The consequences of U.S. federal officials allowing Anwar al-Awlaki to slip through their fingers in 2001 are still being felt years later, in much the same way that the consequences of the Obama administration flooding Mexico with high powered weapons in Operation Fast and Furious will be felt for years to come. In the case of al-Awlaki, it’s been revealed that he met with Said Kouachi, one of the Muslim terrorists who carried out the recent attacks in Paris.

Kouachi traveled to Yemen in 2011 and met with radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki at an al-Qaeda training camp. According to a Fox News report, Kouachi’s dealings with al-Awlaki were successfully “kept below the radar”.

Anwar al-Awlaki preaching at Dar al-Hijrah.

Two days before the 9/11 attacks, Anwar al-Awlaki – an Imam at the Dar al-Hijarh mosque in Falls Church, VA at the time – shared a stage with Imam Suhaib Webb at a fundraiser, as Shoebat.com reported. Webb would later become the Imam of the Islamic Society of Boston (ISB) attended by the Boston Marathon bombers.

After the 9/11 attacks, the FBI tailed al-Awlaki for quite a while and had to have learned enough about him to realize how dangerous he was. They were tipped off by the fact that al-Awlaki met with three of the 9/11 hijackers at that mosque. Indications were that al-Awlaki became some kind of an informant as he was guest at a plush Pentagon luncheon in February of 2002, at a time when al-Awlaki was serving as a Chaplain with the Muslim Students Association (MSA) at George Washington University (GWU).

Incidentally, this was the same GWU MSA branch on whose Board Hillary Clinton’s close adviser Huma Abedin served just a few years earlier in 1996, as Shoebat.com reported.

Shortly after that luncheon, al-Awlaki left the country. In the interim, charges were filed against al-Awlaki on charges related to passport fraud. In October of 2002, he was briefly detained at JFK airport before leaving for Yemen, never to return to the U.S., though his murderous reach continued to do so.

On November 5, 2009, Nidal Malik Hasan stormed the Fort Hood Army Post and after yelling, ‘Allahu Akbar’ proceeded to murder 14 and injure 32. Hasan, who had also visited the Dar al-Hijrah mosque, had corresponded with al-Awlaki via email and considered him an inspiration, as would the 2009 underwear bomber and 2010 Times Square bombers, who luckily were both unsuccessful.

Who can forget the despicable comments by Four-star General George Casey just days after the massacre:

In February of 2009, several months prior to the Fort Hood massacre, the annual U.S.-Islamic World Forum (US-IWF) was held in Doha, Qatar. In attendance was Suhaib Webb, the man who two days before the 9/11 attacks, shared a stage with al-Awlaki. As Shoebat.com reported, then CENTCOM Commander David Petraeus was one of the featured speakers.

Screenshot from attendee list at 2009 US-IWF.

As was also relayed by Shoebat.com, both Webb and al-Awlaki were identified by the FBI as having been associated with the Muslim American Society (MAS), a confirmed Muslim Brotherhood group.

Then, on April 15, 2013, the Boston Marathon bombing took place at the hands of the Tsarnaev brothers. Instead of being able to do anything about Webb, the FBI allowed his mosque to serve as a place of Jihadi worship for at least the elder Tsarnaev, Tamerlan.

A few months after that bombing, then FBI Director Robert Mueller testified in front of the House Judiciary Committee. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) asked Mueller if he was aware that a man he (Mueller) helped lock up in 2004 on charges related to terrorism – Abdurahman Alamoudi – founded the mosque where Webb worked. Shockingly, Mueller said he did not know that:

As Shoebat.com reported, not only was Alamoudi the founder of the Boston mosque (unbeknownst to the FBI Director), but so too was Alamoudi quite familiar with Dar al-Hijrah, al-Awlaki’s mosque. Here is a photo of Alamoudi with Bassam Estwani, the man who was the Chairman of Dar al-Hijrah during al-Awlaki’s tenure, and Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) circa 1997:

Alamoudi (top left), Rep. Jim Moran (center), and Estwani (right) circa 1997.

As for Estwani’s alleged ignorance about al-Awlaki’s background, the Imam he hired to lead his house of worship had been arrested for soliciting prostitutes just three years earlier.

In 2013, as Mueller was leaving the FBI, he granted an interview to Fox News Channel’s Catherine Herridge. As to the issue of whether or not al-Awlaki was used as an informant, Mueller stated that he was “not personally familiar” with any attempts to make al-Awlaki an informant. At a minimum, this was a clear admission that he didn’t want to know because as the FBI Director, he could have found out in about 30 seconds:

It’s clear that al-Awlaki was the source of some extremely harmful information to a lot of very powerful people. While an Imam at Dar al-Hijrah, al-Awlaki’s boss Estwani had access to very powerful people, to include his U.S. Congressman, Rep. Thomas M. Davis (R-VA), who got Estwani a gig on the floor of the House, delivering an Islamic prayer:

Dar al-Hijrah mosque chairman Estwani delivers prayer on House floor on February 7, 2001.

Of course, the cherry sitting on top of the WE’VE LEARNED NOTHING cake is House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) learning nothing from his mentor and Republican predecessor Dennis Hastert. Two months ago, Boehner honored the request of Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ), who invited radical Imam Hamad Ahmad Chebli to do exactly what Estwani did just 13 years earlier:

Boehner bows head as Imam Chebli delivers Islamic Prayer on November 13, 2014.