Posted on 08/07/2006 3:43:15 PM PDT by DAVEY CROCKETT
Laura Mansfield published a new entry entitled "Terror from the North: 1997 would be subway plotter claimed asylum because Israel considered him a terrorist" on 8/24/2006 4:22:00 AM, written by Laura Mansfield.
Terror from the North: 1997 would be subway plotter claimed asylum because Israel considered him a terrorist
Wednesday night, CNN’s Anderson Cooper presented a very important segment about the vulnerability of the northern US border with Canada. One of the men interviewed was a sheriff of a northern border town, where the border crossing is on the “honor system”. The sheriff told CNN that he was certain that terrorists have come across the northern border.
The sheriff of that small town was correct. Terrorists HAVE crossed the border from Canada into the US. That’s a matter of court records.
Some, like convicted Millenium bomber Ahmed Ressam, were detected at the border; others like Ghazi Abu Mezer were more successful at penetrating the United States – Abu Mezer came into the US illegally from Canada not once but three times.
The case of Abu Mezer is particularly difficult to understand.
In June 1996, Abu Mezer was caught trying to sneak into the United States from Canada; the US simply turned him around and sent him back to Canada. But Abu Mezer was determined to get into the United States. In January 1997, he was arrested again after entering the US for the third time illegally. The US tried to send him back to Canada, but the Canadians had had enough. They refused to allow him to return to Canada.
According to an article on CNN Internactive, Abu Mezer was arrested, and bond was set at $15,000, and then reduced to $5,000. He filed for political asylum in the United States. He claimed that if he was sent back to Israel he would be persecuted because the Israeli government believed he was a terrorist, a member of Hamas.
The CNN article says a hearing for Abu Mezer’s asylum application was scheduled for June 23, but that he withdrew his application on June 12. He agreed to leave the US by August 23, 1997.
Instead of leaving the US, Abu Mezer moved to Brooklyn. Less than a month before he was supposed to leave the US on the “honor system”, Abu Mezer was arrested in connection with a plot to attack New York City.
On July 31, 1997, Abu Mezer and accused co-conspirator Lafi Khalil were found with a cache of explosives in their New York apartment, and what officials described as a suicide note.
Both men were indicted on August 28, 1997 on “charges of conspiracy to kill a U.S. citizen, knowingly and intentionally use and carry a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence; knowingly and intentionally possess counterfeit alien registration receipt card.”
Abu Mezer was sentenced to life in prison and 10 years of supervised release, and Khalil was sentenced to 36 months of imprisonment and 3 years of supervised release.
Terrorism didn’t take a vacation in New York City between the arrest of Omar Abdul Rahman, and the September 11, 2001 attacks. Radical Islamist terror had the subways of New York City in its sights in 1997.
We spend a lot of time worrying about our unsecured southern borders; but as Anderson Cooper reminded us tonight, terrorists can and have slipped through our northern borders as well.
Ghazi Abu Mezer and his plot to bomb the New York City subway system is proof of that.
Permalink: BLOG.LAURAMANSFIELD.COM/2006/08/23/terror-from-the-north--1997-would-be-subway-plotter-claimed-asylum-because-israel-considered-him-a-terrorist.aspx
Yes, we are playing with 2 sets of rules and we have a marked deck for our side.
I find the judge to be all that I do not care for.
Hope she is removed from the bench soon.
If the country is lucky enough to have another 8 years of a good republican President, we might get some cleanup of the courts, if not, the dems will work hard to stack the courts with their kind.
Maybe the repub. need to learn how to fight dirty.
Update and a little more info on the Dutch airplane:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/08/23/schiphol/
OBL where is he? clips of tapes and locations he could be:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/08/23/bergen.binladen/index.html
I do hope that you will keep posting your link or page here for us to keep up to date with.
Glad to see you are back at work.
Oh, most definitely I'll keep posting! (o: I'll also try to sort out the terrorism specific links and cross-post them here to FR as soon as I can print out an FR posting/copyright list so I don't break any rules, those pesky Gannett sites are all over my lists. LOL
Google Alert - shooting of people on street
5 are injured in pileup
Orlando Sentinel - Orlando,FL,USA
... 31-year-old Daytona Beach man suspected of shooting two people ...
resulted in a crash sending five people to the ... when police saw him
across the street from their ...
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/volusia/orl-vcrash2306aug23,0,6636614.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-volusia
See all stories on this topic:
http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/volusia/orl-vcrash2306aug23,0,6636614.story%3Fcoll%3Dorl-news-headlines-volusia
Morning shooting sends one to hospital
Quad-Cities Online - Rock Island,IL,USA
... "The investigation is developing slowly," said Chief Wright.
"People
are not going to stand on a street corner talking to a uniformed
officer.
...
http://qconline.com/archives/qco/sections.cgi?prcss=display&id=302571
Downtown shootings not connected, say police
CBC.ca - Alberta, Canada
... in the 1200 block of 68th Street North East ... was not related to
a downtown shooting on Monday ... Several people have been questioned
in the ongoing investigation ...
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2006/08/23/calgary-shootings.html
Arrest Made In Drive-By Shooting
KLTV - Tyler,TX,USA
Witnesses told police Bailey got into a verbal dispute Wednesday night
with six other people outside a home on Aberdeen Street in Tyler. ...
http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5318456
Man fatally shot in South Richmond
Richmond Times Dispatch - Richmond,VA,USA
... People familiar with the victim said he lived in the ... Avenue and
a block north of Hull Street, in a ... white Toyota Camry seen leaving
the area after the shooting. ...
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149190133938&path=!news&s=1045855934842
Child Struck by Gunfire in Drive By Shooting in San Francisco
KCBS - CA,USA
... said the shooting happened along Moscow Street from Geneva ...
distressed,
were talking with police about the shooting. ... at the basketball
courts
when people in two ...
http://kcbs.com/content_page.php?contentType=4&contentId=193258
Police seek suspects in fatal daytime shooting on Binghamton ...
WSTM-TV - Syracuse,NY,USA
... a man opened fire on a busy city street about 4 ... After shooting
Smith, the man jumped into a dark-colored ... People who heard the
shots
rushed to help the injured ...
http://www.wstm.com/Global/story.asp?S=5316345&nav=2aKD
Authorities fear retaliation in wake of drive-by shooting
Quad-Cities Online - Rock Island,IL,USA
... net those responsible for the death of Vincelina Howard before
people
seek street justice ... was not the intended target of a drive-by
shooting
late Saturday ...
http://qconline.com/archives/qco/sections.cgi?prcss=display&id=302523
See all stories on this topic:
http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://qconline.com/archives/qco/sections.cgi%3Fprcss%3Ddisplay%26id%3D302523
Man slain, 12-year-old injured in shooting
Charlotte Observer - Charlotte,NC,USA
Sgt. Lee Ann Oehler said detectives believe two people were fighting in
the street when gunfire erupted and the child was shot. ...
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/15337672.htm
2 wounded in Southwest Side shooting
Chicago Daily Southtown - Chicago,IL,USA
Two people were wounded, one critically, in a shooting near 90th Street
and Ashland Avenue early Wednesday. The two victims were ...
http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/dsindex/23-dsam1.htm
Sounds good to me.
I am not sure I know what is terror related any longer, so much of it is or appears to be.
And what is terror?
What ever scares or harms us, LOL, does not need a quran.
This is a WorldNetDaily printer-friendly version of the article which follows.
To view this item online, visit http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51542
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
A Minority View Walter Williams Academic elites: Anti-anti-communists
Posted: August 16, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Walter Williams
© 2006
Grove City College publishes an excellent newsletter titled "Visions and Values." Its July 2006 edition features an interview with Richard Pipes, acclaimed Russian historian and Harvard University professor of Sovietology. The interview was conducted by Grove City College professor of political science Paul Kengor, Ph.D.
Dr. Pipes, who served on the National Security Council during the Reagan administration, explained that there are actually only a few communists among academics. At first glance, that's a puzzling observation, given the leftist bias at most college campuses. Pipes and Kengor explain the puzzle in a way that makes perfect sense.
While academic leftists, and I'd include their media allies, are not communists, they are anti-anti-communists. In other words, they have contempt for right-wingers, conservatives or libertarians who are anti-communists. Why? Academic leftists, and their media allies, are in agreement with many of the stated goals of communism, such as equal distribution of wealth, income equality and other goals spelled out in Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels' "Manifesto of the Communist Party." Leftist elites love the ideas of communism so much that they are either blind to, or tolerant of, its many shortcomings.
In practice, communism is nothing less than sheer barbarism that makes even the horrors of Nazism pale in comparison. Professor Rudolph J. Rummel of the University of Hawaii outlines that barbarism in his book "Death by Government," a comprehensive detailing of the roughly 170 million people murdered by their own governments during the 20th century. From 1917 to its collapse in 1991, the Soviet Union murdered about 62 million of its own people. During Mao Tse-tung's reign, 35,236,000, possibly more, Chinese citizens were murdered. By comparison, Hitler's Nazis managed to murder 21 million of its citizens and citizens in nations they conquered. Adding these numbers to the 60 million lives lost in war makes the 20th century mankind's most brutal era.
At home and abroad, leftists have done a thorough and commendable job documenting and condemning the horrors and crimes of Hitler and his fascist Nazi regime, but when have you heard them direct similar condemnation of Joseph Stalin, his successors and Mao Tse-tung? By and large, they've chosen to overlook the horrors of communism.
The reason for their reluctance to condemn the barbarism of communism is simple. Dr. Pipes says, "Intellectuals, by the very nature of their professions, grant enormous attention to words and ideas. And they are attracted by socialist ideas. They find that the ideas of communism are praiseworthy and attractive; that, to them, is more important than the practice of communism. Now Nazi ideals, on the other hand, were pure barbarism; nothing could be said in favor of them."
Often, when people evaluate capitalism, they evaluate a system that exists on Earth. When they evaluate communism, they are talking about a non-existent Utopia. What exists on Earth, with all of its problems and shortcomings, is always going to fail miserably when compared to a Utopia. The very attempt to achieve the utopian goals of communism requires the ruthless suppression of the individual and an attack on any institution that might compromise the loyalty of the individual to the state. That's why one of the first orders of business for communism, and those who support its ideas, is the attack on religion and the family.
Rank nations according to whether they are closer to the capitalism end or the communism end of the economic spectrum. Then rank nations according to human rights protections. Finally, rank nations according to per capita income. Without question, citizens of those nations closer to capitalism enjoy a higher standard of living and a far greater measure of liberty than those in nations closer to communism.
Related special offer:
"Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth"
Walter E. Williams, Ph.D., is the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.
This is a WorldNetDaily printer-friendly version of the article which follows.
To view this item online, visit http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51654
Thursday, August 24, 2006
FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Syria's new 'Hezbollah' group training for attacks
Baath party official: Lebanon war proves 'resistance' against Israel works
Posted: August 24, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Aaron Klein
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
Syrian President Bashar Assad
JERUSALEM – Following what it views as a Hezbollah victory against the Jewish state, Syria is forming its own Hezbollah-like guerrilla organization to fight Israel in hopes of "liberating" the Golan Heights, according to a report aired yesterday on state-run Iranian television.
Last week, WorldNetDaily broke the story Syria is in the process of forming what an official from Syrian President Bashar Assad's Baath Party called the Front for the Liberation of the Golan Heights, a new "resistance" group that models itself after Hezbollah.
The official told WND the Front will attempt attacks to force Israel from the Golan Heights, strategic mountainous territory captured by the Jewish state after Syria used the terrain to attack Israel in 1967 and again in 1973. The Heights borders Israel, Syria and Lebanon and is claimed by Damascus.
Al-Alam Iranian television yesterday featured an interview with a man who identified himself as the leader of the new Front for the Liberation of the Golan Heights. The man, whose features were blocked out, said his new group consists of "hundreds" of fighters who are currently training for guerilla-like raids against Israeli positions in and near the Golan. He claimed the Front has opened several training camps inside Syria.
Last week, the Baath party official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told WND Syria learned from Hezbollah's military campaign against Israel the past month that "fighting" is more effective than peace negotiations with regard to gaining territory. He said Syria's new guerilla force would be trained by Hezbollah leaders.
"Syria is very serious about establishing this new guerilla force," the official said.
Hezbollah, which was embroiled in a month-long military confrontation with Israel, claims its goal is to liberate the Shebaa Farms, a small, 200-square-kilometer bloc situated between Syria, Lebanon and Israel. The Farms is the last post held by Israel after its withdrawal in 2000 from positions it took along the Lebanese border.
Most Western analysts agree Hezbollah uses the pretext of the Shebaa Farms to maintain its weapons to start conflicts with the Jewish state. Hezbollah is sponsored by Syria and Iran.
The cease-fire resolution accepted by Israel last week calls for negotiations leading to Israel's relinquishing of the Shebaa Farms. The resolution sought to end fighting that broke out after Hezbollah ambushed an Israeli military patrol unit July 12, kidnapping two soldiers and killing eight others.
The Baath party official told WND the Front for the Liberation of the Golan Heights was formed last month. The official said the group currently consists of Syrian volunteers, many from the Syrian border with Turkey and from Palestinian refugee camps near Damascus. He said Syria held registration for volunteers to join the Front in June.
The official's statements to WND came one day after Assad declared in a television address Hezbollah's path of "resistance" achieved results during the last four weeks of fighting against Israel.
"The region has changed because of the achievements of the resistance [Hezbollah]," said Assad, speaking to a journalists association.
Assad said members of Hezbollah used their "will, determination and faith" to counter Israeli arms, enabling the Lebanese militia to defeat Israel.
"We tell them (Israelis) that after tasting humiliation in the latest battles, your weapons are not going to protect you – not your planes, or missiles or even your nuclear bombs. ... The future generations in the Arab world will find a way to defeat Israel," Assad said.
"The resistance is necessary as much as it is natural and legitimate," said the Syrian president, claiming the war in Lebanon revealed the limitations of Israel's military power.
"The result was more failure for Israel, its allies and masters," said Assad.
Related offers:
"Everlasting Hatred: The Roots of Jihad"
"The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades)"
Definitive work on Mideast – available only here!
"Israel in Crisis"
LOL I know what you mean... my "War and Terrorism Around the World" Section grows daily. I'm honestly amazed at the amount of conflict happening around the world, it honestly is a world war already, but it's cleverly disguised due to it being "guerrilla" warfare and not traditional on the part of our enemies. Plus, it seems that almost ALL of the groups causing these attacks and such all have the same motive, and the same goal - whether they call themselves Islamic Jihadists or Communists - it's all about oppression and power in the end... I pray it doesn't take too much longer for the left to wake up.
This is a WorldNetDaily printer-friendly version of the article which follows.
To view this item online, visit http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51650
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
INVASION USA
U.S. announces end
of 'catch and release'
Chertoff says new 'detain' policy means
all non-Mexicans will be returned home
Posted: August 23, 2006
5:00 p.m. Eastern
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
Michael Chertoff
The U.S. "catch-and-release" immigration policy officially has ended, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said today.
Law enforcement authorities are holding nearly all non-Mexican illegal immigrants caught in the U.S. until they can be deported to their home countries, Chertoff declared.
The new "catch and detain" policy, he noted, does not apply to Mexicans, who are to be sent back immediately after being stopped by Border Patrol agents.
"Although we're not ready to declare victory – we've got a lot more work to do – it is encouraging and it is something that ought to inspire us to continue to push forward," Chertoff told reporters.
Chertoff said a crackdown this summer bolstered by National Guard troops has deterred thousands from illegally crossing the Mexican border.
The Border Patrol provided statistics showing a drop of about 20,000 illegals caught crossing the border compared to last year.
Responding to today's announcement, immigration expert David Mulhausen of the Heritage Foundation said, if true, it is an important advancement in detering illegal immigration.
"However, something still needs to be done about the catching and releasing of Mexican illegal immigrants — the majority of all illegal immigrants," he said in an e-mail to National Review editor Kathryn Jean Lopez. "Hiring thousands of new Border Patrol agents will do little to deter illegal immigration without providing sanctions."
Mulhausen said that "because there is little or no cost to being apprehended by the Border Patrol, the research on illegal immigration suggests that illegal immigrants will make as many trips as necessary to cross the border successfully."
Last October, Chertoff told a Senate hearing the Department of Homeland security had a goal to "completely eliminate the 'catch and release' enforcement problem, and return every single illegal entrant, no exceptions."
"It should be possible to achieve significant and measurable progress to this end in less than a year," he said at the time.
Chertoff told the Senate in October "a non-Mexican illegal immigrant caught trying to enter the United States across the southwest border has an 80 percent chance of being released immediately because we lack the holding facilities."
But the agency, through a "comprehensive approach, was moving to end this 'catch and release' style of border enforcement by reengineering our detention and removal process," he said.
Nevertheless, Chertoff has been pessimistic toward calls to deport illegals who have been living and working in the country for some time.
In a November 2005 interview, defending President Bush's so-called "guest worker" program for illegal aliens, Chertoff said it's just not practical to deport the millions of foreigners in the country illegally.
"The cost of identifying all of those people and sending them back would be stupendous. It would be billions and billions of dollars," Chertoff told Sean Hannity on the Fox News Channel program "Hannity & Colmes."
"One of the reasons I think that we've been focusing on the idea of a temporary worker program as part of a larger strategy for border security is because it would be a way to siphon off people who really want to do nothing more than work here, put them into a regulated program – we would know who they are – we would then be able to send them back at the end of a period of three years or six years. They would have made some money, they could take it back home, and then we could focus our other resources on the people that don't want to do it the right way, and we could get those people sent out."
As WorldNetDaily reported today, the White House plans tomorrow to make a show of support for Rep. Mike Pence's proposed immigration compromise, which has been criticized by some conservatives as another form of amnesty.
Washington sources told WND the Bush administration will send Chertoff to the Texas border for a press conference, along with Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas; and Pence, R-Ind.
The White House intends to make a push to get some form of immigration reform passed by the Senate and House so President Bush can sign the legislation before the November elections, the sources tell WND.
Google Alert - Osama bin Laden tape video
Miami Terror Suspect Heard Making Plans On Tape
CBS 4 - Miami,FL,USA
... CBS4's Brian Andrews obtained dozens of discs which contain
surveillance
video made by the ... and the uh, the Sears Tower,” says Narseal
Batiste
on the tape. ...
http://cbs4.com/topstories/local_story_235211846.html
India's atomic plant on high alert as armed men enter
http://www.khaleejtimes.ae/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2006/August/subcontinent_August865.xml§ion=subcontinent&col=
Report: Iran Won't Stop Uranium Enrichment
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,209722,00.html
(British Terror Plot) Eleven terror suspects remanded in custody
(updated)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/08/22/ucourt.xml
London Plot Draws Attention to Potential Female Suicide Bombers
http://jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2370109
Army of darkness - London "Telegraph" on Tablighi Jamaat group, to
which some London airline plotters and London 7/7/05 bombers belonged
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/08/20/ntablig20.xml
(Germany) Hamburg new focus of terrorism probe in case showing Germany
now a target itself
http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=WORLD&ID=564792017918756082
Bin Laden has approval from an Islamic cleric for 10 million American
deaths
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/08/22/amanpour.binladen/index.html
US troops arrest Saudi Al-Qaeda terrorist in Iraq
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1048761
(Russia) 3 Suspects in Moscow Market Bombing Confess
http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/08/22/markebombingconfession.shtml
Disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist has cancer - Abdul Qadeer Khan
http://www.khaleejtimes.ae/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2006/August/subcontinent_August864.xml§ion=subcontinent&col=
Hamas speaker charged in Israel
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5275340.stm
Banks have work cut out fighting terror finance
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060822/bs_nm/financial_terrorism_dc_1
Top petroleum security officer is assassinated in Basra
http://rawstory.com/news/2006/Top_petroleum_security_officer_is_a_08222006.html
U.S. Says Over 100 Terrorists Captured In Iraq - One of those seized
linked to February 22 "Golden Dome" mosque bombing
Two Terrorists Detained In Istanbul
http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=138732
Italy reports seizing US-bound arms shipment from Saudi Arabia
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20060819T200000-0500_111536_OBS_ITALY_REPORTS_SEIZING_US_BOUND_ARMS_SHIPMENT_.asp
Islamic Jihadists or Communists - it's all about oppression and power in the end... I pray it doesn't take too much longer for the left to wake up.<<<<
They will not wake up.
Have you ever listened to the self help tapes they think or so great?
They are self hypotize tapes.
From listening to the left, I would say that they have lulled themselves into thinking that their way is the correct way, that there will really be world peace some day, and they can make it happen, after all the tapes tell you that you can do anything you set your mind to.
Have you noticed, that when you dig into the muslim groups deep enough, they go back to communist training.
Most of the top leaders are KGB trained.
http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=d54bf5a301e73cbba0663d69a33d80c0
Security Experts' 'Suicides' Called Into Question -- European Media
Probe
Dangers of Secret Surveillance Systems
New America Media, Investigation, Jeffrey Klein and Paolo Pontoniere,
Aug
16, 2006
Editor's Note: European journalists and investigators are tracking the
mysterious deaths of two security experts -- one in Italy, the other in
Greece -- who had uncovered extensive spyware in their
telecommunications
firms. So far, despite possible U.S. links to the extralegal,
politicized
spy operations, few U.S. media have picked up the trail. Jeffrey Klein,
a
founding editor of Mother Jones, this summer received a Loeb,
journalism's
top award for business reporting. Paolo Pontoniere is a New America
Media
European commentator.
Just after noon on Friday, July 21, Adamo Bove -- head of security at
Telecom Italia, the country's largest telecommunications firm -- told
his
wife he had some errands to run as he left their Naples apartment.
Hours
later, police found his car parked atop a freeway overpass. Bove's body
lay
on the pavement some 100 feet below.
Bove was a master at detecting hidden phone networks. Recently, at the
direction of Milan prosecutors, he'd used mobile phone records to trace
how
a "Special Removal Unit" composed of CIA and SISMI (the Italian CIA)
agents
abducted Abu Omar, an Egyptian cleric, and flew him to Cairo where he
was
tortured. The Omar kidnapping and the alleged involvement of 26 CIA
agents,
whom prosecutors seek to arrest and extradite, electrified Italian
media.
U.S. media noted the story, then dropped it.
The first Italian press reports after Bove's death said the 42-year-old
had
committed suicide. Bove, according to unnamed sources, was depressed
about
his imminent indictment by Milan prosecutors. But prosecutors
immediately,
and uncharacteristically, set the record straight: Bove was not a
target; in
fact, he was prosecutors' chief source. Bove, prosecutors said, was
helping
them investigate his own bosses, who were orchestrating an illegal
wiretapping bureau and the destruction of incriminating digital
evidence.
One Telecom executive had already been forced out when he was caught
conducting these illicit operations, as well as selling intercepted
information to a business intelligence firm.
About 16 months earlier, in March of 2005, Costas Tsalikidis, a
38-year-old
software engineer for Vodaphone in Greece had just discovered a highly
sophisticated bug embedded in the company's mobile network. The spyware
eavesdropped on the prime minister's and other top officials' cell
phone
calls; it even monitored the car phone of Greece's secret service
chief.
Others bugged included civil rights activists, the head of Greece's
"Stop
the War" coalition, journalists and Arab businessmen based in Athens.
All
the wiretapping began about two months before the Olympics were hosted
by
Greece in August 2004, according to a subsequent investigation by the
Greek
authorities.
Tsalikidis, according to friends and family, was excited about his work
and
was looking forward to marrying his longtime girlfriend. But on March
9,
2005, his elderly mother found him hanging from a white rope tied to
pipes
outside of his apartment bathroom. His limp feet dangled a mere three
inches
above the floor. His death was ruled a suicide; he, like Adamo Bove,
left no
suicide note.
The next day, Vodaphone's top executive in Greece reported to the prime
minister that unknown outsiders had illicitly eavesdropped on top
government
officials. Before making his report, however, the CEO had the spyware
destroyed, even though this destroyed the evidence as well.
Investigations into the alleged suicides of both Adamo Bove and Costas
Tsalikidis raise questions about more than the suspicious circumstances
of
their deaths. They point to politicized, illegal intelligence
structures
that rely upon cooperative business executives. European prosecutors
and
journalists probing these spying networks have revealed that:
-- the Vodaphone eavesdropping was transmitted in real time via four
antennae located near the U.S. embassy in Athens, according to an
11-month
Greek government investigation. Some of these transmissions were sent
to a
phone in Laurel, Md., near America's National Security Agency.
-- according to Ta Nea, a Greek newspaper, Vodaphone's CEO privately
told
the Greek government that the bugging culprits were "U.S. agents."
Because
Greece's prime minister feared domestic protests and a diplomatic war
with
the United States, he ordered the Vodafone CEO to withhold this
conclusion
from his own authorities investigating the case.
-- in both the Italian and Greek cases, the spyware was much more
deeply
embedded and clever than anything either phone company had seen before.
Its
creation required highly experienced engineers and expensive
laboratories
where the software could be subjected to the stresses of a national
telephone system. Greek investigators concluded that the Vodaphone
spyware
was created outside of Greece.
-- once placed, the spyware could have vast reach since most host
companies
are merging their Internet, mobile telephone and fixed-line operations
onto
a single platform.
-- Germany's Federal Intelligence Service, BND, recently snooped on
investigative journalists. According to parliamentary investigations,
the
spying may have been carried out using the United States's secretive
Bad
Aibling base in the Bavarian Alps, which houses the American global
eavesdropping program dubbed Echelon.
Were the two alleged suicides more than an eerie coincidence? A few
media in
Italy -- La Stampa, Dagospia and Feltrinelli, among others -- have
noted the
unsettling parallels. But so far no journalists have been able to
overcome
the investigative hurdles posed by two entirely different criminal
inquiry
systems united only by two prime ministers not eager to provoke the
White
House's wrath. In the United States, where massive eavesdropping
programs
have operated since 9/11, investigators, reporters and members of
Congress
have not explored whether those responsible for these spying operations
may
be using them for partisan purposes or economic gain. As more troubling
revelations come out of Europe, it may become more difficult to ignore
how
easily spying programs can be hijacked for illegitimate purposes. The
brave
soul who pursues this line of inquiry, however, should fear for his or
her
life.
[I think this and the last post, are definately written by a person on the left, but still the germ or two that may be true are interesting.........LOL..granny]
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=b38074214891c3a6a78ca6526afa402f
Untangling the American-Italian War Web
New America Media, Investigation, Jeffrey Klein and Paolo Pontoniere,
Jun
19, 2006
Editor's Note: Italian investigators probing the kidnapping of an
Egyptian
imam off the streets of Milan have uncovered links between Italian
defense
firms, former top-level politicians and covert U.S. operations. At the
web's
center is the man who many say delivered the falsified Niger
"yellowcake"
uranium ore dossier to the White House -- a document the Bush
administration
used to push for war on Iraq. Jeffrey Klein, a founding editor of
Mother
Jones, freelances for magazines, radio and television. Paolo Pontoniere
is a
New America Media European commentator.
Italian investigators are continuing to probe Italy's role in America's
anti-terrorist war, particularly the rendition and torture of
U.S.-wanted
terrorist suspects. Reacting to the public and media outcry, the
Italian
parliament is also tracing links between Italian defense firms and the
country's recently defeated government, in an attempt to understand how
these connections may have pushed Italy into an unpopular war.
At the center of this investigation is Giovanni Castellaneta, currently
Italy's ambassador to the United States and the man widely believed to
have
delivered the falsified Niger "yellowcake uranium dossier" to the White
House, helping the Bush administration justify war on Iraq.
"Castellaneta is at the crossroads of many of Italy's activities in
relation
to the more general American-led war on international terrorism," says
Francesco Martone, Italian senator from Sardinia for Sinistra Europea
and a
member of the Foreign Affairs Commission in a telephone interview from
his
office Rome. Martone is a leading promoter of a full scope
parliamentary
investigation.
The hypothesis that the Italian agencies played a more central role in
covert U.S. operations and in the expansion of American military
activities
abroad is supported by recent revelations by La Repubblica, ANSA and
L'Espresso -- some of Italy's leading media. Here too, Castellaneta is
the
nexus for this collaboration.
For instance, Italian media have revealed that operatives close to
SISMI,
Italy's intelligence agency, have been involved in America's
"extraordinary
rendition" program. Italian agents actively participated in the Feb.
17,
2003, daylight kidnapping on a Milan street of Hussan Mustafa Omar
Nasr, or
Abu Omar, an Egyptian imam. Various authorities have alleged that Omar
was a
point-man for Al Qaeda in Italy, but no legal charges had been lodged
against him at the time of his abduction. In fact, in 2001 Omar had
obtained
political asylum in Italy by proving he'd be tortured if repatriated to
Egypt.
Nonetheless, with the cooperation of the Italian government, Omar was
"rendered" to Egypt -- snatched, drugged, beaten, humiliated and
transmitted
to Cairo via a plane leased by the CIA from the Boston Red Sox's owner,
according to reports in the Italian media and follow-up investigations
by
Italy's judiciary. Photos of the jet on the Cairo airport tarmac show
the
Red Sox team decal temporarily removed.
Omar was immediately incarcerated in an Egyptian prison where,
according to
Dick Marty, a Swiss congressman who recently produced a report on
behalf of
the Council of Europe, Omar was beaten and electrical shocks were
administered to his genitals. The cell phone records of CIA agent
Robert
Lady, who managed the snatch in Milan, place Lady in Cairo during the
initial interrogations. "It may safely be inferred," Marty's report
concludes, "that (Lady) contributed, in one way or another, to the
interrogation."
Although Italy's SISMI partnered with the CIA in the kidnapping,
neither
agency informed the carabinieri, the Italian anti-terrorism police.
These
carabinieri, purposefully mislead by a "tip" from the CIA, thought for
more
than a year that Omar had fled on his own to the Balkans. Omar
resurfaced
via telephone from Cairo in April of 2004, when he was briefly
consigned to
house detention because the Egyptians decided he wasn't a threat. Once
Omar
alerted his wife in Italy of his fate, however, he was rearrested and
placed
in solitary confinement.
In late 2005, the Italian judiciary issued European-wide arrest
warrants for
22 CIA operatives whom prosecutors accuse of kidnapping Abu Omar.
Italian authorities have vehemently denied any foreknowledge of, let
alone
participation in, the Omar kidnapping. Nonetheless, in May of this
year, a
member of Italy's paramilitary police force was indicted for having
helped
the CIA carry out the kidnapping. According to Italian prosecutors,
"Ludwig," as he was called by other members of the CIA's "Special
Removal
Team," stopped Abu Omar as he was walking along a Milan street and
asked to
see his identification papers. As Omar pulled out his passport, three
men
leapt out, sprayed him with a chemical and bundled his stunned body off
in a
four car convoy. Ludwig's boss and operational partner was Marco
Mancini,
General Nicolo Pollari's right-hand man. In turn, General Pollari,
SISMI's
director, is the man who delivered the yellowcake dossier to
Condoleezza
Rice and Steve Hadley in the White House.
According to Michael Scheuer, former head of CIA's Anti-Bin Laden Unit
under
President Clinton and widely regarded as the creator of the U.S.
anti-terrorism rendition program, the Abu Omar kidnapping was prepared
at
the highest levels of both the U.S. and Italian governments. National
security advisers on both side of the Atlantic were involved -- on the
U.S.
side, then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice and on the
Italian
side, Ambassador Giovanni Castellaneta, then Berlusconi's national
security
adviser. "It is unthinkable that such an operation could have been
carried
out without informing first the appropriate Italian authorities, in
particular SISMI head Nicolò Pollari, and without obtaining prior
permission
by the Italian national security agency," says Scheuer, in a telephone
interview.
It is worth remembering that at the time of the Omar kidnapping,
according
to Italian media, Pollari and Castellaneta had recently delivered the
forged
yellowcake dossier to Condoleezza Rice. Furthermore, by virtue of his
role
as deputy chair of Finmeccanica, Italy's largest defense firm,
Ambassador
Castellaneta was in the midst of securing the Marine One contract -- 23
new
Italian helicopters for President Bush.
That is an interesting perspective. As stated, it is easy to see why the left would -- and can easily -- critic the current world reality against any possible but unreachable utopia. Though, as I read the article, I thought perhaps another key aspect was missing.
I wonder whether the intellectual left (in academia and think tanks, etc.) also especially values the elitist goals of communism and socialism. This is what I believe, IMHO, is missing from the article.
The intellectual left sees itself as superior, knowing better than everyone else, especially the measly individual. In a non-capitalist society, the intellectual left would rule the rank and file working class quite comfortably with no opposition from competing ideas. And, just as important, all the luxury and perks of the ruling class would remain theirs to enjoy while commoners toiled for the common good parted from all the benefits and individual freedoms afforded by capitalism.
So, I believe that power is also a motivator for the leftist elite. They know better than "the many," so they also deserve better than "the many."
Well, this is simply a rough thought, not well-thought out for early morning, so I hope it makes some sense.
Time to exercise and work now...
Islamist groups develop new recruiting strategies (note excerpt reference to ul Fuqra)
http://www.amti.net/index.htm
Excerpt from below:
These passive messages are not directed towards any one individual. The
Islamic community at large is the target audience. Conversely, active
propaganda is aimed at a targeted, often vulnerable, individual or
small
group. The recruitment of radical Islamic converts in the US from study
groups for jihad in places such as Chechnya, or their inclusion into
sutra
teams by organisations such as Jamaat ul-Fuqra, an Islamic sect that
tries
to purify Islam using violence, is an example of targeted propaganda
through
da'wa (preaching). The same can be said of the way in which the
Salafist
Group for Preaching and Combat (Groupe Salafiste pour la Predication et
le
Combat - GSPC) targets young Muslim criminals in Belgian prisons.
Islamist groups develop new recruiting strategies
http://www.amti.net/news/JanesIntelligenceReview.htm
Jeffrey Cozzens
JANE'S INTELLIGENCE REVIEW - FEBRUARY 01, 2005 - Developments in
propaganda
and recruitment by Islamist groups are having an effect on the
composition
of new members joining radical movements in the West and elsewhere.
Jeffrey
Cozzens examines their impact.
Analysis of recent trends in the recruitment of members into militant
Islamist groups suggests several significant developments that are
having an
impact on the composition of jihadist cells. These developments include
the
use of passive and active propaganda to spread the idea of jihad, an
increase in the number of members 'joining' versus being 'recruited',
the
strategic importance of Western operatives and the increasing use of
female
operatives.
Active and passive propaganda
Passive propaganda, carried out by groups associated with what Dr Marc
Sageman, from the University of Pennsylvania in the US, has called the
Global Salafist Jihad, is closely related to the root causes of
Islamist
violence.
A good example of passive propaganda involves the use of websites to
propagate Salafism as a means of countering the ills afflicting Muslim
communities worldwide. These ills, both real and perceived, include the
relative deprivation and social dislocation some Muslim immigrants
attempting to adjust to life in liberal Western democracies have
experienced, ranging from abhorrence of Western culture to a loss of
collective identity.
They also include global awareness of regional conflicts that pit
Muslims
against non-Muslims and the resultant globalisation of Muslim suffering
-
such as that being experienced in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the
conflicts in Afghanistan and Chechnya and, especially, Iraq. For many
in the
Islamic world, the ills also involve alienation from Muslim regimes,
whether
because of their apparent failure to holistically rule by Sharia law,
their
often harsh internal security measures, or because of a believed
deviance
from Islamic piety in favour of excessive lifestyles.
According to these propaganda websites, as well as chat forums and
videos,
there are two ways to remedy these grievances. The first involves
working to
re-establish the rule of the Khalifa in order to prepare for the future
consolidation of the Islamic state and conquest of non-Muslim Dar
al-Harb
lands and by participating in jihad in non-Western conflict zones.
The second is violent jihad against all 'enemies of Islam', as
advocated by
Al-Qaeda. Online videos of jihadists in combat often accompany such a
call
to arms, whether the conflict is in Afghanistan, Chechnya or Iraq. It
is
sometimes accompanied by the wills of martyrs, as was the case in Saudi
Arabia in 2003 following the Riyadh bombings. Wills also surfaced in
the
apartment of the Madrid bombing conspirators.
These passive messages are not directed towards any one individual. The
Islamic community at large is the target audience. Conversely, active
propaganda is aimed at a targeted, often vulnerable, individual or
small
group. The recruitment of radical Islamic converts in the US from study
groups for jihad in places such as Chechnya, or their inclusion into
sutra
teams by organisations such as Jamaat ul-Fuqra, an Islamic sect that
tries
to purify Islam using violence, is an example of targeted propaganda
through
da'wa (preaching). The same can be said of the way in which the
Salafist
Group for Preaching and Combat (Groupe Salafiste pour la Predication et
le
Combat - GSPC) targets young Muslim criminals in Belgian prisons.
When looking at the interaction between the root causes of Islamist
violence
and Global Salafist Jihad propaganda, both active and passive, several
trends become apparent. Building on the paradigm established by the
Clerics
of the Resurgence, a group of predominantly Saudi Islamist
'interpreters' of
Al-Qaeda, there has recently been an upsurge in publications emanating
from
or linked to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
These include online magazines such as Sawt al-Jihad, first published
in
Autumn 2003, Muaskar al-Battar, published as of early 2004, and the new
publication dedicated to female jihadists, al-Khansa, which was first
published on 20 August 2004. It also includes online books such as The
Operation of 11 Rabi al-Awwal: The east Riyadh operation and our war
with
the United States and its agents, published in August 2003 and written
by
the Centre for Islamic Studies and Research, whose judgements are
carried by
the Al-Neda website.
Such passive propaganda facilitates the recruiting process in a number
of
ways that are critical to the overall success of the Global Salafist
Jihad.
First, Sawt al-Jihad has made a concerted effort to frame the conflict
with
the Saudi regime, Western interests in the peninsula and the war in
Iraq in
exclusively religious terms. In doing so, it reinforces Osama bin
Laden's
message that there is implacable hostility between Muslims and the
West, and
his theory that only jihad is able to counter the 'Zionists and
Crusaders'
and their agents. Through its selective invocation of Islamic history,
the
publication also calls to mind the glories of Muslim conquest and
glorifies
the 'heroism' of martyrs who have fallen in jihad. This serves to build
a
larger recruiting base.
This strategy preys on the large pool of Saudi youths who are schooled
in an
overwhelmingly religious tradition that is predisposed to Wahabbist
leanings
and disaffection with the monarchy and the Western presence in Saudi
Arabia.
More importantly, because these passive propaganda documents are
available
online, they reinforce attempts to reach second and third generation
Muslim
youths in the West, who are largely unschooled in the orthodox
(non-Islamist) traditions of their parents. More and more Islamist
manuscripts are being translated into English online, making them
available
to immigrants and European or North American Muslims whose primary
language
is not Arabic.
From all this it can be seen that passive propaganda is playing a large
role
in reinforcing the presence of Bin Laden's narrative, which quietly
enables
recruitment, particularly as conflicts in Chechnya, Iraq and Palestine
simmer and the Saudis crack down on Islamists.
But the conflict in Iraq has also reinforced the online Salafist
rhetoric
and the value of passive propaganda of more 'moderate' organisations,
such
as UK-based Al-Muhajiroun (the emigrants). In June 2004, on its related
website www.khilafah.com, a section was devoted to Family life in the
West,
featuring scathing commentary that linked the war in Iraq and the Abu
Ghraib
prison scandal to Western cultural and familial immorality. The
reservoir of
sympathetic young men, drawn by Al-Muhajiroun's interpretation of world
events, functions as a potential gateway to the Global Salafist Jihad.
Therefore, the passive propaganda of 'moderate' Salafist organisations
such
as Al-Muhajiroun, capitalising on the war in Iraq, must also be
considered a
worrisome trend, particularly as it draws young European Muslims into
the
arms of European networks such as that of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. This
could
be for duty in classical jihad operations against Western forces in
Muslim
lands, or for the increasingly inter-related global jihad on Western
soil.
Developments in active propaganda are also rooted in the conflict in
Iraq
and are taking place not only in Global Salafist Jihad circles, but in
those
similar to the 'gateway' Salafist groups mentioned above. It can, for
example, take place in prisons, revivalist meetings or mosque study
groups.
In these venues, individuals - often converts or criminals seeking to
atone
for past sins - have the option of legitimising their criminality or
thirst
for adventure, or are told repeatedly of the individual's obligation to
defend Muslim lands. They are confronted by the option of waging
'legitimate' jihad against a non-Muslim occupying force in Iraq. This
is
particularly appealing to European Salafist cadres, who are then
offered
'bridges' to human smuggling-cum-jihadist networks that will transport
them
to the combat zone.
During the recruitment phase, and especially after combat, the
differences
between the jihad in Iraq and the global jihad on Western soil become
moot
for many. There is concern among law enforcement and intelligence
agencies
in Europe that the war will provide a network of militant ghazis
(veterans)
who do not intend to die in Iraq but will return to Europe to plot
attacks.
This fear was also expressed by Gijs de Vries, EU Counterterrorism
Co-ordinator, recently. In an event that may foreshadow De Vries'
concerns,
the Ansar al-Islam plot to attack the 2004 NATO summit in Turkey was,
according to Turkish sources, concocted in part by militants who fought
in
the Iraqi insurgency.
In North America, the Iraq war has stiffened the commitment of US
radical
Islamic converts. While these converts may not aspire to wage jihad in
Iraq,
their commitment to become further embedded within the Salafist
worldview,
owing to alleged US imperialism and the suppression of Muslims abroad,
compels many to heed the call of recruiters offering them military
training
(including combat in areas like the Caucuses) and further
indoctrination
abroad.
Recruitment and joining
Recruitment, as the term is used here, signifies the targeted efforts
of
Islamists, whether by ideology alone or through networked channels, to
coerce individuals to take part in or support violent jihad. The term
'joining' refers to the aspiring jihadist's actions to facilitate links
to
the Global Salafist Jihad, whether this is to an established network or
through the generation of independent jihadist activities.
The union of root causes and passive propaganda has lead to a rise in
people
joining, as opposed to them being recruited. This typically alludes to
the
social processes outlined by Sageman in his 2004 book, Understanding
terrorist networks, as the 'group of guys' phenomenon. This is where
individuals, usually small groups of disenfranchised male Muslim
emigrants
to the West, establish close personal friendships after meeting at a
mosque,
study group or Muslim community centre with an Islamist presence. The
individuals then maintain close personal contact, which reinforces a
developing militant Salafist identity. They eventually seek to join the
jihad by enlisting the help of people linked to established terrorist
networks or conflict zones.
The 'group of guys' phenomenon appears to be applicable to the Madrid
bombing conspirators, who were alleged to have been brought together by
Sarhane Ben Abdelmajid Fakhet, a Tunisian-born emigrant who resided in
Madrid for about eight years before the bombing and who was among those
who
committed suicide. It was apparently Fakhet's increasing desire to
conduct
jihad that spurred him on to eventually make contact with 'skill set'
operatives connected to Al-Qaeda.
Joining does not necessarily imply a desire for formal membership
within an
established terrorist network, particularly as these become
increasingly
evident to Western authorities. The 'non-group' or unaffiliated
jihadists
should be considered among the most dangerous within the wider Global
Salafist Jihad, as they operate on the basis of 'commander's intent'.
No
hierarchical orders are provided to organisations such as that which
carried
out the Madrid attack. The operatives simply implement the intent of
edicts
issued by Global Salafist Jihad ideologues, such as Bin Laden and other
prominent Islamist leaders and clerics. This process is partially
enabled by
the propaganda and training manuals available in the virtual sphere.
The insularity provides a high degree of operational secrecy. These
entrepreneurial operatives - some of whom are Western converts - appear
zealous to fulfil their 'obligation' to physical jihad in order to
achieve
individual and communal (implying the Muslim umma) 'salvation' through
violence, which is shown by their headstrong initiatives in the face of
security measures. Therefore, the eventual and successful execution of
an
attack is likely to be more important for self-directing jihadists than
for
those serving in support capacities for a wider network. One could
argue
that tactics supersede strategy for these individuals. The recent
attack in
Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, shows the inherent unpredictability and threat
posed by
unaffiliated militant Islamist cells, which are characterised by
inspired
'pods' of individuals maintaining only tangential relations to Al-Qaeda
operatives, if they are connected at all.
It remains possible that individuals acting as 'leaderless resistors'
will
also seek to join the Global Salafist Jihad solely on the basis of
ideological affiliations. They might conduct attacks reflective of
'commander's intent' scenario, particularly as the grievances espoused
by
the Global Salafist Jihad resonate increasingly within the Muslim
community
at large. An example of this is the treatment of Muslims in Abu Ghraib
prison.
Nevertheless, it is likely that most leaderless resistors have
interpersonal
contact with other Muslims, who probably have no indication of the
would-be
terrorist's plans. This reinforces their commitment to strike, as is
implicit in Sageman's research. This personal contact within the Muslim
community, whether at a mosque or elsewhere, sets these operatives
apart
from those known as 'Takfiris', who typically move within terrorist
networks, use emigration as a 'trojan horse' and live under deep cover
away
from the wider Islamic community.
Use of Western operatives
The current operational environment in Western Europe and North America
is
characterised by heightened public and private vigilance against the
'outside' threat. To overcome such obstacles to conducting attacks in
the
West, Al-Qaeda appears to have realised the strategic importance of
cultivating Western operatives. They might include Muslim emigrants
familiar
with Western culture and rooted in society or, perhaps more
importantly,
Caucasian, Afro-European or African-American converts to Islam. While
this
is not a new phenomenon - Al-Qaeda's recently destroyed Khalden Camp
catered
to non-Arabic, predominantly English-speaking recruits - it is
certainly one
of growing importance to the Global Salafist Jihad, as it presents a
critical mode of entry and support in the West itself.
There are numerous benefits to recruiting operatives from Western
society.
Such individuals carry Western passports and, once they have joined or
are
recruited, they have the freedom to come and go for training or jihad.
They
can leave and re-enter the country provided they exercise caution. This
is
important, since training and indoctrination are together believed to
create
'holistic' Al-Qaeda operatives. In general, this fusion is easier to
find in
areas such as Chechnya or Kashmir than in the US or Western Europe.
Alluding
to this trend, Islamist websites have branded Western Caucasian
recruits
fighting in Chechnya 'White Moors'.
Beyond travelling for purposes of training, Western operatives
generally
find it easier to move between Western countries where visas are not
required than individuals bearing passports from Arab or Asian
countries.
Agitated second or third generation Western Muslims or converts can
also
easily travel abroad to initiate attacks in places such as the Middle
East,
evidenced by the Tel Aviv waterfront bombers of 'Mike's Place', who
travelled to Gaza and then on to Israel from the UK in the spring of
2003.
Both converts and established immigrants to Western countries,
particularly
second or third generation Muslim immigrants, are able to operate
indefinitely within Western societies. For those linked to the global
jihad
from either category, this presents opportunities to capitalise on the
grievances espoused by Western Muslims by infiltrating, for example,
mosque
study groups or the meetings of Tablighi 'missionary' organisations. On
the
other hand, such Western operatives might adhere to the Takfiri
practice of
exercising extraordinary levels of stealth and deception (takiyya) and
choose to retain their Western identity and lifestyle, shying away from
the
wider Muslim community while quietly providing logistical assistance to
other militants or plotting operations themselves. Fakhet's alleged
role in
the Madrid attacks would illustrate the latter.
From an operational angle, Western operatives have more opportunities
to
procure useful intelligence, which can be used for jihad purposes, both
domestic or international. Given that many US radical Islamic converts,
prone to recruitment into the Global Salafist Jihad, have a military
background, this is especially alarming.
Use of female operatives
The recent testimony of Robert S. Leiken, Director of the Immigration
and
National Security Programme at the Nixon Centre in Washington, to the
US
House Committee on International Relations, alluded to Al-Qaeda's -
and,
more generally, the Global Salafist Jihad's - heightened interest in
recruiting female operatives. This trend has been reinforced by the
recent
publication of al-Khansa, and is established by a number of recent
events.
For example, the arrest of a female operative in connection with the
Madrid
bombings was lamented in a recorded conversation of Rabei Osman Sayed
Ahmed,
believed to be one of the masterminds of the Madrid bombings. But Ahmad
also
said in the recording that "there are others", including one named Amal
(meaning hope) who was "ready".
Female operatives have also conducted suicide attacks in Russia and
Uzbekistan during 2004, the most recent example being the
near-simultaneous
crashes of two Russian airliners in September. Furthermore, Palestinian
Islamists have also started to use female suicide bombers. For example,
in
2003, a lawyer from the West Bank detonated explosives she was carrying
in a
seaside café on behalf of Palestinian Islamic Jihad after killing a
guard
with her sidearm. It is likely that the number of female suicide
bombers
linked to the Global Salafist Jihad will rise in proportion to the
perceived
humiliation of regional communities that support groups linked it.
These events suggest not only an increasingly inventive adversary, but
also
that the Salafist woman - long thought of as the bearer of mujahideen
and
ideological force within the home - is more willing to take part in
combat
and martyrdom operations given the heightened sense of the perceived
threat
to both the umma and her family. This is especially true in Chechnya,
where
the so-called 'Black Widows' are based, and in Palestinian society.
This portends an increasingly serious challenge on several fronts to
Western
security agencies. Tactically, women are better able to conceal items
on
their person, in a manner that men cannot or would not because of
common
Western profiling practices. This was also suggested by the FBI in
January
2004. If the female operative adheres to the Takfiri doctrine, which
emphasises adopting a secular lifestyle and dress, the problem of
identification increases exponentially. Strategically, it opens a new
front
of operatives, designed to strike fear in the Western enemy by turning
the
'nurturing' gender into a powerful tool for both psychological and
kinetic
terrorist warfare. This theory is supported by the traumatic effect the
Black Widows have had on Russian society.
Jeffrey Cozzens is a PhD candidate at the University of St Andrews and
Research Associate at the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and
Political
Violence
"
From www.danielpipes.org | Original article available at:
www.danielpipes.org/article/329
In Muslim America: A Presence and a Challenge[ - The Anti-Americanism
of
U.S. Converts to Islam]
by Daniel Pipes
National Review
February 21, 2000
An odd controversy briefly dominated the sports pages in March 1996. A
player in the National Basketball Association, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf,
refused
to follow the league's rule requiring that players stand in a
"dignified
posture" during the national anthem. Instead, since the beginning of
the
1995-96 season, Abdul-Rauf had remained seated during the playing of
the
Star Spangled Banner. A black, 27-year-old former Baptist from
Mississippi
who had converted to Islam in 1991, he declared that as a Muslim, he
could
not pay homage to the American flag--which he called a "symbol of
oppression, of tyranny." He argued further that the flag directly
contradicted his Islamic faith: "This country has a long history of
[oppression]. I don't think you can argue the facts. You can't be for
God
and for oppression. It's clear in the Koran. Islam is the only way."
The NBA responded firmly, suspending Abdul-Rauf until he agreed to obey
league rules. He missed one game, then capitulated. Two factors
probably
weighed most heavily on him: losing a cool $31,707 for each game
missed, and
facing wide opposition to his decision from other Muslims.
Though soon forgotten, this act of defiance raised important questions.
When
a successful young man earning almost $3 million a year and enjoying
wide
adulation talks publicly of hating his own country, something is afoot.
What
that might be is hinted at by a similar case a whole generation
earlier,
that of the boxer Muhammad Ali. After his conversion in 1960 to a form
of
Islam (Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam), the former Cassius Clay
adopted a
set of intensely anti-American attitudes. Most famously, he refused to
be
drafted by the U.S. military, which led to the forfeit of his
heavyweight
title. As Muhammad Ali later put it, he stood against "the entire power
structure" in the United States, one dominated by Zionists who "are
really
against the Islam religion."
Stories such as these have given American converts to Islam a
reputation for
hating their own country. But is this accurate?
Although numbers about religious affiliation in the United States are
soft,
Americans who have converted to Islam--plus their descendants--probably
total about a million. This makes them by far the largest convert
population
of Muslims in the Western world; but, using the conventional figure of
six
million Muslims residing in the United States, converts are far
outnumbered
by immigrants. Of the million, whites number maybe 50,000; the
overwhelming
majority is black. Given that African-Americans constitute a small
minority
of the U.S. population, this implies that a black person is over a
hundred
times more likely to embrace Islam than is a white person.
A convert's attitude toward the United States depends on what form of
Islam
he adopts. If it is a tolerant and moderate variant, then he probably
has
mild views. His Islam will be an act of private faith with few
political
consequences. This moderate spirit is widely found among those (most of
them
female) who convert because they are marrying a Muslim, and those (most
of
them white) who convert because they are attracted to the mystical Sufi
movement within Islam. The same goes for converts drawn to Islam as an
old-fashioned way of life, or for its emphatic monotheism. Clearly,
there is
nothing inherently antagonistic between the faith of Islam and good
American
citizenship.
Well-known moderate Muslim converts include Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the
basketball player, who has a positive view of the United States and a
constructive attitude towards its problems. Mike Tyson, for all his
troubles
with the law, has found in Islam a soothing and civilizing influence;
Islam,
he says, is "going to make me a better person." Robert Crane, a
one-time
foreign-policy adviser to Richard Nixon and Muslim convert, holds that
the
U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights were implicitly based on the
Islamic principles of equality and justice for all. He concludes from
this
that the United States and Islam are totally compatible: "To be the
best
Muslim is to be a good American, and to be the best American is to be
Islamic." In fact, "both paradigms, the overtly Islamic and the
traditionalist American, are the same."
But there are often less happy results when a convert adopts two
specific
types of Islam: the Nation of Islam (the black-nationalist sect that
originated in Detroit in 1930) or the fundamentalist variety (now
usually
known as Islamism) imported from the Middle East and South Asia.
Converts to
these forms of Islam are much more likely to turn anti-American.
From its inception, the Nation of Islam has promoted a
black-nationalist
outlook hostile to mainstream American culture and politics. "You are
not
American citizens," Elijah Muhammad, its longtime leader, told his
followers. He went to jail for draft evasion instead of enlisting to
fight
in World War II, and even forbade Nation of Islam members to accept
Social
Security numbers. Malcolm X, his most famous disciple, contrasted the
pure
evil of America with the pure good of Islam, saying that an American
passport "signifies the exact opposite of what Islam stands for."
Continuing
in this spirit, the group's current leader, Louis Farrakhan, threatened
some
years ago to "lead an army of black men and women to Washington, D.C.,
and
we will sit down with the president, whoever he may be, and will
negotiate
for a separate state or territory of our own." On a 1996 visit to the
virulently anti-American regime in Teheran, Farrakhan declared that
"God
will destroy America at the hands of Muslims."
Many converts eventually leave the Nation of Islam and join mainstream
Islam; those of them who become Islamists are especially likely to
continue
to disassociate themselves from the surrounding culture in a radical
way.
Even after his break with the Nation of Islam, for example, Malcolm X
announced, "I'm not an American." Similarly, the one-time radical H.
Rap
Brown, now known as Jamil Al-Amin, declares, "When we begin to look
critically at the Constitution of the United States . . . we see that
in its
main essence it is diametrically opposed to what Allah has commanded."
Imam Siraj Wahhaj is considered one of the most respected Muslim
leaders in
America, and he holds a host of prominent positions (e.g., vice
president of
the Islamic Society of North America). Yet he not only calls for
replacing
the U.S. government with a caliphate, but has taken practical steps in
this
direction. He served as a character witness when the Sheikh Abdel
Rahman was
on trial for--and found guilty of--conspiracy to blow up New York
bridges
and buildings, and even was listed by the U.S. attorney for New York as
one
of the "unindicted persons who may be alleged as co-conspirators" in
the
blind sheikh's case.
Those American converts who went to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan in
the
1980s may now be the most extreme in their hatred of the United States.
After imbibing the mujahedin vision of destroying both superpowers,
they
vowed to do their part on returning home. As one such man put it to a
Pakistani magazine in 1989: "It is the duty of all Muslims to complete
the
march of jihad until we reach America and liberate her. And I will be a
guide for them."
Other converts went further. Clement Rodney Hampton-el, a New Jersey
hospital technician, was a wounded veteran of the war in Afghanistan
against
Russia. He came back to the U.S. and helped set off the February 1993
explosion at the World Trade Center in New York.
White Islamists also typically condemn America for its immorality,
consumerism, tolerant social policies, and warm relations with Israel.
They
talk about "our society's unrelenting greed" and its neglect for the
downtrodden. In some cases, they associate with hostile governments.
Mohammad Al-Asi, leader of the Washington Mosque in the nation's
capital,
explicitly called on Muslims to vanquish the United States during the
Kuwait
crisis of 1990 (note how he uses the pronoun "we"): "If the Americans
are
placing their forces in the Persian Gulf, we should be creating another
war
front for the Americans in the Muslim world--and specifically where
American
interests are concentrated. In Egypt, in Turkey, in the Indian
subcontinent,
just to mention a few. Strike against American interests there."
Why do some converts become so hostile toward their own country? There
are
two main reasons: personal temperament and the immigrant-Muslim milieu.
Americans drawn to Islamism tend to be discontented with their lives or
alienated from their society. For them, Islam's reputation as
Christianity's
historic arch-rival is an attraction; accepting Muhammad and the Koran
offers a protest vehicle that is far larger than themselves and much
deeper
than politics.
Converts are also influenced by the contempt for America that many
immigrant
Muslims bring from their homelands. Because accepting Islam is a major
step,
one that often means breaking with family and friends, the new Muslim
typically feels vulnerable and particularly in need of his new
community's
favor. This weakness makes him susceptible to the views of the
immigrants,
including their negative outlook on America. The immigrants, to be
sure, do
appreciate America's economic opportunities and political freedom, but
survey research suggests that at least half of them, and usually the
more
pious among them, despise American politics and ethics. If anything,
their
firsthand experience in the United States enhances their sense that
Christian America has lost its faith and lacks moral strength.
This outlook affects the new convert. Jeffrey Lang, a white professor
of
mathematics at the University of Kansas, recounts attending a lecture
in a
San Francisco mosque not long after his conversion. An immigrant
medical
student concluded his talk with this call to arms: "We must never
forget--and this is extremely important--that as Muslims, we are
obligated
to desire, and when possible to participate in, the overthrow of any
non-Islamic government--anywhere in the world--in order to replace it
by an
Islamic one." Lang protested to the lecturer that if Muslims are
obligated
to overthrow the U.S. government, accepting Islam is tantamount to an
act of
political treason. "Yes, that's true," the lecturer blithely responded.
Lang
candidly admits how, in an effort to win acceptance from his new
co-religionists, he became "a passionate denouncer of everything
American
and a staunch defender of Middle-Eastern culture," propagating
wild-eyed
conspiracy theories about the U.S. government. (He has since moderated
his
views.)
This kind of ideology presents a great challenge to America. No other
body
of ideas claims blanket superiority over the culture, customs, laws,
and
policies of the United States; even the fascist and Marxist-Leninist
ideologies dealt only with politics.
What is to be done?
The first priority is for journalists, intellectuals, clergy, and
academic
specialists to awaken Americans to this still-incipient but rapidly
growing
problem. Once they recognize the danger, the remedy is clear: While
acknowledging that turning against one's own country is legal--though
acting
on this hatred, through sedition or treason, is not--Americans must
combat
this self-hatred. Because sitting out the national anthem, or defaming
the
Constitution, falls under the category of protected speech, this will
be a
task not for law enforcement but for moral suasion; a challenge less
for the
government than for the citizenry. Of course, politicians should use
their
bully pulpits to decry anti-American sentiments--but private
institutions
will have to take the lead.
There's a place for nearly everyone--business executives, union
leaders,
Hollywood producers, investigative journalists, columnists, scholars
and
teachers, clergy, moderate Muslims --to debate with the self-hating
Americans and the organizations they form. These Americans are using
free
speech to influence America malignly; others should use free speech to
oppose them.
One might think it obvious that life in this country is immeasurably
preferable to that in Iran, Sudan, or Afghanistan; but clearly, not
everyone
realizes it. It is up to those of us who grasp this simple truth to
explain
it to our fellow citizens.
________
Dec. 8, 2005 update: For where these attitudes might lead, see
"Converts to
Terrorism
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/3184
" and the follow-up
analyses, "More Converts to Terrorism
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/3185
" and "Further Converts to
Islam
http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/544
Connected to Terrorism."
________
From www.danielpipes.org | Original article available at:
www.danielpipes.org/article/329
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.