'Sleeper cells' of al Qaeda active in U.S. despite war

Washington Times ^ | 2/11/04 | Jerry Seper

[kattracks]

Al Qaeda terrorists, operating through "sleeper cells" scattered throughout the United States, continue to recruit new members, assist in the acquisition of safe houses and equipment, conduct pre-attack surveillance and relay messages from terrorist leaders and planners, U.S. law-enforcement authorities said yesterday.

[Texas_Jarhead]

good thing we're not racially profiling anyone...

[MamaLucci]

It's a good thing the terrorist threat has been exaggerated....
the DNC told me so.

[kattracks]

Not to worry. If Kerry is elected he will send them all a summons.

[Paleo Conservative]

It's a good thing the terrorist threat has been exaggerated....
the DNC told me so.

What's really dumb about the DemocRATS' positions on terrorism is that the most likely furture targets for terrorism are mostly located in blue areas.

[EGPWS]

Despite having been degraded by America's ongoing war on terrorism and an aggressive enforcement effort by the FBI, the organization also continues to raise millions of dollars through a vast network of U.S.-based bogus charities and foundations.

Chose your charities worthy of your support wisely!

[MamaLucci]

Are you saying democrats are dumb?
I can go along with that. :)

[EGPWS]

Not to worry. If Kerry is elected he will send them all a summons.

For what, to join the Democratic party?

[Michael Barnes]

good thing we're not racially profiling anyone...

I do, daily.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

The news just keeps coming!

[MissAmericanPie]

How credible is this article? I keep seeing this claim pop up now and then on different threads.

[Judith Anne]

I posted on another thread a link to an article about author Steve Emerson, who wrote: American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us. The book, as I recall, had a map of the US, showing the location by city of hundreds of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Al Qaeda cells. Emerson has testified before Congress at their invitation, his information is credible and reliable. I was horrified to see that there is a Hamas cell in Columbia, Mo, my state, and another cell, iirc Hezbollah, in KC. Scarcely any state had none of the groups...I'm going to go look up that article and repost the link.

[Judith Anne]

Here's part of the article, from 2002:

Director of The Investigative Project, an operation he launched to collect data on domestic Muslim organizations, Emerson has been labeled a “leading expert on militant Islamic terrorism.”

In 1994, his investigation into Islamic militants, “Jihad in America,” aired on PBS. While it won a prestigious journalism prize, Muslim organizations attacked both the program and its maker as racist and inflammatory.

Later, death threats and advice from federal authorities persuaded Emerson to take extraordinary safety precautions. His public appearances, such as his testimony before a congressional committee in 1998, are often conducted under police protection.

Yet Emerson has continued to keep tabs on militants who support or promote the concept of “jihad” -- in this case fundamentalist Islam’s virulent hostility toward Western nations, particularly the United States and Israel.

His book is primarily a straightforward history of nine “terrorist support networks” based in America: Muslim Arab Youth Association, the American Islamic Group, Islamic Cultural Workshop, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the American Muslim Council, Islamic Circle of North America, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, the American Muslim Alliance and the Islamic Society of North America.

Emerson boils the story behind these groups down to this “simple formula”: They use “the laws, freedoms and loopholes of the most liberal nation on earth to help finance and direct one of the most violent international terrorism groups in the world.”

Much of his information appears to be gathered through official sources, including the trials of several Muslim terrorists and FBI reports, but what he has uncovered about the groups’ role in terrorism seems largely speculative.

While threatening in their rhetoric and even their backing of weekend terrorist training camps, these groups appeared to be operating legally. And, despite Emerson’s reputation, he connected none of them to any direct role in Osama bin Laden’s Sept. 11 attacks.

His conclusion comes in only general terms: “Operating in the freewheeling and tolerant environment of the United States, bin Laden was able to set up a whole array of ‘cells’ in a loosely organized network that included Tucson, Arizona; Brooklyn, New York; Orlando, Florida, Dallas, Texas; Santa Clara, California; Columbia, Missouri; and Herndon, Virginia.”

There are several eye-openers, though, particularly the support of the University of Southern Florida for a quartet of Islamic Jihad members; open recruiting of bin Laden supporters; and the long-running recruitment and fund-raising efforts of the anti-Israel terrorist group Hamas from its American base.

Here's where you can find the article:

http://www.post-gazette.com/books/reviews/20020303review943.asp

I've seen his terror cell map posted here on FR some time ago, but I have no idea where to find it today...I did a search earlier, but had no luck, because I don't know the title of the thread...

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Check the :JIHAD IN AMERICA list.

[Judith Anne]

Okay, I'll do it tomorrow.

Thank you.

[MissAmericanPie]

Well, of course we are on our own as far as protection from such an event. The prepared mind, and all that.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Might be quicker to send a note to JohnathanRGalt, he is very active in this area, has a website I believe.

[Judith Anne]

I'll get right on that.

[Judith Anne]

KylaStarr sent me a link that has the terror map with Hamas, Hezbollah, and Al Qaeda cell locations on it--just click and scroll down past the header a little.

I wish there were a way to post the map as a separate thread, or even here on this thread, since now I have it marked...

http://www.doglegs.net/cclovett/mapof.htm

[Judith Anne]

KylaStarr sent me a link that has the terror map with Hamas, Hezbollah, and Al Qaeda cell locations on it--just click and scroll down past the header a little.

I wish there were a way to post the map as a separate thread, or even here on this thread, since now I have it marked...