Free Republic

Watching the ball drop, twirling a noisemaker, kissing your sweetheart, and making a resolution that rarely comes to pass -- everyone looks forward to the memory of a new year. But one group will be ringing in the New Year a little differently…through a children’s jihad retreat, with a guest speaker who exalts terrorists and another who is linked to al-Qaeda. The majority of Islamic organizations within the United States have, at one time or another, been cited for their connections to terrorism, whether by support of terror groups or through actual terrorist activity carried out by its members. Two...

In the fall of 2002 Iraq crossed an unacceptable threshold, supplying operational weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to bin Laden's terrorists. These developments were confirmed to the Western intelligence services after several terrorists -- graduates of WMD training programs -- were captured in Israel, Chechnya, Turkey, and France, along with documents related to their activities. On the basis of pure threat analysis, the United States should have gone to war against Iraq, as well as its partners Syria and Iran, in fall 2002. By then there was already unambiguous evidence indicating the urgency of defusing the imminent danger posed by...

On Wednesday, January 18, I received an e-mail from someone identifying himself as “Ahmed.” He wrote to me that he was a “Muslim activist” and that he wanted me to come on his radio show to discuss my work, or, in his words, “to give [my] side of the story.” In doing a simple web search on his e-mail address, it turned out that this individual was none other than the Director of Communications for the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Ahmed Rehab. While I didn’t know his motives in contacting me, I had recalled when...

WASHINGTON U-S Customs authorities denied entry to a man who apparently later became a suicide bomber. An internal Homeland Security memo says Customs agents in Chicago blocked a Jordanian man from entering the country in June of 2003. The memo says an interview raised questions about whether his true intent for entering the country matched the notes on his visa. The man (Ra'ed Mansour al-Banna) was later accused of carrying out one of Iraq's deadliest suicide bombings this past February. His family and the Jordanian government confirm he carried out a suicide bombing in Iraq -- but they say it...

During Israel’s dramatic eviction of its settlers, it went almost unnoticed that on Aug. 15, armed men in Gaza kidnapped a soundman who worked for a French state television station. I’ll bet you’ve already assumed the kidnappers were Arab Muslims. Shame on you. And yes you’re right, they were. The week before, three foreign workers were kidnapped by members of Fatah, founded by the late Yasser Arafat. “Fatah” means “conquest by means of holy war.” No matter what our political views, we all agree on two things: 1) Israel and the West on the whole follow the norms of civilization;...

During Israel’s dramatic eviction of its settlers, it went almost unnoticed that on Aug. 15, armed men in Gaza kidnapped a soundman who worked for a French state television station. I’ll bet you’ve already assumed the kidnappers were Arab Muslims. Shame on you. And yes you’re right, they were. The week before, three foreign workers were kidnapped by members of Fatah, founded by the late Yasser Arafat. “Fatah” means “conquest by means of holy war.” No matter what our political views, we all agree on two things: 1) Israel and the West on the whole follow the norms of civilization;...

During Israel’s dramatic eviction of its settlers, it went almost unnoticed that on Aug. 15, armed men in Gaza kidnapped a soundman who worked for a French state television station. I’ll bet you’ve already assumed the kidnappers were Arab Muslims. Shame on you. And yes you’re right, they were. The week before, three foreign workers were kidnapped by members of Fatah, founded by the late Yasser Arafat. “Fatah” means “conquest by means of holy war.” No matter what our political views, we all agree on two things: 1) Israel and the West on the whole follow the norms of civilization;...

We are being hit one blow after another and not only don’t we know how to defend ourselves we even don't know what is hitting us. The worst terrorist attack in Iraq took place in Feb. 28 by a man who loved America. Yes you read it right! Ra’ed Mansour al-Banna was born in Jordan in 1973 to a wealthy merchant family. He was a lawyer in his country. In 2001, sometime before 9/11, al-Banna moved to the United States, where he lived in California for nearly two years, moving from one unskilled job to another – factory worker, bus...

SANA’A - Yemeni authorities have refused to extradite the American Yemeni-born Jaber Al-Banna, 39, to the United States on charges of being the leader of the Lackawanna Six. The US demanded the handover of Al-Banna after Yemeni security authorities captured him several weeks ago. He is now being interrogated to give more information about his link to Al-Qaeda and his leadership of the Lackawanna Six. Deputy Foreign Minister Muhyi Al-Din Al-Dhobbi said that the extradition of Al-Banna is impossible now. The deputy minister denied news that Foreign Minister Abu Bakr Al-Qirbi proposed a prisoner swap during his visit to Washington...

<p>LACKAWANNA, N.Y. -- Even now, after the arrests and the anger and the world media spotlight, the mystery for neighbors in this old steel town remains this: Why would six of their young men so readily agree to plead guilty to terror charges, accepting long prison terms far from home?</p>