15 Signs The Charlie Hebdo Attack Was A False Flag

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
January 14, 2015


In the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo massacre and as more and more information comes to light surrounding the details of the attacks as well as the connections between the perpetrators, groups, and NATO-based intelligence agencies, the suggestion that the attacks were, in reality, of the false flag nature, is being proven more and more valid by the hour.

As is to be expected, the xenophobic pro-war right is using the attack as an example of how all Muslims are terrorists and how their total annihilation and implementation of police state tactics are the only solution. On the one hand, the pathetic left-wing attempts to blame the victim for incitement and focuses on the need to become more politically correct, self-censoring, and linguistically minimal. The vast majority in the middle, however, believe the official mainstream version of events, quake in their boots, and move on to the next form of entertainment provided to them by the culture creators without a second thought.

Yet, as is almost always the case, there is much more to the story than is being reported by mainstream outlets. There exist a number of questionable details regarding the Charlie Hebdo attack, as well as the relatively open control over terrorist groups and Islamic jihadists by the French intelligence apparatus, the US, and NATO.

While random acts of violence certainly do occur – some motivated by religious extremism and some not – it is important to examine all of the facts surrounding these acts before coming to a judgment regarding the nature of them. We cannot simply engage in knee-jerk reactions labeling every act of violence as a “false flag” yet we cannot ignore the history of such acts and the prevalence of false flags in recent times.


However, as the evidence surrounding the Charlie Hebdo massacre and the concurrent Kosher grocery store attacks comes to light, we are presented with the distinct possibility that these acts are not of the “lone wolf” variety but that they were indeed carefully coordinated false flag incidents.

Below are a number of reasons that the Charlie Hebdo and Kosher grocery store attacks are most likely false flag attacks, thus putting the responsibility and guilt for their deployment on the backs of French intelligence and their counterparts in the UK, US, and NATO structure.

1.) The suspects had traveled to Syria in order to fight against the secular government of Bashar al-Assad.

Both Cherif and Said Kouachi were veterans of the NATO/Western-backed invasion of terrorist proxies fighting against the Assad government. Not only was Cherif arrested in 2005 and sentenced to 3 years in prison for attempting to join jihadists fighting in Iraq, but he and his brother eventually made their way to fight in Syria alongside the same terrorist networks being armed, funded, trained, and directed by the United States, UK, France, and NATO. The Kouachi connection to terrorist networks and jihadist forces fighting inside Syria thus put the likelihood of they and their acts being entirely controlled by the United States, UK, France, and the rest of NATO at much higher odds due to the fact that these terrorist networks are entirely controlled by Western intelligence agencies.[1]

2.) France itself is responsible for arming, training, and directing the very terrorist organizations fighting against the secular government of Bashar al-Assad.

If the attackers were indeed members of one of the myriad terrorist groups documented to be under the direction and control of Western powers, France itself is to be implicated in the cause and execution of the attacks. As Tony Cartalucci of Land Destroyer Report writes in his own article, “France Armed Terrorists That Struck Paris,”

France, as part of a NATO-led coalition, has been arming, funding, aiding, and otherwise perpetuating Al Qaeda terrorists for years, beginning, on record in Libya with the overthrow of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and continuing until today with NATO's arming, harboring, and backing of Al Qaeda terrorists including the so-called "Islamic State" (ISIS) within and along Syria's borders.

With the recent attack in Paris likely the work of the very terrorists France has been arming and backing across North Africa and the Middle East, the French government itself stands responsible, guilty of the continued material support of a terrorist organization that has now killed French citizens, including two police officers, not only on French soil, but within the French capital itself. In his article “Timeline: Where’d Paris Shooters Get Their Weapons?” Cartalucci also provides a timeline of assistance, aid, and arms provided to Islamic terrorists since 2011. He writes,

2011 - France supplying weapons to Libyan rebels, London Telegraph:

A French military spokesman, Colonel Thierry Burkhard, said it had provided "light arms such as assault rifles" for civilian communities to "protect themselves against Col Gaddafi".

But the decision to arm the rebels is a further move towards direct involvement in the land war on top of the air war against Col Muammar Gaddafi. The Nafusa rebels have come closest to breaking through to Tripoli itself of any of the front lines of the conflict, while three months of Nato bombing have failed to dislodge Col Gaddafi from power.

Le Figaro, the French newspaper which first reported the air drops, said the shipment included rifles, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, along with Milan anti-tank missiles.

2011 - Libyan rebel commander admits his fighters have al-Qaeda links, London Telegraph:

Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, the Libyan rebel leader, has said jihadists who fought against allied troops in Iraq are on the front lines of the battle against Muammar Gaddafi's regime.

2012 - France to push for arming Syria's opposition coalition, the BBC:

France's foreign minister has said he will discuss supplying arms to the Syrian opposition coalition with European partners.

The government plans to push for a relaxation of the EU arms embargo to Syria to enable "defensive arms" to reach opposition fighters.

2013 - Syria crisis: France and Britain move a step closer to arming rebels, the London Guardian:

France and Britain have moved a step closer to arming the opposition to the Assad regime in a radical move aimed at tipping the balance in the two-year civil war while also ignoring European policy on Syria.

The French president, François Hollande, went into an EU summit in Brussels with a dramatic appeal for Europe to join Paris and London in lifting a European arms embargo, but the sudden policy shift was certain to run into stiff German opposition.

2013 - Syrian rebels pledge loyalty to al-Qaeda, USA Today:

A Syrian rebel group's April pledge of allegiance to al-Qaeda's replacement for Osama bin Laden suggests that the terrorist group's influence is not waning and that it may take a greater role in the Western-backed fight to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The pledge of allegiance by Syrian Jabhat al Nusra Front chief Abou Mohamad al-Joulani to al-Qaeda leader Sheik Ayman al-Zawahri was coupled with an announcement by the al-Qaeda affiliate in Iraq, the Islamic State of Iraq, that it would work with al Nusra as well.

2014 - France delivered arms to Syrian rebels, Hollande confirms, France 24:

President Francois Hollande said on Thursday that France had delivered weapons to rebels battling the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad “a few months ago.” 

3.) Both the suspects had been on the radar screen of French intelligence for a number of years. Their terrorist ties did not come as a surprise.

Cherif Kouachi, one of the brothers allegedly responsible for the Hebdo massacre, was arrested in 2005, charged, and convicted of “association with wrongdoers with the intention of committing a terrorist act” although his sentence was suspended. Slate magazine writes that

Kouachi was arrested in January 2005, accused of planning to join jihadists in Iraq. He was said to have fallen under the sway of Farid Benyettou, a young "self-taught preacher" who advocated violence, but had not actually yet traveled to Iraq or committed any acts of terror. Lawyers at the time said he had not received weapons training and "had begun having second thoughts," going so far as to express "relief" that he'd been apprehended. In 2010, Kouachi was again arrested and charged in an attempt to break Algerian Islamist and Paris commuter rail bomber Smain Ait Ali Belkacem, from jail. The plot failed but Kouachi was caught. The charges were eventually dropped.

According to CNN, Cherif had a “long history of jihad and anti-Semitism.” His terrorist aspirations were also well-known for some time prior to the Hebdo attacks.

CNN reports that,

In a 400-page court record from 2007, Kouachi was described as wanting to travel to Iraq "to go and combat the Americans."

Kouachi stated in a deposition, "I was ready to go and die in battle," and "I got this idea when I saw the injustices shown by television on what was going on over there. I am speaking about the torture that the Americans have inflicted on the Iraqis."

Said Kouachi, left, and Cherif Kouachi are suspects in the Paris attack.

Kouachi was raised in orphanages and foster homes from a young age, and became involved in a group in Paris' 19th arrondissement, or district, the court papers said.

Prosecutors outlined strong details of Kouachi's interest in jihad, martyrdom and links to anti-Semitism, according to documents CNN obtained in conjunction with French newsmagazine L'Express. 

The group to which Cherif was affiliated, known as the 19th Arrondissement Network (named for the neighborhood it was based out of), was involved in recruiting French Muslims to fight for al-Qaeda in Iraq. As is typical in Western-backed terrorist operations, the group preyed on poor, disenchanted, struggling, and working-class young men.

After procuring the necessary manpower, the group would then organize for weapons training and provide the necessary travel arrangements.

Although convicted in 2008, police had arrested Cherif in 2005, just days before he planned to travel to Syria.

Cherif fits the profile of a target for terrorist recruits. He was Muslim, had left school, and was working a dead-end job as a pizza delivery man. He was decidedly lower working class.

The narrative that was subsequently constructed was that a gullible young man then fell under the spell of charismatic “street preacher” known as Farid Benyettou, who trolled the East Side of Paris. It is implied that Beneyettou, who was also convicted on terrorism charges, played a role in setting up Cherif with the terrorist organization he eventually joined and his subsequent travels to Syria to slaughter innocent people ultimately for the benefit of the geopolitical goals of NATO, France, and the United States.

It should be noted that, during the course of the trial, Beneyettou was responsible for recruitment only. Out of the entire membership of his network, he was the only one not slated to travel to Iraq.

Also noteworthy is the fact that, in 2005, it was revealed that some members of the 19th Arrondissement Network had affiliations with the ad-Da’wa mosque,[2] one of the largest mosques in Paris.

CNN suggests that much of the training received by Kouachi from Benyettou involved the study of how to use Kalashnikovs. The news agency reports,

Kouachi stated that "the wise leaders in Islam told him and his friends that if they die as martyrs in jihad they would go to heaven" and "that martyrs would be greeted by more than 60 virgins in a big palace in heaven," said documents in a section entitled "Motivations of Influence."

The documents also said, "(F)or him any place on earth where there is such an injustice is justification for jihad; what was going on Iraq was in his eyes such an injustice." This information, of course, was a matter of law enforcement and court records.

Kouachi’s behavior, much like that of Mohammed Atta, did not match up with the notion of a Muslim fundamentalist.[3] CNN writes,

Court records show Kouachi said he didn't consider himself a good enough Muslim, and said he had only been to the mosque two or three times before he met Benyettou, and he had been smoking cannabis.

Kouachi told investigators he committed himself to the idea of jihad during Ramadan in 2004. He told his friends he was going to Syria to fight.

The documents say when police interviewed his accomplices, they stated that Kouachi "said he was ready to firebomb and to destroy Jewish shops in Paris."

When officials confronted Kouachi with that information, he told them "that's not exactly what I said. ... I don't hide having proposed anti-Semitic ideas, but I would note that I never really would have done that."

Kouachi's lawyer, Vincent Ollivier, painted a different picture of his client in the 2005 incident.

The attorney said at the time that his client's profile was more "pot smoker from the projects than an Islamist."

"He smokes, drinks, doesn't sport a beard and has a girlfriend before marriage," Ollivier told the French newspaper Libération the month after his client's arrest.

A report from the TV network France 3, which apparently first aired in 2005, described Kouachi as a young fan of rap more interested in chasing girls than going to the mosque. According to the report, all of Kouachi’s interests changed when he met Benyettou.

Much less is known about Said Kouachi, especially in terms of his connections to terrorism, terrorist cells, and other terrorist cases. Said’s name has repeatedly appeared on the outskirts of terrorism trials in France but never as the focal point of the investigation.

In regards to Said, CNN writes,

A French official told CNN that Said Kouachi received training in Yemen. The official did not give details about when the trip occurred or how long it lasted.

A U.S. official says the United States was given information from the French intelligence agency that Said Kouachi traveled to Yemen as late as 2011 on behalf of the al Qaeda affiliate there.

His time in Yemen is corroborated by a Yemeni journalist, who says that he saw Said there -- and that Said claimed to have briefly been a roommate of Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, the convicted would-be "underwear" bomber who tried but failed to detonate a device aboard a U.S. airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day in 2009.

Yemeni journalist and researcher Mohammed al-Kibsi told CNN that he saw Said Kouachi twice in the old city of Sanaa, Yemen, in 2011 and 2012. Al-Kibsi said was researching AbdulMutallab's background in mid-January 2011 when he came across Kouachi unintentionally. He said Kouachi was friendly and used to walk around the old city, hence how he met al-Kibsi.

Kouachi said that he and AbdulMutallab used to pray together at Yemen's al-Tabari School, and that they shared an apartment for one to two weeks in Yemen. Kouachi was studying Arabic grammar at the Sanaa Arabic Grammar Institute, al-Kibisi said.

Al-Kibsi said he saw Kouachi again in 2012, in the old city of Sanaa at another Arabic language center.

CNN does not have official confirmation that Said Kouachi knew AbdulMutallab, a Nigerian national who, authorities said at his U.S. trial, told the FBI that he that he had links to Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Last month, AQAP released a video apparently showing AbdulMutallab with the group's leader, Nasir al-Wuhayshi.

The U.S. official who said Said Kouachi had traveled to Yemen said the man had received a variety of weapons training from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) -- the al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen.

It is also possible Said Kouachi was trained in bombmaking, a common jihadist training in Yemen. 

In addition to Said’s travel to Yemen, it is also known that at least one of the brothers had recently traveled to Syria for the purpose of acting as NATO’s proxy army in the fight against the secular government of Bashar al-Assad.

Indeed, USA TODAY has reported that both brothers had returned from Syria this summer while CNN, somewhat more vague, cites a French intelligence source as putting at least one of the brothers in Syria earlier in the year.

With all of this information available to both the American and French government and intelligence apparatus, it is thus clear that Cherif and Said’s terrorist tendencies and subsequent risks of committing a terrorist attack inside France were well known.

Thus, we are expected to believe that one of the suspects was arrested on terrorism charges twice, both suspects repeatedly expressed interest in and desire for jihad, one traveled to Yemen for training, rooming with a known terrorist who committed one of the most publicized terrorist attacks in recent years and meeting with one of the most notorious terrorist leaders of recent years (Anwar al-Awlaki), and at least one had traveled to Syria to fight with ISIS terrorists – all the while being monitored by French and US intelligence – yet the Charlie Hebdo attacks were somehow unforeseen.

Indeed, if Kouachi could have been arrested for “association with wrongdoers with the intention of committing a terrorist act” in 2005, then why could he not be arrested for the same in 2015? Why could he not have been arrested for doing the same abroad in Syria? Why were they not arrested immediately upon returning to France – from either Syria or Yemen – for receiving training from a terrorist organization, committing terrorist acts, or even known association with these organizations?

As Tony Cartalucci of Land Destroyer writes in his article “Paris Shooting Suspects Under French Radar for YEARS,” “It is a narrative that begs to be believed - considering the brothers had already tangled with the law, already traveled to Yemen to receive training from Al Qaeda, and with evidence suggesting they were indeed still being tracked since it is now known they have recently returned from Syria.”

Cartalucci further explains in his article how French intelligence, as well as their American counterparts, were well aware of the Charlie Hebdo attackers. He writes,

To explain how terrorists well-known to France's legal system and intelligence community could simply "disappear," the Wall Street Journal in an article titled, "Overburdened French Dropped Surveillance of Brothers," would attempt to claim:

The terror attacks in Paris that have killed 17 people over three days this week represent one of the worst fears—and failures—of counterterrorist officials: a successful plot coordinated by people who had once been under surveillance but who were later dropped as a top priority.

The U.S. provided France with intelligence showing that the gunmen in the Charlie Hebdo massacre received training in Yemen in 2011, prompting French authorities to begin monitoring the two brothers, according to U.S. officials. But that surveillance of Said and Chérif Kouachi came to an end last spring, U.S. officials said, after several years of monitoring turned up nothing suspicious.

[...] 

France reportedly has over 1,000 citizens under surveillance who have recently traveled to Iraq and Syria, believed to have fought alongside terrorists France itself has been arming. In an NBC article titled, "French Intelligence Is Tracking 1,000 Who Have Been to Iraq, Syria: Expert," it is reported that:

"French intelligence is mostly focused today on more than 1,000 French citizens that traveled to Syria and Iraq since 2012," said Jean-Charles Brisard, the author of "Zarqawi: The New Face of Al-Qaeda."

He added that one-fifth of them were being tracked around the clock. "This is a problem of resources," he added. "We cannot follow everyone."

Brisard said the brothers had been "well known to French intelligence [for] several years now." It is almost certain that the suspects were not only being tracked by French and US intelligence, but selected as prime candidates for pulling off the provocative attack in Paris last week - as part of a greater agenda of manipulating public perception to further crush civil liberties at home and expand hegemonic wars overseas. France is already occupying several of its former colonies in Africa, had participated in the destruction of Libya and its subsequent handover to Al Qaeda terrorist, who with NATO backing, used it as a springboard to attack Syria.

In fact, it is now confirmed that France had provided weapons to terrorists fighting the Syrian government since 2011. France 24 would report last year in an article titled, "France delivered arms to Syrian rebels, Hollande confirms," that:

President Francois Hollande said on Thursday that France had delivered weapons to rebels battling the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad “a few months ago.”

It is likely that if the Paris shooters were indeed in Syria, they may likely have been holding French-supplied weapons as they honed their skills later to be used to spill French blood in Paris.

4.) Kouachi’s ties to Anwar Al-Awlaki

As mentioned above, an interview published in the UK Mirror entitled, “Paris Shootings: Listen To Terrorist Amedy Coulibaly’s Bizarre Conversation With Hostage During Supermarket Siege,” quoted Kouachi as telling journalists that “We are just telling you we are the defenders of the prophet and that I Chérif Kouachi have been sent by Al Qaida of Yemen and that I went over there and that Anwar Al Awaki financed me.”

Said Kouachi’s trip to Yemen has been largely documented by claims coming from both US and French intelligence agencies. Quoting US intelligence agency sources, CNN reports that the “The United States is now working on the assumption that Charlie Hebdo attacker Said Kouachi met American terrorist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki at some point in Yemen and received orders from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to carry out an attack, a U.S. official tells CNN.”

Anwar al-Awlaki is known to have links to a number of high-profile terrorists including Nidal Malik Hasan of the Ft. Hood Shootings, Umar Farouk Adbulmutallab aka the “underwear bomber,” Nawaf al-Hazmi, Khalid al Midhar and Hani Hanjour of the 9/11 attacks and a number of others.

Awlaki’s connections to such a high number of high profile terrorist attacks as well as his connections to US intelligence was what led Webster Tarpley to label him as “an obvious US double agent who has been used to give the Al Qaeda seal of approval to dozens of terrorists.”

It is also important to note that, in the months after 9/11, Awlaki had dined at the Pentagon. As CBS News reported in its article, "Qaeda-Linked Imam Dined at Pentagon after 9/11,”

Anwar al-Awlaki - the radical spiritual leader linked to several 9/11 attackers, the Fort Hood shooting, and the attempted Christmas Day bombing of an airliner - was a guest at the Pentagon in the months after 9/11, a Pentagon official confirmed to CBS News.

Awlaki was invited as "...part of an informal outreach program" in which officials sought contact "...with leading members of the Muslim community," the official said. At that time, Awlaki was widely viewed as a "moderate" imam at a mosque in Northern Virginia.

At the same time, the FBI was also interviewing Awlaki about his contacts with three of the 9/11 attackers - Nawaf al-Hazmi, Khalid al Midhar and Hani Hanjour - who were all part of the crew of five that hijacked the American Airlines jet that hit the Pentagon.

5.) Kouachi lived with Abdulmutallab, the Underwear Bomber, in Yemen.
In its article, “Paris Attacker Said Kouachi Knew Convicted Nigerian Airline Bomber,” the Wall Street Journal reveals the fact that Said Kouachi once lived across the hall from famed Underwear Bomber Umar Faruk Abdulmutallab. The report states,

On Said Kouachi’s road to radicalization, one key stop was a four-story dormitory of an Arabic-language school in the Yemeni capital.

There he lived across the hall from a man with whom he studied and visited the mosque in the Old City of San’a: a Nigerian handpicked by an al Qaeda cleric to try to bring down a U.S.-bound airliner later that same year with a bomb in his underwear.

Former neighbors and Yemeni officials said the older of the two Kouachi brothers—both killed by French police on Friday after a three-day terror rampage across Paris—spent close to two years in Yemen, the base of al Qaeda’s most dangerous offshoot. His younger brother Chérif also spent time in Yemen in 2011, according to U.S. and French officials.

Said, a French citizen of Algerian descent, befriended Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in Yemen before the Nigerian left the country in December 2009 with a sophisticated bomb given to him by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP.

He tried to detonate the explosives hidden in his underwear on a Detroit-bound aircraft on Christmas Day the same year. But the attack failed when the explosives malfunctioned, and he was convicted in the U.S. in 2012 on terrorism offenses

The Nigerian was one of a handful of foreign-born jihadists who met extensively with Anwar al-Awlaki, the charismatic, U.S.-born preacher and recruiter for AQAP who groomed men for terror acts abroad. Mr. Awlaki was killed in a U.S. drone strike in September 2011.

Mr. Abdulmuttalab’s meetings with Mr. Awlaki took place during 2009, the same year when he and Said were studying at the San’a Institute for the Arabic Language. The school was frequented in part by foreign-born Muslims who were trying to improve their language skills and knowledge of the Quran while living in what they considered a more religiously pure society than their homelands.

Said’s education in jihad also appears to have corresponded to Mr. Abdulmutallab’s. There is no evidence that the older of the two brothers ever met with Mr. Awlaki, as Mr. Abdulmutallab did. But it is clear that the lives of Said Kouachi and Mr. Abdulmutallab overlapped in other respects during their time in Yemen, according to former neighbors and Yemeni officials. CNN provides a parallel description of Said and Adbulmutallab’s relationship in a way that indicates they were more acquainted that having merely lived across the hall from one another. The article states,

A U.S. official says the United States was given information from the French intelligence agency that Said Kouachi traveled to Yemen as late as 2011 on behalf of the al Qaeda affiliate there.

His time in Yemen is corroborated by a Yemeni journalist, who says that he saw Said there -- and that Said claimed to have briefly been a roommate of Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, the convicted would-be "underwear" bomber who tried but failed to detonate a device aboard a U.S. airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day in 2009.

Yemeni journalist and researcher Mohammed al-Kibsi told CNN that he saw Said Kouachi twice in the old city of Sanaa, Yemen, in 2011 and 2012. Al-Kibsi said was researching AbdulMutallab's background in mid-January 2011 when he came across Kouachi unintentionally. He said Kouachi was friendly and used to walk around the old city, hence how he met al-Kibsi.

Kouachi said that he and AbdulMutallab used to pray together at Yemen's al-Tabari School, and that they shared an apartment for one to two weeks in Yemen. Kouachi was studying Arabic grammar at the Sanaa Arabic Grammar Institute, al-Kibisi said.

Al-Kibsi said he saw Kouachi again in 2012, in the old city of Sanaa at another Arabic language center.

CNN does not have official confirmation that Said Kouachi knew AbdulMutallab, a Nigerian national who, authorities said at his U.S. trial, told the FBI that he that he had links to Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Last month, AQAP released a video apparently showing AbdulMutallab with the group's leader, Nasir al-Wuhayshi. The connections to Addulmutallab are important due to the fact that the Underwear Bomber’s attempt to detonate a bomb aboard an airliner was itself a false flag event aided by the US State Department and Western intelligence agencies. The links to this terrorist and to the individual who masterminded this attack (along with a number of other false flag events) thus provide more evidence that the Charlie Hebdo attacks themselves were of the false flag variety.

6.) The Charlie Hebdo attackers were apparently part of an organized network.

According to a detailed article by Henry Samuel and Patrick Sawer for the Telegraph entitled, “Charlie Hebdo attack: the Kouachi brothers and the network of French Islamists with links to Islamic State,” the Kouachi’s had ties to a number of other known terrorists, themselves belonging to organizations funded and directed by Western intelligence.

For instance, it was noted by Samuel and Sawer that, during his 2005 prison stay, Cherif Kouachi came to meet Djamel Beghal (aka Abou Hamza), a terrorist serving a 10-year sentence for a plot to blow up the US embassy in 2001. Hamza also maintained links to the Finsbury Park Mosque in London – a notorious intelligence operation used to create, recruit, and maintain Islamic terrorism.

Beghal was serving a 10-year sentence for plotting to blow up the US embassy in Paris in 2001. It transpires he also had links to London’s Finsbury Park mosque, a once notorious breeding ground for Islamist radicals.

In addition, the report states that “French intelligence agents photographed Chérif playing football with Beghal in Murat, in the Cantal region of central France, where he was on house arrest, in 2010. Two other Islamists were present: Ahmed Laidouni and Farid Melouk.”

Samuel and Sawer also write,

Chérif would later meet an even more notorious figure: Salim Benghalem, a Frenchman of Algerian descent who is among America’s most wanted international terrorists.

Benghalem met and befriended Chérif’s friend, Bouchnak, while the pair shared a cell in 2008 in Fresnes prison following his conviction for attempted murder. After his release, Beghalem extended his influence to the other members of the Buttes-Chaumont network, according to intelligence sources cited by Le Monde.

In particular, he was part of a group of Islamists in a jail-break plot to free Smaïn Ait Ali Belkacem, sentenced in November 2002 to life imprisonment for his involvement in the bombing of the suburban RER train station at Musée d’Orsay in October 1995 in which 30 people were injured. The name of Chérif’s brother Saïd cropped up on the sidelines of the investigation but charges against both brothers were dropped due to lack of evidence.

[...]

Another violently dangerous individual linked to Chérif is Boubaker al-Hakim, known as Abou Mouqatel. Hakim is a French Islamist of Tunisian origin, born in 1983, who grew up in the 19th arrondissement.

It was here that he is thought to have become a key figure in the Buttes-Chaumont jihadi network, where he met Kouachi..

Hakim is suspected of being deeply implicated in the recruitment and logistical organisation of French jihadists to fight in Iraq.

He first travelled to Iraq himself in 2002, returning up to four times and according to Jean-Pierre Filiu, an expert at Sciences-Po University in Paris, he recruited militants to fight in Fallujah, the Iraqi city that became an al-Qaeda stronghold in 2004.

In 2008 both Hakim and Chérif were arrested and convicted in Paris for their role in the network.

Hakim was sentenced to seven years for running a way station in Damascus for young French Muslims en route to fight US forces in Iraq.

Mr Filiu said: “Hakim, and no doubt Kouachi, rejoined al-Qaeda’s Iraqi networks after they were released from prison and accompanied them in their transformation into Daesh [the Arabic name for Isil].

“The combat experience they acquired was useful in the cold-blooded assassinations they have carried out since.”

Hakim’s 2008 arrest and imprisonment was thought to have broken up the Buttes-Chaumont network.

But in 2013 he appeared in Tunisia, where he murdered two of the country’s left-wing opposition politicians – Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi – on February 6 and July 25, 2013.

Hakim claimed responsibility for the murders in a video on behalf of isil released last month and filmed in IS territory somewhere in Iraq or Syria, declaring: “We will return and kill several of you. You won’t live in peace until Tunisia applies Islamic law.”

Mr Filiu said that Hakim “represents the link between the Kouachi brothers and [Isial]”, adding: “It is impossible that an operation on the scale of the one that led to the massacre at Charlie Hebdo was not sponsored by Daesh”.

CNN further reports the history of Amedy Coulibaly, the individual who simultaneously held up a Kosher Grocery Store and killed a police woman and three other people. The agency writes,

Before he was killed, Amedy Coulibaly purportedly told CNN affiliate BFMTV that he belonged to ISIS, or the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the terror group trying to create a fundamentalist religious state across Sunni area in those two countries.

CNN has not independently confirmed the authenticity of the French broadcaster's recording with Coulibaly.

Coulibaly, 32, was a close associate of Cherif Kouachi, a Western intelligence source told CNN. Coulibaly went by the alias Doly Gringny, the source said.

Coulibaly and Cherif Kouachi were involved in the 2010 attempt to free an Algerian serving time for the 1995 subway bombing.

Coulibaly was arrested May 18, 2010, with 240 rounds of ammunition for a Kalishnikov, the source said.

He had a photo of himself with Djamel Beghal, a French Algerian once known as al Qaeda's premiere European recruiter, who was convicted of conspiring to attack the U.S. Embassy in Paris.

Coulibaly was indicted May 22, 2010, in connection with the prison break plot.

Cherif Kouachi was under investigation for the same plot, but there was not enough evidence to indict him, the source said.

Cherif Kouachi visited Coulibaly during a pre-trial detention. The prison break plot was known as the BELKACEM Project, the source said.

Coulibaly shared a residence with Boumeddiene, and they traveled to Malaysia together, the source said.  

Despite all of these known terrorist attempts and connections to other terrorists and terrorist organizations, it appears that none of the individuals who were arrested and convicted could secure a prison sentence longer than some drug offenses carry in the United States.

The common law wife of Coulibaly, Hayat Boumediene, while still suspected of having some connection to the Kosher grocery store attack, was apparently not involved in the actual attack itself – presumably only taking part in the planning at most. This is because, as Design and Trend reports,

According to Reuters Turkey's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mevlut Cavusoglu told the state-run Anadolu Agency that Hayat Boumediene flew into Turkey from Madrid on Jan. 2 and stayed at a hotel in Istanbul.

"There is footage (of her) at the airport. Later on, she stayed at a hotel with another person and crossed into Syria on Jan. 8. We can tell that based on telephone records."

Once the attack on Charlie Hebdo occurred, she made her way into Syria through Turkey without a struggle. ABC News reported that the Turkish media published two videos of Hayat Boumediene, Amedy Coulibaly's widow going through security at a Turkish airport on Jan. 8, a day after the attack on the Paris-based publication.

With all of this information taken together, it is clear that what we have is a terrorist cell at work. Thus, these individuals and their connections to one another point in the opposite direction of the Charlie Hebdo attacks as one of the “lone wolf” variety. The only question left is who is ultimately in command of this cell. By following the tangled strands of connections back to the center of the web, however, one will not find the spirit of Osama bin Laden hiding in a cave in Afghanistan but the Anglo-American/Anglo-European/Western intelligence network that created Islamic extremist movements to begin with and continue to use them for their own goals today.


7.) The third suspect.

It is noteworthy to mention the fact that there was initially a third suspect that was allegedly to have been engaged in the Charlie Hebdo attacks – Mourad Hamyd. However, Hamyd soon after turned himself into police after seeing his name paraded on social media as being involved in the attacks. While Hamyd has been exonerated, the question remains – was there a third shooter? If not, why was a third individual considered an accomplice to the massacre?

After all, a number of eyewitnesses reported that there was indeed a third attacker who drove the getaway car.

8.) A second suspect

With all the evidence regarding the involvement of Hayat Boumediene in the grocery store attacks pointing to the fact that she was out of the country at the time the attacks were happening, why were there reports of an accomplice to Coulibaly? Was there a second individual present at the scene or nearby the scene? Is there still a “second suspect?” Or did the accomplice simply vanish into the memory hole now that the main patsy has been eliminated?

9.) Mysterious suicides

Much like the “mysterious suicides” that surround 9/11 and the Kennedy assassination, already one of the lead French police investigators of the Charlie Hebdo massacre has committed suicide. As Sputnik news reported, “Police commissioner Helric Fredou, who had been investigating the attack on the French weekly satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, committed suicide in his office. The incident occurred in Limoges, the administrative capital of the Limousin region in west-central France, on Thursday night, local media France 3 reports.”

As John Vibes comments for the Anti Media,

The strange and high profile death has been all but absent from the mainstream media, especially locally in Europe, with just one local report from the publication “Le Parisien.”

All reports have insisted that there was no foul play, but the bizarre timing and location of the apparent suicide is leaving many to wonder if there was something more going on behind the scenes. The police department has been quick to say that he was depressed, and have speculated that a meeting with one of the terror victim’s family’s may have set him off.

However, family and friends, along with the police department, have all said that this was entirely unexpected.

“We are all shocked. Nobody was ready for such developments”, a representative of the local police union told reporters. 

10.) Coulibaly once met Sarkozy.


While this meeting could be considered coincidental and tangential, it would be difficult to justify leaving out the fact that Coulibaly actually met former French President Nicolas Sarkozy in person. According to an article in Le’Parisien,

“[A]n unlikely encounter between Nicolas Sarkozy, the then French President and Amedy Coulibaly, the gunman suspected of killing a police woman and of taking five hostages at a kosher grocery in eastern Paris today.

The meeting took place in 2009 in the Élysée Palace when Mr Sarkozy met nine young French men who got just jobs in a local factory. They were all from Grigny, a tough Parisian suburb torn by riots 10 years ago.”

“Quoting the “terrorist”:

“Sarkozy is not truly popular with the youth in the estates. But that is nothing personal. In fact it is the case for most politicians,” said Coulibaly. “The encounter really impressed me. Whether I like him or not, he is the president after all.” 

11.) One of the attackers “left his ID” for the police to find


While one of the alleged attackers, 18-year-old Hamyd Mourad, turned himself into police late Wednesday afternoon, it was reported that police were able to identify one of other attackers after he left his identification papers in the getaway car that the two assailants ditched.

While dropping one’s ID in the process of a getaway is certainly not outside the realm of possibility, such a convenience for law enforcement cannot help but remind informed observers of the survival of the alleged hijackers' paper passports on 9/11.

12.) The terrorists have been liquidated.

One of the hallmarks of a false flag operation involve the immediate liquidation or otherwise incapacitation of the patsies at hand. This may take the form of a hail of gunfire, drugging, or the destruction of mental faculties by other means.

If the patsies are not alive to be interrogated (Charlie Hebdo attackers), if they have been rendered unable to speak (Tsarnaev), or they have been so discredited and/or exhibit such signs of great mental instability at the time of the interrogation (Sirhan Sirhan, James Holmes,) then embarrassing or revealing information will never be gained during the process of interrogation or trial. If that information does seep out, the suspect has been so thoroughly discredited as a mental patient that nothing he says will be taken seriously.

13.) The publication that was attacked has served to promote the strategy of tension in the past.

Whether Charlie Hebdo was merely a media outlet who reveled in irreverence of Islam or whether it is something more sinister, the magazine is no stranger to controversy. As CBS News writes,

Charlie Hebdo has been repeatedly threatened for its caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad and other sketches. Its offices were firebombed in 2011 after an issue featured a caricature of the prophet on its cover. Nearly a year later, the publication again published Muhammad caricatures, drawing denunciations from the Muslim world because Islam prohibits the publication of drawings of its founder.

Another cartoon, released in this week's issue and entitled "Still No Attacks in France," had a caricature of a jihadi fighter saying "Just wait - we have until the end of January to present our New Year's wishes." Charb was the artist. To be sure, the magazine has offended other religions and belief systems as well. However, it is interesting to note that, while the magazine and its editors have been allowed to continue operation despite the violent reactions its statements and cartoons have produced across the world as well as in France itself, some religions are apparently considered more equal than others. For instance, in 2009, an 80-year-old columnist for Charlie Hebdo was actually put on trial on charges of “inciting racial hatred” for making a joke that then-President Sarkozy’s son was converting to Judaism for financial gain. Indeed, even the act of “denying the holocaust” is a punishable thought crime in France.

Despite the uber political correctness, however, France has allowed the magazine to continue lampooning Islam and Christianity, obviously acceptable targets of derision and abuse. Of course, religious organizations from both camps have responded with the traditional and typical response of fundamentalists the world over – by attempting to stop the freedom of speech and expression of those not necessarily convinced by the arguments of the converted via the government apparatus and any other available means at their disposal.

To be clear, however, while many Christians and Muslims likely detest the representation of their faith and religious symbols in such insulting ways, the overwhelming majority express their discontent in the same way – by griping to their friends and family, turning on the game, and moving on. Only a minority are actually moved to action, and an even smaller minority to violence, the latter generally encouraged by foundations, NGOs, or intelligence agency-affiliated religious organizations.

In regards to Christianity and Islam, France has largely sided with freedom of speech at this point. Still, Charlie Hebdo has served to act as a catalyst in a number of instances of incitement (though, to be clear, the magazine itself should not be blamed for the reaction of others) of the Muslim communities in France and abroad. Is it possible that the magazine actually serves the purpose of intentionally inciting these types of religious riots and acts of violence from fundamentalists brought into France by the French government and armed by them abroad? Is Charlie Hebdo really a free and independent magazine, or is it actually a tool of the Anglo-Americans in their attempt to maintain the strategy of tension domestically and abroad?



14.) France ordered aircraft carriers to the Gulf in order to “fight ISIS” nearly a full day before the attacks in France.

While certainly not conclusive evidence that the attack on Charlie Hebdo was an “inside job,” it is without a doubt very questionable. After all, it should be remembered that, when the French people and even some of its parliamentarians were hesitant to engage in military action in Iraq, ISIS released a video of an alleged beheading of a Frenchman, which provided justification for French involvement. This was the third video in a series that prompted justification for action from each of the “target” countries.

Undoubtedly, such brazen attacks inside France will drum up even more support for French military action in the Middle East. The fact that the military action was announced a full day before the attacks took place will be no matter to the few members of the general public who discover it.

As Agence France Presse reported on Tuesday January 6,

The deployment of the marine battle group is due to be announced by President Francois Hollande when he gives his annual new year’s speech to the armed forces onboard the Charles de Gaulle on January 14, according to the “Mer et Marine” news site.

The Elysee Palace confirmed to AFP that the carrier would travel to the Gulf on its way to India, where it is due to take part in exercises in mid-April.

“The Charles de Gaulle will be available to participate, if necessary, in all operational missions”, the Elysee spokesman said.

According to Mer et Marine, the Charles de Gaulle carrier will travel to the Gulf with its fleet of air and naval craft, including Rafale and Super Etendard fighter jets and an attack submarine, to take part in the US-led bombing campaign against IS forces in Iraq. 

15.) Timing takes place after French government begins to show signs of opposing Russian sanctions and recognizing a Palestinian state.

Timing is everything. This phrase is particularly relevant in the field of propaganda. Because of this, many are now wondering whether or not the attacks were some false flag type event used as an attempt to reign in members of the French government who may be straying off the reservation.

For instance, in December of 2014, the lower house of the French parliament voted to recognize a Palestinian state. While the vote will not likely affect France’s foreign policy, it is a powerful symbol of a changing of the tide in terms of popular opinion regarding the Palestinian/Israeli conflict.

Likewise, the recent statement by French President Francois Hollande that the sanctions on Russia must end, could be seen as a threat to Anglo-American solidarity. Thus, such attacks could serve as a justification for French military action in the Middle East, a reminder to some players in the French government not to show dissension in public.

There is also the potential domestic agenda to be considered. Given the fact that the attacks are being painted as a fundamentalist response to the mockery of Islam, it is likely that the agenda will revolve around the issue of free speech and the police state. With the meme of “I stand with Free Speech” making its rounds across the Internet in response to the narrative of the attack, it is more likely that the attack will be used to increase public support for military action overseas and acceptance of an even greater police state at home. The attacks and their subsequent coverage are likely to be used to engender further hatred and distrust of Islam, thereby injecting the circle of extremism and hate (Christian to Muslim to Christian to Muslim and on and on) with fresh fuel. Convincing Christians that all Muslims are extremists and convincing Muslims that all Christians are extremists will be a goal of radicalization made all that much easier with the Charlie Hebdo attacks fresh in the minds of the French people.

Of course, with the incessant political correctness running rampant across the entire West, it is also possible that the attacks may be used to silence criticism – not necessarily of Islam – but of the policy of unfettered immigration which has contributed to even greater economic troubles and the destruction of French culture.

Conclusion

Whatever the true nature of the Charlie Hebdo attacks may be – “blowback” or false flag – there is clearly much more to the story than what the mainstream press is printing and promoting.

However, as the evidence surrounding the Charlie Hebdo massacre and the concurrent Kosher grocery store attacks comes to light, we are presented with the distinct possibility that not only were these acts not of the “lone wolf” variety but that they were carefully coordinated false flag incidents.

Regardless, the only thing that we can know with absolute certainty is that the Charlie Hebdo attacks will be used as propaganda to the utmost effect by all Western and NATO governments in the push for further war abroad and an even greater police state at home. This will not only be the case in France but in the entirety of the Western world.

References:

[1] Tarpley, Webster Griffin. 9/11 Synthetic Terror: Made In USA. 5th Edition. Progressive Press. 2011.

[2] Bruinessen, Martin Van; Allievi, Stefano. Producing Islamic Knowledge:Transmission and Dissemination in Western Europe. Routlege. 2013.

[3] Tarpley, Webster Griffin. 9/11 Synthetic Terror: Made In USA. 5th Edition. Progressive Press. 2011.

Brandon Turbeville is an author out of Florence, South Carolina. He has a Bachelor's Degree from Francis Marion University and is the author of six books, Codex Alimentarius -- The End of Health Freedom, 7 Real Conspiracies, Five Sense Solutions and Dispatches From a Dissident, volume 1 and volume 2, and The Road to Damascus: The Anglo-American Assault on Syria. Turbeville has published over 300 articles dealing on a wide variety of subjects including health, economics, government corruption, and civil liberties. Brandon Turbeville's podcast Truth on The Tracks can be found every Monday night 9 pm EST at UCYTV. He is available for radio and TV interviews. Please contact activistpost (at) gmail.com.