By now, I’m sure you’ve heard about the bombing in Manchester that took place about a week ago during an Ariana Grande concert. The bombing resulted in 22 deaths and approximately 64 serious injuries as well as a number of missing children.

When an event like this occurs, it’s easy to assume the worst and get consumed with anxiety. We see tons of news outlets reporting on terrorism, which in turn sparks our deepest and darkest fears. However, it’s crucial that we create a conscious dialogue around events like this so we can discover the truth and prevent things like this from happening again.

It’s especially difficult to discuss this subject with children, as we have the habit of treating them like they’re unable to comprehend subjects as complex as these. If you’re a parent or mentor struggling to discuss subjects like these with children because they easily invoke fear, check out our latest article on conscious parenting:

How Parents Can Consciously Talk To Their Kids About The Manchester Bombing

Something that recently came to light regarding the Manchester bombing was who’s responsible for it and how the UK intelligence agency MI5 was warned numerous times in advance, in one case as early as January by its U.S. counterpart, the FBI.

FBI and Bomber’s Friends and Family Warned UK Intel of His Plans

MI5 is the UK’s domestic counter-intelligence and security agency. It was recently discovered that MI5 was warned by the FBI in January that the suicide bomber was planning an attack in the UK. The bomber, 22-year-old Salman Abedi, who was part of a North African Islamic State cell based in England, was placed on an FBI “terrorist watch list” in 2016. Abedi made it onto this list as a result of an investigation into terrorist groups in Libya.

“In early 2017 the FBI told MI5 that Abedi belonged to a North African terror gang based in Manchester, which was looking for a political target in this country,” a security source explained to the Daily Mail on Sunday.

“The information came from the interception of his communications by US federal agents, who had been investigating Abedi since the middle of 2016, and from information unearthed in Libya, where his family was linked to terrorist groups.”

Though Abedi was “investigated” and then “scrutinized” by MI5, he ultimately made it back underneath the intelligence agency’s radar. As a result, MI5 has been facing a lot of public criticism and skepticism on their ability to fulfil their duties.

In response, MI5 officials explained that they are typically overseeing 500 terror investigations at any given moment. This explanation may seem insensitive to some people, as it seems like there could never be a good enough excuse to put an investigation into a known terrorist on the back burner. Plus, we know that intelligence agencies’ resources are often used to spy on innocent civilians, not “terrorists,” making it that much more difficult to understand why they don’t focus all of their time on surveilling people who actually have reason to be spied upon.

This also wasn’t the only warning MI5 received regarding Abedi. Abedi’s friends and family reported him to MI5 because they believed him to be “dangerous” and a potential “suicide bomber.”

As the Times reported, “Abedi’s support for terrorism was reported this year to the security services, and friends had called Britain’s anti-terrorist hotline five years ago with concerns about his views, it was claimed. He was reported for violent statements, including a claim that being a suicide bomber was ‘OK.’

Abedi’s Link to Al-Qaeda and IS

Apparently Abedi wasn’t the only “terrorist” amongst his family, as new information presented by Reuters suggests that his family holds ties to Al-Qaeda and IS (formerly referred to as ISIS).

On Wednesday night, Salman’s younger brother Hashim Abedi was arrested in Tripoli on suspicions of links to the Islamic State, and was allegedly planning an attack on the Libyan capital. Hashim apparently confessed that he and his brother were both members of IS and that he knew of his brother’s plans to bomb the concert. His father was also arrested, and explained to authorities that another one of their brothers was arrested as well.

Abdel-Basit Haroun, a former security official in Libya, claimed that members of the family held ties to Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which was linked to Al-Qaeda. Haroun also noted that the father belongs to the Salafi Jihadi movement, which is considered “the most extreme sect of Salafism and from which Al Qaeda and the Islamic State group hail.” (source)

However, his father, Ramadan Abedi, dictated a different story. His father claimed that his son is not linked to any militant group whatsoever and that he didn’t think he committed the suicide bombing.

“We don’t believe in killing innocents. This is not us,” he said.

All of this information leaves us with numerous questions: Was this simply an individual act of radical terrorism or was it tied to a larger group? Secondly, if this was linked to a larger terrorist organization, who is really to blame here?

The U.S. Governments’ Links to Terrorist Organizations 

If this is, in fact, tied back to a terrorist organization like Al-Qaeda or IS, it begs the question: Who is to blame for all of this? Yes, the bomber made the conscious decision to orchestrate and create chaos and violence, but where did he get the idea and the supplies?

Western media and the government have further perpetuated the image of fearful terrorist organizations like Al-Qaeda and IS, like when the Pentagon paid a PR firm over $500 million to create fake terrorists videos. The U.S. has also funded terrorist groups for at least the past 20 years, which has been proven by various government documents and has been openly discussed by numerous members of the government.

For example, U.S. Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard addressed U.S. arms sales to ISIS and other terrorist groups in a speech, offering a compelling call to action in the process:

I return to Washington, DC with even greater resolve to end our illegal war to overthrow the Syrian government. I call upon Congress and the new Administration to answer the pleas of the Syrian people immediately and support the Stop Arming Terrorists Act. We must stop directly and indirectly supporting terrorists—directly by providing weapons, training and logistical support to rebel groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and ISIS; and indirectly through Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, and Turkey, who, in turn, support these terrorist groups. We must end our war to overthrow the Syrian government and focus our attention on defeating al-Qaeda and ISIS.

You can read our CE article about it here.

Gabbard was also quoted as saying that the “CIA has also been funnelling weapons and money through Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar and others who provide direct and indirect support to groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda.”

As former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook explained:

The truth is, there is no Islamic army or terrorist group called Al-Qaeda, and any informed intelligence officer knows this. But, there is a propaganda campaign to make the public believe in the presence of an intensified entity representing the ‘devil’ only in order to drive TV watchers to accept a unified international leadership for a war against terrorism. The country behind this propaganda is the United States. (source)

So, since the United States is largely responsible for the funding and training of terrorists and supplying them with weaponry, who is actually responsible for these crimes? I encourage you to think about this the next time you see a mainstream news outlet reporting on terrorism associated with IS and Al-Qaeda!

When you access information like this, I encourage you not to allow fear to overcome you. Yes, situations like these can seem scary, but they also serve a purpose. The more people who wake up to who is funding this terrorism campaign, the more likely it is to come to an end! So, with that, please share this information with others and continue to search for the truth.