UM terrorism center receives federal funding

COLLEGE PARK - A University of Maryland center has received federal funding to study homegrown terrorist groups.

The researchers will also study the effectiveness of counterterrorism strategies and efforts to build community resilience to attacks.

University officials say the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, established in 2005, will receive nearly $12 million over three years from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ...

Al-Qaeda calls for death of Saudi king for interfaith dialogue

Slow jihad? Dissimulation and creeping sharia? Al-Qaeda can't drive 55. "Al-Qaida urges Muslims to kill Saudi king for hosting interfaith dialogue," from the Associated Press, July 28:

An al-Qaida commander who escaped from a US prison has posted a Web video urging Muslims to kill the Saudi king for leading an interfaith conference in Madrid earlier this month.

Abu Yahia al-Libi, who escaped from Afghanistan's Bagram prison in 2005, says "bringing religions together...means renouncing Islam."

Saudi King Abdullah sponsored the dialogue among Jews, Muslims, Christians, Hindus and Buddhists, and encouraged all faiths to turn away from extremism. ...

ACLU Admit Helping Enemy

... What the ACLU is basically saying is “sure, our guys may have supported the terrorists in the old days, before they were labeled a terrorist group but where’s your evidence of recent activity?” If they had recent evident the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and its affiliate organization, the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT) wouldn’t be un-indicted co-conspirators but would have been up on charges of their own.

The ACLU is one of the most dangerous organizations in this country today. Their defense of our enemies is mind boggling and possibly treasonous. I, for one, can’t wait to see them brought up on charges of sedition and tossed in Gitmo to watch some guard try to flush their holy book down the commode.

Chalk it up to the ACLU’s penchant for defending the bad guy, standing with evil and against all that is good. When the scores are tallied someday the ACLU will go down in history along with other groups that have worked so hard to destroy civilization and enslave humanity, like the Khmer Rouge, The Soviets, Che Guevara, Chairman Mao, Hitler, the Visigoths and all of Mohammed’s followers throughout history.

DHS Stresses the Dangers of Improvised Explosive Devices

The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) annual preparedness grants for fiscal year 2008 will stress the dangers of improvised explosive devices (IED), reports CQ.com (subscription only).

“In terms of funding priorities, we continued our focus on critical national preparedness capabilities, which of course are consistent with our National Preparedness Guidelines and the National Response Framework, which we released at the beginning of the year,” DHS chief Michael Chertoff said. “A particular focus has been improved explosive device deterrence, prevention and protection.”

Chertoff noted that almost every major terrorist attack perpetrated in the West after 9-11 involved an IED. While IEDs conjure up images of the sophisticated roadside bombs planted by insurgents and terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq, Chertoff says IEDs are more properly understood as "home-made bombs" that are “not manufactured as part of a military program or some institutionalized way of making bombs.”

To defend against IEDs, DHS has directed states to allocate 25 percent of their funding under the State Homeland Security Program (SHSP) to either counter-IED initiatives or preparedness planning. DHS has awarded $861.3 billion to the SHSP this year out of the total $1.69 billion allocated to the Homeland Security Grant Program. All told, DHS will distribute $1.8 billion dollars in preparedness grants this year, according to CQ.com.

IG: DHS has problems with top secret data

The Homeland Security Department still has problems handling classified top secret intelligence information, according to a new report from the department’s Office of the Inspector General.

Overall, DHS’ Office of Intelligence and Analysis has made progress in managing intelligence systems departmentwide, and in establishing an information technology security program for those systems, to meet Federal Information Security Management Act requirements, the report said.

However, there are still unaddressed problems, the IG concluded. A four-page copy of the report, which has been redacted for public release, is posted on the inspector general’s Web site. “Procedural and operational issues, however, remain regarding the effectiveness of the implementation of the department’s intelligence security program and system controls,” the report said. “Furthermore, the department has not yet fully addressed the issues and recommendations that we reported in fiscal year 2006.”

The report focuses on security program management, implementation and system administration of intelligence activities. The review covers the intelligence analysis office as well as the Transportation Security Administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

To improve the situation, the IG recommended that the DHS undersecretary for intelligence and analysis, through the director of information sharing and knowledge management, issue formal guidance for the department’s intelligence activities and establish an information systems’ security education, training, and awareness program for intelligence personnel.

The report also advises that the DHS Office of the Chief Information Officer address the system control issues identified during the review.

DHS officials agreed with the findings and are following the recommendations, the report said.

A Real Threat: Terrorists Tampering With Food

The deliberate contamination of the nation's food supply is a serious threat.

In January 2004 the Bush administration responded to the threat of contamination of the nation's food supply with a Homeland Security Presidential Directive, according to an April report from Trust For America's Health titled "Fixing Food Safety: Protecting America's Food Supply From Farm-to-Fork."

The directive calls for a coordinated national approach to countering threats to the food supply. The directive tasked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security with leading national food defense efforts while working in coordination with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department Health and Human Services and the Environmental Protection Agency. ...

Second Man Involved in Domestic Terrorism Plot Targeting Military, Jewish Facilities Sentenced to Prison

SANTA ANA, Calif., July 21 --

A man recruited to join a domestic terrorist cell that was plotting to attack United States military facilities, "infidels," and Israeli and Jewish targets in the Los Angeles area as part of a "jihad" was sentenced today to more than 121/2 years in federal prison.

Gregory Patterson, 24, of Gardena, was sentenced to 151 months in prison by United States District Judge Cormac J. Carney. Last month, another man recruited into the terror plot, Levar Washington, 30, was sentenced to 22 years in prison.

Patterson and Washington pleaded guilty in December to conspiring to wage war against the United States and a weapons charge. Patterson also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess firearms in furtherance of a crime of violence

The man who organized the terror cell - Kevin James, who formed the group he called Jam'iyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh, or JIS, while in a California state prison - also pleaded guilty last year to the terrorism conspiracy charge and is scheduled to be sentenced on February 9, 2009.

In plea agreements filed in federal court, James, Washington and Patterson admitted that they conspired "to levy war against the government of the United States through terrorism, and to oppose by force the authority of the United States government."

The fourth member of JIS named in an indictment - Hammad Samana - has been found unfit to stand trial and is currently receiving psychiatric care at a federal prison facility.

After forming JIS in 1997 while in state prison, James recruited Washington into the organization in late 2004 while both were prisoners at New Folsom Prison, where James had Washington swear an oath of loyalty and obedience to James and to JIS. After his release from prison several weeks after taking the JIS oath, Washington recruited Patterson and Samana into JIS and had them swear oaths of allegiance and obedience to JIS. After forming this cell, Washington and Patterson conducted about a dozen armed robberies of gas stations to obtain money for the group's planned attacks in the Los Angeles area.

Samana researched targets and prepared a document called "Modes of Attack." The document listed "LAX and Consulate of Zion," "Military Targets," "Army Recruiting centers throughout the county," "Military base in Manhattan Beach" and "Campsite of Zion."

After Torrance Police Department investigators linked Washington and Patterson to a gas station robbery, various Jihadist documents were found at a South Los Angeles apartment where they lived. In addition to the "Modes of Attack" document, investigators discovered a document titled "Notoriety Moves," which contained a James-authored statement to be given to the media after a deadly attack. The proposed press statement reads, in part, "This incident is the first in a series of incidents to come in a plight to defend and propagate traditional Islam in its purity." The document also warns "sincere Muslims" to avoid a series of targets, including "Those Jewish and non-Jewish supporters of an Israeli state."

The investigation into the terrorist conspiracy was led by the FBI's Long Beach Joint Terrorism Task Force, whose participating agencies include the Los Angeles Police Department; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; the Torrance Police Department; the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department; the Long Beach Police Department; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Los Angeles Port Police; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service; the Defense Criminal Investigative Service; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; and the Redondo Beach Police Department.

Substantial assistance during the investigation was provided by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, Bureau of Investigations; the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation; the California Department of Justice; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations; and the Department of Defense.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office worked collaboratively with the United States Attorney's Office during the investigation.

SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice

Veterans get ALS disability

'Lou Gehrig's disease' to be listed as service-connected, U.S. says

The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to provide full disability payments for Lou Gehrig's disease, tacitly acknowledging for the first time a generalized link between the fatal neurological disorder and military service.

Veterans and patient advocates have advocated the change for years, citing studies showing that former soldiers are more likely than the general population to contract the disease, formally known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. ...

More Defense Vendors, Please

(Compiler's note: More evidence that the gov't should keep their hand out of business.)

By Jay Hancock

In 1993, Defense Secretary Les Aspin invited more than a dozen CEOs of big weapons and aerospace companies to dinner at the Pentagon. In what has become known as the Last Supper, he shocked them by saying that, with the end of the Cold War, America had too many defense contractors and that the companies needed to merge or die.

Merge they did. But 15 years later, as the fiasco with the Air Force's tanker contract and widespread Pentagon procurement dysfunction demonstrate, it's not clear that fewer contractors is better. Monopoly-like power exercised by a few dominant vendors is no better, it turns out, in the defense industry than it is in software, electricity or cable TV.

The next president ought to consider undoing what Aspin wrought and spurring a Ma Bell-like breakup of dominant defense companies.

The tanker contract, which could eventually be worth $100 billion, wouldn't have even been nominally competitive without the participation of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., which teamed up with finalist Northrop Grumman.
Boeing, the loser in the competition, protested the Air Force's decision to award the deal to Northrop and EADS, the parent of Airbus. The Government Accountability Office upheld Boeing's appeal based on what it said were flawed procedures by the Air Force.

But the larger point is that the United States couldn't even field a full team at the bidding table.

Outsourcing and globalization may be fine for TVs and tomatoes, but it's another matter for key hardware needed to defend the country.

Since the Last Supper the number of major defense contractors has shrunk from more than two dozen to half a dozen.

Fewer vendors usually means higher prices and shoddy service. Pentagon procurement has never been a model of efficiency and alacrity, but things are as bad as ever despite years of reform efforts.

The Defense Department "is not receiving expected returns on its large investment in weapons systems," the Government Accountability Office found this year after evaluating dozens of major programs and finding most were over budget and years behind schedule. "The final result is lost buying power and opportunities to recapitalize the force."

Why work hard to please your customer when you know you'll get the business anyway?

Fueled by the war in Iraq and the homeland security boondoggle, profits at Northrop, which has a big electronics operation in Linthicum, have more than doubled in five years. Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin's profits have tripled. Boeing's are up nearly sixfold.

Faced with the lack of competition and failure of a functioning market in defense procurement, the Pentagon has installed endless rules and bidding procedures to try to create the illusion of a market.

It's similar to what's going on in electricity, where grid managers and public utility commissions conduct highly stylized "auctions" that are tilted in favor of the vendors and whose results surprise nobody but the customers paying the price.

"Because we are pretending like we have a competitive system, we are putting myriad rules and regulations in place to actually compensate for the fact that it's not true competition," Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, said of defense procurement at a hearing last month.

The thicket of rules deters bids from outside companies interested in breaking into the defense business, she said, adding, "it's almost surreal how ridiculous it is."

While mostly praising results of defense consolidation in a column in Defense News two years ago, former Lockheed Martin boss Norman Augustine warned that, in cases where only one company provides a crucial product (an example is aircraft carriers, made only by Northrop Grumman), "it is simply a stroke of the pen away from de facto nationalization of the industry."

That may not be such a terrible idea. Many countries handle defense purchases through state-owned companies.

But better we try to make the private defense base more diversified and competitive.

"We need a bold strategy to reverse consolidation and a vigorous debate on the consequences of globalization for U.S. security," former Undersecretary of Defense Dov Zakheim and former Missile Defense Agency chief Ronald Kadish wrote in TheWashington Post this year.

Aspin and the other hosts of the Last Supper were trying to help taxpayers by getting contractors to streamline overhead costs through mergers. But in the long run, by cutting competition, they may have hurt taxpayers instead.

Augustine suggested in his column that Aspin should have served Rolaids at the famous meal. From defense company shareholders' point of view, champagne might have been more appropriate.

Crocker judges insurgency no longer 'much of a challenge'

Iraqis won't allow civil war, he says...

A Pentagon Battle Over 'The Next War'

Many military officers are pushing back against Defense Secretary Gates' focus on
preparing for more 'asymmetric' fighting rather than for a large, conventional conflict.

Insider fighting within pentagon between SECDEF and military leaders with respect to the focus of future conflicts.

WASHINGTON -- Air Force Maj. Gen. Charles J. Dunlap Jr. is not a fighter pilot, wing commander or war planner. But he is waging what many officers consider a crucial battle: ensuring that the U.S. military is ready for a major war.

Dunlap, like many officers across the military, believes the armed forces must prepare for a large-scale war against technologically sophisticated, well-equipped adversaries, rather than long-term ground conflicts like Iraq and Afghanistan. ...

What Is the Arab World's Problem?

In recent years, former CIA analyst and Clinton-administration National Security Council staffer Kenneth Pollack has found himself so close to Bush administration Middle East policies—like regime change in Iraq and Gen. David Petraeus' surge strategy—that it's hardly surprising he'd now like to put some distance between himself and an unpopular White House. Thus, in A Path out of the Desert: A Grand Strategy for America in the Middle East, Pollack adopts a countermeasure perfected over the last several years by Arab liberals concerned that any association with Bush is likely to lose them respect, if not their freedom or their lives: trash the White House pre-emptively and then restate the general principles of its Middle East policy. ...

Coasties Prevent 'Internation Incident' with Mexico

...It all started when the 46-foot sport-fishing boat Senor Hefe chugged out of San Diego at three in the morning ... and blundered into an improperly lit, circular tuna "cage" net being towed by a Mexican commercial fishing boat. Though not seriously damaged, Senor Hefe's crew found itself trapped in a ring of metal bars, in international waters. "We all think were in some sort of crazy dream," one fisherman recalled.

The Mexican fishermen were powerless to help, so the Americans radioed the Coast Guard. But before the Coasties could arrive, a Mexican Navy patrol boat appeared (pictured), its crew wielding Uzis and bad attitudes. Mexican sailors started cutting away portions of the cage, preparing to board Senor Hefe -- a big no-no in international waters. ...

Radical Islam gains ground in campuses

Almost third of Muslim students on Britain's campuses believe killing in the name of religion can be justified, according to a controversial survey described as the most comprehensive of its kind.

The poll, conducted for Islam on Campus, a new report from the Centre for Social Cohesion think-tank, also found that 40 per cent of those interviewed supported the introduction of sharia law for British Muslims. ...

Bummer... Petraeus Won't Join Obama in 16 Month Timetable

REALITY SETS IN-- PETRAEUS WILL NOT BACK OBAMA'S HASTY RETREAT PLANS

Here's a major blow to the mainstream media and their non-surge supporting darling, Barack Obama...

FDA, Military Health System Expand Data-Sharing Agreement

FDA and the Military Health System are expanding an existing information-sharing agreement, Government Health IT reports.

Since July 2007, MHS and FDA have shared information regarding the review and use of FDA drugs, biologics and medical devices. FDA has a similar information-sharing partnership with the Veterans Health Administration.

Now, FDA and MHS' agreement will be expanded to include the use of MHS databases to track unexpected side effects of newly approved prescription drugs. FDA also will use MHS databases to study and track food poisoning outbreaks and bioterrorism incidents.

The MHS patient databases include information on more than nine million active-duty personnel, their families and retirees (Buxbaum, Government Health IT, 7/24).

Salute the Danish Flag

By Susan MacAllen

In 1978-9 I was living and studying in Denmark. An elderly woman to whom I was close said something to me one day that puzzled me for many years after. I forget what the context of our conversation was, but she commented that I - as a young American in Denmark - should not let any Dane scold me about the way America had treated its black population, because the Danes in her view treated their immigrants at least as badly. I wasn’t sure which immigrants she meant, so I asked her. She answered that she meant those from the Middle East.But in 1978 - even in Copenhagen, one didn’t see these Muslim immigrants. The Danish population embraced visitors, celebrated the exotic, went out of its way to protect each of its citizens. It was proud of its new brand of socialist liberalism - one in development since the conservatives had lost power in 1929 - a system where no worker had to struggle to survive, where one ultimately could count upon the state as in, perhaps, no other western nation at the time. The rest of Europe saw the Scandinavians as free-thinking, progressive and infinitely generous in their welfare policies. Denmark boasted low crime rates, devotion to the environment, a superior educational system and a history of humanitarianism. Denmark was also most generous in its immigration policies - it offered the best welcome in Europe to the new immigrant: generous welfare payments from first arrival plus additional perks in transportation, housing and education. It was determined to set a world example for inclusiveness and multiculturalism.

How could it have predicted that one day in 2005 a series of political cartoons in a newspaper would spark violence that would leave dozens dead in the streets - all because its commitment to multiculturalism would come back to bite?By the 1990’s the growing urban Muslim population was obvious - and its unwillingness to integrate into Danish society was obvious. Years of immigrants had settled into Muslim-exclusive enclaves.

As the Muslim leadership became more vocal about what they considered the decadence of Denmark’s liberal way of life, the Danes - once so welcoming - began to feel slighted. Many Danes had begun to see Islam as incompatible with their long-standing values: belief in personal liberty and free speech, in equality for women, in tolerance for other ethnic groups, and a deep pride in Danish heritage and history.

The New York Post in 2002 ran an article by Daniel Pipes and Lars Hedegaard, in which they forecasted accurately that the growing immigrant problem in Denmark would explode. In the article they reported:“Muslim immigrants…constitute 5 percent of the population but consume upwards of 40 percent of the welfare spending.”“Muslims are only 4 percent of Denmark’s 5.4 million people but make up a majority of the country’s convicted rapists, an especially combustible issue given that practically all the female victims are non-Muslim. Similar, if lesser, disproportions are found in other crimes.”

“Over time, as Muslim immigrants increase in numbers, they wish less to mix with the indigenous population. A recent survey finds that only 5 percent of young Muslim immigrants would readily marry a Dane.”“Forced marriages - promising a newborn daughter in Denmark to a male cousin in the home country, then compelling her to marry him, sometimes on pain of death - are one problem…

”“Muslim leaders openly declare their goal of introducing Islamic law once Denmark’s Muslim population grows large enough - a not-that-remote prospect. If present trends persist, one sociologist estimates, every third inhabitant of Denmark in 40 years will be Muslim.

”It is easy to understand why a growing number of Danes would feel that Muslim immigrants show little respect for Danish values and laws. An example is the phenomenon common to other European countries and the U.S.: some Muslims in Denmark who opted to leave the Muslim faith have been murdered in the name of Islam, while others hide in fear for their lives.

Jews are also threatened and harassed openly by Muslim leaders in Denmark, a country where once Christian citizens worked to smuggle out nearly all of their 7,000 Jews by night to Sweden - before the Nazis could invade. I think of my Danish friend Elsa - who as a teenager had dreaded crossing the street to the bakery every morning under the eyes of occupying Nazi soldiers - and I wonder what she would say today.In 2001,

Denmark elected the most conservative government in some 70 years - one that had some decidedly non-generous ideas about liberal unfettered immigration. Today Denmark has the strictest immigration policies in Europe. ( Its effort to protect itself has been met with accusations of “racism” by liberal media across Europe - even as other governments struggle to right the social problems wrought by years of too-lax immigration.)

If you wish to become Danish, you must attend three years of language classes. You must pass a test on Denmark’s history, culture, and a Danish language test. You must live in Denmark for 7 years before applying for citizenship. You must demonstrate an intent to work, and have a job waiting. If you wish to bring a spouse into Denmark, you must both be over 24 years of age, and you won’t find it so easy anymore to move your friends and family to Denmark with you.

You will not be allowed to build a mosque in Copenhagen. Although your children have a choice of some 30 Arabic culture and language schools in Denmark, they will be strongly encouraged to assimilate to Danish society in ways that past immigrants weren’t. In 2006, the Danish minister for employment, Claus Hjort Frederiksen, spoke publicly of the burden of Muslim immigrants on the Danish welfare system, and it was horrifying: the government’s welfare committee had calculated that if immigration from Third World countries were blocked, 75 percent of the cuts needed to sustain the huge welfare system in coming decades would be unnecessary.

In other words, the welfare system as it existed was being exploited by immigrants to the point of eventually bankrupting the government. “We are simply forced to adopt a new policy on immigration. The calculations of the welfare committee are terrifying and show how unsuccessful the integration of immigrants has been up to now,” he said.

A large thorn in the side of Denmark’s imams is the Minister of Immigration and Integration, Rikke Hvilshoj. She makes no bones about the new policy toward immigration, “The number of foreigners coming to the country makes a difference,” Hvilshøj says, “There is an inverse correlation between how many come here and how well we can receive the foreigners that come.”

And on Muslim immigrants needing to demonstrate a willingness to blend in, “In my view, Denmark should be a country with room for different cultures and religions. Some values, however, are more important than others. We refuse to question democracy, equal rights, and freedom of speech.” Hvilshoj has paid a price for her show of backbone.

Perhaps to test her resolve, the leading radical imam in Denmark, Ahmed Abdel Rahman Abu Laban, demanded that the government pay blood money to the family of a Muslim who was murdered in a suburb of Copenhagen, stating that the family’s thirst for revenge could be thwarted for money. When Hvilshoj dismissed his demand, he argued that in Muslim culture the payment of retribution money was common, to which Hvilshoj replied that what is done in a Muslim country is not necessarily what is done in Denmark.

The Muslim reply came soon after: her house was torched while she, her husband and children slept. All managed to escape unharmed, but she and her family were moved to a secret location and she and other ministers were assigned bodyguards for the first time - in a country where such murderous violence was once so scarce.

Her government has slid to the right, and her borders have tightened. Many believe that what happens in the next decade will determine whether Denmark survives as a bastion of good living, humane thinking and social responsibility, or whether it becomes a nation at civil war with supporters of Sharia law.

And meanwhile, Americans clamor for stricter immigration policies, and demand an end to state welfare programs that allow many immigrants to live on the public dole. As we in America look at the enclaves of Muslims amongst us, and see those who enter our shores too easily, dare live on our taxes, yet refuse to embrace our culture, respect our traditions, participate in our legal system, obey our laws, speak our language, appreciate our history . . . we would do well to look to Denmark, and say a prayer for her future and for our own.

FamilySecurityMatters.org contributing editor Susan MacAllen writes a political blog, askew.blogharbor.com, and has written on an extensive array of subjects for over 20 years. She has lived overseas and been intimately involved in the French culture since the Muslim immigrant population emerged in the south of France.

Obama's Trip: No Bounce, No Flags, No Wounded GIs

(Compiler's note: He (Obama) didn't want the American flag shown at his speech in Germany and at his press conference in Paris. He canceled a trip to visit wounded soldiers when he was told the press couldn't take pictures of him. And the American public thought the press coverage of his trip was simply "excessive.")

How to contain radical Islam

The best global strategy for the US may be the one that won the Cold War

By Commander Philip Kapusta and Captain Donovan Campbell

THE EVENTS OF Sept. 11, 2001, brutally announced the presence of an enemy seemingly distinct from any our country had faced before. Unlike previous adversaries, such as Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, or the Spanish monarchy, this new enemy was difficult to define, let alone understand. It was not motivated by causes that an avowedly secular government could easily comprehend, and it took an amorphous yet terrifying form with little historical precedent.

Our leaders responded to this new threat with dramatic changes. In the largest government reorganization of the past 50 years, the Department of Homeland Security lumbered into existence. A new director of national intelligence was named to oversee America's vast intelligence apparatus, and the defense of the homeland was made the military's top priority. Most dramatically, the United States announced - and then implemented - an aggressive new policy of preemptive war.

Yet, with the seventh anniversary of 9/11 approaching, it seems clear that policy makers have not responded particularly well. Islamic extremists are gaining strength, while America finds itself increasingly isolated in the world. The coalition of the willing, never overly robust, is now on life support. In the Middle East, the Islamist parties Hezbollah and Hamas have enough popular support to prosper in free and fair elections, and Al Qaeda is adding franchise chapters in North Africa, the Levant, the Arabian Peninsula, and elsewhere. Our most prominent post- 9/11 action remains the Iraq war, which has arguably failed to improve America's national security even as it has strengthened the position of our sworn enemies in the government of Iran.

Underlying these global setbacks is a core problem: The United States has yet to formulate a holistic strategy to guide the prosecution of our new war. We have not articulated a clear set of mutually reinforcing goals, and we have not undertaken a consistent set of actions designed to achieve our aims even as they demonstrate our national values. Indeed, we have not even managed to properly identify our enemies; despite the rhetoric of the past seven years, America is not at war with terror, because terror is not a foe but a tactic.

Blundering forward, we have squandered the swell of global good will after 9/11, punished our friends, and rewarded our enemies with shortsighted, even self-destructive, tactics.

Yet what we face today is not wholly novel: It is a war of ideas, mirroring the Cold War. Like the Communists, violent Islamic extremists are trying to spread a worldview that denigrates personal liberty and demands submission to a narrow ideology. And, as with the Cold War, it must be our goal to stop them. The United States should therefore adopt a new version of the policy that served us so well during that last long war: containment.

... Drawing heavily from articles written by the American diplomat George Kennan, the landmark National Security Council Report 68 (NSC-68) outlined a strategy of containment that served as the core of American foreign policy for every president from Truman to Reagan.

Presciently, NSC-68 identified the essential clash between the United States and the Soviet Union as one between diametrically opposed ideologies. On the Soviet side was a dogmatic belief system that demanded absolute submission of individual freedom and sought to impose its authority over the rest of the world. On the American side was an ideology premised on the overriding value of freedom, a system founded upon the dignity and worth of the individual. This ideology relied upon its inherent appeal, and did not aim to bring other societies into conformity through force of arms.

The policy of containment represented a tectonic shift from the military-centric, unconditional-surrender mentality of World War II.

... containment did not define success as the military defeat and unconditional surrender of the Soviet regime. It had more modest ambitions: geographic isolation of the communist belief system and slow change over time. By fighting a global struggle for influence, the thinking went, America could avoid a costly full-scale war against the Soviets.

...The path dictated by NSC-68 was not a straight line to the collapse of the USSR, but the strategy proved remarkably effective. Communism expanded outside of its containment zone in a few instances, but, for the most part, the United States and its allies successfully implemented the indirect approach recommended by NSC-68. When the once mighty Soviet empire imploded in 1991, it was almost precisely as NSC-68 had predicted.

...Strikingly, if one replaces "communism" with "Islamic extremism" and "the Kremlin" with "Al-Qaeda," NSC-68 could have been written in 2002, not 1950. Like communism, Islamic extremism lusts for political power, in this case through the restoration of the caliphate and the imposition of Sharia law on all peoples. Indeed, language from NSC-68 rings eerily true today - it described the Soviets as "animated by a new fanatic faith, antithetical to our own." Al Qaeda and its ilk are the latest in a long line of narrow ideologies that claim to provide the only true answer to life's existential questions. And as with Soviet communism, the idea has a geographic nucleus.

Our task now is to envelop this nucleus with prosperous, stable countries whose inhabitants are free to choose their own beliefs. Working from the outside in, the United States must partner with nations on the periphery to help them build a stronger middle class, enhance their education systems, improve basic health, and lower government corruption. ...

...It is popular to blame these failings on the attention and resource deficits created by the Iraq war. But they are just as much the result of the black-and-white mentality that governs our approach to foreign affairs - liberal democracy or nothing. In working with periphery states, we must be willing to accept outcomes that are less than perfect. Indeed, we must be willing to accept ruling regimes that may not like us at all. We are not trying to create mini-Americas scattered across the globe; we are looking to foster stable, free countries whose people will have little interest in the repressive ideology of our enemies.

On occasion, extremist governments hostile to the existence of the United States (Hamas in the Gaza Strip) will enjoy broad popular support, but preemptive wars must become a thing of the past. We cannot say that we value freedom and then seek political change through force when the choice of the people produces regimes not to our liking. **However, the military can, and must, be used to target individuals bent on terror aimed at American interests. Furthermore, if a nation enables attacks on our homeland, as Afghanistan did under the Taliban, then we must use all necessary means to defend ourselves. On rare occasions, this will require full-out war and post-invasion reconstruction.**

...Going forward, adopting a strategy of neocontainment will entail checking Iran's expansion efforts through proxies rather than direct strikes against the country itself. Just as we limited Soviet expansion without using overt force against the Warsaw Pact, so too can we contain the Iranian regime without flying B-2s over Tehran.

Furthermore, we must institutionalize the lessons learned so painfully over seven years of war. The military must dramatically improve its nation-building doctrine, capacity, and will, acknowledging that postwar stability is much more important in the long run than is dominating the active combat phase. We remain unchallenged in our ability to win conventional military conflicts, but we must develop the language skills, cultural awareness, and civil-affairs specialists necessary to prevail in unconventional campaigns and in fighting's messy aftermath.

Our next president will inherit a nation weary of war, a world skeptical of American motives and actions, and undecided conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, the energy and excitement of a government transition offer both the outgoing and incoming administrations the opportunity to take bold steps.

On the battlefield, it is at least as important to articulate what you are for as it is to define what you are against. In a war of ideas, this is even more critical. To do this across the world, nation by nation, will take time, and that does not come naturally to our fast paced, results-oriented society. But we need to muster the requisite patience. Untold numbers of lives hinge on it.

Navy Commander Philip Kapusta is currently serving as chief of strategic plans at Special Operations Command Central, in Tampa. Marine Captain Donovan Campbell recently returned from his third combat deployment. His book, "Joker One," will be published by Random House in March. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense or the US government.

Grenade Found In Car Crossing Bridge From Canada

U.S. Customs officials discovered a grenade in an SUV crossing from Canada into the United States over the Ambassador Bridge late Sunday night.

The Detroit Police bomb squad was called in to examine the grenade, which officials hadn’t yet determined was live or a souvenir, according to one fire official.

Three Canadians and three Americans were in the SUV, the fire official said. ...

Entering the inner world of a terrorist

After every terror act we tend to blame government, investigative agencies, political parties, religious and ethnic groups. If terrorists are mindless, would they resist from executing their killings so proficiently? Lopez tries to find the answer. WHENEVER TERRORISM strikes India, there is always a backlash against the government, investigative agencies, political parties, religious and ethnic groups. And of course all needles of suspicion, point towards Pakistan and Bangladesh as the source of terrorism, while each of the accused groups defend themselves.

I was reflecting and talking to a number of anti-terrorism experts on this subject and thus, I decided to examine a terrorist, from a total different angle. India maybe armed with sophisticated investigative agencies but yet, year after year, we are always caught off guard and we face disastrous attacks, killing of innocent human beings. I agree that terror attacks are mindless but are terrorists mindless?

If terrorists are mindless, would they execute their killings so proficiently? Terrorists are people with a clear mind, pure and wholesome. They are completely committed to what they do. And they kill because their humanity has been killed, which is why they do not have respect or regard for human life. They see it as inconsequential and extravagant, not vital and necessary, yet nothing supersedes their agenda. They are so successful with their acts because they are ruled by their hearts and not just the mind. It is simply a matter of conviction and moral ethics for them. They are never satisfied or gratified with what they do because it is a matter of purpose of their living and agenda. They are tenacious, focused individuals, who believe who believe that they are doing an eternal work. In contrast to the popular sense that suicidal terrorists are socio-pathic whackos, many experts argue that they are effectively pursuing their goals and they are rational human beings.

Why do you think it takes years for any terrorism case to be decided in court? Is it only because of corruption or lethargic judicial machinery? It is mainly because the accused has power and sanity to fight till the finish. Yet, even by the time we jail or hang them, another cell forms and takes control. A psychologist from Washington, DC Rona Fields says, “A terrorist’s definition of right and wrong is very black and white, and is directed by an authoritative director and there’s a total limitation of the capacity to think for themselves.” She further adds, “These true believers, are angry people, but they don’t feel guilty about their anger.”

Terrorists usually want publicity, which they as a group cannot normally not afford or buy. Therefore, any media source, surrounding a terrorist act tells the world that a problem exists, which must not be ignored but yet solved. Though they know that perusing people to favour their act, will do no good, they, however, always pursue a favourable vote for their cause. Using this tactic, terrorists usually attract more sympathisers for their agenda. And this usually involves forming good relationships with the Press which is often cultivated and nurtured over a period of years.

Political analyst, Kent Oots, says, “The physiological approach to terrorism suggests that the role of the media in promoting the spread of terrorism cannot be ignored in any discussion of the causes of terrorism. Thanks to media coverage, the methods, demands and goals of terrorists are quickly made known to potential terrorists, who may be inspired to imitate them upon becoming stimulated by media accounts of terrorist acts.

“Terrorists are already frustrated individuals who are disposed to manipulating their victims as well as the Press, the public, and the authorities. They note that the potential terrorist need only see that terrorism has worked for others in order to become aggressively aroused.”

Former member of FBI’s Forensic Psychology Advisory Board for the Behavioral Science Unit, Jim Hawkins says, “As professionals in the law enforcement and intelligence communities increasingly direct their energies and resources to countering and preventing this type of extreme violence, they are working to acquire new knowledge and skills. In learning about terrorism, they not only should consider the specific ideology of those who commit or advocate acts of terrorism, but also gain an understanding of the process of how these ideas or doctrines develop as well as the various factors that influence the behavior of extremist groups and individuals”.

He further adds, “An investigator might reasonably wonder why such an understanding is important. The answer lies in the old military adage know your enemy.

In one of the many translations of The Art of War, Sun Tzu, a well-known Chinese general, is quoted as saying, know your enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril.”

It is high time that law enforcement agencies, adapt a very rare approach to curb terrorism. Conducting post mortem’s after the blasts, is just not the right attitude to tackle terrorism. These professionals, need to build an attitude by understanding how extremist ideas develop. This includes, designing new programme to understand and collect behavioral information of individual’s and groups. It is not necessary that only ideologies, be examined but, how a person will act in a given situation because ideology is just one of the factors but the most crucial areas to be examined are the behavioral factors, which contribute in majority.

It's a war against India: Narendra Modi

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said there is one mastermind terrorist organisation triggering the blasts in different parts of the country. ( Watch )

Speaking to reporters after reviewing security at the city police headquartes here, Modi said the common pattern of all the blasts in the country was an indication that one terrorist organisation or nation was behind them.