The War on Terror at Five--Steven Emerson assesses who's winning

With British Muslims hatching plots to blow up airplanes with liquid explosives and our all-out war on terrorism nearing its fifth anniversary, it's a good time to check in with Steven Emerson.

Emerson, whose prescient warnings about militant Islamic activities in the United States in the late 1990s and in May of 2001 went unheeded, is an award-winning investigative journalist and international terrorism expert. I talked to him Wednesday, Aug. 16 by telephone from his offices in Washington, where he is director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism:

Q: How is the war against terrorism going in the United States?
A: I think it's going pretty well, insofar as the FBI and other law-enforcement agencies have interdicted various operations and infiltrated terrorist groups. It's taken a while -- close to five years -- but we've not been hit and most of the cases that have been brought have shown the ability of the FBI to get on the inside of these groups.

Q: Is that what we are doing most right?
A: Intelligence collection is the bottom line in any successful campaign against terrorism. There's no doubt the government is getting better at collecting that intelligence that comes from the inside of these groups.

Q: What is your major criticism of the war against terrorism?
A: In general, I'm a bit concerned about the degree to which there is a legitimization of radical Islamic groups that operate under a false veneer as either civil rights groups or advocacy groups. I think that undermines legitimate moderates in the Muslim community.

Q: That's one of the complaints you made when I talked to you in 2004.
A: There's still a bureaucratic impulse to engage in the "Kumbaya" dance and embrace groups that should not be legitimized.

Q: What do you make of the foiled plot in Britain? Was it the real deal?
A: Everything I've been told is that it was the real deal. Still, we don't know the particulars until those who were picked up are arraigned. But everybody I've spoken to says it was real.

Q: Looking back over the past five years, what can you say about the way American Muslims -- in general -- have acquitted themselves in the war on terror?
A: I think that there's still a problem with the institutional leadership of the Muslim community that is tethered to an agenda that is not moderate. These Islamic groups and leaders have condemned or criticized virtually every counterterrorist operation that is carried out by the U.S. government. These groups continue to portray the war on terrorism as a war against Islam, which can cause incitement. So I think there is still a major problem regarding the agenda of the people who control these Muslim organizations.

Q: In Britain they seem to have a problem with homegrown terrorist cells, but in America we don't seem to have that problem.
A: Well, we've had cells in Lackawanna, cells in Seattle, cells in Florida, cells in Toledo. We haven't seen the sophistication of the cells as we've seen in Canada and Britain. Also, the U.S. is much more aggressive in interrupting cells before they actually get operational. Other countries allow them more string.

Q: To what do you attribute the fact that there has been no act of terrorism in the United States since 9/11?
A: It's a combination of things. A combination of good police work -- at all levels. There are aggressive efforts overseas to take out terrorist groups. There's deterrence. And there's good luck.

Q: Some people contend that we are wasting resources on security for political purposes, that we're unnecessarily scaring the populace about terrorism and generally exaggerating the threat of terrorism here. Do you think any of those criticisms are valid?
A: No. I don't think those are valid criticisms.

Q: Is the war on Islamic terrorism winnable or is it going to be with us forever?
A: I think ultimately it is winnable. But it's going to be a long time before there is a victory declared. There are different bouts and rounds, but it's not going to be like it is in the movies. The end is just not going to be that way. We're going to need to see more efforts within the Muslim world to reform itself.

Q: In 2002, you told me we'll know we've won the war against Islamic terrorism "when we see the appearance of many Muslim comedians."
A: Yeah, well, that's still true. There are some Muslim comedians. But I don't know that we're going to know we're at the end of the war until we go through a sufficient period of time when we don't see groups like Hezbollah or Hamas. They have not spent their popularity and it's going to be decades before that happens.

Q: James Fallows in The Atlantic Monthly contends that al-Qaida has been broken up, defeated and reduced in prestige and that we'd be better off if we declared that we have won the war on terror against al-Qaida and concentrate on homeland security and diplomacy.
A: I agree with him that al-Qaida has been hurt and degraded but al-Qaida's legacy is still around in terms of radical Islamic groups trying to carry out operations, whether that be in London or Canada or the U.S. No. 2, there's a commonality to all the militant Islamic groups from Hamas to Hezbollah to al-Qaida insofar as they all believe in the hegemony of Islam in their respective arenas. That's not dissipated, so we shouldn't prematurely declare victory.

Q: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was in town this week and he said he thought we are safer than at any time since 9/11. Do you agree?
A: I think we are safer. That's absolutely true, but we're not safe yet. I think that's a very apt and correct assessment.

Q: And the way to continue to stay safe is ...
A: To continue to collect intelligence, to be one step ahead of the bad guys. It's easier said than done, but we -- we being the West -- are showing good examples of penetrating terrorist groups

ARAB MEDIA calls Kola Boof "A HOAX"

Arab Propoganda Slanders KOLA BOOF | Black Woman--The Kola Boof Hoax | Death Threats for Queen Kola

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David Hoile, mouthpiece for the European-Sudanese Public Affairs Council (ESPAC)...which is well known in Europe as the Public Relations Arm of Sudan's terrorist Arab Muslim government headed by President Al Bashir...has stepped up a vicious Slander campaign against Sudanese-born American novelist and anti-Slavery activist Kola Boof...calling Boof's stories about slavery "A HOAX".

THE SILENCING OF KOLA BOOF...

ON January 7th, 2003..THE NEW YORK POST (and newspapers around the world) reported that Kola Boof's publisher in Morocco had been firebombed by radical Muslim youths calling themselves "Dragons of the Jihad". This act of terrorism caused Russom Damba, Boof's publisher, to not only drop her from his imprint...but to immediately classify her bestselling and controversial book "Long Train to the Redeeming Sin: Stories About African Women"...OUT OF PRINT!

DEATH THREATS

But this terrorist act against the freedom fighter and African womanist writer is not a surprise in the least.

A Sudanese diplomat in London, Gamal Ibrahim, had already done something even more groundbreaking and history-making than just firebomb the author...Ibrahim had written a lengthy article denouncing Kola Boof in London's largest Arab Muslim newspaper, "Al-Sharq al-Aswat"(Sept. 15th 2002--look it up). This was historical because it is unheard of for an entire article in an Arab newspaper to be devoted exclusively to..A WOMAN...unless that woman is in big trouble. IBRAHAIM told the NEW YORK TIMES (Dec. 11, 2002) that he was not threatening Boof's life with the article...but everyone in the Muslim world knew damn well that such an article was clearly a mark of death against Kola Boof. Not only that, but Gamal Ibrahim had already threatened Kola Boof by telephone and warned her to STOP her anti-slavery campaign against the government of SUDAN.

In 2003...FOX NEWS was able to confirm via a report on the floor of the United Nations (April 9, 2003) that a Sharia Court in Khartoum issued a "fatwa" on the life of Kola Boof in 2002. Kola Boof then appeared on FOX NEWS (Aug. 23, 2003) and was interviewed at length by Rita Cosby concerning her unfortunate romantic affair in 1996 with Osama Bin Laden, which Kola Boof maintains was against her will.

Although the inaccurracy of the 2002 New York Times story has now been pointed out, there continues to be no support for Kola Boof from either the American media or the American writer's community. Both ignore the fact that Miss Boof is both an American citizen and an author published in eight countries...whose work has been forced out of print.

Only the Black Americans have supported Miss Boof as her life and the lives of her children hang in the balance.

Naturally, because Ms. Boof was at one time the mistress of terrorist Osama Bin Laden (and also the mistress of Bin laden's mentor Hasan Turabi)..she was not swayed in the least by demands for her to stop speaking out and WRITING ABOUT slavery and mistreatment of women and blacks in SUDAN and in the Arab world in general. Ms. Boof's public condemnation of both her former lovers--Osama Bin Laden and Hasan al Turabi has caused even more death threats, but Kola Boof continues to bare her breasts on the backs of her books as a protest statement against the Arab Muslim regime in Sudan and as a confirmation of her devotion to African women's WOMB religion.

FACT:
General Colin Powell has called the situation in SUDAN--and we quote him--"The single worst human rights nightmare on the planet!" Kola Boof is not lying about her claims of slavery in Sudan. Neither is she the senseless crazy woman that the Arab Media is trying to portray her as. Just click on this link and read a recent newspaper article from EGYPT inwhich the reporter calls for the death of Kola Boof...because of the books she wrote.
Egyptian News Article

Do not be fooled by Muslim and Arab SLANDER against Kola Boof.
For even in America...many black Muslims are slandering and lying on Kola Boof...simply because they don't like her message and they are embarrassed by her truthfulness. She herself was born into ISLAM...the real Islam in Sudan. Her beloved father was an Arab Muslim...and he himself died for the cause of ending the Slave Trade that continues, to this day, in North Africa. Click the links--Educate yourself!!
KENYA NEWS: Kola Boof's life threatened by SUDAN

Well now, wait a minute! Don't try to manufacture a moral equivalence between a typical family's "blacksheep" and one of these mass murderous Muslers for Pete's sake!

Even Muslims that "aren't bad" will allow someone to stay overnight, or even longer in their mosque without questioning too strongly what their recent activities have been. The "blacksheep" you lightly refer to could have their hands drenched with blood and no one would be the wiser!!!

You should probably stop thinking in terms of "conventional wisdom." It doesn't work anymore!!!

Now YOU listen! I was trying to be nice. I have no idea if we have Muslim Freepers or not. I know there are a lot of very nice Muslims, and we can't lump them in with the bad apples.

Blacksheep is the very equivalent to your murderous Muslers! I don't think in convention wisdom. You don't know me. heh!

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