Community outreach - goes wrong
A classic tale of how an informant is used and exposed:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...T2010120404317
Near the start:
Quote:
In the Irvine case, Monteilh's mission as an informant backfired. Muslims were so alarmed by his talk of violent jihad that they obtained a restraining order against him.
Ends with:
Quote:
As worshipers milled around outside, they said they support the FBI's role in fighting terrorism but feel betrayed by the infiltration of their sacred place.
"The FBI wants to treat the Muslim community as a partner while investigating us behind our backs,'' said Kurdi, the Loyola student. "They can't have it both ways."
Counter-productive counter-terror?
Appearing in The Guardian last week was this commentary by Raffaello Pantucci, with a sub-title:
Quote:
Is entrapping low-level wannabe jihadists with elaborate FBI sting operations the best way of handling domestic radicals?
Link:http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...hamud-portland
Holder Calls Terrorism Sting Operations ‘Essential’
The US Attorney-General in a speech to a Muslim advocacy group, note the comments on his reception; opens with:
Quote:
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. has defended the use of sting operations orchestrated by government informers, telling advocates for the civil rights of American Muslims on Friday night that the tactic is an “essential law enforcement tool in uncovering and preventing terror attacks.”
Link thanks to LWT mailing:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/us...ml?_r=2&src=me
Muslim ‘Radicalization’ Is Focus of Planned Inquiry
From the NYT:
Quote:
The Republican who will head the House committee that oversees domestic security is planning to open a Congressional inquiry into what he calls “the radicalization” of the Muslim community when his party takes over the House next year....he was responding to what he has described as frequent concerns raised by law enforcement officials that Muslim leaders have been uncooperative in terror investigations.
Link:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/17/ny...ml?_r=2&ref=us
I expect some expected this. Too much is expected of the so-called 'Muslim leaders' and in the UK, if not other places, there are very few genuine leaders. The important people are those further down who actually see something and for a host of reasons do nothing.
I do commend this report on the issue, which was posted earlier:http://www.worde.org/articles/WORDE_...port_Final.pdf
The Myth of Homegrown Islamic Terrorism
A title guaranteed to get attention, well it is in Time magazine and on an initial read interesting. Last paragraph:
Quote:
And yet al-Qaeda is weaker and less capable today than it was before Sept. 11; its appeal to mainstream Muslims around the world is shrinking, rather than increasing. The fact that Osama bin Laden wannabes like al-Awlaki have risen to such prominence is testament to the evisceration of al-Qaeda's leadership. The U.S. faces far bigger and immediate challenges to the welfare and security of its citizens, not least from the ease with which unstable individuals can legally obtain and use deadly firearms. Addressing that danger will do more to protect Americans than obsessing about the phantom threat of homegrown terrorism ever will.
Link:http://www.time.com/time/world/artic...#ixzz1BzYV0eWT
In Spokane, a Mystery With No Good Solution
I recall spotting a report on an IED in Spokane recently and then nothing was spotted. So thanks to FP Blog for a short article:
Quote:
Nearly a month after a cleanup crew found the live bomb along the planned route of a large downtown march honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the F.B.I. is investigating the incident as an act of domestic terrorism.
Link:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/us...ne.html?ref=us
Clearly the focus appears to be on a 'lone wolf' and from the extreme nationalist fringe.
Quite possibly a "lone wolf"; but,
David, what evidence do you see (if any) that points to "the extreme nationalist fringe" - whatever "the extreme nationalist fringe" is ?
Apparently, they investigated the local "neo-nazis" without any success. This incident was the darling of our more "progressive" media when the IED was first discovered.
Based on this statement from the police chief:
Quote:
This time, Chief Kirkpatrick said, “It’s scary the level of the calculation that was involved.”
one would suppose (for one to say that) that one must know the facts concerning what was calculated. If one knows that much about the calculations, I might think that one would know enough to have probable cause to ID the calculator.
If this leads to an arrest, it will be interesting to see who is arrested.
Regards
Mike
An unsolved bombing and a Michigan suicide bomber
The 1920 Wall Street Bombing, centered on Morgan's 23 Wall, was never solved - speculation pointed to an "anarchist" group. It was the worst "man-made disaster" (:rolleyes:) in US history up to that time.
It was soon (7 years later) eclipsed by a Michigan bombing I'd never heard of (until I read the Wall Street Bombing Wiki), the Bath School Disaster (Bath is just North of Lansing, the state capital):
Quote:
The Bath School disaster is the name given to three bombings in Bath Township, Michigan, USA, on May 18, 1927, which killed 38 primary school children and 7 adults, and injured at least 58 people. Most of the victims were children in the second to sixth grades (7–12 years of age) attending the Bath Consolidated School. Their deaths constitute the deadliest act of mass murder in a school in U.S. history. The perpetrator was school board member Andrew Kehoe, who was upset by a property tax that had been levied to fund the construction of the school building. He blamed the additional tax for financial hardships which led to foreclosure proceedings against his farm. These events apparently provoked Kehoe to plan his attack.
On the morning of May 18, Kehoe first killed his wife, then set his farm buildings afire. As fire fighters arrived at the farm, an explosion devastated the north wing of the school building, killing many of the people inside. Kehoe used a detonator to ignite dynamite and hundreds of pounds of pyrotol which he had secretly planted inside the school over the course of many months. As rescuers started gathering at the school, Kehoe drove up, stopped, and detonated a bomb inside his shrapnel-filled vehicle, killing himself and the school superintendent, and killing and injuring several others. During rescue efforts searchers discovered an additional 500 pounds (230 kg) of unexploded dynamite and pyrotol planted throughout the basement of the school's south wing. .. (long Wiki article with links)
What is interesting about this "lone wolf" incident is that Kehoe set the scene at the school with one explosion - and then, acting as a suicide bomber, attacked the rescuers and bystanders who had responded.
Regards
Mike
Agreed on the "lone wolf" as a better possibility
Kehoe of the 1927 Bath School Disaster (with a stictly personal grudge) proves how calculating (and seemingly "professional") a "lone wolf" can be.
So, when someone says an IED has all the markings of an AQ or Aryan Nation operation, my BS meter tends to respond negatively until some real linking evidence appears.
To the extent that right and left have any real materiality, I'd class the "Islamist fringe" as extreme right - even reactionary.
Regards
Mike