Mr. Blair, you say there is trouble with your family?
Posted on 12/26/2002 9:17:09 AM PST by Conservative News Hound
We Ignore 'Trinity of Terror' at Our Peril
By Tom Knowlton
While we have brought the full weight of American military might against the operational forces of Islamic terrorism, the spiritual architects of Islamic extremism continue unimpeded to recruit, train and finance a new generation of terrorists.
The most egregious of these "spiritual leaders" are the infamous "Trinity of Terror" residing in London, England; Abu Qatada, Omar Bakri Muhammad, and Abu Hamza al-Masri.
Abu Qatada, a Palestinian refuge living in London, has been linked to the planning and funding of terrorism in Jordan, France, Spain and Italy. European counter-terrorism and law enforcement agencies believe that Qatada is "Osama Bin Laden's ambassador in Europe." His religious sermons regularly stress the themes of "the duty of every Muslim to support Jihad," overthrowing the non-Islamic governments of the world, and that the "United States is the enemy" of Muslims.
According to Jordanian prosecutor Col. Mahmoud Obeidat, Qatada has been directly tied to a 1998 conspiracy in Amman, Jordan, to set off bombs at the American School, Jerusalem Hotel, and the Radisson Hotel - all locations heavily frequented by Westerners. In 1997, Qatada issued a fatwa (religious ruling) ordering his followers to kill the wives and children of Egyptian military and security personnel.
Moreover, Qatada is believed to be the leader of the brutal Algerian terrorist organization the Armed Islamic Group (GIA).
A Spanish judge questioning al Qaeda suspects in Madrid this fall, has described Qatada as the "spiritual head of the Mujahedin in Britain."
At the time of this writing, Abu Qatada was being detained under Britain's new Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act.
Next, there is the Syrian-born Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, who is the spokesman for the London-based Islamic Political Front, the political wing of al Qaeda. In November 2000, Muhammad, who maintains a large photograph of bin Laden in his office, described that the purpose of the organization is to "collect funds," "recruit militiamen" and "take care of these groups' propaganda requirements in Europe."
Muhammad is also the founder of al-Muhajiroun, an organization closely linked to al Qaeda, which has been banned on British universities, supported the bombing of the American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, and advocates the creation of an Islamic state in Britain "by any means necessary."
In November 2002, British police arrested Hassan Butt, a leading member of al-Muhajiroun, for attempting to recruit terrorists for action against Britain. Butt is believed to have recruited over 200 British citizens to serve in Afghanistan prior to the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001.
In 1999, Muhammad published a letter on the organization's website, www.almuhajiroun.com, calling for bin Laden to employ biological weapons against Israel and the West. The site, disguised as a "news conduit," regularly posts what appear to be falsified news stories and anti-American propaganda.
He has repeatedly called for Muslims to fight the "evil forces" that are making war upon al Qaeda. Most recently he threatened that if British troops participate in an attack on Iraq "an attack against Britain is inevitable."
Finally, the most notorious of the three is Abu Hamza al-Masri, an Egyptian-born cleric who lost both his hands and an eye during the Soviet-Afghan War.
During a public meeting at the Finsbury Park Mosque in London in 1999, Hamza advocated the hijacking of western airplanes to be used for attacks on the West in the same manner that was later manifested on 9/11.
During the Soviet-Afghan War he befriended Abu Hassan, later the founder of the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army, the Yemeni terrorist group believed responsible for the attacks on the USS Cole and French tanker Limburg. Hamza has been implicated in a number of terrorist conspiracies, kidnappings, bombings and assassinations in Yemen in connection with the group.
Counter-terrorism experts believe that Hamza utilizes the Finsbury Park mosque and the Milan Islamic Cultural Center as logistical support cells for providing training and false documents for terrorist recruits. Hamza founded the Supporters of the Sharia (SOS) an organization that sponsored military training camps and allegedly conducted paramilitary instruction in the basement of the Finsbury Park mosque.
The Supporters of Shariah organize an annual military training camp for young British Muslim each December "to offer distraction from the obscenity of Christmas."
Feroz Abbassi, a British Muslim and captured al Qaeda member detained at Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay, has acknowledged that he was recruited and trained at the London mosque.
Zaccarias Moussaoui and shoebomber Richard Reid have both been linked to the Finsbury park mosque. As have alleged al Qaeda operatives Jerome Courtailler and Djamel Beghal, who are believed to have plotted to destroy the U.S. embassy in Paris. Beghal has additionally been linked to Abu Qatada.
Recent videotapes have surfaced of Hamza claiming that non-Muslims are "like cows" that "you can just kill" or "sell them in the market." He further sanctions such acts by claiming "that it is the Islamic law".
The Charity Commission for England and Wales, the statutory organization that regulates charities in Britain, banned Hamza from preaching in the Finsbury Park mosque in April 2002. Commission officials have announced they will make the ban permanent in January 2003 on the grounds that Hamza makes "statements of an extreme political nature which are in direct conflict with the charitable position of the mosque."
Hamza has refused to abide by the April 2002 gag order, denying the Charity Commission's power to make such decisions, and has continued to preach his vitriolic brand of Islam at Finsbury Park Mosque, as well as utilize it as a staging ground for SOS and Bakri's al-Muhajiroun organization.
How serious a threat do these three men pose?
Only Imams, Muslim holy men, such as Qatada, Muhammad, and Hamza can call for a jihad to spread Islam. The "Trinity of Terror" plays an integral role in Islamic terrorism by sanctioning and thus " legitimizing" the actions of these criminals in the minds of many Muslims.
They readily admit to intentionally inciting hatred against Israel and the West - and claim that advocating violent acts among there disciples is their right as preachers of "Muslim Law."
Despite having their personal assets frozen by the U.S Treasury Department and the Bank of England, the three utilize their mosques to openly raise money for the jihad. Abu Hamza has called upon his followers to give to the jihad as opposed to charity, and a recent raid of Abu Qatada's household netted over $200,000 earmarked for overseas organizations.
U.S. and British intelligence sources have placed the combined recruitment from the three at approximately ten to fifteen new converts per day since the 9/11 attacks. Most of these converts are second-generation immigrants from the Middle East embittered by their lack of economic advancement and opportunity. Intelligence sources have also linked alleged terrorists (and U.S. citizens) James Ujaama, Semi Osman, and John Walker Lindh to the trio.
London has provided the ideal setting for their base of operations as British law has prevented their extradition to foreign nations such as Jordan, Egypt and Yemen that have convicted them in absentia for terrorist activities.
The terrorist forces arrayed against us today, who continue to perpetrate horrific acts against civilians, are the manifestation of the hatred incited by men such as the "Trinity of Terror" and their counterparts throughout the world.
If we are to win the war on terrorism, we must counter and thwart the source of this blight upon humanity, the purveyors of Islamic extremism, and enable Islamic moderates and reformers to replace them.
Mr. Blair, you say there is trouble with your family?
The only effective weapon against terrorism would be to terrorize the terrorists.
This would include 'dropping' the offenders on the street in a crowd in broad daylight, as well as spectacular showings of strength.
But it should also include hideously maiming select few, and bringing to them that which they have wrought upon others: unspeakable acts of cruelty which would take the profit out of terrorism once and for all.
It's an extremely simple concept, at once frighteningly bold and desperately necessary.
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