Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt told Newsmax on Thursday that there are more questions than answers in the New Orleans terrorist attack, saying the narratives coming from law enforcement "aren't adding up."
Holt joined "The Record With Greta Van Susteren" to talk about two details in particular that are bothering him in the aftermath of 14 New Year's revelers getting mowed down and killed by Shamsud-Din Jabbar in the French Quarter.
"The thing that bothers me in the New Orleans case, two things. One, why was the ISIS flag upside down when the FBI found it and said there is no terror threat?" Holt said.
"Two, if they found other explosive devices in and around the area, why didn't the New Orleans Police Department clear the entire area? They already didn't put blockades or bollards that are mobile bollards around the event, which is absolutely — we don't understand why that is still. But it's just standard police procedure; if you have a bomb in an area, you clear the area. They didn't clear it at all. And they knew how to get right to the bombs," Holt added.
The FBI announced Thursday that special agent bomb technicians discovered and dismantled two improvised explosive devices found in coolers at two major intersections, placed there by Jabbar hours before he plowed down Bourbon Street in a Ford 150 pickup truck, they said.
"I'm not insinuating that they're guilty of some malfeasance. I'm simply saying that the narratives aren't adding up at all," Holt told Van Susteren.
As for Jabbar himself, Holt said he "absolutely" was radicalized.
"[W]e've had a wide-open southern border, and we've got every single terror cell around the world represented here. Lots of radicalization and recruitment goes on in this nation. It looks like this is one of them," he said.
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Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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