I wonder if there's more to the story of the Las Vegas threat than the FBI wants us to know? J.J. Johnson thinks so. He interviewed the man who picked up the Arabic phone call himself.

The Las Vegas Review Journal article on Saturday sent us on a mission. We were determined to meet Michael Hamdan for several reasons:

1. The FBI said that the story was not credible but did not provide any reasons for this conclusion - as if somehow in the last two weeks the FBI itself has acquired the credibility to pass judgment. They have missed tips before.

2. The FBI mentioned a polygraph, but never stated that Mr. Hamdan had failed it. In typical government newspeak, they implied a connection and hoped their 8th grade reading level subjects would make that assumption.

3. Mr. Hamdan claimed that the FBI did not return his phone calls. This happened to us in 1996, in the aftermath of the pipe-bombing at the Olympics.

4. Mr. Hamdan was demonized by the local media. Due to our past experience, that was a clear red flag.

In short, we've seen this movie before.

I'm wondering if the FBI is saying publicly that there's nothing to it, to prevent panic and reduction in casino business over the holiday, while hoping to find/prevent the perps from carrying it out. If so, they're playing a very dangerous game.

Perhaps its a psyop to make the Vegas cell think
they can go ahead with their planned operation,
since the FBI publicly disbelieves the story.

Increasing tactical uncertainty is a good thing,
though I admit it's hard to tell the difference
between the FBI playing dumb and actually being dumb. Maybe Al Qaeda can't tell either.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned in most national reports about Mr. Hamdan is his current occupation. He's an official with one the local casino workers' unions which are, by remarkable coincidence, engaged in protracted and acrimonious negotiations with the casinos over a new contract.

Since Johnson seems so in love with conspiracy theories, let's try this one: local union official cooks up a fake terrorist threat to scare visitors away from Las Vegas, on what is traditionally the second busiest holiday of the year for them, in retaliation for their negotiating stance.

There are also several issues involving the interception of the cell phone call. It's not impossible, but it's highly, highly unlikely.

I got a kick out the mention of George Knapp in the article as one of those who believe Hamdan. Knapp was the Las Vegas TV talking head who was the father of the whole Area 51 myth, giving Bob Lazar a platform for his tales of captured UFOs and freeze-dried alien bodies. Lazar claimed he graduated from Cal Tech with a degree in "electronic technology." Knapp just nodded his head when Lazar said that. Later, another reporter checked with Cal Tech, and found out that not only was Lazar not a Cal Tech grad but Cal Tech doesn't offer degrees in "electronic technology." Knapp has the credulousness of a five year old writing a letter to Santa!

Ah, so you have found a plausible motive for Hamdan to lie. That's the first I've heard of it.

Rand, fifteen minutes of fame is all the "plausible motive" many people need to lie, especially in cases (like Hamdan's) where investigators are essentially reduced to trying to prove a negative. It's like the story of the female FDA loan officer (I may have the wrong agency) in Florida who came forward a couple of weeks ago with her tale of her encounter with Mohammad Atta and how he threatened to cut her throat. As I posted here then, I didn't believe her; she may have met Atta, but the rest of her story sounded like a bad TV crime drama. She wanted to get on TV, and she did. I also suspect she was trying to sell her story to some tabloid TV or paper, which might be a secondary motive of Hamdan as well.