Limits to Growth » terror

Dallas Jihadist Epilogue: the Valentine to Osama

Brenda Walker — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 05:01:25 +0000

When wanna-be Dallas bomber and illegal alien Hosam Smadi was sentenced earlier this week, he recited a groveling apology to the court, perhaps hoping for a shorter sentence.

Would-be Dallas bomber gets 24-year sentence, Star-Telegram, October 19, 2010

DALLAS — Minutes before he was sentenced to 24 years in federal prison, Hosam “Sam” Smadi apologized for trying to blow up a downtown Dallas skyscraper.

“Your honor, I’m so ashamed of what I did,” Smadi said, standing before U.S. District Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn on Tuesday in a bright orange jumpsuit. “I’m very sorry for my actions. I could have never lived with myself if I had hurt anybody.”

Speaking in broken English, Smadi, 20, told the judge that he now believes that Osama bin Laden is “bad” and that he hates al Qaeda.

“I will never have anything to do with this again,” he said.

It sounded like a great performance, particularly considering the video that was released by authorities post-sentencing.

Dallas bomber’s message to ‘beloved’ bin Laden, WFAA-TV Dallas, October 20, 2010

Hosam Smadi, who was convicted of attempting to blow up a Dallas skyscraper, said during his trial that Osama bin Laden is a “bad man.”

But a video released on Wednesday — after his sentencing — tells a different story.

Smadi taped a message in Arabic to Osama bin Laden in which he praises the the world’s best-known terrorist and proclaims his loyalty. At one point, he glorifies the September 11 attacks.

So apparently the mental illness he claimed as a defense in the case was not quite as severe as represented. It turns out Smadi’s motivation for the attempted terrorist act was plain old Islamic jihad. What a surprise.

Terror Threats Reassessed as Enemies Rejigger

Brenda Walker — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 20:55:30 +0000

On September 10, the day before the 9/11 terror anniversary, the two chairmen of the 9/11 Commission appeared at a press conference to discuss the state of national preparedness against our enemies. (Watch on C-Span.) Former Delaware Governor Tom Kean and Rep. Lee Hamilton were accompanied by other terrorism experts to discuss successes and failures of the last nine years. They are concerned that the top security officials have not adequately adjusted to the change in strategy of the jihadists.

U.S. Has ‘No Strategy’ to Confront Homegrown Terror, Security Group Warns, Fox News, September 10, 2010

The United States has failed to anticipate the danger from homegrown terrorists and now faces the most complex set of threats since the Sept. 11 attacks, analysts on an organization headed by the two 9/11 Commission co-chairmen warned Friday.

Unveiling a new report a day before the nation marks nine years since the 2001 attacks, members of the National Security Preparedness Group said Al Qaeda and other terror groups are increasingly turning to U.S. citizens to carry out attacks on the United States. Though the U.S. at one time may have thought its cultural “melting pot” would provide a “firewall” against radicalization from within, group member Bruce Hoffman said that assumption turned out to be false.

“The United States has failed to fundamentally understand and prepare for these threats,” Hoffman said. “Terrorists may have found our Achilles’ heel. We have no strategy to deal with this growing problem and emerging threat.”

The report said U.S. authorities failed to realize that Somali-American youths traveling from Minnesota to Somalia in 2008 to join extremist Muslim groups was not an isolated event. Instead, the movement was one among several instances of a broader, more diverse threat that has surfaced across the country.

As a result, there remains no federal agency specifically charged with identifying radicalization or working to prevent terrorist recruitment of U.S. citizens and residents, said the report.

This is a disturbing report, if accurate. Top cops didn’t think two dozen young Somali men with US passports getting full jihad warfare instruction was a problem? The Senate held a hearing in 2009 about Al Shebab recruiting among Somalis residing here, so the danger was discussed. And even without the call of the tribal homeland, the internet never sleeps and has been quite effective in luring young Muslims into its clutches.

Americans understand that allowing hostile Muslims to immigrate en masse into this country is a security threat; that’s one reason why mosque construction is coming under more scrutiny, particularly when the edifice is far larger than the local Muslim congregation requires.

I have a problem with the loosy-goosey way the phrase “homegrown terrorist” is thrown around by the dinosaur media and in the new report. You can accurately call the Fort Hood assassin “homegrown” since Nidal Hasan was born here (of Jordanian immigrant parents), although the philosophy which guided him is certainly alien.

On the other hand, Faisal Shazad, the Times Square bomber, arrived in the US in 1999 on a college visa, yet he is discussed in the study.

The fuzzy way that “homegrown” is used is confusing, and tends to blur the immigration cause lurking in the background. Even national security elites don’t want the doors shut to our enemies, it appears. One reason is that now we are fighting wars in Islamo-holes like Afghanistan, and the military needs native speakers of the enemy language. And so it goes.

Here’s an interview with Gov. Kean:

You can read the report Assessing the Terrorist Threat, by Peter Bergen and Bruce Hoffman, posted on BipartisanPolicy.org.

Rally against Ground Zero Mosque a Great Success

Brenda Walker — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 22:40:54 +0000

In New York City, June 6 (a date chosen for being D-Day) was observed by a rally against the construction of a territory-marking mega-mosque near Ground Zero. Organizers Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer expected a turn-out of 500 or so, and were thrilled when more than 10 times that number showed up.

Below is a shot of the crowd…

Looking at the Left has some great photos: Stop the Mosque.

Robert Spencer, the director of JihadWatch, pointed out that the man behind the mosque does not have a history of promoting tolerance, but instead is an anti-American sharia subversive:

Danish activist Anders Gravers founded Stop the Islamization of Europe, the model for Stop the Islamization of America, which organized Sunday’s event:

There are additional videos at No Mosque at Ground Zero, as well as on Urban Infidel which also has many fine photos. The People’s Cube has dozens of pictures with the usual attitude.

There was no coverage on the big cable news channels that I saw, but the CBN put on a very affecting piece…

Thousands Protest NYC Ground Zero Mosque, CBN, June 7, 2010

More than 5,000 people from all over the United States gathered in the Big Apple to protest the building of a 13-story mega-mosque two blocks from Ground Zero.

Organizers say the man behind the mosque – Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf – is not the man of peace he claims to be.

“He says he advocates for tolerance, but in his book he advocates for Sharia law which is radically intolerant,” said Pamela Gellar, who leads the organization Stop Islamization of America. “We have no idea where the funding is coming from. We know his father built an Islamic Center on 96th street and was funded by 49 Muslim countries. Who’s funding this $50 million monster? We want to know.”

Several members of families who lost loved ones in the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001, were among the protestors. They displayed photos of their family members who died. They said building a mosque so close to their loved ones graves is an insult.

“This is my only son,” said Eileen Tallon, who lost her son in the attack. “He was a firefighter and he went into rescue people that day. I’m upset about the building of the mosque, because Muslim terrorists murdered my son and 3,000 Americans at this site.”

“Such was the violence on 9-11 that my brother’s remains were never found,” said Christina Regenhard said. “He was killed by Islamist and now they want to build a mosque on his grave. Their victory will be complete.” […]

The proposed mosque is slated to be built in the old Burlington Coat Factory building, just 600 feet from where the towers fell. Mosque supporters say their hope is to bring something good out of 9-11.

But for people like Lee Henson – who lost his son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter that day – a mosque near Ground Zero is unacceptable.

“They were on United Airlines Flight 175,” Henson said. “My son called, he said, ‘Don’t worry Dad – it’ll be quick.’ I heard ‘Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God’ – then I looked at the TV screen and saw the plane hit the tower.”

Of related interest is the fascinating photo essay by El Marco, Prayer Time at the Ground Zero Mosque, showing the building which is now a scruffy-looking mosque (where diverse worshippers wash their feet in the street), located next to a saloon, to be remodeled into something far more grand by wealthy jihadists.

A Tale of Two Jurisdictions: Arizona vs. New York City

Brenda Walker — Sat, 08 May 2010 22:06:03 +0000

Consider: two wildly different communities face an escalating crisis of violence against public safety. Both conclude that the federal government’s response to the foreign source of the worsening chaos is insufficient, so they decide to ramp up local enforcement.

One, Arizona, is condemned in the most excoriating manner by liberal elites and media for taking pro-active posture in fighting illegal immigration and concurrent violent drug smuggling. The other, New York City, is praised by the same voices as being exemplary in protecting its people even though it similarly moved onto federal turf because Washington hasn’t done the job.

Recent remarks from the Stratfor intelligence company emphasized how New York City police have taken on federal responsibilities against foreign and Islamic terrorism (my transcription below):

Quick Take: The Politicization of the Time Square Investigation (Youtube), May 3, 2010

(0:45) The New York City police decided a long time ago not to depend upon the federal government to protect them. In many ways, one can’t blame them. The federal government has failed on many occasions to thwart plots and attacks that have unfolded in New York.

So you have a police department that is very aggressive and has detectives stationed in many cities around the world that frankly infuriates the State Department and the FBI because they are running outside the US government. The US government can’t control who they meet with and the information flow.

The New York City police department could care less; their mission is to protect the city.

Funny, when Arizona leaders decided their mission was to protect the state, they got nothing but condemnation.

And at the head of the pack of Arizona scolds… New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who warned of dire consequences in an April 28 op-ed:

How Arizona’s Law Will Hurt America, New York Daily News

While Arizona may suffer, as long as those visitors and investors still come to America, the country will be fine. In fact, we hope more of them come to New York, where we would welcome them with open arms.

But if some of them stop visiting and investing in America, and if other states follow Arizona’s lead — as some are now discussing — the economic consequences will be felt in middle-class communities across the country.

American citizens would lose jobs as businesses downsize, and governments with lower tax revenues would lay off teachers, firefighters and police officers. As a result, our country would have a harder time climbing out of the national recession.

So New York assures one and all that public safety is job #1 in the city (to keep the tourists coming), but Arizona should not be allowed the same right to knock down crime and terrorism, according to the Mayor.

That’s both wrong and hypocritical. Both visitors and Arizona residents deserve public safety as much as New Yorkers.