Comments

1
Well, as of now you've beat out other news outlets. Good job Dom.
2
Hajji going down.
3
Yeah, better get that boob that poured gas on some stairs with that billion dollar task force.

Now everyone is safe (no one was hurt in the first place).
4
@3

Billion? I'm pretty sure Seattle actually spent five billion dollars catching this guy. At least. That's why we can't afford rapid transit. We spent everything on this. Everything.

Thanks for your insightful comment. People need to know that we wasted billions of dollars catching this arsonist who obviously wouldn't have hurt anybody.

Plus, it's only fire. God, people. Fire. Grow up.
5
Attempted murder of hundreds of people is kind of a big deal. Disagree? choke on a bowl full of dicks.
6
Well, well, well.

Imagine that, the SPD waited to make an arrest until they did a proper investigation and developed an actual case!

Had this not been a gay nightclub, and had the SPD run out and busted someone based on grainy video alone - as Holden wanted in this case, Mr. Holden would have been all over the cops for abusing the rights of the "perp".

But as is clear here, Holden has a double standard - one for his "peeps", and one for everyone else.

7
#3

YOU ARE DISGUSTING - WOODEN BUILDING - ACCELLERANT IS GAS - IN MINUTES SMOKE CHOKING THE PLACE -- AND NO BIG DEAL. DOZENS OF CLOSE FRIENDS AT THAT PARTY, SO DAMN GLAD NO LIVES WERE LOST. GEORGE BAKAN / SGN

8
stand with george on this one
9
FIRE BORN OF GAS
AGRIPPA SCOFFS AS GAYS BURN
DISGUST CONSUMES GEORGE
10
@4 in 1973, a man poured a few ounces of lighter fluid on the staircase leading to a gay bar called The Up Stairs lounge and killed thirty two people.

Though nobody died in Seattle, this could have been really bad.
11
All caps and signing his post, despite his user name being his name? George wins!

Good job SPD.
12
@3: Yes, I'm happy that a person who attempted to murder my friends is arrested. GFY.
13
@7 No need to shout, your point has been taken by everyone. This person, who we assume is the guilty party, will now be run through the "legal" system and given all the representation he needs. We may never know his motivation if any but I sincerely hope that he never gets out of prison. The SPD spent a lot of time Investigating this incident, a month to the day. Good thing he was still in Seattle.
14
Arsonists don't stop at one fire. Thank God for the video. Firebugs are twisted motherfuckers.
15
One thing missing from this report... headed to SeaTac, but where was he flying to?
16
One thing missing from this report... headed to SeaTac, but where was he flying to?
Maybe as Dominic Holden implied in an earlier piece, he really is a terrorist from Benghazi ...
17
Well done, Dominic. The Stranger should be turning out this quality of journalism more often.

I have a feeling this story could turn out to be bigger than a hate crime. Too many coincidences.
18
@10

But dude. Seattle literally spent $25 billion catching this one guy. Twenty. Five. Billion. Dollars.

I didn't even know we had $35 billion to spend catching on arsonist. Before the city spends half a trillion dollars on one manhunt, there should be a vote or something. Basically we mortgaged the whole city to China. And we haven't even got a conviction.

Plus, have you seen those videos of people walking on hot coals? It's only fire.
19
@9 Well done.
20
@15
Burning Man
21
@20 Ouch !
22
@# 10 Where by chance do you get your monetary figures from? Your ass? Or was this some awkward sarcasm? The whole 2013 city of Seattle budget was 4.4 Billion! You mean to tell me they spent 5 times the whole budget for '13 in one month catching this attempted murderer? Must spent a shit load on tanks I didn't see rolling in the street for that kind of $ to be spent. Then again maybe you're a friend of the accused trying to stir up animosity toward the effort of the police to catch this miscreant. There I guess the only other option is that the comments section of this article is a training session for the interns of 'The Onion' trying to learn their craft!
23
Comment 22 was directed at comment 18!
24
@16: The only person in the world who believes this is the paranoid conspiracist asshole SGT DOOM.
25
Well, As a former ad hoc Neighbours go-go boy and full-time human being, I'm glad some progress is being made on this case.

Back in my hotel days they were fond of showing us employees gruesome movies about hotel and nightclub fires (the worst one being a gorey full-color spectacular about the MGM Grand fire titled, appropriately enough, "HOTEL FIRE!") to have a healthy fear about what this could have been: the Boston Coconut Grove, the Winecoff Hotel in Atlanta, the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Kentucky.....

We really did dodge a bullet on this one, folks.
26
@18 I was referring to the billions the federal government throws away on terrorism, like dumping truck loads of money on local cop shop anti terror squads who fumble about most of their time figuring out what expensive shit they can buy and where they need to fly for anti terror trainings so they can become super cops in the war on terror... and seek lone night club arsonists because that's somehow terrorism.

No doubt they deployed all the expensive surveillance toys and a armored vehicle or two... never mind.

Have fun here.
27
@25: Former full-time human being did you say? I trust that other part is feline, or perhaps android, I could handle that -- but other than that, it really rattles upsets my delicate sensibilities to hear you talk along those lines. The Matrix? OMG!
28
@5 are they nice pretty dicks…do they have balls? are they furry. how big is the bowl? will they go home after or cuddle me all night long?
29
@4,18. What's this shit with "It's only fire?" To people who die of thermal trauma or carbon monoxide inhalation, fire is just as deadly as an atom bomb. Was 9/11 negligible because the planes were hijacked with "only box cutters"?
30
If the police were forced to arrest this guy because they thought he would flee, then their evidence may be weak.
31
Raindrop dear, you know that I am a mannequin. While I'm not at all sensitive about it, and certainly proud of my mannequinness, I don't know why you feel the need to point it out as you do. Unless of course you're anti-mannequin.
33
@26

So what you're saying is, the SPD should have not tried to catch this guy. Because the federal governemnt spent too much on terrorism.

Brilliant.
34
What I took from Agrippa's comments was that the occasional local police department investigation of an arson attempt does not justify billions spent on so-called anti-terrorism.

It seems SPD staff did their jobs in this case. They took reports and listened to people who recognized the guy shown in the evidence the club provided. How is any of this related to terrorism? Why was "a joint terrorism task force" involved? Which joint terrorism task force was it?
35
Yeah, Phil, that's what I was implying and i'm sorry that point was lost but obviously there's a little to high of an emotional charge on this and so now I've declared the person that committed this crime king for a day and that he should get grant money to live for a year or something.

This is obviously terrorism because it upset people in a way that murder doesn't usually upset people because it happened here and we went to that club a few times.
36
oh, and I really liked @9... that was pretty good.
37
It seems SPD staff did their jobs in this case. They took reports and listened to people who recognized the guy shown in the evidence the club provided.
You are correct, but the average reader wouldn't know it from Th Stranger's reporting, which before any substantial investigation and case building was done harangued the SPD for not going straight out and arresting some guy based on hearsay and grainy video.

Of course Domonic Holden's speculation on who the perp was turned out to be accurate, non the less we can't have the cops arresting people "willy-nilly", we know from history and common sense that the reactionary nature of the SPD (and most cops) does not always produce the correct arrestee.

Had it been a different case, not involving Mr. Holden's favorite nightclub - for example suppose it had been Capital Hill branch of the Mars Hill Church and some misguided gay man had been implicated - you can be sure Holden wold be castigating the SPD for jumping to conclusions and harassing the hip and happening Capital Hill crowd.
38
@29 I'm quite certain the "only fire" comments were sarcastic. No one is actually downplaying the severity of what this could have been.
39
I'd rather spend 35 million on catching him now than have him burn other places and potentially kill other people. I believe he would have tried to do this again.
40
Mohammedans on the rampage again and Sloggers just yawn.
41
" choke on a bowl full of dicks."

I believe that's Saturday night's theme at Neighbors.
42
@37, Aarthur Zifferelli wrote, "You are correct [that it seems SPD staff did their jobs in this case], but the average reader wouldn't know it from Th Stranger's reporting"

The average reader just assumes SPD staff do their jobs, because that's what we pay them to do. That's not newsworthy. Reading between the lines, you might notice that the job, in this case, was largely done by Neighbours staff and by the public.

Also, WHY THE HELL WAS A JOINT TERRORISM TASK FORCE CALLED IN FOR AN ARSON INVESTIGATION? There's the story: that SPD's actions imply that this was not simply arson, but terrorism: the use of infliction of terror upon a populace in an effort to bring about political change. Or maybe "a joint terrorism task force" provided assistance because such groups, largely operating in the Fourth-Amendment-Free-Zone, are the first place that cops look when they want to work outside the rules.

How did they know the suspect was headed to the airport? Was he riding the Airport Express? Why didn't they stop him when he left home if they knew where he was going? Why didn't they wait until he tried to board his flight?

Someone attempted to harm hundreds of people. There's no excuse for that, whether you're some guy who went off the deep end and dumped a can of gasoline in a nightclub or you're a terrorist piloting a U.S. assassination drone from a nondescript office building in Arizona.

I hope our emotional reaction to the local nature of this attempted crime doesn't blind us from watching very closely how our peace officers--known to break the rules whenever they feel like it--go about investigating the crime. The ends don't always justify the means, no matter how much we're looking forward to the ends.
43
Reading between the lines, you might notice that the job, in this case, was largely done by Neighbours staff and by the public.
Really? They provided a fuzzy tape and an opinion that a potential possible perp was a known troublemaker that looked like the guy on the tape.

It takes more than hearsay and fuzzy tape to build enough evidence to arrest and hold someone.

You *DO* agree that there should be a certain amount of actual evidence to arrest people, right?

In this case, the staff at this club provided some grainy video and tips, and the SPD did the required investigation and development of evidence nessesary to actually arrest the guy.

You can't just arrest and hold people on a "hunch".

44
I'm no fan of the SPD's record on brutality, etc., and not particularly inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt. However, following this case, the police's hesitation, their lack of action until Masmari was at the airport to make his escape, I am reminded of December 1999. No one could understand why, based on a vague threat, the Milennial New Year's Eve fireworks show at the Space Needle was cancelled. Mayor Paul Schell took a lot of criticism for that, Seattle in general was pronounced alarmist and just plain lame, and then a few years later it was revealed that there had been a full-scale terrorist plot planned for that night that could have killed thousands of people, and that's why the show was cancelled.
There's very little doubt in my mind that more than the SPD is involved here, that they knew pretty quickly who'd done this, and they were letting him run free for a while to see who he was in contact with, and that the only reason they grabbed him when they did was because they didn't want him to get away. I'd bet a large sum that they only reason they didn't want the video on TV was because they didn't want Masmari to know he was being watched. SPD is dumb and homophobic sometimes, but they're not this dumb, and they're not this homophobic.
45
Seattle liberals won't like reality. Islamic theology teaches devout Muslims it is OK to kill homosexuals. So when - jihad shows its ugly face in Seattle - expect the usual denials.

But it is difficult to deny hard facts. This is not Seattle's first jihad experience.

Remember Molly Norris - every one draw Mohammad cartoon day? She had to leave town because of a Muslim fatwa.

How about Naveed Afzal Haq and the Seattle Jewish Federation murder shooting. The liberal excuse was - he was crazy. So what made him get in his car and drive from the tri-cities to Seattle because he "hates Israel"? I suppose it could be the Koran.

Or why did Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif, aka Joseph Anthony Davis and Walli Mujahidh, aka Frederick Domingue plan an attack on the Military Entrance Processing Station located on East Marginal Way. Why would two Islamic converts want to shoot up a bunch of people. Could it have been the Koran?
46
@25 wait, a go-go boy? I would love to go out dancing with you, but I'm afraid I would t do the Charleston correctly.
47
@43, Arthur asked, "You *DO* agree that there should be a certain amount of actual evidence to arrest people, right?"

In my opinion, there should be, for sure. And according to the U.S. Constitution, there is But in practice, I don't think there is such a requirement. I've seen many examples, some first-hand, of police arresting people simply to neutralize them for a few hours or days until they are released, and there is only rarely any repercussion for the officers' malfeasance. I was arrested and jailed a few years ago without a shred of evidence (as a jury eventually found) after my polite and lawful behavior bothered some police.

In this situation, constitutional protections against such abuse are greatly weakened. Once the word terrorism enters the picture, laws barely apply in the United States.

I'm very anxious to see the arrest warrant. If anyone has already acquired and published a copy, I hope someone will link to it from here.

At this point, I doubt it matters to the investigators and prosecutors whether this particular suspect is the culprit or not. They’re reportedly working with “a joint terrorism task force.” So, very likely, federal staff are poring over all the unlawfully-collected evidence they have on him (as they have on all of us, since world enemy #1, the National Security Agency, treats everyone as guilty until proven innocent), reviewing what he has said and written, where he has been, and with whom he is associated, attempting to weave together sufficient evidence of *anything* that will lead him to plead guilty to the arson attempt in order to avoid the difficulty of a fair trial for whatever else they’re able to hold over his head.
48
Seattle liberals won't like reality. Islamic theology teaches devout Muslims it is OK to kill homosexuals. So when - jihad shows its ugly face in Seattle - expect the usual denials.

But it is difficult to deny hard facts. This is not Seattle's first jihad experience.

Remember Molly Norris - every one draw Mohammad cartoon day? She had to leave town because of a Muslim fatwa.

How about Naveed Afzal Haq and the Seattle Jewish Federation murder shooting. The liberal excuse was - he was crazy. So what made him get in his car and drive from the tri-cities to Seattle because he "hates Israel"? I suppose it could be the Koran.

Or why did Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif, aka Joseph Anthony Davis and Walli Mujahidh, aka Frederick Domingue plan an attack on the Military Entrance Processing Station located on East Marginal Way. Why would two Islamic converts want to shoot up a bunch of people. Could it have been the Koran?
49
@42 "Or maybe "a joint terrorism task force" provided assistance because such groups, largely operating in the Fourth-Amendment-Free-Zone, are the first place that cops look when they want to work outside the rules."

You're missing another plausible option, that there are countless billions of dollars available for "anti-terror" usage now that weren't before 9/11. Consider it a boundless source of funding for LEOs. Sure, they can "work outside the rules", but it's just more manpower to throw on any case if a vague "terror" claim can be made.
50
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn: You're as stupid as they come. Five billion dollars. Ha Ha. Seattle's budget isn't even that big for one year asshole.
51
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn: What an idiot you are.
52
Bob Smith (#45) said:
But it is difficult to deny hard facts. This is not Seattle's first jihad experience.
This was not a "jihad experience". It was a nut case who happened to be from Libya. As reports from people in his area have said, he was probably suffering fro mental illness.

Now, that's no excuse to torch a nightclub with people in it, but it's not an indication of a "terrorist plot", no matter how much the Tea Baggists and other assorted Right Wing Nuts might like you to think.

It seems that we as a nation learned nothing from Joe McCarthy (who?) ...
53
@52: The Birchers ARE students of McCarthy, just not of history.
54
@52 Of course if he'd been white, Christian and from Spokane you'd all be on the liberal warpath.
55
@54
Of course if he'd been white, Christian and from Spokane you'd all be on the liberal warpath.
Yes, of course I would have assumed he was an Aryan Nations guy, as they grow them in vast rolling fields over there. Didn't Mark Fuhrman retire over there someplace?
56
Who are all these new accounts? Crazy.
57
@56, when people wish to comment on something, they are free to create an account to do so. The Stranger forums are not your little exclusive club, set aside just for your "In" friends.
58
I am surprised a story like this is not getting main stream media attention. A MUSLIM man tries to kill 750 club goers by setting a bar on fire and there is zero national coverage?
59
@58
A MUSLIM man tries to kill 750 club goers by setting a bar on fire and there is zero national coverage?
But that's not what really happened.

Here's what happened: A deranged man with mental illness started a small fire that was quickly extinguished.

You can put the "mass murder attempt" spin on it if you wish, if it pumps your feathers up, but the reality is that there are many mentally ill people knocking around Seattle, and occasionally - mostly because society has failed our mentally ill - they kill a few people.

But in this case, the *FACTS* just don't support your hyperbole.

60
@50 @51

I said TRILLION dollars. Five trillion. At least. Probably five -- no six! -- trillion billion.

OK, seriously. There isn't anybody who has the slightest idea how much money was spent catching this guy, right? For all we know they caught him during regular work hours, no? Because if you have no idea then is there any point in talking about what they did wrong in the investigation? It sounds to me like somebody with some other agenda is in search of a soapbox and they figured they'd latch onto this case. With zero facts.
61
The Press isn't always as stupid as people think, the Seattle Times know that they can't get away with thetabloid quality "journalism" that Mr. Holden trots out here. Really, most of his work should carry the "Opinion / Editorial" preface.

Perhaps after The Stranger, he'll go work for Slate or some magazine, but he'll never work for a real newspaper because he's not a "journalist", he an "editorialist".
62
@60 With your rather exotic and also stupid handle, I would assume you have some eastern knowledge of the inner workings of the minds of men. You are probably just another working person with exotic tastes in......what? You seem to be searching for deeper meaning to stories that really don't have much credibility, grasshopper. Change your handle to "I don't have a clue what I'm posting, but bear with me and I will grow up someday"
63
@62: "rather exotic"

It's really not hard to be literate.
64
@53 My parents, bless their souls , volunteered at the American Opinion Library in Bellevue in the ''60's. They also belonged to the John Birch Society and donated many $ to their campaign. I was their black sheep son who smoked pot and went on adventures that were not adviseable during the '60's. I turned out O.K. and my parents later in life relented and actually voted for a Democrat in their last time to vote. They are educated, my Dad is a war veteran with time served in W.W II in B-24 bombers, my mother also served in Europe as a nurse. The difference in generations is the key here. Are there young men willing to go to war now to preserve our freedom? I'm sure there are some that would go if the pay was good, but what about doing it for the U.S.A.?
65
@63 Was I talking to you?
66
What is the definition of freedom? By forcing someone to work for slave wages by using the IMF to implement structural adjustment programs that force people off of their land and into cities where the only jobs are in factories built to serve the interests of hegemonic countries like the US, I can get the freedom to eat whatever I want and pay for a lift ticket, skis, clothing, gas, and food and drive 100 miles in a day to go skiing. And if someone tries to take this freedom by demanding that their dictator spend some of the oil money on social programs in the ancestral homeland where the oil wells happen to be, am I justified in supporting that government in the massacre of the dissident parties standing in the way of my chalet?
If the kind of freedom you are talking about is a zero sum game, I am pretty sure I am not interested in killing anybody and taking their freedom to live so that I can enjoy more recreational possibilities. Not to say I don't appreciate people who are willing to make sacrifices for my safety- but the best sacrifice would be to stop sending billions of tax dollars in aid and weapons to totalitarian regimes and to stop expensive invasions of countries that understandably generate resentment- that would be a major victory for our safety, but a slight blow to the profit margins of certain key campaign donors...

But such a move would be a shift in paradigm from the "treat the symptoms" to the "treat the root cause" approach, which would also be a major blow to pharmaceutical profits, and to the health care sector in general which has been growing faster than other sectors of the economy, and you know how them politicians love "jobs".

I am a young American man, and I am willing to go to war to protect even one American (or any) man, woman, or child. I am however not willing to go to war for even one penny of corporate profits, and that seems to be a higher priority for whoever is pulling the strings these days.

WIth such a high murder rate, high imprisonment rate (a totally racially imbalanced one), and the highest rate of child abuse and school shootings, with growing cancer rates, and steadily growing drug addiction rates, is it possible that as nice as it might be to have a foreign menace to fight, that the enemy is within?

67
There's no question the man is deranged. But what makes him decide to act out by attempting to burn alive 750 people in a gay nightclub?

Islam, that's what. Ignoring that fact is what religion apologists do best.
68
Amazing! This is great that the stranger followed up on this case. I was there that night and without this newspapers coverage on this story we would have never known what happened or could have happened. Must thanks to SPD and The Stranger Team! =]
69
Hmmm...how does this happen in a city FILLED with cars sporting "Coexist" bumper stickers? …
70
As a victim of numerous of Musabs actions, I can speak highly that this man is mentally ill, and the press is going to have a hay day with the details. It's shameful to watch all the people who now want there name on the news suddenly step up and say they're terrified of him and watch it unfold. For months on end, this man terrorized me, stalked me, and assaulted me and everyone acted as if I was insane. Shame on the people who could have helped put him away months ago, but "didn't want to get involved with any drama"....until it became dramatic enough to get your name on the news. As someone who has been closely informed throughout the entire investigation, also shame on the stranger for spinning a story that is really unbelievably inaccurate. What needs to be remembered is that the police won't tell every hipster in seattle about a case that involves many layers deeper than this nightclub fire, and has already deeply affected many people in the community. The nightclub arson attempt is absolutely horrific, and as someone who has been involved with his previous crimes and has been involved with numerous cases against him, I would like to say that there is far far far more to this case than being reported in so many one sided hardcore opinions. I only hope the real truth will come out along the way, and I am so happy and relieved our Capitol Hill is safe, especially my friends on the north end. This experience has been devastating and heartbreaking for more people in this city than I can count, and I'm so thankful he didn't execute his horrific plan well enough and that the fire was put out.. Our community is heartbroken experiencing this type of violence and anger
71
Does attempted mass murder of the gays make one a terrorist?
72
Masari, a native of Benghazi, Libya, was also a cultural ambassador on behalf of the 9/11 Media Arts Center for the Arabic speaking visitors.
73
I'd suggest he had conflicted feelings over being gay and also being part of the jihad. This was how he was working his therapy out. Those taxi drivers praying to the east on mats? They approve of Masari they just don't think they have enough weight to act yet. Interview them and ask them.
74
INHOFE RIPS 'OUTRAGEOUS LIE' ON BENGHAZI
Senator says 'will go down in history as the greatest cover-up'
Published: 1 day ago
(THE HILL) Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) on Monday said President Obama lied about the terrorist attack in Benghazi during an interview that aired before the Super Bowl.

Inhofe said the 2012 terrorist attack in Libya will “go down in history as the greatest cover-up,” and slammed Obama for claiming it was thoroughly investigated.

“It’s just an outrageous lie. It’s kind of hard to call it anything else. It’s kind of like ObamaCare and the things he said in the beginning and now he’s denying it,” Inhofe said during a radio interview on 1170 KFAQ’s The Pat Campbell Show, which based in Tulsa, Okla.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/02/inhofe-rips-o…
76
@26 "and seek lone night club arsonists because that's somehow terrorism."

I'm pretty sure that the people caught in that fire would have been terrified.


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