CAIR Threatens Muslims With $25,000 Penalty by David Gaubatz

September 3, 2008 – Washington, DC: The Mapping Sharia Project, a research project sponsored by the Society of Americans for National Existence (SANE), is issuing an alert that the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a self-described public interest civil rights law firm, may have engaged in criminal fraud.

Mapping Sharia calls for a full investigation by the appropriate government agencies. The victims of this fraud may also be due compensation for their losses and suffering. Reliable sources have produced solid information that Morris Days, the Manager for Civil Rights at the CAIR MD/VA chapter, who was widely publicized by CAIR as one of its civil rights attorneys, was in fact not an attorney, and failed to provide services for Muslim American clients who came to CAIR for assistance and who paid for Days’ services. Not only has CAIR not revealed the facts about Days and his fraudulent, criminal behavior, but as of yesterday, September 2, 2008, the CAIR National office in Washington, D.C. continued to post articles at its website naming Days as an attorney. This amounts to a de facto cover-up of CAIR’s involvement in this criminal affair and a perpetuation of the fraud with CAIR’s assistance.

At the same time that CAIR promoted Days as a lawyer while knowing he was not, it continued to solicit donations for its “legal” representation of Muslims in civil rights cases. Prospective plaintiffs, who may have been victimized by CAIR’s fraud in the Morris Days affair, as well as any donors to CAIR who feel they have donated to CAIR under false pretenses thinking it was a legitimate and law abiding public interest law firm, should recognize that CAIR controls an extensive real estate asset portfolio, either owned directly by CAIR or by CAIR related companies. These assets are attachable and fair game for damages claims.

The evidence for the alert has been provided from Muslim American sources. A significant body of evidence has been obtained from these sources, which include individual citizens in several states, as well as Muslim American leaders who no longer support CAIR. Copies of pertinent documents are provided for download as pdf files at the Mapping Sharia website and provided here as links:

CAIR promotions of Morris Days as a lawyer: http://www.mappingsharia.us/uploads/application/24.pdf

CAIR Release Form for Morris Days’ “clients”:
http://www.mappingsharia.us/uploads/application/28.pdf

CAIR Real Estate Portfolio Documents (Deeds for CAIR, Greater Washington LLC and Zahara Investment Corporation):
http://www.mappingsharia.us/uploads/application/29.pdf

David Gaubatz, Director of Operations, Mapping Shariah Project
contact@mappingsharia.us

Pa. Biodefense Lab Faces Further Delays

The opening of a biodefense laboratory in Allegheny County, Pa., has been delayed again by additional technical problems, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 11).

Operations at the $5.6 million facility are on hold indefinitely until a ventilation system glitch can be fixed. The system would prevent potentially lethal disease material from escaping the facility.

“There's a variety of issues, the most serious dealing with the negative air pressure ventilation system for the Level 3 laboratory where the most serious pathogens will be tested,” said county Health Department chief Bruce Dixon. “I hope it's fixable. A lot of money has been invested. I think we're making progress but it's been a slow and arduous process.”

Other issues holding up work at the site include replacement of a door, implementation of a training program on laboratory maintenance and the requirement for federal certification.

The Biosafety Level 3 facility was completed in late 2007 and features ventilation systems, equipment and safety technology allowing for research on anthrax, plague and other potential bioterrorism agents. Its focus is expected to be on infectious disease testing.

The project has faced a series of obstacles since its inception in 2002, including withdrawal of $500,000 in federal funding and a water line that had to be replaced early this year. ....

Man Arrested Near Capitol After IED, Rifle, Ammunition Allegedly Found in Jeep

WASHINGTON, D.C. — DEVELOPING STORY:

A man is under arrest in Washington after an improvised explosive device, a rifle and some ammunition were allegedly found in his jeep, Capitol Police said Friday.

The man stopped to ask police for directions near the Capitol building at about 11 a.m. EDT Friday, at the intersection of 2nd and Independence Avenue Southeast, according to Capitol Police spokeswoman Sgt. Kimberly Schneider.

The officer responding noticed a rifle case on the car seat and inspected the jeep, discovering the IED, rifle and ammunition. A canine unit was enlisted to help.

"They've all been rendered safe right now because they're in the custody of Capitol Police," Schneider told reporters at a briefing Friday.

The officer took the unidentified man into custody; the vehicle is still being searched.

Library of Congress employees near where the jeep was stopped have been evacuated, and several roads have been closed while police continue their investigation.

.... The IED is on its way to the FBI facility in Quantico, Va., for analysis.

Qaeda video threatens more attacks on Denmark: SITE

DUBAI (AFP) — Al-Qaeda has released a video featuring a senior commander who was rumoured to have been killed in Pakistan in July, threatening more attacks after a suicide bombing on the Danish embassy in Islamabad, according to the SITE group which monitors Islamist websites.

"We have warned previously -- and we warn once more -- the Crusader states which insult, mock and defame our Prophet and Koran in their media and occupy our lands, steal our treasure and kill our brothers that we will exact revenge at the appropriate time and place," Mustafa Abu al-Yazid said in the video, SITE reported on Thursday.

The June embassy bombing killed six Pakistanis and came amid anger in the Muslim world over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed first printed in Danish newspapers in 2005.....

Obama Had Close Ties to Top Saudi Adviser at Early Age

(Compiler's note: We need to vet this man quickly. If all this is true, then the American people need to know it right upfront. It would be well that such would happen before he gets all the highly classified briefings.)

By: Kenneth R. Timmerman

New evidence has emerged that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was closely associated as early as age 25 to a key adviser to a Saudi billionaire who had mentored the founding members of the Black Panthers.

In a videotaped interview this year on New York’s all news cable channel NY1, a prominent African-American businessman and political figure made the curious disclosures about Obama. (See Video Clip Below) ....

The Saudi Connection

But al-Mansour’s sponsorship of Obama as a prospective Harvard law student is important for another reason beyond his Islamic and anti-American rhetoric and early Black Panther ties.

At the time Percy Sutton, a former lawyer for Malcolm X and a former business partner of al-Mansour, says he was raising money for Obama’s graduate school education, al-Mansour was representing top members of the Saudi Royal family seeking to do business and exert influence in the United States.

In 1989, for example — just one year after Obama entered Harvard Law School — The Los Angeles Times revealed that al-Mansour had been advising Saudi billionaires Abdul Aziz and Khalid al-Ibrahim in their secret effort to acquire a major stake in prime oceanfront property in Marina del Rey, Calif., through “an elaborate network of corporate shells in California, the Caribbean and Europe.”

At the same time, he was also advising Prince Alwaleed bin Talal in his U.S. investments, and sits on the board of his premier investment vehicle, Kingdom Holdings.

Prince Alwaleed, 53, is the nephew if King Abdallah of Saudi Arabia. Forbes magazine ranked him this year as the 19th richest person on the planet, with a fortune in excess of $23 billion. He owns large chunks of Citigroup and News Corp., the holding company that controls Fox News.

He is best known in the United States for his offer to donate $10 million to help rebuild downtown Manhattan after the 9/11 attacks. But after the prince made a public comment suggesting that U.S. policies had contributed to causing the attacks, Mayor Rudy Giuliani handed back his check.

"I entirely reject that statement," Giuliani said. "There is no moral equivalent for this (terrorist) act. There is no justification for it. The people who did it lost any right to ask for justification for it when they slaughtered 4,000 or 5,000 innocent people.”

Since then, Prince Alwaleed’s Kingdom Foundation has given millions of dollars to Muslim charities in the United States, including several whose leaders have been indicted on terrorism-related charges in federal courts.

He also has given tens of millions of dollars to Harvard and other major U.S. universities, to establish programs in Islamic studies.

The casual statement by Percy Sutton to NY1 is the first time anyone has hinted at a relationship between Obama and the Saudi royal family.

Although al-Mansour glosses over his ties to the Saudi mega-billionaire in some of his public talks, he has represented the Saudi’s interests in the United States, in Britain, and in Africa for more than a quarter century, according to public records.

He told Newsmax that he has personally introduced Prince Alwaleed to “51 of the 53 leaders of Africa,” traveling from country to country on the Saudi prince’s private jet.

He knows virtually every black leader in America, from the business community, to community activists, to the worlds of politics and entertainment.

When Michael Jackson was on the ropes in the mid-1990s following a series of lawsuits by the parents of children accusing him of sexual abuse, al-Mansour introduced him to Prince Alwaleed, whose Kingdom Entertainment signed a joint venture with Jackson in 1996.

“Jackson and Alwaleed became pals in 1994, when a mutual friend from Alwaleed's college days in California arranged a lunch meeting aboard the prince's yacht in Cannes,” Time magazine reported about the new partnership in 1997.

The mutual friend was al-Mansour.

“As a black American, I am exceedingly proud at the American people’s response to Barack Obama’s candidacy,” said CORE’s Niger Innis. “But to deny that he has long-standing ties to left-wing elements in our polity is to deny reality. If you want to be president of the United States, it is not racism if you ask these kind of questions, and he has to come up with an answer, hopefully the truth.”

Sutton gives no clues as to why al-Mansour would be raising money to help Obama go to law school. Obama has said during his campaign that he paid his way through Harvard with student loans.

For Jesse Lee Peterson, founder of the Los Angeles-based Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny (BOND), these latest revelations about Obama’s ties to Saudi financiers were an important wake-up call.

“To me, this opened up more questions about Barack Obama and his relationship to the Muslim world,” Peterson told Newsmax.

“A lot of people are caught up with the emotional aspect of Barack Obama, the movie star aspect, the false promises that he’s going to take care of everyone and their Mama.”

But when the full story of Obama’s ties to radical preachers such as Wright and to black Muslim leader Louis Farrakhan comes out, Peterson believes that Obama’s star power will fade.

“I think there’s more to this story and to Barack Obama than we realize,” Peterson said. “As all the truth comes out before the election, I don’t think he has a chance. I can’t see American’s taking that kind of risk.”

The Obama campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

Congress Undermines America's Infrastructure by Looting the Highway Trust Fund

(Compiler's note: Yes, this is a national security issue. When will we ever hold Congress accountable. Simply carrying the checkbook does not imply that they have money.)

by Ronald D. Utt, Ph.D.

WebMemo #2046

Recent projections by the Office of Management and Budget and the Congressional Budget Office reveal that the highway trust fund will run out of money during FY 2009. Unless the fund is replenished soon, federal spending on highways could decline significantly as the fund reverts to a spend-as-you-earn basis until a permanent remedy is enacted. Until then, one solution is to re-concentrate the fund's focus on highway investment and safety by abandoning the many low priority and non-transportation diversions that now encumber the federal program.[1]

A Funding "Crisis"?

The soon-to-be-empty trust fund is a direct consequence of recent congressional overspending in excess of the fuel tax revenues that replenish the fund as well as decades of congressional mandates allowing non-highway interests access to the highway trust fund. In FY 2008, these mandates are estimated to have diverted approximately 38 percent of trust fund spending to projects and programs of little value to the motorist's mobility needs.

Despite the fund's depletion, some in Congress are advocating that the next highway reauthorization bill (scheduled for October 2009) should include a very substantial increase in federal transportation spending. Leaders of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure want total spending raised from the current $286 billion to nearly a half a trillion dollars. Achieving this rate of spending would likely require a doubling of the federal fuel tax from its current level of 18.3 cents per gallon.

Those seeking more transportation spending justify the tax increase as the necessary cost of resolving the nation's infrastructure "crisis." But as this author noted in a recent piece in the Wilson Quarterly, the so-called crisis seems limited exclusively to the infrastructure managed by Congress, and legislative mismanagement—not the level of funding—is a large part of the problem.[2]

Raid on the Funds

Among the many reasons these congressional tax-and-spend schemes will fail to relieve worsening traffic congestion and road deterioration is that less than two-thirds of current federal surface transportation spending is devoted to the general purpose roads that the typical motorist or truck driver (who finances the fund) use in the ordinary course of travel. The other third goes to a growing collection of costly diversions that have little to do with the mobility needs of the average motorist or to the economically essential movement of freight.

In the last highway reauthorization bill (P.L. 109-59), the largest diversion from the authorized $52 billion in total spending from the highway trust fund (including $1.8 billion in general revenues) for FY 2008 is the $9.7 billion in direct spending for transit programs (trolleys, buses, commuter rail, etc.). Transit riders are also the greatest beneficiary of the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality program, which absorbs $1.7 billion from the trust fund. Although transit riders account for only 1.6 percent of surface travel passengers, they receive a subsidy from the motorists amounting to approximately 20 percent of trust fund spending.

Other fund diversions include the Enhancement program ($647 million), the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) ($470 million), Recreational Trails ($80 million), and a transfer of $925 million to the Department of Interior for roads in national parks and forests. Altogether these leakages will absorb more than 26 percent of fund spending in 2008.

The next largest series of diversions are the four major earmarked programs: High Priority Projects, Projects of Regional and National Significance, Transportation Projects (Section 1934 of P.L. 109-59), and the National Corridor Infrastructure Improvement Program. All are authorized to spend $4.5 billion, bringing the diversion share to 35 percent.

About $155 million will be spent on scenic byways, ferry boats, magnetic levitation and tax evasion deterrence, while $408 million will be spent on administrative overhead. More than $570 million will be spent on another twelve mandated programs, including bicycles, racial profiling, historic covered bridges, community preservation, innovative finance, and Safe Routes to Schools (which also supports bicycles). Bringing up the rear are the federally mandated Metropolitan Planning Organizations—whose focus is increasingly directed to land use planning, transit and economic development—which receive $302 million.

Motorists Ripped Off

Altogether, these diversions absorb an estimated $19.6 billion in trust fund spending, or about 38 percent of the total spent from the trust fund. As a consequence, motorists will receive only about 62 percent of what they have paid into the fund for general purpose roads and safety programs. Redeploying these diverted funds back to roads used by the motorists and truckers who fund the system would yield the equivalent of a 50 percent increase in new spending for road improvements and capacity increases.

Conversely, to achieve the same goal by increasing taxes would require a tax increase of $1.67 for each dollar to be spent on roads, since the extra $0.67 would be required by the existing diversions, which traditionally share equally in any funding increase. Thus, in order to return the lost $19.6 billion to roads, fuel taxes would have to be increased by $32.7 billion. These wasted funds are a key reason why the nation's roads are in such bad shape and why congestion is getting worse.

Even More Diversions

Although the sensible policy response would be to pare back the number and cost of the existing diversions, some in Congress have already introduced legislation that would add even more diversions to the depleted trust fund. In 2008, Senator Dick Durbin (D–Ill.) introduced S.3360 to give Amtrak access to the highway trust fund to purchase new railcars. Bill co-sponsor Senator Tom Carper (D–Del.) claims that the legislation would divert $400 million each year in motorist-paid gas taxes to Amtrak, which serves only one half of 1 percent of intercity passenger travel.

Another potential major diversion could come from Representative Jim Oberstar's (D–Minn.) H.R. 3246 (the Regional Economic and Infrastructure Development Act of 2007), which would authorize federal funding for five new regional commissions that would be similar to the ARC, which has access to the highway trust fund. Although the bill in its current form does not give these new commissions such access, it is likely that its final version would include that privilege in order to create regional parity and because the Delta Regional Authority, which will be reconstituted as a "commission" under H.R. 3246, already has access to the trust fund (Section 1308).

States Know Best

Under the circumstances, the combination of existing diversions and the new ones likely to be enacted over the coming year suggest that the federal transportation program will become more costly and less effective. As a consequence, proposals to shift transportation responsibility and revenue sources back to the states are now even more compelling. One such proposal—Senator Jim DeMint's (R–S.C.) Transportation Empowerment Act (S.2823)—would do just that by "turning back" the highway program and its source of revenues to the states.

Russian units raid Georgian airfields for use in Israeli strike against Iran – report

The raids were disclosed by UPI chief editor Arnaud de Borchgrave, who is also on the Washington Times staff, and picked up by the Iranian Fars news agency. The Russian raids of two Georgian airfields, which Tbilisi had allowed Israel to use for a potential strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, followed the Georgian offensive against South Ossetia on Aug. 7.

Under the secret agreement with Georgia, the airfields had been earmarked for use by Israeli fighter-bombers taking off to strike Iran in return for training and arms supplies.

DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources report that flying from S. Georgia over the Caspian Sea to Iran would sharply trim the distance to be spanned by Israeli fighter-bombers, reducing flying time to 3.5 hours.

Northern Iran and the Tehran region, where most of the nuclear facilities are concentrated, would be within range, with no need to request US permission to pass through Iraq air space.

Russian Special Forces also raided other Israeli facilities in southern Georgia and captured Israeli spy drones, says the report.

Israel was said to have used the two airfields to “conduct recon flights over southern Russia as well as into nearby Iran.” The US intelligence sources quoted by UPI reported that the Russian force also carried home other Israeli military equipment captured at the air bases.

Our sources say that if the Russians got hold of an Israeli unmanned aerial vehicle complete with sophisticated electronic reconnaissance equipment, they will have secured some of the IDF’s most secret devices for spying on Iran and Syria.

When this happened before, Russian military engineers quickly dismantled the equipment, studied it and passed the technology on to Tehran and Damascus.

Muslim man linked to Hamas allowed to become permanent resident of U.S.

Back to back, another Muslim with "questionable" ties is exonerated in court. Though two federal agents assert he is linked to Hamas, the judge sides with his attorney who, after attending a Ramadan fast break in a mosque, concluded that the accused is a "man of great will." Update to this story.

"Terror claims against NJ Muslim leader rejected," from AP, September 4 (thanks to Jeffrey Imm):

NEWARK, N.J.: An influential New Jersey Muslim leader accused by some federal officials of having terrorist ties but praised by others as being an important ally won his fight to gain permanent U.S. residency Thursday.

A federal immigration judge in Newark ruled that Mohammad Qatanani, the spiritual leader of the Islamic Center of Passaic County, can remain in the U.S.

The ruling brought cheers, tears and applause from about a dozen Qatanani supporters who gathered in the courtroom.

"I would like to thank the judge for working hard in this case," Qatanani said. "This is a beautiful thing. The justice system in this country is great."

U.S. immigration authorities had sought to deport Qatanani on grounds that he failed to disclose on his green card application a prior arrest and conviction in Israel for being a member of Hamas, a group classified as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government. ....

As Gustav Lands, There Are Lessons to Be Learned

(Compiler's note: Must read. rca)

By James Carafano, PhD

....Yet these initial impressions did much to shape public perceptions, leading Congress to push for proposals that did little to improve—and in some cases detracted from—the ability of the nation to prepare for large-scale catastrophes. If these mistakes are not to be repeated after Gustav, Washington will have to be more sober in assessing federal responsibilities for dealing with large-scale national disasters.

Dealing with Disasters

Regardless of how serious this storm turns out to be or the successes or failures of the response, the principles of responding to disasters probably will not change.

In “normal” disasters—whether terrorist strikes like 9/11 or a natural disaster such as a flood or snowstorm—a tiered response is employed. Local leaders turn to state resources when local resources are exhausted. In turn, states look to Washington when their means are exceeded. Both local and state leaders play a critical role in effectively communicating their requirements to federal officials and managing the response. In most disasters, local resources handle things in the first hours and days until national resources can be requested, marshaled, and rushed to the scene. That usually takes days. With the exception of a few federal assets such as the Coast Guard and Urban Search and Rescue, teams do not roll in until after the response is well under way.

....The federal government does have a unique and important role to play. Only the federal government can build a national response system to mobilize the resources of the nation in the face of a catastrophic disaster. In virtually every instance, however, state and local leaders will remain in charge, and national assets—whether they come from other states, the private sector, or the federal government—will be in support of their efforts. One lesson that should not be learned from the disaster of Hurricane Katrina is that all the answers to addressing the needs of America in the face of a catastrophic disaster are to be found in Washington. ....

Lessons Not to Be Learned

What Washington should not do in the wake of Gustav is follow the lead of Congress after Katrina and attempt to make national disaster response more “Washington-centric.” Centralized preparedness and response will never be timely and flexible enough to meet local needs in a large-scale disaster. In addition, such approaches undermine the Constitutional principle of federalism. Congress should reject efforts to make Americans more dependent on Washington. In particular, Congress and the Administration should:

• Stop doling out billions in homeland security grants. Rather than build up local capabilities, many communities use these funds to simply supplant their own emergency preparedness spending. The 9/11 Commission warned that grants were in danger of becoming “pork barrel” legislation. The Commission was right. Grants have made state and local governments more dependent on Washington but have done a poor job improving national capacity for responding to large-scale disasters.

• Stop over-federalizing disaster responses. The number of declared “federal disasters” has skyrocketed since the 1990s. Declarations and deployments, while “politically” popular, distract time and resources from preparing for truly catastrophic disasters such as Katrina, and they create the unrealistic expectation that in the event of a crisis, Washington will solve all the problems.

• Stop expanding federal disaster insurance coverage. Congress is considering disaster insurance legislation that represents a bigger danger to the American economy than a catastrophic hurricane season. Congress continues to forget one of the best lessons from Hurricane Katrina: Despite the fact that Katrina was the most expensive disaster in U.S. history ($133.8 billion), the insurance market survived due to the reinsurance market. In fact, in some cases, the insurance companies were reporting sizable profits within one year.

Disasters from Disasters

Katrina was used as an excuse to try to make more federal spending and more federal control the answer for responding to disasters. Regardless of the outcome of Gustav and the sufficiency of the national response, some pundits and politicians will likely push for making national disaster preparedness and response more Washington-centric. Congress should reject such solutions. ....

Cops strip-search 'loitering' pro-lifers

The allegations in the case sound like a 3rd World dictatorship: Police officers talk over before the arrests what charges they'll use, there are no explanations when the arrests are made, the suspects are denied access to legal counsel while in custody, and cops subject suspects to semi-public strip-searches.

Only this was in Bel Air, Md., and the pro-life protesters subjected to the treatment now have brought a legal action against the officers and town for violating their Constitutional rights.

"The truth of the matter is that our clients were heckled, arrested, imprisoned, shackled, and strip-searched twice for exercising their First Amendment rights," said attorney Daniel Cox, who is allied with the Alliance Defense Fund is serving as local counsel. "No excuse exists for how our young clients were treated." .....

Islamic Jihadists Post 50K Bounty on McCain's Spiritual Advisor Pastor Rod Parsley

Courtesy of "Archangel" The Northeast Intelligence Network has secured an Islamic Jihadist threat posted just last night on the life of American Evangelical Pastor Rod Parsley. Pastor Parsley is the spiritual advisor to presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Senator John McCain. The threat offers a $50,000.00 bounty for the head of Pastor Parsley. Here is the text of the threat: ....

Calif. Legislature Passes Bill to Give Illegal Aliens Driver's Licenses

The California Legislature has passed a bill that would force the DMV to issue driver's licenses to illegal aliens. The bill currently sits on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's desk. ....

Now terror subs prowl Caribbean

(Compiler's note: Watch this one ... MUST READ -- they have a plan, and we need to learn what it is BEFORE they implement. rca)

The waters in the Caribbean and around Latin America for a long time have provided a path for illicit drugs to flow into the United States, but the U.S. Navy has increased its patrols in the region now looking for something else – Hezbollah terrorists, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

The Navy, in trolling for mini-submarines sometimes used to transport drugs, has discovered that some of them apparently are being operated by Hezbollah.

The mini-subs are small semi-submersibles, made of fiberglass and capable of carrying up to four people plus a payload. They are popular with drug smugglers, and now the U.S. is concerned elements of Hezbollah have begun using them for drug-running or smuggling weapons.

"In 2006, we were tracking around three of these," said Navy Admiral James Stavridis, commander of U.S. Southern Command. "In the year 2007, (the number) jumped to about 30. This year so far, in three months, we've seen about 30."

In drawing the connection to Hezbollah, Stravridis said there is concern about the "tri-border area (of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay). It is, in my view, principally Hezbollah activity.

"There is clearly fund-raising, money laundering, drug trafficking," Stravridis added. "And, certainly a portion of the funds that are raised in that are making their way back to the Middle East."

The suspected Hezbollah activity is centered largely in the tri-border region, particularly Ciudad del Este in Paraguay, a focal point of Islamic fundamentalism to include the Sunni Hamas and Shiite Hezbollah.

Now it has branched beyond the tri-border area into other regions of Latin America to include Venezuela.

Indeed, as far back as 2000, Iran had designated the Hezbollah to be its liaison to Hamas and the Sunni Palestinian Islamic Jihad throughout Latin America.

Stravridis expressed concern over this linkage.

"(U.S. Southern Command) is concerned about linkage between the Iranian state and nascent Islamic radical terrorism in this region," Stravridis said.

Now, Iran itself is showing a growing presence in the region, to which sources claim the administration has paid little attention. This presence includes diplomatic and intelligence not only in Venezuela but also Bolivia, Nicaragua and Ecuador.

North Korea Warned U.S. of Nuclear Reversal

North Korea warned the United States this week that it intended to reassemble its primary nuclear complex, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Sept. 3).

Pyongyang had moved to disable and dismantle the Yongbyon site under the terms of a 2007 denuclearization agreement with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States. However, frustration over not yet being removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism reportedly led North Korea to begin reversing the process. ....

U.K. Might Disclose New Iraq WMD Documents

A senior British official has directed the United Kingdom’s Cabinet Office to declassify documents that might indicate a 2002 effort to play up now-disproven claims regarding prewar Iraq’s WMD capabilities, the London Independent reported today (see GSN, Feb. 19).

Information Commissioner Richard Thomas has called on the office to disclose memorandums and e-mail messages that might contain "evidence that the [Iraq intelligence] dossier was deliberately manipulated in order to present an exaggerated case for military action" against the regime of Saddam Hussein.

In the days before the British government released its September 2002 public summary of Iraq’s alleged WMD capabilities, a series of revisions to the document were requested by Alastair Campbell, spokesman for then-British Prime Minster Tony Blair.

The 11 known revisions included changing wording on how Iraq’s biological weapons “could be used” to “are capable of being used” and replacing “may have” with “have” in reference to the power of Hussein’s sons to order the deployment of chemical or biological agents in combat. Blair asserted in the outline that such weapons could have been put into use “within 45 minutes of an order” from Hussein. ....

Concerns Could Reduce Radiation Sensor Deployment

A program to install next-generation radiation sensors at U.S. entry points could be significantly scaled back in light of revelations that the Homeland Security Department gave lawmakers overly optimistic estimates of the machines’ accuracy and expense, the Washington Post reported today ....

Murky Past of Turkey’s Gendarmerie Intelligence Emerges in Ergenekon Investigation

By Gareth Jenkins

In late August, the Turkish media reported that retired Colonel Arif Dogan had confessed to being the founder of the intelligence wing of the Turkish Gendarmerie, known in Turkish as the Jandarma Istihbarat ve Terorle Mucadele, a controversial security organization whose very existence has been officially denied for many years. Dogan’s claim was alleged to have come during investigations into the so-called Ergenekon ultranationalist gang, which was established by a handful of radical secularists – many of them retired covert operatives - who planned to stage a violent campaign to try to destabilize the moderate Islamist government of the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi - AKP). ....

The Mumahidun: Muqtada Al-Sadr’s New Militia

By Babak Rahimi

The Mahdi Army, the Shia militia loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr, has recently undergone a significant transformation. On August 28, al-Sadr suspended the armed operations of the Mahdi Army. Al-Sadr's latest statement on the Mahdi militia follows a similar call in early August when he announced new plans to reorganize the Mahdi Army into “a cultural and religious force,” charged with the responsibility of leading an intellectual jihad. As outlined in that statement, such changes primarily involve the centralization of the command structure into a small, tight unit of loyalists, coupled with vigorous religious training for the militiamen. The new militia is called the “Mumahidun” (“those who pave the path”). The name was coined in reference to the devout followers of the Hidden Imam, who prepare the way for the Mahdi’s return, believed by Shias to culminate in the establishment of divine justice on earth. ....

Attacks in Yemen Reflect al-Qaeda’s Global Oil Strategy

By Chris Zambelis

Recent attacks by al-Qaeda’s Yemeni branch, Kataeb Jund al-Yemen (Soldiers of Yemen Brigades), against oil facilities across Yemen indicate that al-Qaeda’s larger strategy to strike oil targets remains a top priority. On June 30 the group took credit for rocket attacks against an oil refinery in Safir, located east of the capital Sanaa, in Maarib province. The group later posted video footage of attack on a radical Islamist website. The attack represented the latest in a series of strikes against oil infrastructure and personnel in Yemen over the last year by militants tied to al-Qaeda, including a May 30 attack against an oil refinery in the port city of Aden. In a related incident, the group threatened to escalate its campaign of violence against oil infrastructure and foreign interests in Yemen unless the state released members of its group currently detained by Yemeni authorities. ....

Scientists track Asian pollution

WASHINGTON – From 500 miles up in space, satellites track brown clouds of dust, soot and other toxic pollutants from China and elsewhere in Asia as they stream across the Pacific, taking dead aim on the Northwest and the rest of the Western United States.

A fleet of tiny, specially equipped unmanned aerial vehicles, launched from an island in the East China Sea 700 or so miles downwind of Beijing this summer, is flying through the projected paths of the pollution, taking chemical samples and recording temperatures, humidity levels and sunlight intensity in the clouds of smog.

On the summit of 9,000-foot Mount Bachelor in Central Oregon and near sea level at Cheeka Peak on the Olympic Peninsula, monitors track the pollution as it arrives onshore.

By some estimates more than 10 billion pounds of airborne pollutants from Asia – ranging from soot to mercury to carbon dioxide to ozone – reach the United States annually. The problem is expected to worsen as some Chinese officials have warned that pollution in their country could quadruple in the next 15 years if not curbed.

While some scientists are skeptical, others say the Asian pollution could destabilize weather patterns across the North Pacific, mask the effects of global warming, reduce rainfall in the American West and compromise efforts to meet air pollution standards in the United States. ....

U.S. Crosses Pakistan Border to Raid Terror Camp

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A senior U.S. military official has acknowledged that American forces conducted a raid inside Pakistan, in the first known foreign ground assault in the country against a suspected Taliban haven.

The Pakistan government condemned an incursion that it said killed at least 15 people.

The American official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of cross border operations, told The Associated Press that the raid occurred on Pakistani soil about one mile from the Afghan border. The official didn't provide any other details. .....

Bush Gives State Secrets to Obama

(Compiler's note: Ever feel like you're watching another form of Alice in Wonderland? This is a Must Read article. rca)

by Cliff Kincaid

Barack Obama, who has not been “vetted” by the FBI for the position of president of the United States, received his “first high level briefing” on Tuesday from the office of the Director of National Intelligence, CNN has reported. “Obama was given the briefing at the FBI field office in Chicago,” the cable channel said, from a “team of intelligence experts.” But why should Obama, with a documented history of contacts with communists and terrorists, be trusted with this information?

What procedures are in place to make sure that Obama and/or his aides do not disclose any of this information to foreign or hostile interests? Will somebody in the media stop digging into Sarah Palin’s family life long enough to look into this?

Because of his 30-year association with people who hate the United States, including communist Frank Marshall Davis., anti-American preacher Jeremiah Wright, and communist terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, it is highly doubtful that Obama could get a security clearance in the U.S. government he wants to lead.

But rather than raise this issue, the major media want to investigate Sarah Palin’s pregnant daughter and her husband’s driving record.

The federal government provides a “Questionnaire for National Security Positions” to people eligible for a security clearance. There are several requests for information that Obama might find difficult to answer. They include “Other names used” by applicant, “Citizenship of your relatives and associates,” “Your foreign activities,” and “Your use of illegal drugs and drug activity.”

But Obama doesn’t have to fill out any such form. He is above it all.

According to CNN, President Bush authorized the briefing for Obama. “President Bush has followed the practice of previous presidents in deciding that intelligence briefings will be made available to the presidential and vice presidential candidates of both major parties,” CNN reported.

This may be a traditional practice but what is its legal and rational basis? And why are the “major” candidates only given access to this information?

The office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) would only confirm to AIM that the briefing took place, in coordination with the White House, and that “intelligence briefings on certain topics of national security interest” are being provided to the presidential and vice-presidential candidates of “the two major parties.”

This is a raw exercise of presidential power that Obama would never object to but the American media should question. That is, if reporters have a patriotic bone in their bodies. After all, simple common sense dictates that America’s state secrets should not be given away willy-nilly to a security risk who just happens to be running for president and captured the nomination of a major political party.

It’s going to be hard for John McCain to argue that Obama is a danger to U.S. national security when President Bush, with no clear basis in law or the Constitution, is providing him high-level intelligence briefings.

In yet another story about whether Sarah Palin was properly vetted as the Republican vice-presidential candidate, the Washington Post says it was wrong to previously report that Palin had undergone an FBI background check. “A knowledgeable official said Tuesday that the vetting team had hoped to run such a check but that FBI officials declined to do so because that type of inquiry is reserved for people nominated for senior administration jobs,” the paper said.

Obama wasn’t checked out by the FBI, either. But the Post won’t make that crystal clear to its readers. It wants the focus to be on Palin, the conservative wife and mother that media feminists abhor and detest.

The paper added, “One U.S. law enforcement official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the FBI does not conduct any kind of background checks or criminal history searches on behalf of political candidates or parties.”

The paper should have said that the FBI doesn’t conduct any kind of background checks or criminal history search of the candidates themselves. And that includes Obama, who is, after all, at the top of the Democrat ticket.

We are witnessing an incredibly strange situation in which Obama can avoid a background check and get access to national security information, but the people he appoints to high-level government positions - if he becomes president - may be subject to an FBI probe. And the process of turning over this information to Obama, despite the lingering questions about his mysterious and controversial background, has already begun.

If he becomes president, Obama will have instant access to all of our nation’s most highly classified intelligence information. And the FBI won’t dare tap Obama’s phones to find out if the information is being shared with hostile foreign interests. Indeed, Obama will be picking the head of the FBI.

Advisers to John McCain are complaining that Palin is being unfairly investigated, as part of a campaign to damage the Republican ticket, and that Obama has escaped serious scrutiny. That’s a valid point. But the Republican National Committee has treated questions about Obama’s background and associates as a laughing matter, launching a Facebook parody site for the Democratic presidential candidate.

The “Barackbook” website treats Obama’s friendly associations over the years with figures such as communist Frank Marshall Davis and terrorist Bill Ayers as amusing. The GOP is apparently trying to make a serious point through comedy. But associations with communists and terrorists are a serious matter that should be taken seriously.

In contrast to the Republicans, who have been caught flat-footed by the media feeding frenzy over Palin, the Obama Democrats are taking all of these matters very seriously. The Obama campaign covered up the Davis matter for many months before issuing a report that falsely portrayed Davis as a civil rights activist. Our media, not surprisingly, have failed to expose any of this.

The Obama campaign has also fought back hard against a private group that raised the issue in a television ad of Obama’s friendly association with Bill Ayers. The Obama campaign has demanded that the group be investigated by the Justice Department and that the ad be rejected for airing by television stations. This is an indication that President Obama will use the Justice Department and the FBI to go after his political enemies.

The rather mild ad, which simply points out the basic facts about Ayers and his involvement in a campaign of bombings, was erroneous in the sense that it portrayed Ayers as a domestic terrorist and his Weather Underground organization as an “American terrorist group.” The FBI has an entire file, available on its website, which includes information on the “international travels” of the Ayers group. “This organization described itself as a revolutionary organization of communist men and women,” the FBI says, in typical bureaucratic jargon. Ayers and his comrades were getting training and advice from communists in Havana and Hanoi. Ayers and Dohrn are both still active in radical causes, and Ayers has traveled down to Venezuela to sing the praises of the anti-American ruler there.

Ayers, now a professor and specialist in education matters, could be the Secretary of Education in an Obama Administration if a Democratic Senate confirms him. Such an appointment could not be ruled out in view of the media’s failure to hold Obama responsible for his connections to Ayers and other unsavory characters.

Interestingly, the Weather Underground information was prepared by the FBI’s Chicago field office.

So the intelligence community is now briefing a candidate whose associates, communist terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, were the subjects of an investigation by the same FBI office where the briefing is taking place. The FBI office in Chicago is also where the investigation of communist Frank Marshall Davis began. The investigation was transferred to Hawaii when Davis moved there.

But don’t expect the media to notice any of this. They’re too busy nosing around Palin’s family.

"Time to stop jihadist Islam in Europe"

by Robert Spencer

Why can't any American politician speak this way? Why are Eldad and Wilders among the handful of politicians anywhere in the world who will speak this way?

"MK Eldad: 'Time to Stop Jihadist Islam in Europe,'” by Yoni Kempinsky for Israel National News, September 4:

(IsraelNN.com) Knesset Member Aryeh Eldad held a press conference on Wednesday announcing a first-of-its-kind summit in Jerusalem for the establishment of a defensive coalition of European legislators.

“I believe that it's time to look reality in the eye, not to lower our eyes, not to be afraid of the reality,” declared Eldad. “As a physician, I can tell you that a patient who denies his disease is doomed.”

The new coalition will be geared towards those European Parliament members who believe that the expansion of Islam poses a severe threat to Western civilization.

Eldad said that there is a growing understanding in Europe that even though most of the governments surrender to the political power of the Muslim immigration, “Europe must stand and stop it. It's time, it’s almost the last possible moment, to stop Jihadist Islam in Europe.”

Regarding the planned summit, MK Eldad announced that it will take place on December 14th and 15th.

“[Attendees] will announce the creation of the alliance,” Eldad explained, ”and they will read the Jerusalem Declaration here. It will be a two-part meeting, the first one will be the practical part. The legislators will work on various laws and bills for which the drafts are being disseminated now in Europe, and work [is underway] among these parties. And the second day will be the educational day.”

INN has video.

Obama might pursue criminal charges against Bush

Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden said yesterday that he and running mate Barack Obama could pursue criminal charges against the Bush administration if they are elected in November.

Biden's comments, first reported by ABC news, attracted little notice on a day dominated by the drama surrounding his Republican counterpart, Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

But his statements represent the Democrats' strongest vow so far this year to investigate alleged misdeeds committed during the Bush years.

"If there has been a basis upon which you can pursue someone for a criminal violation, they will be pursued," Biden said during a campaign event in Deerfield Beach, Florida, according to ABC.

"[N]ot out of vengeance, not out of retribution," he added, "out of the need to preserve the notion that no one, no attorney general, no president -- no one is above the law."

....Congressional Democrats have issued a flurry of subpoenas this year to senior Bush administration aides as part of a broad inquiry into the authorisation of torturous interrogation tactics used at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp. ....

6 Mexican cops jailed in Oregon man's death

Mexican prosecutors are taking the unusual step of jailing six policemen from the resort town of San Jose del Cabo for what they say could be 30 days or more while they investigate how and whether a vacationing Oregonian was beaten to death in officers' custody, according to U.S. officials.

Steve Royster, spokesman for the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs, said Tuesday that last week's death of 38-year-old Sam Botner of Yoncalla was "a grave concern." The State Department is monitoring Mexico's investigation, he said.

Botner, a father of three who was vacationing with his wife after returning from a commercial fishing trip, reportedly suffocated on his own blood Aug. 27 in a San Jose del Cabo jail. He was arrested in a condominium parking lot that day when he reportedly got into a fight.

Botner's wife, Kym, said she believes her husband was beaten to death while handcuffed and in police custody. After viewing postmortem photos, Kym Botner said someone at the jail "just mutilated" Sam.

"His nose was totally off the side of his face," she said. "The handcuff marks were horrible." ....

Anarchists & Leftists Planned To KIDNAP RNC DELEGATES!!!

By Gateway Pundit

Anarchists, Leftists, Obama-supporters, and other thugs attacked RNC delegates earlier this week dousing them with bleach, clawing at them, and spitting on them as they were entering the Xcel Center in St. Paul. One 80 year-old delegate needed medical attention after the attack.

Click on this photo for video of the riots last night in St. Paul:

This group of delegates was also attacked by Leftist hooligans as they entered the Xcel Center on Monday. (Indymedia)
--Where are the police?

THE ANARCHISTS AND LEFTISTS WERE PLANNING TO KIDNAP RNC DELEGATES!!
WCCO reported:

Sabotaging the Xcel Energy Center or the Downtown St. Paul Airport. Leaving stalled vehicles and stretching metal chains across freeways. Even kidnapping delegates. All were tactics discussed by anarchists as ways to disrupt the Republican National Convention, according to police documents.

Groups planning to disrupt this week's convention also held an "action camp" in Minnesota this summer to teach "direct action techniques" using mock Molotov cocktails and a simulated RNC delegate vehicle that was targeted for rocks and tire-slashing, the documents say, citing information gathered by undercover investigators.

The information is contained in a search warrant application and supporting affidavit obtained by news organizations.

The documents show that for just over a year, the Ramsey County sheriff's office and other law enforcement agencies had been investigating the RNC Welcoming Committee, a self-described anarchist group. The group had been planning convention disruptions for months.

Investigators identified six leaders of the Welcoming Committee, all Minneapolis residents, who they alleged were particularly active in organizing efforts and in stockpiling materials. Five were arrested last weekend when authorities executed the search warrant.

The Alabama delegates were attacked on the highway on their way to the RNC Convention on Monday.

Previously:
BUS ATTACK IN ST. PAUL!!... Anarchists Attack RNC Busses!
Leftist Protesters Attack, Throw Poison & Spit On RNC Delegates!... 80 Year-Old Connecticut Delegate Injured!!!

Secret Raid To Kill and Capture Militants In Pakistan

By Keith Erwood

The United States is not confirming the story, however multiple news sources are indicating that a raid took place inside Pakistan to kill and or capture militants, and Al Qaeda forces in the tribal areas of Pakistan.

After the raid took place Pakistan is saying that the United States relied on bad intelligence and that only innocent civilians were killed, including woman and children. Though I myself do not belive that report.

Pakistan is also claiming we violated their territorial rights, however, I would like to dispute this claim, since Pakistan has publicly made statements that they are unable to control this part of their territory, and they have confirmed that Al Qaeda has freedom of movement in an area that has become largely like Afghanistan prior to the United States driving out the Taliban in 2001.

If they are unable to establish control over a region, how can they claim that it is their sovereign territory? So on this basis I would like to dispute that Pakistan has the right to that region, and if they do have control, then they themselves are giving shelter to terrorists.

In either case, I say it is about time we stated operating in this region and drive the terrorists out of their caves.

Though I doubt that the actions will be confirmed, I hope this leads to many more such actions.

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Controversy Snarls Upgrade Of Terrorist Data Repository

By Robert O'Harrow Jr.

A major effort to upgrade intelligence computers that hold the government's master list of terrorist identities is embroiled in controversy about the project's management and the work of contractors hired for the job, documents and interviews show.

The Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, or TIDE, serves as the central repository of information about more than 400,000 suspected terrorists around the world. Operating at the National Counterterrorism Center, TIDE and other systems each day deliver files of information to watch-list programs that screen people traveling into the United States, or they make data available online to intelligence analysts across the government.

Authorities said TIDE has revolutionized many national security tasks. But because it was built quickly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, it is limited and lacks many features needed by the intelligence community, documents show. Those limitations in TIDE and related systems hamper the ability of intelligence analysts to discover patterns and make connections among the growing pools of data they amass from around the world. TIDE also has suffered periodic outages of up to two hours, according to interviews with government officials and contractors involved with the project.

In 2006, authorities quietly launched Railhead, a project worth as much as $500 million over five years, to improve TIDE and eventually replace it and some related systems with technology that would significantly expand their capabilities.

After more than a year and about $100 million, the Railhead project has become the focus of criticism from some counterterrorism analysts and contractors, who have said it does not provide the search capabilities they expected and appears to be behind schedule. One lawmaker has taken up those questions and publicly asked for an investigation by the inspector general of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, saying his congressional staff has information from a contractor whistle-blower that shows the project is on the "brink of collapse," possibly threatening national security.

Officials at the counterterrorism center said in interviews that the allegations are untrue and irresponsible. They acknowledged that Railhead has suffered from some "speed bumps" common to large technology projects, including inadequate communication about what features analysts and other users need. They said that dozens of contract employees had been let go this summer, but that it was done to spend funds more wisely and on more important tasks.

The officials said the project is on track. A pilot project offering improved access and a wider array of features for TIDE Online -- the system that allows analysts to draw information from TIDE -- will be launched in coming weeks. "Have we had some hurdles? Of course we have," said Vicki Jo McBee, who took over as chief of the project in July.

"We are making progress," she said. "The users are going to be more than satisfied."

The questions about Railhead underscore growing apprehension about contract management in the intelligence community, which has spent tens of billions of dollars in the war on terror in recent years with an insufficient procurement workforce and little public oversight, according to documents and interviews.

Several unclassified reviews of intelligence spending in the past few years have said the shortage of contracting expertise in the classified world is acute.

The allegations of problems also highlight the government's persistent difficulties in conceiving and building giant computer systems, even for national security projects.

The Railhead project relies on a controversial approach to contracting that gives great authority to a "lead systems integrator" -- in this case, Boeing -- that serves in essence as a management proxy for the government. Other projects relying on lead systems integrators, such as the Coast Guard's Deepwater project, have repeatedly overshot deadlines and costs. The Department of Defense appropriations bill for 2008 sharply restricted the use of lead systems integrators because of such problems.

TIDE and related systems have become crucial tools in the war on terror. TIDE is the central "base for all-source information on international terrorist identities for the U.S. Government," according to documents from a congressional briefing in April. One system linked to TIDE, NCTC Online, has more than 5,500 users in more than 40 federal organizations and agencies.

But counterterrorism officials have made clear that TIDE and related systems need to be upgraded. Documents used in an April briefing of staff members on Capitol Hill show that the systems are poorly integrated, and difficult and costly to upgrade. "Those Information Technology capabilities, as good as they are, were not designed for the scale, robustness or integrated performance required by the NCTC mission," the briefing documents said.

The Railhead project is set up so that the government can hire contractors to upgrade the system in increments, leading to an "integrated and accessible" system that would improve the discovery of information for analysts and make access far easier.

Dozens of documents obtained by The Washington Post show that Boeing and SRI International, one of the primary contractors, and dozens of other subcontractors have sometimes struggled to fulfill a mission that from the outset was not clearly defined.

Officials at Boeing and SRI declined to answer questions.

Boeing and SRI have sometimes not cooperated, the documents show. Last summer, during the transition to Railhead from a previous contracting program, the TIDE system was operated by a sharply diminished support staff and occasionally shut down, according to interviews with people involved in the project.

Counterterrorism officials said those issues were a natural result of the transition from one contract to another and added that it did not impede the systems' effectiveness.

A recent review by SRI and subcontractors, done at the behest of government officials, turned up more than 500 instances where the system did not function as planned or as analysts expected. The systems under development, for instance, did not enable analysts examining terrorist data to see classified cables, to easily sort and filter search results or to search for non-exact matches, the June 18 document said.

One contract executive involved in Railhead, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the work, asserted that the project was not properly planned and that some tasks may have to start over. The executive said Boeing and SRI did not work well together in the public's interest. Contractors assessing the project complained about the lack of cooperation from Boeing in the June 18 document.

"A request for data listed below to complete the gap analysis was requested from Boeing. The information requested below has not been provided by the LSI [lead system integrator]," the document said.

In an interview, Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.), chairman of the House Science and Technology subcommittee on investigations and oversight, said those documents, provided by a whistle-blower who worked for a contractor, show the Railhead program is in trouble.

In an Aug. 21 letter, Miller asked the inspector general to investigate "the technical failure and mismanagement of one of the government's most important counterterrorism programs."

"This is a critical national security program that has been plagued by technical design and development errors, basic management blunders and poor government oversight," Miller said in a news release issued that same day.

Officials at the counterterrorism center said the staff material Miller provided in support of his request contains factual errors, including a claim that thousands of CIA cables had not been properly entered into TIDE and that the program has cost $500 million so far.

The officials acknowledged the "gap analysis" reports issued in June. But they said most of those shortcomings have been addressed in recent months and that information in those reports was taken out of context.

Despite occasional outages, the TIDE system has been available for counterterrorism work more than 99 percent of the time, and it has not missed any deadlines for supplying terrorist information to watch-list systems, one senior government official said.

Miller defended going public with his preliminary probe, saying "we conduct our business in the open."

British Ignore Jihad and Islamic Supremacism To Their Peril (Part Two of Two)

by Jeffrey Imm

Part One can be found here.

.... 8. Why Americans Must Reject British Tactics of "Counter-Radicalization" and Denial on Islamic Supremacism

In April 2007, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff told the Daily Telegraph that he feared that the next 9/11 would come from British Jihadists. What has changed?

America has faced threats of mass-casualty terrorist attacks from British Jihadists repeatedly: the British shoe-bomber Richard Reid who attended London's Finsbury Mosque where British cleric Abu Hamza preached, the British Jihadist Dhiren Barot who hoped to attack America before the 9/11 bombers and who adopted Islam based on talks with British cleric Abu Hamza, and the August 2006 British Jihadists who sought to hijack transatlantic jets to "punish" Americans in the name of Allah. Is it only a matter of time until British Jihadists plan another attack on America?

The United Kingdom remains as great a threat to America's national security as any other nation on Earth, including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. This is because of the long history of British tolerance of Islamic supremacism in its country, allowing Jihadists to make it a base of operations for planned attacks in Israel, United States, and other nations.

Yet in 2008, few Americans are aware of the significant Islamic supremacist threat that remains in the United Kingdom. UK has remained "under the radar" for many Americans for years. Two days after 9/11, few Americans noticed the article in the September 13, 2001 Daily Telegraph declaring that "Britain is 'safe haven' for world terrorism," describing some in the UK "who will be celebrating" the 9/11 attacks, and acknowledging British Jihadists' links to al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan.

Islamic supremacists were so convinced of the British government's so-called "covenant of security" with Islamic supremacists that Osama bin Laden sought asylum in the United Kingdom in 1995 as part of a plan to move his base of operations to the UK, while he was planning the 9/11 attacks. This "covenant of security" is repeatedly referenced by other Islamic supremacists, and has historically been part of their claims on why UK should not be attacked prior to July 7, 2005. In January 26, 2003, the Guardian/Observer report quoted a former British Special Branch officer who stated that: 'There was a deal with these guys... We told them if you don't cause us any problems, then we won't bother you.' This 2003 article was ironically titled "All eyes on Britain as terror war accelerates." In fact, this has never been the case, and most Americans remain unaware of the threat that British Islamic supremacists pose to America. In September 2003, as British Islamic supremacist group al-Muhajiroun held a rally praised 9/11 attackers as the "Magnificent 19," again most Americans were unaware of the threat. In 2004, New Statesman author Jamie Campbell stated "it has long been recognised by the British Islamists, by the British government and by UK intelligence agencies, that as long as Britain guarantees a degree of freedom to the likes of Hassan Butt, the terrorist strikes will continue to be planned within the borders of the UK but will not occur here." Yet American commentators remained focused only on Iraq and Afghanistan.

In Melanie Phillips' book Londonistan, she discusses the historical "covenant of security" between the British government and British Islamic supremacists (page 92, UK hardcover edition):

"The bargain, or 'covenant of security,' had been the dirty little secret at the heart of the British government's blind-eye policy. It had had allowed Islamist radicals free rein in London and elsewhere in Britain in a kind of unspoken 'gentlemen's agreement' that if the British authorities left them alone, they would not turn on the country that was so generously nurturing them. The British didn't care what they were up to in other countries. Abroad wasn't their concern. As long as there was no threat to Britain, the government and security establishment just didn't want to know."

One deeply troubling aspect of the British government's inconsistent position on Jihad is the possibility that it may be seeking to re-establish such a "covenant of security" with Islamic supremacists once again, by focusing only on al Qaeda's threats to attack UK's homeland, while tolerating Hamas and Hezbollah meetings, fund-raising, and propaganda within UK, as well as allowing hate-mongering Islamic supremacism to continue to be taught in British mosques. It should disturb Americans that high British government officials call for talks with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. It should worry Americans that the British government seeks to de-radicalize British Muslims, while it officially claims that there is no connection of Islamic supremacism to Jihad, and that the Home Office tells UK government officials that the very words "Jihad," "Islamist," are not to be used.

Furthermore, the British "counter-radicalization" tactics of seeking to have Islamic supremacists avoid violence may, in fact, simply be tactics to discourage them from violence in the United Kingdom only. British Jihadist actions in Israel, in Somalia, in Russia, in Pakistan, in Afghanistan, and repeated attempts to attack the United States over the past several years only reinforce what should be a reasonable suspicion on the part of American analysts, policy makers, and lawmakers, regarding the UK's primary goal of "counter-radicalization." History has shown that the United Kingdom, not Afghanistan, not Saudi Arabia, not Pakistan, and not Iran, could have easily been the source of the most significant Jihadist attacks on American homeland, if repeated British Jihadist attempts on America had not failed. Just two years ago, British Jihadists threatened to kill many thousands of Americans in a plot to hijack multiple transatlantic jetliners in what would have likely been an attack that would have dwarfed 9/11.

Recall the words of British Jihadists (revealed in April 2008) regarding their August 2006 transatlantic airline terrorist plot involving flights headed to Washington D.C., New York City, Chicago, and San Francisco – (excerpts from BBC, London TimesDM, LT, DT, BBC)

British Jihadist Tanvir Hussain: "People keep on saying, you know, that we keep on targeting innocent civilians, yeah... We're not targeting innocent civilians. We're targeting economic and military targets... They're the battle grounds of today so whoever steps in these trenches, they, yeah, you haven't got us to blame...You've got to blame yourself...People are going to die. It's worth the price. For many years I dreamt of doing this but I didn't have the means. Thank God Allah accepted my duas [prayers] yeah, and provided me a means to do this... Don't mess with the Muslims... You know, I only wish I could do this again, you know come back and do this again, and just do it again and again...." (DM, BBC)

British Jihadist Arafat Waheed Khan: "We will rain upon you such a terror and destruction that you will never feel peace and security. There will be floods of martydom operations and bombs falling through your lands... I would like to thank Allah for giving me this opportunity to bless me with this Shahada [martyrdom]...I ask Allah to help the Mujahedeen everywhere in every way." (DM, BBC)

British Jihadist Ibrahim Savant: "All Muslims feel the need to dust your feet in the training camps of Jihad where men are made. Cease debate and enter the battlefields seeking paradise. Mujahedeen, for years I've desired to meet you, to walk the paths you've walked, to sacrifice what you have sacrificed. Now Allah has honoured me with an invitation to his Kingdom... All Muslims take heed, remove yourself from the grasp of the Kuffar [non-believers]" (BBC, DM)

British Jihadist Waheed Zaman: "I will pray that Allah makes us successful in our actions, may he grant us Jannah... May he raise us on the Day of Judgment to be with the prophets, martyrs and people in the right path. May Allah bless the Mujahedeen with victory upon victory wherever they may be and may he focus their aim and may he make them of the patient ones...The only solution to this current situation of the Muslims is by fighting Jihad for the sake of Allah..." (BBC, DM)

British Jihadist Umar Islam: "This is an obligation on me as a Muslim to wage Jihad against the Kuffar [non-believers]. We are doing this in order to gain the pleasure of our Lord and Allah loves us to die and kill in his path. Anyone who tries to deny this, then read the Koran and you will not be able to deny this because this is the words in the Koran and the words of our the messenger of Allah, prayers and peace upon him...This is revenge for the acts of the USA in the Muslim lands and their accomplices, such as the British and the Jews." (BBC, LT)

The American public only learned of the words from these British Jihadists nearly two years after the failed British Jihadist transatlantic airline plot. What else is the British government keeping secret from us on those British Jihadists who seek to kill us today?

Do these individuals sound like Islamic supremacists who would be willing to direct their energies into "political" action? What has since improved in the United Kingdom, when the British government fears to even acknowledge that Islamic supremacism exists as an ideology?

In July 2008, Centre for Social Cohesion (CSC) released poll results stating that 32% of British Muslim youth believe that killing for their religion is acceptable (and 15% "unsure"). In addition, support for segregationist Sharia law continues to gain acceptance among young British Muslims, and the idea of offering a separate set of Sharia laws for British Muslims has gained increasing support among British leaders and in courts. Such acceptance of segregationist positions shows the increasing acceptance of Islamic supremacism in the United Kingdom. The 2008 European Union's Europol study on terrorism found that statistically the number of "Islamist terror" arrests in the UK were greater than in all of Europe combined, with a threat of "young, radicalised British citizens."

Does this sound like British "counter-radicalization" is working? Why should Americans believe that the British government policies of "counter-radicalization" have accomplished anything? How can the British government "de-radicalize" an ideology that they are unwilling to define other than "extremism"?

This is not merely a foreign policy issue, or an academic exercise in analyzing a foreign nation's counterterrorism policy. This is a vital issue affecting Americans and the values of equality that America represents. This is a critical issue when a foreign nation's policy of denial about Islamic supremacism is being promoted to American policy makers and its military leaders. Most of all, this is a vital issue regarding the future of where our nation is headed in the very values of equality that we fought so long and so hard to achieve in America.

It is not surprising that Britons do not understand America's history. While they are allies with Americans in theaters of war, we cannot expect them to understand our values, our history, our experience. In fact, it is because we were so different from the United Kingdom that we are a United States of America, not a British colony.

We are and will continue to be a nation that despises, confronts, and does not tolerate supremacism. We are and will continue to be a nation where "all men are created equal."

Any American with a rudimentary knowledge of American history is well aware that white supremacism was confronted, not appeased, by seamstress Rosa Parks, by preacher Martin Luther King, Jr., by newspaper reporters, by baseball players, by grade school teachers, by mechanics, by musicians, by FBI agents, by American soldiers, by housewives, and by average citizens everywhere in America.

These sentinels of equality and liberty in the fight against supremacism may not have held doctorates in American history, in American political science, or American constitutional law. But they understood who and what America is about. They understood the gravity of defending the natural law and American value that "all men are created equal." They understood the historical importance of defending the courage of our convictions. They understood that without defending equality everywhere for every person, no American would enjoy freedom, no American would have security. They knew that the fight against supremacism, no matter how unpleasant, no matter how divisive, no matter how dangerous, was not someone else's job, or something that could be left to be solved at a later time. They knew it was their job, and it was their job right now.

Today, Americans face such a challenge once again with Islamic supremacism.

We could accept the counsel of "experts," who offer direction based on foreign nations with a history of appeasing and knuckling under to supremacists. We could accept guidance on "counter-radicalization" that deceives us into believing supremacists can be bargained with, negotiated into accepting a pluralistic society that values equality. We could choose to believe that tactical measures, talks, and high-tech surveillance will be enough to change those whose supremacist ideology is inimical to our values, our laws, our society, and our way of life. These are the choices that the British government, "expert" analysts, and those who aren't concerned about why Jihad happens offer us. Accepting such counsel, especially with such "expert" backing, would be the path of least resistance, and would cause us the least personal short-term sacrifice in becoming educated on the issues so that we can guide our elected representatives. Listening to the "experts" who ignore Islamic supremacism is the easy thing to do.

But is it - the American thing to do?

Is that what Americans are to be reduced to? Being led around by the nose based on the policies by the British government, who through nothing short of repeated miracles, has not resulted in the death of countless thousands of Americans through British Jihadists appeased over decades? Given the repeated attempts, plots, and threats of attacks on America by British Islamic supremacists due to UK's seemingly endless complacency, shouldn't the British government be the last people we should be listening to? Should the British government, with senior leaders who seek talks with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, be someone our government should even be talking with?

Or will America's people, the ragtag sentinels of liberty that aren't degreed in Islamic studies and foreign affairs, but who understand the values of America, who represent the variety and diversity of a egalitarian society that so many fought and died for, who simply know that our nation stands first and foremost for liberty... will they rise to the occasion once again and confront this new evil of Islamic supremacism - as forcefully and as defiantly as they did to white supremacism?

Those who seek denial on and appeasement to Islamic supremacism don't think so. They think Americans have better things to do than worry about such things. They seek to tell Americans, tell their elected representatives, and tell their military what they should do. They will do Americans' thinking for them.

Americans - prove them wrong. Make up your own mind. Let your American government know that, no matter what the British government does, America's government must stand up and identify the ideology of Islamic supremacism, and must develop a strategy to combat it.

Show them that in America, Islamic supremacism (or any other supremacism) will not be tolerated - violent or non-violent - and that it has no place in the land of the free, home of the brave., Daily Mail, and Daily Telegraph reports):

British Jihadist Abdulla Ahmed Ali: "Expect floods of martyr operations against you and we will take our revenge and anger, ripping amongst your people and scattering your people's body parts... You call us terrorists but you can see we don't mind that if you call us terrorists 'cos we will keep on terrorizing you until you learn your lesson... We love to die in the path of Allah... On top of this is to punish and to humiliate the Kuffar [non-believer], to teach them a lesson that they will never forget. It's to tell them that we Muslim people have pride, our people of Allah, the people of Islam, we are brave. Thanks to God I swear by Allah, I have the desire since the age of 15/16 to participate in Jihad in the path of Allah. I had the desire since then for Jannah [paradise] for the Koran. I want to go to my prophet and his companions."