a policy to never deport an illegal even after a felony conviction, is deporting him.

If you’re not curious, you’re not thinking.
Evi L. Bloggerlady
April 23rd, 2013 @ 10:11 am

I am not sure if this particular Saudi individual is a distraction or not, I am more concerned with Saudi money flowing to Chechen rebels and terrorists that may have contributed to Tasrnaev being turned from a Golden Globe boxer with a young family to a murderous monster.

And there is a real question on how Dzhokhen got into Dartmouth and who is paying the tuition. There is more to this story than Tsarnaev watching some videos and deciding to go jihadi.
robertstacymccain
April 23rd, 2013 @ 10:11 am

Well, certainly I’m curious. I’m just saying that I’m more curious about the Brothers Tsarnaev, and unless this Saudi national has some connection to them, it’s a distraction from the main story.
SnakebiteJones
April 23rd, 2013 @ 10:11 am

@smitty_one_each A distraction, but also a telling example of how politicians & media are beholding to billionaires Sheiks.
riverlifecallie
April 23rd, 2013 @ 10:30 am

Was this not the Saudi national that was arrested at the Boston marathon after having been tackled by spectators? Or was this another Saudi national? There are so many it’s hard to keep track.

If it was, I think it would behoove us to look a little more closely at him.
neighhay
April 23rd, 2013 @ 10:38 am

RT @smitty_one_each: TOM Why Was the ‘Saudi National’ Story Scrubbed? http://t.co/ZCUpZF6iSH #TCOT
Adobe_Walls
April 23rd, 2013 @ 10:57 am

Part of the importance of “the big stories” is the other tangentially important stories even if they aren’t directly linked. For instance Saudi money is supporting Chechen rebels in the Caucasus. The fact that FNC is partly funded by Arabs is a scandal in it’s own right and has been way under reported, that money taints every thing Fox reports relating to the ME. Also the bizaarely close relationship that every administration including both Bushs’ as well as the current MB front group would be the story of the decade if truly brought to light.
Bob Belvedere
April 23rd, 2013 @ 11:16 am

As with the previous fellow who murdered those children in Newtown, I’ve stopped mentioning #1’s and #2’s names, referring to them only as Speedbump and Gilligan, respectively.
westie
April 23rd, 2013 @ 11:21 am

Excellent point Adobe, Stacy McCain is more interested in what Mark Sanford is up to than the importance of Saudi connections to Boston Jihad and how corrupted by Saudi $’s FOX news has become….BTW if Sanford loses to the ugly sister I will partially blame McCain!
sheryl
April 23rd, 2013 @ 11:24 am

I was wondering myself if there were any pictures of said Saudi National. I didn’t see any published, just those of the brothers. I don’t like Obama’s policies, not at all. I do not believe that we are at a point yet where any president, of either party would deliberately deport any individual that was directly involved in an act of terror. I just do not believe we are at that point in this country. I also question people who give very good information to a reporter instead of just coming out themselves, cause that is what I would do. We have not started poisoning our politicians here for coming forward…not yet anyway.

I am not naive or do I blindly trust the government, but until I have solid absolute proof, I will be doubting Thomas on this one. There are too many good people in law enforcement and the military that would come forward to protect our safety. I thought I saw a tweet last evening from Bret Baier stating that he had checked out the involvement, and he had nothing. Something about the names being the same? and how that was common in that part of the country..
Evi L. Bloggerlady
April 23rd, 2013 @ 11:47 am

Well with with all the journalistic “talent’ focused on the tea party, I am sure there are a few journalists who can be spared to look at the Saudis.
Evi L. Bloggerlady
April 23rd, 2013 @ 11:47 am

I like Speedbump.
Evi L. Bloggerlady
April 23rd, 2013 @ 11:48 am

Spot on.
Evi L. Bloggerlady
April 23rd, 2013 @ 11:51 am

westie, wtf? Stacy warned Mark Sanford would be a mistake for the nomination. Turns out he was right, because right after he gets it, it is reported (by others) that Sanford was charged with trespassing at his wife’s house. Sanford did not think that important for voters to know before the run off.

So now South Carolina may have the Colbert Sister as it’s representative. That is not RSM’s fault. That is Sanford and South Carolina Republicans’ fault.
Eric Ashley
April 23rd, 2013 @ 1:01 pm

Ahem. It is ALWAYS Stacey’s fault.
Torqued
April 23rd, 2013 @ 1:13 pm

Same way soetero did.
Torqued
April 23rd, 2013 @ 1:14 pm

If you don’t look, how will you know?
name
April 23rd, 2013 @ 2:41 pm

UMass Dartmouth. Very different.
Adobe_Walls
April 23rd, 2013 @ 2:54 pm

Ahem. There’s no e or E in Stacy and much like bacon RSM is almost always blameless.
richard mcenroe
April 23rd, 2013 @ 3:23 pm

Nonsense. Stacy has plenty of time to invoke the Ace of Spades rule and scurry back to the middle right before the election.
Evi L. Bloggerlady
April 23rd, 2013 @ 5:00 pm

Thanks, I thought he went to the Ivy League one. Which would have been especially a red flag. This was the State of Massachusetts funding his education courtesy of Mass tax payers.
Leah Christie
April 23rd, 2013 @ 6:03 pm

It’s one thing to go (Alex) Jonesing in the approach to information. Personally, that is just not how I roll.

It is quite another to consider the facts and go from there, starting with just plain old trust, of which most (not all) of our elected & their appointed have not earned, at least of me.
NottaSheep
April 23rd, 2013 @ 9:08 pm

It was not only scrubbed off of the Fox News website, and then the Townhall website, but the cached Google link to it within Glenn Beck’s article on The Blaze also suddenly went to “page not found” by the end of the day.
NottaSheep
April 23rd, 2013 @ 9:13 pm

Never mind, it’s back now…again as a Google cache
Adjoran
April 23rd, 2013 @ 9:36 pm

It’s just waaaaaaaaaaaay too early to say Speedbump and Gilligan were “self-radicalized” – you can get bomb-making instructions on the web, but actually putting one together with a live detonator from instructions? That’s what causes so many of them to blow up, yet these amateurs got it exactly right the first time, making multiple weapons? And they learned to handle automatic weapons online, too?

Did they build the guns in the basement, too?

Get real.

And letting a Saudi national who was at the scene leave the country before we know what happened and who were involved is just criminal negligence.

Heck, until there has been an exhaustive investigation, I am not shedding tears for Speedbump’s muslim convert wife, either. For all I know she was the ringleader – and no one can say for certain she wasn’t at this point. But we’re letting Saudis get on planes outta here?

Whose side is Obama on, anyway?
Adjoran
April 23rd, 2013 @ 9:39 pm

In my experience, things get scrubbed off news websites for two reasons: either they were so inaccurate as to embarrass the brand, or the lawyers told them to take them down.
JadedByPolitics
April 23rd, 2013 @ 10:34 pm

I will have to disagree with you here Stacey because there is something about the Saudi’s and their ability to “escape” the actual attention they deserve. 1st off the # who were allowed to fly back to Saudi Arabia after 9-11 when all air traffic was stopped for Americans and again this dude before anyone was even known is quickly “released”. Not even to mention the favored country status given to Saudi’s in this age of terror when 15 of 19 9-11 killers were Saudi. Your newsman’s nose should tell you that across both political parties there is something they agree on and that is the protection of the Saudi government, knowing full well their brand of Islamism, ie: Wahhabism is virulent even amongst the other brands of murderous thugs!
K-Bob
April 24th, 2013 @ 2:46 am

Heh. “Speedbump” and “Gilligan”

Ayes? (up-ding Adjoran’s comment)
Nays? (down-ding it)
K-Bob
April 24th, 2013 @ 2:50 am

I think the main point, which was all I heard on several shows on Beck’s channel, was what Adjoran referred to: Why in the world do you let a likely witness slide without holding him until the others were caught? Supposedly, no one knows where the Saudi went.

Kudos to the Boston cops, and probably the FBI, but who dropped the ball on the Saudi guy? And why is it so damned hard to find out why? I doubt anyone really cares about FoxNews, as far as the overall story is concerned.
K-Bob
April 24th, 2013 @ 2:52 am

Okay, I thought Adj came up with it.

Whoever it was, it’s right on the money.
K-Bob
April 24th, 2013 @ 6:44 am

– – clever reply witheld due to the “Leave Ace Alone” rule. – –
Quartermaster
April 24th, 2013 @ 6:44 am

Many of us said that Sanford would be a serious mistake. Adjoran told us tough s****, he was gonna win anyway. That looked problematic from the beginning.
Bob Belvedere
April 24th, 2013 @ 8:30 am

‘Speedbump’ came from Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr.
Bob Belvedere
April 24th, 2013 @ 8:32 am

Scribd:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/137397518/Saudi-National-Questioned-in-Boston-Was-on-Terror-Watch-List-FOX-News-Commentary-Todd-Starnes#download
Bob Belvedere
April 24th, 2013 @ 8:34 am

Whose side is Obama on, anyway?

Methinks we learned the answer to that one looong ago.
Bob Belvedere
April 24th, 2013 @ 8:34 am

Stop jumping, K-Bob – you’ll hurt yourself at your age.
Bob Belvedere
April 24th, 2013 @ 8:35 am

But a reason should be given, instead of it being flushed down the Memory Hole by The Ministry Of Truth.
K-Bob
April 24th, 2013 @ 4:23 pm

Heh, I have a near-nonexistent “vertical.” I think I actually leave the ground, but I’d need video evidence.
Bobbie Wills
April 24th, 2013 @ 5:56 pm

OBAMA IS COVERING UP THE KING OF SAUDI ARABIA’S NEPHEWS INVOLVEMENT IN THIS BOMBING !! YOU ARE RIGHT…. YOU REALLY ARE ANOTHER MCCAIN !!! PULL YOUR HEAD OUT !! THIS IS THE SAME KING OBAMA BOWED TO YOU IDIOT !!
Bobbie Wills
April 24th, 2013 @ 5:57 pm

HE IS CONNECTED WITH THE BOMBING !! OPEN YOUR EYES !!
Bob Belvedere
April 25th, 2013 @ 8:01 am

Do you really want that caught on tape at your age???
alanhenderson
April 27th, 2013 @ 12:46 am

‘The guy’s part of a clan that brags about its involvement in “jihad”.’

I have seen Walid Shoebat’s list, and I have a question…

http://shoebat.com/2013/04/17/innocent-saudi-has-ties-to-several-al-qaeda-terrorists/

Can anyone confirm that the men on the list are related to Abdul Rahman Ali Al-Harbi – or to each other, for that matter? The last names match, but so what? I share a name with Florence Henderson, and *two* names with retired basketballer Alan Lybrooks Henderson. Are we part of a vast right wing blogging conspiracy clan? Should we start wondering about Warren Buffet and Jimmy Buffet?

One should consider the possibility that, in some cases, “Al-Harbi” might be a laqab (descriptive name) or an alias. (An example of laqab is Al-Masri – “the Egyptian”.) “Harbi” means “belonging to war,” so I can imagine some jihadis adopting that as a nom de guerre.
FEATURE: McCain Jauntily Raked Again : The Other McCain
April 27th, 2013 @ 5:59 pm

[…] Why Did Fox News and Townhall Scrub the Todd Starnes ‘Saudi National’ Story? […]
K-Bob
April 29th, 2013 @ 7:42 am

Hah!