Cartoon Wars - Iran's Holocaust Cartoon Contest

Greenglass – The Brother

            A book was written about him called The Brother,

and that is how history records him.  He

was the brother of woman convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage. He was

well positioned to help the Soviets. At Los Alamos in the mid-1940s he had

access to the designs of a lens used in a deadly weapon that changed the course

of history.  In court, he turned against

his sister and said she was directly involved in committing espionage. This

person was sentenced to many years in prison, but his wife, also implicated in

the espionage, was not charged. She was free to raise their children. Who was

he?

            He was David Greenglass, and his sister was Ethel

Rosenberg who was electrocuted along with Julius Rosenberg for atomic

espionage. The Greenglasses like the Rosenbergs belonged to the Young Communist

League and adored Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union. After Greenglass was

released from prison he took an assumed name and lived in obscurity. Then,

veteran Times reporter Sam Roberts tracked him down and persuaded him to give

an interview. Was Greenglass, who lived into his nineties, remorseful about

turning in his big sister? Not according to his reflections on the whole sordid

affair.  He related, "My wife says,

'Look, we're still alive.'" Yes. But not so his sister, Ethel. Should she

have been executed? That is a subject for another Kensington Minute. This

Kensington Minute does not represent the official position of the United States

government. Out here.

Elizabeth

Bentley – Clever Girl 

Mark here, and welcome to Intelligence and Society, a product of

Kensington Security Consulting. In this lesson, we will examine the

torturous life of Elizabeth Bentley, who shocked America when she confessed to

a hidden life of Soviet espionage. She held several monikers, including Clever

Girl and, my favorite, The Blonde Bombshell from Vassar College. Her bombshell

status is open to dispute but not the impact of a her revelations of Soviet

espionage on American society. Her verified disclosures of vast Soviet spy

networks shook American counterintelligence out of its complacency and directed

it toward exposing and undermining Soviet intelligence and active measures in

the United States.) As we will see, her testimony to the F.B.I. in the

fall of 1945 laid the groundwork for Congressional investigations into Soviet

penetration of the U.S. government and the motion picture industry. So, who was

Elizabeth Bentley? 

Elizabeth Bentley was born of genteel New England stock in 1907 and was

raised by Republican, Episcopalian parents. Her parents, particularly her

mother, advocated for the poor. Both died prematurely before 1925.[i]

The Soviets would give her the code name Clever Girl, and she was clever

enough to earn a half scholarship to Vassar and continue to Columbia and the

University of Florence for graduate work. Later in life, she reminisced about the

“humanistic” education a Vassar "complete pushover

for communism." At Vassar, she was a mediocre student, earning low grades.

Throughout her life, people described her as intelligent but flakey and prone

to periods of melodrama and depression. A Vassar classmate

described her as "kind of a sad sack."

After Vasser, she

studied in Italy in 1933 where she found passion. Mussolini was firmly in

power, and Bentley was excited about the passion springing from the Gruppo

Universitate Fascisti (While

in Italy, she shed her New England Republican upbringing and tasted a social

and political radicalism, which she embraced. She also enjoyed breaking the

rules. Her advisor at the University of Florence was a leading anti-fascist and

provided romantic mentorship. Under

the influence of a profession, she switched her ideology from fascism to

communism.[ii]  (picture 7, Italian communism)

This was not that

rare. After World War Two, many East Germans became ardent communists, as we

will see in future lessons. Before the war, some prominent left-oriented

intellectuals shifted between the dominant authoritarian philosophies and

parties. Joseph Goebbels and the Nazi head of the Peoples Court, Roland Freisler,

moved from communism to National Socialism. Mussolini had his political origins

in left-wing, populist politics. 

Elizabeth

Bentley returned to Columbia in 1934 to finish her master’s degree but did not

pass the examinations. She also had the misfortune of searching for a job when

few were available in Depression-era New York. She joined the American League

Against War and Fascism (picture 9, League) and the Communist Party of

the United States (CPUSA) and remained in the Party for two years. The Party

offered her a tight circle of friends and comrades who partnered in a world

hidden from outsiders. Each member held secrets of others, which created an

unconventional and sometimes intimate bond. Bentley futilely searched for

emotional intimacy her entire life. She also searched for physical intimacy,

which she received from men in her circle of communists. Many of the communists

believed in free love that was unconstrained by Victorian and bourgeois

moralism, which certainly appealed to the hormone-driven Elizabeth.

Enter Golos

Yakov Naumovich Reizen was born in 1889 in the

Ukraine to Jewish, poor parents.[iii]  He became

a committed communist and an officer in the NKGB, a predecessor of the K.G.B.[iv] In the

United States, he used the alias Golos, which means voice in Russian. (picture

10, Golos) (Text –

Golos)  Golos lived in the

United States for years and understood the nuances and idiosyncrasies of

American culture.[v]

He worked with Bentley at World Tourists, (picture 11, USSR tourist) a

Soviet front company. Soon, they became lovers even though Golos had a wife and

family in the Soviet Union. One commentator is convinced that both fell in love

with each other. Others speculate that he needed her to promote Soviet

interests. Golos likely spotted her vulnerability and love-bombed her to bring

her under his control. This certainly fits into Soviet tradecraft. He probably

saw the risks of sending such a flighty personality on dangerous courier

missions. But he calculated that he could control her. And he did, unlike his

successors who unsuccessfully tried to reign in the fiercely independent Miss

Bentley.

Bentley

continued to work part-time at Columbia University's Italian Library, but soon,

she was fired because her connection to fascism was revealed. Golos was forced

to register as an agent of the USSR under the Foreign Agents Registration Act

or FARA, which is the topic of future lessons. And now, the FBI was on to

him.  

Golos

trained Bentley to avoid detection.  She

varied her travel and took several cabs. She would leave the cab several blocks

from her destination and walk the remaining distance, zigzagging between blocks

and department stores.) She would meet in parks, or hotel lobbies, or

(picture) restaurants. Her handlers would claim that she became sloppy about

her tradecraft as a courier. In all fairness, she met with many people, had to

memorize many names and meeting places, and was constantly on guard.

Elizabeth

first began using codenames in student circles at Columbia. Now, long out of

college, she had different aliases or code names. He called herself Helen or

Myrna or Mary. Bentley never made copies of the documents she received from her

sources. This would make verifying some claims she made after she defected

difficult. When Bentley revealed the vast network of Soviet spies to the

F.B.I., the agents were initially reluctant to believe her. She had no proof.

We will see that another American agent who served as a courier to the Soviets,

Whitaker Chambers, photographed purloined documents in case he needed them. And

he did need them. He kept them inside of pumpkins. But Bentley had no copies

and relied on her memory. Sometimes her memory was sharp; sometimes it wasn’t.

Tradecraft – Sloppy Lizzy (SLIDE X)

In the

early 1940s, Bentley shuttled between Washington DC and New York to receive

documents from high-level American communist spies. She usually traveled every

two weeks. And there are many of them. Some stand out. William Remington, who

worked for the War Production Board at the time. Nathan Gregory Silvermaster was a

Russian-born bureaucrat who did not pass much intelligence to Elizabeth and

whose true value was his connection to the rest of the group. The group also

allegedly included Harry Dexter White the undersecretary of the Treasury who

was one of the architects of the post-war economic system, the International

Monetary Fund, and the World Bank.

During

her confession, she identified almost 50 Communist agents operating in the

U.S., which would lead to a network of 150 spies that included 37 federal

employees. She met a man named Julius who fit the description of Julius

Rosenberg. This would be used in the trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.  Elizabeth's testimony that the CPUSA was

intimately tied to the Soviet Union. This was a key and damning disclosure

because it helped shatter the myth that the CPUSA acted autonomously without

the direction of financial help of the Soviet Union.[vi]

In 1943,

Golos suffered a heart attack and died. The following day, Bentley met her new

handler “Bill,” Itzhak Akhmerov, the leading non-official cover NKVD operative in the U.S.

The relationship became toxic immediately after Akhmerov made demands on

Bentley, which she brushed off. She thought he patronized her because she was a

woman. In October 1944, Elizabeth was again given a new handler, Joseph Klatz,

one of the most active NKGB agents in the U.S. She didn't like him or Earl

Browder, the leader of the CPUSA. Her prickly personality did not help

her maintain amiable and productive relationships with the Soviets.

In early

1945, an emotionally and financially drained Bentley began to drink heavily.

This degraded her already-declining performance as a courier. The Soviets

became increasingly worried that this barfly would spill her secrets. And they

were right. They considered killing her to quiet her. But in August 1945, she

moved to New Haven, Connecticut. She went to the F.B.I. and, on November 7,

1945 began to confess all. It was too late to kill her now. At first, the

F.B.I. thought she was a scatterbrain drunk. However, after investigating her

claims, they realized that most of her stories were likely correct. They

alerted Hoover, who became very concerned.

Throughout

1948, Elizabeth became the F.B.I.'s star witness in a series of committees and

grand juries. Some of her recollections were imprecise, but she offered facts

to allow the F.B.I. to puzzle together a fairly complete picture of networks. (Here

she is testifying before HUAC There was one of the great faceoffs

between the accused of Soviet espionage and the accuser.[vii]

William Remington presented as an all-American boy with movie star looks. This

upper-middle-class Ivy League graduate had access to War Department secrets,

which he passed to Bentley.[viii]

He perjured himself in testimony and was sent to prison, where he was murdered.  Here is Remington responding to Bentley’s

claims

 Bentley also revealed elements of

the Rosenberg ring. The Rosenbergs were executed. Harry Dexter White succumbed

to a heart attack during the hearings and died. So, four persons in her

communist circle died. In another lesson, we will discuss high-profile Soviet

agents who passed information to her.They were important spies and testified

before HUAC. But they lacked the melodrama of the Elizabeth Bentley show.

Were

her claims about Soviet espionage correct? By and large, yes, they were. The

Venona decryption program, which uncovered communications between Soviet

intelligence agents in the U.S. and USSR, would later vindicate her claims and

confirm that nearly everything she had testified to was true.

Life After Espionage (slide

Life After Espionage)

Elizabeth

Bentley had a moment of fame that she enjoyed. She was the center of national

attention, and people sought her out for interviews. She often relished this

moment because they gave her the attention she needed. But her fame faded

quickly, and her speaking engagements dried up. In 1951, Bentley published an

autobiography, Out of Bondage, (picture, though to whom or what she was

ever bondaged remains unclear. Later, she became a Catholic

schoolteacher with the help of friends in the anti-Communist community to

support herself. Throughout the rest of her life, she would fade into obscurity

and continue her descent into alcoholism, from which she died in 1963.

 Bentley’s revelations energized the F.B.I. to

target the Soviets. During the war, the F.B.I. focused on German and Japanese had

relegated Soviet spying to the back burner and had devoted most of its

attention to the more pressing business of German and Japanese espionage. Bentley's

pilled secrets eviscerated the Soviet espionage apparatus, and Moscow never

recovered. The Silvermaster and Perlo groups were destroyed, and other skilled,

experienced, and well-placed agents took cover. Soviet officers who ran the

agents took diplomatic cover, and many returned to the Soviet Union. Finally, Bentley's

information forced the hand of the Truman administration (22, Truman) to

take the Soviet penetration of government agencies seriously. By any measure, Bentley

was one of the three or four most important defectors from the Soviet Union.

Her testimony before HUAC rattled the nation and would be a dramatic prelude to

further investigations of Soviet influence. Yet, as historian Kathryn notes,

eleven prominent college textbooks on American history discuss Whittaker

Chambers but do not mention Bentley. Scholars of the Cold War debate why

history has largely abandoned the case of Elizabeth Bentley.

Popular Culture (slide and narration)

So, how did Elizabeth Bentley fit into popular culture? She became a

target of the dominant media when her defection from communism was made public.

Snickering and sarcasm began immediately, and her physical appearance became a

target. She was bestowed with the derogatory or sarcastic monikers we discussed

earlier. Perhaps the historian Earl Latham expressed the familiar image as "imaginings

of a neurotic spinster." (picture 24, Bentley_three_shots) But,

generally, Ms. Bentley was ignored. For fifty years, there were no published

scholarly or even journalistic biographies of her life. To my knowledge, there

were no doctoral dissertations about her.

By the time she died, she was largely forgotten, a relic of a more

innocent age when revelations of American communists were shocking. By the late

1950s, the shock had long worn out. Also, many Americans were still sympathetic

to those who were accused of being communists. () This was certainly the case with Hollywood

entertainers, discussed in detail in other lessons. Some professors conceded

that Elizabeth Bentley was honest and accurate, but not many rushed to

exonerate her image. She was simply forgotten.

 But her search for the credibility

that eluded her in life was granted to her decades after she succumbed to the

effects of her drinking and loneliness. Only in her grave did she receive

complete vindication and validation for her claims of the vast network of

Soviet agents throughout the U.S. government. The release of the Venona codes

proved her claims were accurate. Perhaps not every claim was without mistake,

but most disclosures were largely accurate, and many were entirely correct.

Books (slide)

She was not forgotten entirely and will not be forgotten because there

are two solid biographies of her. Kathryn Olmsted's Red Spy Queen and

Lauren Kessler's Clever Girl.  Kathryn Olmsted is a professor of history who studies the

cultural and political history of the United States since World War I.[ix]

She is prolific and has published on some of the world's most prestigious

university presses. (picture, 28 picture of Olmsted)

The Cold War historian John Earl Haynes (  credits Olmsted Red Spy Queen is as

a scholarly book with a full academic apparatus and is based on extensive

original archival research. This is high praise from Haynes, who is a world

expert on Ameican communism. You will notice that Haynes’ commentary pops up in

lessons on the early Cold War period.

There are many things Haynes likes about Red Spy Queen. He sees it

as a well-researched and objective account by a historian who concluded that

Bentley was not a fraud or a fabulist on key issues. Yes, she embellished her

biography a bit, but she did not lie about those whom she accused of espionage.  She paints a dark picture of Bentley’s

personality but concludes that Bentley told the truth

about Soviet espionage in high places.[x]

Olmsted scholarly work verifies Bentley’s claims of Soviet espionage in

high places. She also objectively brings to light the unintegrated nature of

Bentley personality. Her impulsive decision making, often-reckless risk taking,

and cloying demands of emotional and attention. Olmsted opines that Bentley differed

from defectors in that she never really had her heart in communism. from the

others, and particularly from Chambers, her fellow defector from communism, is

that she seems never to have held any strong beliefs.

Haynes hailed Red Spy Queen as a welcome indication that some in our academy, given irrefutable

evidence, are not afraid to face the facts about Soviet espionage in America.[xi]

Also, historians CIA liked the book. More specifically, Michael Warner, a

historian writing for the CIA publication Studies in Intelligence,

praise it. He did say that Olmsted could have cast the Bentley case in the

larger context of American efforts against the Soviets.[xii]

Nonetheless, Warner acclaims her efforts by saying, “Thanks to her, we now have

the threads tied together sufficiently to explain why Bentley’s charges were

both substantially correct and almost entirely unsubstantiated by any positive

evidence until the declassification of the VENONA cables in 1995.”[xiii]

Lauren...

Introduction

            Hi, Mark

here and welcome to Intelligence and Society. This lesson is Blacklisting

– Then and Now. We ask the question whether it is ethical to blacklist a

person for his or her political opinions or affiliations. In the 1940s and

1950s Hollywood studios refused to employ people connected with the Communist Party of the United States. Today, Wall Street firms have announced that they will not hire people who support the terrorist group HAMAS. Is it fair to deny employment to somebody because of their political beliefs?  But first, what is a blacklist?

            It is a list of people targeted to be boycotted, generally for political reasons. I am sure that it existed, in some form, since antiquity. The Hollywood blacklist was really a series of lists that offered the names of Americans suspected on being communists or having supported communism. Some 250 Hollywood personalities, fairly or unfairly, had their name on one or several lists and some lost employment opportunities. Retired FBI counterintelligence agents produced one publication that was called Counterattack – Red Channels, which was widely used by studio heads.

            The blacklist began when Hollywood studio leaders met at the Waldoff Astoria hotel in New York in 1947 and agreed to boycott all elements of Soviet communism. In the same year, the House Committee on Un-American Activities held hearing to investigate the Soviet penetration of Hollywood. Ten witnesses refused to cooperate, and pundits dubbed them the Hollywood Ten. Hollywood studios blacklisted them and others because they feared the public would boycott movies connected to communist writers or actors. Also, many Americans simply did not like communism.

            Some historians view the blacklisting period as a dark and intolerant epoch in which Americans practicing their Constitutional rights were unfairly blacklisted, hounded, and imprisoned. In this view, the screenwriters were "liberals in a hurry" just helping America’s Soviet allies. Other credible historians, such as Ronald Radosh, blacklists were vindicated.

            Today, some philanthropists have declared that they will no longer donate to universities because, in their view, students have openly supported Islamic terrorist groups. They also cited administrators as being too passive to militancy. Some law firms rescinded job offers to those who supported HAMAS and its use of violence. Both the Hollywood blacklist and todays unofficial blacklist are controversial. 

So, was it appropriate to refuse to hire communists in twentieth century. Is it appropriate to refuse to hire supporters of terrorists in the twenty-first century? You decide.

itle: The Killing Floor - Mass Murder in San Bernardino

Step into the heart of December 2, 2015, a day marked by unspeakable violence that shook the San Bernardino community to its core. Embark on a journey through the personal stories of loss, bravery, and the unending human spirit. Delve into the complex web of radicalization that led Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik to carry out an act of terror, transforming a festive gathering into a scene of horror. Through the interviews with survivors, paint a vivid picture of courage amidst chaos. Explore the societal impacts of such tragedies, including the psychological toll on witnesses and the broader questions of security and community resilience. 

Don’t miss this poignant and thought provoking episode that seeks to find light in the darkest of times.

Key Talking Points:

• The personal stories of survivors to illustrate the human aspect of the tragedy.

• The societal repercussions of the shooting, including how the event has affected community cohesion and the need for increased security and understanding in society.

• The contrast between the life choices of the Farook brothers, with one becoming a radicalized terrorist and the other a decorated Navy serviceman, understanding the complex factors that shape individual destinies.

• Various explanations for why individuals commit acts of extreme violence, including foreign policy retaliation, workplace harassment, misinterpretations of religious teachings, mental illness, inherent evil or psychopathy and the influence of gun culture.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00:00 Mark Silinsky: Hello and welcome to Intelligence and Society. This is a series of lessons that focus on how cases of espionage and subversion are reflected in American popular culture. Your host is Dr. Mark Silinsky, author and 40-year veteran of the United States Intelligence Community. Intelligence and Society is a product of Kensington Security Consulting, a firm that brings education to national security. The material in these lessons does not express the official position of any agency in the United States government. And now, today's lesson.

00:00:51 Mark Silinsky: The Killing Floor - Mass Murder in San Bernardino, the location in the slaughterhouse where the stock is killed and then butchered. The definition of this killing floor. Out of the Blue - It was the annual working party and nobody thought anybody would get hurt. As in previous years, San Bernardino's health inspectors would discuss plans for the upcoming year, hand out awards to high achievers and enjoy a buffet and potluck luncheon. Some inspectors wanted to avoid attending. Bored, one attendee chuckled to a coworker that the large clock on the wall must be broken because time was moving so slowly. However, the more ambitious and new hires saw the party as an opportunity to shine before colleagues and supervisors. Less visible was a pocket of simmering tension in the venue. One inspector later commented that twenty-eight-year-old Syed Rizwan Farook, an environmental health specialist, seemed fidgety and snarled at a perceived slight by a coworker. Then, according to one partygoer, Farook bolted the building out of the blue. 

00:02:19 Mark Silinsky: He returned with his wife, Tashfeen Malik, before lunch, and both were dressed in black and were carrying weapons. The pair entered the party hall and began shooting Farook’s coworkers. Before the two exited the building, they shot 36 attendees, killing 14. First responders arrived in less than four minutes, and the San Bernardino Police Department’s special weapons and tactics (SWAT). came six minutes later. Police chased, cornered the assailants, and then, after taking fire, riddled them with bullets. References to the Bonnie and Clyde shooting sprang up on the social media immediately. This is the story of what happened - “You can see just how badly it was damaged during the shootout. So authorities want to learn everything they can about these shooters. Soon after the massacre, police raided a home in nearby Redlands that is connected to the married couple. And David Begnaud is near that house with reaction from the suspect's family. David, good morning.”  

00:03:30 Mark Silinsky: Its Place in the World - The story of San Bernardino is tied to the history of the American West. California became part of Mexico and pioneer trailblazers such as Kit Carson and Jedidiah Strong often guided settlers to their new homes. It was incorporated as a city in 1854 with a population of 1200. At the time, San Bernardino was strictly a temperance town that forbade drinking and gambling holding fast to Mormon values. 

00:04:04 Mark Silinsky: As the town grew in the late 19th century, so did its need for hard-bitten men. This brought the Earp Brothers of Tombstone fame to the town. The town began to prosper. With mission-style architecture, towers, domes, and a tile roof, the new train station became the architectural pride of the city. Lake Arrowhead, an easy drive from Los Angeles, attracted the Southern California smart set in the 1930s. The film industry used San Bernardino to test movies. After World War II, band leader Bobby Troup acclaimed the city in his hit song Route 66. Troup remembered, “I came down through the Cajon Pass and saw San Bernardino, this beautiful city with green hills and orange groves, and I thought, ‘Wow, I'm in California now.’” 

00:05:03 Mark Silinsky: In the post-war period, Americans flocked to California and many built new lives in San Bernardino. Richard and Maurice or Mac, McDonald, opened a hamburger stand in 1940 on the Southwest corner of 14th and E streets near San Bernardino High School. It did brisk business and became the world's largest restaurant chain. 

00:05:31 Mark Silinsky: Never prosperous, life in San Bernardino deteriorated in the late 20th century to become California's starkest example of urban blight. High-brow journalist Joan Didion described the county as “a harsher California,” without a bohemian and avant-garde class. By 2013, it ranked as the second poorest city in the nation behind Detroit. And like Detroit, San Bernardino went bust. The city continues to rest near the bottom of the quality of life indexes. Where's the worst place to raise a family or find a high paying job? In California, San Bernardino is often high on the list. According to one poll, the city was the worst city in America for food lovers. 

00:06:23 Mark Silinsky: Health inspectors in San Bernardino - All but one of those who died on 2 December 2015 belong to San Bernardino's small circle of county health inspectors. County residents enjoy safe water, uncontaminated food, safely prepared food, and dining facilities free of vermin and cockroaches, partially because public inspectors are doing their job. 

00:06:50 Mark Silinsky: San Bernardino's health inspectors are drawn from all over America and the world. When health department supervisors sometimes refer to her band of inspectors as a Little United Nations. They come from Colombia, Eritrea, Iran, Mexico, India, and other distant reaches of the globe. The potpourri of ethnicities, religions and political opinions can bring disputes. “No talking politics. No interoffice drama,” were the implicit office rules. Many of these health inspectors worked with Syed Farook, and it is likely that none guessed that he would shoot and kill them. His coworkers valued Farook's soft-spoken, cooperative style. Some in the office kidded him about his beard, but he usually shrugged off any jokes that were made about his facial hair. 

00:07:49 Mark Silinsky: Farook began to search for a wife and turned to a Muslim lonely hearts dating service that reached for singles around the world. He described himself as coming from a “religious but modern family” whose values were Eastern and Western. Six feet tall, he enjoyed, in his words, working on vintage and modern cars and reading about religion. And he liked to just hang out in the backyard doing target practice with his younger sister and friends. 

00:08:24 Mark Silinsky: His biography caught the eye of a Pakistan born and Saudi raised young woman who would become his wife. The mutual attraction was immediate. A smitten Tashfeen Malik replied, and they began an electronic courtship with flurries of emails. They shared a common faith and a set of values that were anchored on the core values of Islam. But few understood the depth of their radicalism and their support for Islamic militancy. In retrospect, the FBI concluded that Farook and Malik separately radicalized on the internet as early as 2011. They were independently drawn to the sermons and other material posted online by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Early in their online liaison, they discussed martyrdom operations, and they shared contempt for the United States of America. 

00:09:27 Mark Silinsky: Malik was born in the small southern Pakistan town, some 275 miles from Islamabad. Malik moved to Saudi Arabia as a child after her father found work as an engineer there. She excelled in school. Her brother recalled, “She was always at the top of her class.” At university in Pakistan, she started dressing more conservatively, wearing a scarf that covered nearly all of her face, and she became more fervent in her Muslim faith, according to those who knew her in Pakistan. Malik was not identified as a threat, despite being interviewed at the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan and vetted by different government agencies. They checked her name, her picture, against a terror watch list and ran her fingerprints against two databases. 

00:10:22 Mark Silinsky: After they were married, they moved into the middle class area of Redlands, which is a cozy, affordable bedroom community in the Inland Empire. The newlyweds lived with Farook's mother. At home, Malik tended to their new baby. When Farook was in the garage, he was tinkering with his car. But at some point, husband and wife began making plans beyond running the household. Relatives knew they kept firearms locked up in the house, but nothing in the newlywed's lifestyle portended the crime that they would commit in December 2015. 

00:11:05 Mark Silinsky: Best Friends - “Jihad is becoming as American as apple pie and as British as afternoon tea." Anwar Al Awlaki. Though Farook was solitary, he had a best friend whom he converted to Islam. Farook and Enrique Marquez shared many interests common to American teenage boys, such as cars, sports, girls. But they also confided in each other the desire to strike out in America, the America they grew to loathe. The lanky and shy Marquez felt emotionally empty and turned to Islam to fear a spiritual void. At 16, he became a Muslim, and he was soon radicalized. He channeled his anger towards the enemies of his newly embraced religion, Islam. With Farook, he watched morbid footage of al Qaeda killings. Both drew inspiration from the sermons of fire-brand Anwar al-Awlaki and the Al Qaeda magazine Inspire.

00:12:12 Mark Silinsky: Marquez checked identification at a local bar and he cleaned up after clothing. He occasionally drank with the patrons. After a few drinks, he slipped into self-pity, lamenting his obesity, lack of career direction, and inability to make friends. Young women showed no interest in him, and the bar's owner described him as goofy. When inebriated, he confided to regulars that he knew Muslim sleeper cells were in town ready to burst out in slaughter sprees. He hinted at an upcoming grandiose attack, but patrons sniffed away his taunts as bravado. One patron said, “We took it as a joke. When you look at this kid and talk to him, nobody would take him seriously about that.” That patron would be proven wrong.

00:13:08 Mark Silinsky: In August 2011, Farook divulged to Marquez his intent to join al Qaeda in Yemen. Sometimes after that, they scouted local places to attack, such as the Riverside City College and the 91 Freeway, using guns and explosives. Marquez purchased two of the assault weapons that were used in the San Bernardino Massacre. They mulled over attacking Riverside Community College main library or cafeteria. They did this because both knew the campus layout. They had taken courses there. They would lob pipe bombs into rooms and randomly spray fire. Alternatively, they would toss explosives from an overpass onto cars traveling on Route 91. After disabling several of the cars, the two would spring from their overpass and point blank blast rounds at stunned motorists. They would then shoot the first responders. Police were priority targets. 

00:14:14 Mark Silinsky: Well, nothing came of these plots, and neighbors were unaware of any of their plans to harm people. Nonetheless, the basic scheme of corralling and slaughtering a large crowd of San Bernardino residents framed the December 2015 attack. This spasm of murder would be a husband and wife operation, and it would happen at the annual Christmas party amid candy canes, eggnog, pictures with Santa Claus, and warm holiday fun. 

00:14:50 Mark Silinsky: Planning – Varmint Rifles and Pipe Bombs. “A small-caliber rifle, usually 5.56mm caliber, used to hunt small game." The definition of a Varmint rifle. Husband and wife prepared their attack well in advance. There is no known record of the precise moment the pair determined to commit mass murder. While Farook was distantly courting Malik, they exchanged texts about martyrdom operations. But as the annual office party approached, husband and wife prepared a detailed scheme that included assault weapons, sidearms, explosives.

00:15:35 Mark Silinsky: They selected a gathering of his coworkers at the Christmas party. Farook knew the layout of the facility. He had trained there before, and he may have undergone active shooter training there the year before. Many of his colleagues did. He knew the agenda for the day's activities and when and where people would be giving presentations. He sketched out the layout ahead of time. Marquez bought them the weapons they needed. The purchase was illegal because he bought them for a third party, which made it a straw purchase. Farook selected rifles that would use the .223 round. Through Marquez, he obtained one for himself and one for his wife. The .223 round can pierce through standard protective vest worn by police officers. He chose variants of the AR-15, a very controversial weapon. Gun control activists refer to these weapons as assault rifles, while others dispute the terms. Whatever they are called, few would question the devastating effects that the .223 or 5.56 millimeter round has on the human body. 

00:16:52 Mark Silinsky: As the holiday party approached, the couple began practicing at local ranges. They also started mapping out the planned route of attack. Farook sketched out the venue's conference room, tables, chairs, and podiums, as well as the entrances and exits. His marginalia included terms like cover fire and suppressor fire. Finally, they dropped off their daughter with Farook's mother. Now they were ready to go to the party and kill.

00:17:27 Mark Silinsky: Where is Syed? - Perched near a sizzler at an IHOP restaurant, the party venue was the Inland Regional Center. It is a large compound of three buildings on Waterman Avenue in an area with some industrial gentrification. On Wednesday, December 2nd, 2015, the county's Division of Environmental Health Services held a training session followed by a holiday party. Attendees placed their potluck offerings on a red tablecloth, a large Christmas tree adorned with decorations, stood in a corner, and holiday ornaments hung from the walls and the ceiling. 

00:18:12 Mark Silinsky: But not all the inspectors wanted to attend the party. Some assumed that it would be a repeat of the often tedious training sessions, forced conversations, and tiresome luncheons. Others were skeptical of a working party period and did not want to listen to lectures. Inspector Michelle Saltis considered calling in sick that day. Middle-aged Shannon Johnson confided to Denise Peraza that the large clock on the wall might be broken because time was moving so slowly. 

00:18:47 Mark Silinsky: At about 8.48, Farook arrived and sat near Saltis who recalled, “The whole time, he was kinda quiet . . . he was looking at his cell phone. . . And then the next thing I knew, I saw him standing up and walked away.” Patrick Baccari approached Farook, whom he considered to be a friend, and snickered, “Ready to be bored?” This was a standing joke about the training part of the annual working party. “I’m ready,” Farook responded. Farook was particularly taciturn that day, speaking only when colleagues greeted him. Colleagues noticed Farook glancing at his phone before he departed, but nobody was concerned. He placed a bag on a chair and left abruptly at 10.37. Later in the afternoon, police would find a bomb in the bag. 

00:19:42 Mark Silinsky: Farook returned to the training center, driving a rental black, Ford Expedition with Utah plates. He was accompanied by his wife, both of whom were carrying weapons. They stopped and approached the 60-year-old and father of three, Issac Amanios, who was sitting and enjoying the break. One or both fired, hitting him in the chest and in the shoulder. The chest bullet tumbled through his muscles and a lung, killing him. He had no idea what happened. Amanios was the first to die that day. His corpse lay slumped over as though he were sleeping, taking a nap. 

00:20:24 Mark Silinsky: Inside the center, several people noticed soft staccato-popping sounds outside. Fireworks? A car backfire? One person thought somebody had fallen from the roof, but a few recognized the distinct crackly sound as gunfire. Suddenly, a door swung open and a masked figure wielding an automatic rifle and clad in all black entered. It was Farook who turned to face coworkers who were standing next to a buffet table, filling...

In 2006, the government of Iran hosted an international cartoon contest to mock the Holocaust. When the contest was first announced, Western observers thought that it was a sick joke. It was not a joke. This documentary discusses what happened and how it happened. It provides examples of the cartoons and the men and women who made them. It also speculates on why Iran would host such a contest.